LONDON: Every now and then, Land Rover wants to remind everyone just what its vehicles are capable of achieveing.
In the latest stunt, it roped in the Range Rover Sport to tackle the fearsome Swiss mountain course known as Inferno Mürren
The Range Rover Sport is the first-ever production vehicle to attempt the fearsome ski run. Piloted by race and stunt driver Ben Collins, the all-terrain super-SUV tackled the treacherous Alpine terrain on the 14.9km downhill route, completing it in 21min 36sec.
Collins.
During the 2,170 metre descent, the Range Rover Sport followed the route used by skiers on the tough Inferno Mürren, one of the oldest and most challenging downhill races. It tackled snow, ice, loose rock, mud, broken asphalt, grass and gravel, helped by Land Rover Terrain Response technology.
The feat was achieved in a Range Rover Sport with a 510hp 5.0-litre supercharged V8 petrol engine
Collins, famous for his role as ‘The Stig’ on Top Gear said he was pushed to the limit by hairpin bends and the danger of sheer drops.
“This was genuinely one of the hardest tests I’ve faced in my driving career. The route was insane and certainly the toughest course I’ve ever completed. It challenged you with every kind of obstacle this side of molten lava and as conditions go, it was about as bad as it gets – torrential weather mixed with cliffs, trees, all kinds of stuff you don’t really want to crash into.
“There could only be one winner in the challenge – the mountain or the car. The key to the run was precision: being able to maintain speed and carry that speed down the hill in the way the skiers can do, carving through the turns.
“The Range Rover Sport gave me so much help. I had to use the Terrain Response because the grass was like an ice rink and it really got me out of trouble.”
The treacherous, yet beautiful, mountain course tested the capability of the Range Rover Sport with ice and sleet at the top, where Collins reached 120kph, and fog and wet grass at the bottom, where he hit 155kph.
The Terrain Response technology features six modes that will adapt the vehicle’s settings to the appropriate surface. For example, in Dynamic mode the Anti-Roll Bar is stiffened to reduce body roll; the Grass/Gravel/Snow mode reduces under and over steer by engine braking; while in Mud and Ruts, the rear differential is locked to allow controlled wheel slip for better traction.
On its way down the Range Rover Sport tackled perilous gradients of up to 75% – steeper than many black diamond runs at famous ski resorts such as Chamonix – in freezing temperatures.
Keyword: Watch Range Rover Sport tackle alpine ski challenge like a mountain goat - VIDEO