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Range Rover Sport SVR Gets Humiliated by Audi SQ7 and New G63 AMG

We know that the RR Sport SVR is not brand new or the pinnacle of SUV performance. But what the heck is going on here! We'll tell you what: a supercharged V8 is getting beaten by the V8 boys.
Range Rover Sport SVR Gets Humiliated by Audi SQ7 and New G63 AMG 5 photos
Photo: YouTube screenshot/Archie Hamilton Racing
Range Rover Sport SVR Gets Humiliated by Audi SQ7 and New G63 AMGRange Rover Sport SVR Gets Humiliated by Audi SQ7 and New G63 AMGRange Rover Sport SVR Gets Humiliated by Audi SQ7 and New G63 AMGRange Rover Sport SVR Gets Humiliated by Audi SQ7 and New G63 AMG
Archie Hamilton did his first SUV drag race in collaboration with BOTB and lined up the usual culprits. The pride of Britain is riding on the shoulders of the Range Rover Sport SVR, which has the greatest 5-liter engine ever fitted to an SUV.

Superchargers are supposed to be better for drag racing because they offer better lower-end torque. But as we've seen with the Jaguar F-Type SVR, the weight of this engine combined with the platform is a real problem.

Getting back to the race at hand, we see the first contender lined up. It's the Audi SQ7, which is not the first thing you think of as a performance SUV. We do, because the old Audi Q7 was always trying out weird and powerful engine combinations.

Under the hood of the SQ7 is only a 4-liter V8 and it's running on diesel. But the thing is that its setup is special. In addition to two turbochargers, an electric "supercharger" can bypass everything and rapidly force air into the engine before the revs build up. So even though the Range Rover claims better sprint times, the Audi is much quicker off the line.

In all three races that they did, the SQ7 pulled a fantastic lead and had to be pulled in by the SVR. The Range Rover won, but only by a bit, which is not what you expect from the model with the bigger engine and about 150 horsepower more.

And just to show off, the guys also brought along the new Mercedes-AMG G63, which needs to be taken seriously despite its boxy look. This features the latest AMG V8 with a lot of torque and shockingly good launches. We already knew the SVR was going to have its butt handed to it.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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