New Range Rover Sport crosses ‘Empty Quarter’ Desert in record time

Land Rover has taken the new Range Rover Sport to the ‘Empty Quarter’ Desert in Saudi Arabia and set a new record time for traversing the wilderness.

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We all know that almost every Range Rover Sport sold will never do anything more rugged than crossing a boot sale car park.

But that doesn’t stop Land Rover hanging the Sport’s reputation on its ability to go anywhere, and do it more quickly.

To demonstrate that combination of off-road prowess and speed they recently put the new Range Rover Sport up Pikes Peak in a record time (for an SUV) to demonstrate it could do rough stuff at speed, and now they’ve been out playing in the deserts of Saudi Arabia to ram the point home.

Land Rover took a new Range Rover Sport V8 S/C to the ‘Empty Quarter’ – the largest sand desert in the world where temperatures reach 50C – put Dakar Rally specialist Moi Torrallardona in the driver’s seat and set off from Wadi Adda Wasir in Saudi Arabia heading for the borders of UAE.

The 849 km run from dawn to dusk took just 10 hours 22 minutes at an average speed of 51.87mph across huge sand flats, soft dunes and epic canyons with the only modification from a stock Range Rover Sport being the addition of an underbody protection plate.

Driver Torrallardona said:

The challenge of the desert is like nothing else, it is a brutal, unforgiving and sometimes deadly environment.

Desert driving requires a unique combination of speed, finesse and technical skill. It is crucial that you tackle the dunes with precision. Knowing the right time to go full throttle and the right time to slow down, takes experience and clear judgement.

This unique way of driving requires a vehicle which has the same skillset – it must be both incredibly fast but also agile, responsive and well planted. The Range Rover Sport is exactly that. It is massively capable and is truly the best tool for conquering the desert.

Another demonstration of the new Range Rover Sport’s abilities. If only Land Rover could build them quickly enough to meet demand.