Land Rover Defender Works V8 DRAG race against the Honda Civic Type R

Top Gear has taken the slightly unusual decision to drag race the Land Rover Defender V8 Works against the hot hatch Honda Civic Type R. We have the video.

The idea of using a Land Rover Defender in a drag race against one of the best hot hatches you can buy – the Honda Civic Type R – isn’t something that springs readily to mind as a cunning plan. But Top Gear thinks it is.

Of course, TG hasn’t grabbed the last of the line Defender with its rather arthritic diesel, but has instead grabbed one of the re-worked Land Rover Defender V8 Works models Land Rover Classics has been busy building from already existing Landies.

That means this Defender is, at least on paper, in with a shout of putting in a competitive performance against the Type R, although the idea of mashing the pedal to the floor in a Defender with a big V8 is a notion for the only slightly barking to contemplate as a good way to play.

Thankfully for all involved, a drag race means no bends to negotiate, so it’s really just a question of mashing your foot, holding on to the wheel and hoping everything goes in a straight line as the horizon beckons. 

But which is quicker? The basically 70 year old shed wrapped round a V8, or a trick Japanese Hot Hatch?

Land Rover Defender V8 Vs Honda Civic Type R Drag Race Video