SVO plotting faster Range Rover SVR
Ceramic brakes and extreme weight-saving parts heading to fastest Range RoverJaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) is plotting an even faster version of its newly-facelifted Range Rover Sport SVR.
According to Ben Verrecchia, lead vehicle engineer for the Sport SVR program, the performance gains for a faster Range Rover will come from extensive weight-saving.
The lightweighting program for the large British luxury SUV, which could lead to a Jaguar Project 8-style stripped-out interior that even sacrifices the rear bench seats, could include the option of powerful carbon-ceramic disc brakes.
"I've already begun personally campaigning for the introduction of carbon-ceramic brake discs,” Verrecchia told motoring.com.au.
The saving are huge – up to 6kg per corner. The problem is we can't just bolt on the carbon-ceramic brakes and components from the F-TYPE. We'd have to start from scratch and then also develop another two chassis tunes for the lighter brakes.”
According to the SVO engineer, Range Rover Sport SVR mules are already running around with a prototype carbon-ceramic brake set-up that not only provides superior braking power but resists fade even at high track temperatures.
It's not just carbon-ceramic brakes being considered by JLR's skunkworks, confirms Verrecchia. According to the lead engineer his team has been inspired by the wild Jaguar XE-based Project 8.
"We have plenty of stripped-out Range Rover Sport SVR mules that have only two seats and a roll cage. I think those cars could provide the basis for an even faster, lighter SVR in the future,” said Verrecchia.
The latest high-performance flagship version of the Range Rover Sport underwent extensive testing with more than 30 prototypes built — within the last two years alone — to test durability and performance in real-world conditions at JLR's global facilities and at Germany's Nurburgring.
To ensure the durability of the powerful 423kW supercharged 5.0-litre V8, Verrecchia said a Range Rover Sport SVO drove flat-out at its 280km/h top speed for days on end at the Nardo test facility.
During testing the Sport SVR covered more than 30,000km at its maximum speed.
The sole test vehicle consumed 100 sets of tyres, 50 sets of brake discs and burnt its way through €200,000-worth ($A320,000) of fuel.
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