The Range Rover Sport SVR Can Kick Bottoms on an Ice-Carved Silverstone Circuit

Apparently, that title isn't enough for Jaguar Land Rover, since the company wants to make it clear that the Range Rover Sport SVR is cool on any race track, including one situated right in Santa Claus' backyard.

Polar explorer and Land Rover ambassador Ben Saunders was taken by JLR somewhere near the Arctic Circle, at a place that serves as a winter testing facility for tens of carmakers from around the world.

Some of you may already know this, but a reminder shouldn't hurt. A few years ago, a Frenchman by the name of Eric Gallardo was winter testing various vehicles for General Motors in Northern Sweden, at or around a place called Arjeplog.

Situated between Lake Hornava and Storavan, both of which freeze solid for around three months each year, Arjeplog is the perfect spot to arrange an impromptu racing circuit on the ice. So it happens that Eric Gallardo set up a company called Laponie Ice Driving, each year carving full-scale replicas of famous race tracks on the 15-inch thick ice surrounding parts of Arjeplog.

For the last couple of years or so, UK's Silverstone F1 track has been recreated there in almost perfect detail, and that is where JLR took Ben Saunders to check how the Ranger Rover Sport SVR would behave at and above its limits.

The video resulting from Ben's shenanigans is not as spectacular as you'd imagine, but the way the Range Rover SVR sounds at full chat more than makes up for the lack of drama.

The Jaguar-sourced supercharged 5.0-liter underneath that flat hood is good for 550 hp and 680 Nm (501 lb-ft) of torque. Those numbers are mainly responsible for a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) time of 4.7 seconds, a top speed of 260 km/h (162 mph) and a Nurburgring Nordschleife time of 8:14 minutes.

Seeing and hearing that 2.4-tonne hunk of metal sliding around a Silverstone circuit made out of ice is nothing short of impressive, though, maybe even more than its track times.