Land Rover has something of a reputation for building vehicles that can conquer the most challenging driving conditions on the planet. On occasion, they choose to show off that capability in videos that defy physics. This one features former Stig Ben Collins careening down a ski slope in the 2017 Range Rover Sport.
Collins drives the Range Rover Sport through the Inferno, which is the world’s longest downhill ski race. It’s held in the village of Mürren, Switzerland and has been taking place there since 1928.
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This grueling race covers roughly nine miles and descends over 6,500 feet with grades as steep as 75 percent. It’s a serious race for serious skiers with over 1,800 making the attempt each year. This time around, it’s not winter and there are no skiers in sight.
Instead, we have Ben Collins behind the wheel of a 510-horsepower, supercharged V8 on a course that includes snow, mud, grass, gravel, a stream, and pretty much everything you could think to include on an off-road course. There are even a couple of folks watching from the sidelines and a guy blowing one of those giant horns straight out of a Ricola commercial.
The goal here wasn’t just to drive the Range Rover Sport down the mountain and make it to the bottom. That would be too easy. They asked Collins to take it as fast as possible, which had him hitting speeds of 96 mph. It wasn’t a heavily modified version of the Sport, either.
The car he drove was a production vehicle with only a few changes made for safety. They installed a roll cage and a safety harness as well as reinforced tires. No fancy suspension changes. This is pretty much the car you’d buy if you walked into a dealership.
A team of folks was there to make sure the car and Collins make it to the end in one piece, including a helicopter rescue pilot. Nothing instills confidence like having a rescue chopper follow you down a course to whisk you off to the hospital. Yeah, this was all a cakewalk.
Looking for a Range Rover Sport? Check out BestRide’s listing search here.
Collins completes the course in just over 21 minutes, looking completely exhausted and a little sore when he steps out of the car. You might not be planning this kind of adventure in your Range Rover, but it’s a great stunt and does the job of proving that the Sport is up for pretty much anything.
