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Admittedly, the Defender is not a vehicle designed for drag racing. In all its versions over the years, Land Rover’s toughest off-roader has always had one mission to go places where no other SUV could. But the team at carwow decided it would be fun to drag three different Defenders with very different philosophies under the hood.
This is indeed a very strange drag race. There are three cars with different powertrains, but based on horsepower figures alone, all three can perform. There’s a new Defender V8, a Defender with a Tesla electric powertrain, and a heavily modified Defender with an engine swap. Let’s see the numbers first.
8 Photo
Starting with the only stock sample in this race, the new Defender V8 has a supercharged 5.0 liter engine under the hood that produces a peak output of 525 horsepower (386 kilowatts) and 461 pound-feet (625 Newton-meters) of torque. Surprisingly, it was the heaviest of the trio at 5,448 pounds (2,471 kilograms). It is also the most powerful Defender in this drag race.
Against that, the Tesla-powered Defender relies on an electric powertrain with 500 hp (368 kW) and 498 lb-ft (675 Nm) of instant spin. Of course, it’s very heavy due to the large battery on the floor, though that’s not far off the new Defender V8 at 4,255 lbs (1,930 kg).
Last but not least, there’s another V8-powered Defender, though it doesn’t have the engine sourced from Land Rover. Instead, the so-called Arkonic Defender uses a Chevrolet Corvette LS3 engine, meaning there’s a 6.2-liter V8 under the hood that sends 436 hp (321 kW) and 350 lb-ft (475 Nm) to all four wheels. It is the lightest of the three competitors at 4,100 lbs (1,860 kg).
Believe it or not, this is actually a very exciting race. Even the host, Mat Watson, admitted it was one of the greatest drag races he’s ever experienced. We won’t spoil the results, but we will just mention that you might be very surprised by the results.
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