A Range Rover Sport SVR has been fired around the 99 corners of Tianmen Road in China to set a new, ahem, unofficial world record…

THE ‘FAMOUS’ TIANMEN ROAD IN CHINA. I must say, it’s not one I’d heard of or, at least I don’t think so. What about you? Anyway, a Range Rover SVR has been driven along the 11.3km mountain road ascent which offers 99 corners to set a new unofficial speed record.

The unofficial record, and I think that’s key, was set by Fabio Barone in 2016 in a Ferrari 458 Italia who has since gone on to race a Roman-era chariot… Barone’s time was 10m31secs. If anyone can find video of this attempt, then please let us know, we searched but couldn’t find anything. But we did find his chariot race, watch that below… better than the SVR video? Maybe.

The RR Sport SVR was driven by Panasonic Jaguar Racing driver Ho-Pin Tung, who set a new unofficial record of 9 minutes 51 seconds for the 11.3km ascent at an average speed of 68.8km/h.

Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Ho-Pin Tung said: “I am used to the high speeds of racing but this was even more demanding. Maintaining concentration was the biggest challenge as the road twists and turns constantly, with huge drop-offs to the side. The consequences of getting it wrong would have been really serious so I focused on establishing a rhythm and the Range Rover Sport SVR made this easy – it may be an SUV but it has the performance and agility of a supercar and can take you to places a supercar can only dream of.”

Question: Are these record attempts that aren’t really records getting a little bit silly…should car companies leave this sort of stuff to Top Gear and The Grand Tour?