Since 1948, Land Rover imposed itself as a leading power in off-road and on-road vehicles, focusing on large 4×4 vehicles. Since there are people ready to pay huge amounts of money to get a protection grade close to what the president of the United States has, Range Rover has been many times the target of third-party customization companies, transforming it into a more secure vehicle. However, nothing can beat in-house jobs, thus the Range Rover Sentinel is the ultimate mobile fortress.
Built by Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Division, the Sentinel uses the same platform as the Autobiography model. Even more, it looks almost identical on the outside, seen through the eyes of an inexperienced user. Still, taking the first layer off the Sentinel, the fortress reveals its defenses. A steel plated armor cell surrounds the passenger area while multi-laminated secure windows feature increased privacy and go down for only 100 mm.
QinetiQ multinational defense technology developer company rated the Sentinel VR8 standard when faced with standard ballistic threats. This means that the car is able to withstand 7.62 mm fire with armor piercing rounds and keep it together against 15kg on TNT exploding at once. A self sealing tank and anti-tampering exhaust system have also been mounted on the beast.
Below the bonnet, a 3-liter supercharged V8 engine delivers 340 hp to the wheels through a ZF-8 automatic gearbox that has been specially calibrated and set up for this purpose. Stability control systems have also been revised by the Special Vehicle Division team, to provide even better performance than the original model. The Sentinel comes equipped with 20 inch run-flat tires, able to carry on even fully blown. An emergency escape system has been integrated behind the back seats, in case of door lockdown.
