DRIVEN | the thunderous 1981 Group 2 Rover SD1 touring car is a beast!

[@DavidMBanes]

Loved our SD1 V8 Vandan Plas, it was our daily driver in Australia until 2010. :)

[@sthelenshistorychannel]

What an incredible sound, such an underrated monster of a car. We will never see the likes of again, thanks for sharing xD

[@hancock_sam]

Glad you liked it!

[@geoffclarke3796]

Great cars that look so much fun to drive and that V8 sounds epic. Great looking cars too.

[@MrEdsTheRef]

Owned a V reg 3.5lt for a couple of years in the mid 80s. Apart from keeping on top of rust spots i loved it and the V8 engine was as sweet as a nut and soooooo fast😊

[@cogboy302]

Seen this car in photos before. It's gorgeous. All the better to see & hear it in action.

[@paulowen-iy6vm]

A girlfreind used my Rover SDI manual one day while I did a repair to her Marina, this was the first time she had driven it and when she came back and said its weird to drive. I said really? Why, she expalined that even though the other cars around her seemed to be keen to move over and let her past she still couldnt get it to go above 55 mph. My tfirst thougt was that it was dark and only having a 4 speed Marina maybe she was in 2nd not 4th gear, so we went for a drive,. I then expalined what a counter was, and her 55 was proablly closer to 130 ! Fortunatley propably because it looked like the then police cars it seems other cars were getting out her way as she came flying up behind them

[@MNiers]

Love the v8 sound❤

[@stevieboymkii]

These cars are effortlessly awesome.

[@sefikempowermentcoachvilla7843]

Really appreciate 🙏 this from and SD1 fanboy who misses the sound and cars on 1980s etcc and btcc 👍👍

[@hancock_sam]

Glad to bring back some memories:)

[@sydsnott5042]

Absolutely ruddy brilliant. Reminds me of a VDP I had in the 80's when it had a hole in the zorst.

[@shirleyboy8859]

I had 6 SD1`s I loved every minute of driving them. I never got to race mine on the track ( did a bit on the roads though, Did Woking to Yorkshire in under 2 hours...Shhhhhhh ) I would love to have a few laps in this Beautiful car... :-)))

[@hancock_sam]

you had SIX?! haha, you really did like them;) V cool, they really had a devoted fan base didn't they.

[@seanbad9457]

My friend, now sadly departed to higher racing raced a beauty. Paddy O Sullivan did the Rover V8 proud.

[@markjones-vx3kp]

I wonder if Bache and king realised what they had done it was a cracking looking rover size of a bedroom that was wicked on a race track who’s said let’s put it on a track!! Solihull slingshot mate😁😁

[@cornishrider]

Proper car! Thanks Sam

[@hancock_sam]

Glad you like it!

[@jimblakey1530]

More of this👍👍👍

[@hancock_sam]

Thanks Jim, stay tuned, more to come 👍🏼🏁

[@jondrizzle4554]

That looks and sounds the nuts

[@hancock_sam]

Haha, I agree!

[@superbracey]

Great footage (good audio capture and no music over the top) of a great car.

[@hancock_sam]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@olafeklund6200]

The mighty SD-1 was hands-down the greatest Rover ever! I LOVED those cars!

[@Stubs66]

Awesome 👍

[@hancock_sam]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@Nick_Turpin]

Fabulous

[@Olese69]

Amazing

[@barryphillips7327]

Fantastic!! LOVE the sound ( turn it up ENJOY ) N/A V8 350hp+ RWD + NO traction control= A REAL Race car as a race Should Be!! Tom Walkinshaw built many successful SD1 Rovers and Jaguars XJS V12!! He could make them GO very well!!!!

[@tangowilliams1244]

Great video! 👏👏👏

[@hancock_sam]

Thanks man

[@lepmuhangpa]

Nice machine, great video. Glad I subscribed.

[@olliehancock9722]

Sounds the dogs dangleys! Nice video dude!

[@hancock_sam]

Cheers man

[@ape_status]

Great stuff Sam!!!

[@TheJoyOfDriving39]

Awesome video, thank you for the top-notch content :D

[@hancock_sam]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Phil-ww1dv]

This is an impressive BTCC Old Girl. Sadly underappreciated in my locale. Cheers!

[@constantinrenoir8273]

Very great video and great job man! Thank you very much for the view on the pedalbox and your footwork, nice driving skills! ;) It is possible to make more videos "DRIVEN" like this please and to continue to include a view of your footwork? :D

[@hancock_sam]

Thanks a lot, glad you enjoyed it. Yes, I definitely have a few more coming soon and if people like them and the channel subscriptions grow I'll continue to do more for sure.

[@constantinrenoir8273]

@@hancock_sam Great, so awesome! Really, the editing of the video is perfect! Keep the great job guy! ;)

[@andypresland]

So good!

[@hancock_sam]

Thank you;)

[@deanstanley5799]

Can’t believe this once great manufacturer does not exist anymore so sad ☹️

[@wolfpack-racing]

Poor engineering of the k series basicaly killed rover off. If the k series was a better engine. Or better developed they would still be here. Probably. Maybe not.

[@Sorted7]

@@wolfpack-racingk was a brilliant design made very poorly. At the time a 1.4 doing over 100bhp was unheard of. The design is brilliant - even to this day. Revvy and lightweight. Ruined by bean counters that wanted it made with cheap components. Sorry but it still irks me that rover died unnecessarily

[@theduckofevil]

A well put together and very enjoyable video.

[@hancock_sam]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@davyboy888]

Great vid as always Sam. Brilliant insight into what this car's like to drive properly by somebody who knows what they're talking about. The Group 2 SD1 was a bit of an oddball though, as we know it was the Group 1 and latterly Group A Vitesse that shone in the early 1980s. Nevertheless I guess you got something of the flavour of what the Group A Vitesse might have been like... and the question is... would you have preferred it to the Group A 635CSi you tested a few years ago ? As a kid at the time, I adored the BMW. I felt they were somewhat of an underdog - although they were of course exactly the same in engine terms - but they seemed to be more of a reliable workhorse in comparison to the TWR's quick but fragile opposition.

[@hancock_sam]

Hi David, I'm right with you - always had a soft spot for the BMW 635, but as nimble and refined as it is, the SD1 seems to have more grunt... certainly more torque... which you can use to overcome and handling deficiencies (which it doesn't have many of actually... just a bit raw, which is no bad thing!)

[@gracehudson-evans5318]

Oooh what a handsome car (driver ain’t bad either!)

[@lepmuhangpa]

Hahaha, would've worked better with a girl. Yeah?

[@trevorquinnell8515]

Looked lik ya was having tonnes of fun ya made my mind up on getting one of these for 900 and still runs well haha :)

[@V8Operator]

Slightly better than my standard Vitesse ... LOL

[@jeshkam]

Finally a new film from you, Sam. How are you doing these days BTW? Playing some online sim racing in your spare time?

[@hancock_sam]

Haha no sim racing for me, I gave that up when I realised how bad I was!

[@rideyourbikent]

Nice music

[@lepmuhangpa]

Very groovy.

[@minutepapillon5060]

Je possède une rover Sd1 série 1 je suis fou de cette voiture !

[@justinmccarthy1962]

I believe the car actually has 400 horsepower.

[@napalmhotdog4365]

That’s a lot to be honest

[@soundmattersuk]

Out of a 3.5l RV8? I doubt that very much. They're only 2 valves per cylinder, remember?

[@justinmccarthy1962]

@@soundmattersuk Engine tuning technology has changed a lot since the 1980s the Group A Rovers had from 300- 340 HP. Dave Vizard the V8 engine expert tuned Rover engines for The UK Fast Car magazine and his knowledge has helped 2V engine development for General Motors crate engines in the US ,Wildcat cylinder heads alone give Rover engines another 100 HP the Rover 3.5 V8 production engine has small valves inherited initially from Buick .The Rover 3.5 V8 has a short stroke and this helps power per litre and the Rover in the video can rev higher than the group A car engine's it's maximum rpm is 8250 . I watched a TVR win a race at Taupo New Zealand in 2008 it had a 5.8 litre Wildcat Rover V8 with a 4 inch bore and 3.5 stroke and the car had an up from 600 HP engine to 800+ HP non turbo injected engine. approximately 137 HP per litre I am not sure if it's DIN or SAE HP probably SAE HP. In NZ Malcolm Clark from Bygone Autos 3.5 P6 Rover has 360 Hp.The racing cylinder heads can have huge valves and I believe the racing Rover V8s can have the same horse power per litre as Chev engines.

[@justinmccarthy1962]

@@soundmattersuk NASCAR 5.8 litre engines when unrestricted non turbo can produce 850 HP at 10,000 RPM so that's 146 HP per litre for 2 valves per cylinder engine.

[@rhannay39]

"prove it's mettle"

[@stevejones9290]

I’ve been through Calais hundreds of times in the last 20 plus years and of all the thousands of migrants I’ve seen, none have been women and children.

[@ungurdani8346]

salut , super car super video , subscribe subscribe ....

[@hancock_sam]

Thanks for the sub!

[@ungurdani8346]

@@hancock_sam thank my friend , subscribe subscribe .....

[@Sorted7]

From when u had to learn a cars strengths and drive it accordingly to get the best. Fastest? - no. Great? - yes

[@tonytrout3784]

Cut out the back ground music. What g/box have you, what diff ratio. what camshaft, what else you done to the engine, suspension.? Would prefer you concentrate on tech spec. instead of flaunting your driving skills.

[@TheBadBunny87]

But demanding ain't you?!