Video: Defender Octa debuts at the 2024 Festival of Speed

Its lunging run up the Hill was final proof if, it were needed, that rather than going down the generic ‘super SUV’ route JLR has doubled down on the quintessential Defenderness. SVO boss Jamal Hameedi clearly summoned some of that Ford Raptor energy from his past during its gestation to create the ultimate super Defender.

For no, it’s not a low-slung, lap time monster like the Range Rover Sport SV. Rather, it’s a mud-plugging muscle truck, with knobbly tyres and big arches.

All that said, don’t confuse the Defender Octa for being agricultural or unsophisticated. Underneath those puffed-up shoulders the wheels cling to the car’s structure via Land Rover’s incredible 6D Dynamics hydraulically-linked suspension system, which is similar to the system seen on McLarens, only with independent pitch and roll control too.

That means that on your command, the Octa can be stiff as an SV, or, thanks to the lack of anti-roll bars, drop its wheels out of the arches like a portal-axled off-road hot rod.

It’s been made very clear this is a machine for all occasions, like the standard Defender really, so like in the Range Rover Sport SV, we’re expecting this also to be the most comfortable Defender money can buy, as well as the most powerful.

Yes, most powerful, for hiding within that snub nose is the beating heart of a BMW M5; a 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8, with the turbos in the V and now, with a mild hybrid system. That means the Octa has a full-bodied 635PS (467kW) and 750Nm (553lb-ft) to play with, which should be plenty enough to get those bespoke Goodyear tyres flinging globs of thick mud at the sky without a care or stutter.

Here, though, the Octa has the Hill to contend with and so we see this prototype – in full off-road spec, we should clarify – heaving its way around, bending the tread blocks of those 33-inch tyres. The driver should be congratulated on his bravery because we’re in no doubt, it’s a mightily fast thing. Happily, it is the most extreme off-road tyre in a range of three options,  which includes a conventional performance road tyre and a half-way-house all-season.

The 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed is underway, and you can watch every moment of the action on our live stream right here on GRR!