If you told us two decades ago that we’ll have SUVs fitted with bumped-up V-8 engines roaming the streets, able to pull off insane 0-60 figures, we would have sent you home for a nap to cure that drunkenness. Fast forward 20 years and drag racing performance SUVs is becoming the norm, so here’s today’s duel: the BMW X6 M50i meets the F-Pace SVR. Care for a bet?

When rhinos run like cheetahs

That said, before you delve into the visual goodness of Track Day’s video, a few words about our two athletes here.

The not-quite-M BMW X6 M50i still uses the same twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 as its fully-fledged bodybuilder brother. So to avoid a family feud, BMW detuned the engine in the X6 M50i to 523 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 553 pound-feet of torque unlocked from as low as 1800 rpm.

Jaguar did things different with the F-Pace SVR. It, too, packs a V-8, but it’s supercharged and bigger, displacing five liters. On paper, its power and torque figures look better, too: 550 horses at 6500 rpm and 502 pound-feet of twist at 2500 rpm are not something to play with.

Remember though - this is a 1/2-mile drag race, and as with any such duel, there are a lot of things to factor in, such as weight, 0-60 ability, launch control, how many wheels receive the engine’s grunt, and even finer aspects such as wheel size and the weight of the driver. Fortunately, the video discusses all of them, so it makes for quite an entertaining watch.