Land Rover calls on the "Gates of Heaven" with its Range Rover Sport PHEV

If you enjoy movies, you have no doubt seen them, because they have appeared in many films. In Kill Bill, for example, Beatrix Kiddo has to climb them to continue her training with Pai Mei, her martial arts master. And your children will have laughed themselves silly at Kung Fu Panda watching Po suffer terribly climbing and descending them constantly.

These are the steep stairways leading to the so-called “Gate of Heaven” in China. An impressive climb that, after winding along the highly twisting Dragon Road, ends at stairs that are more than just steep, with up to 45 degrees of incline and 999 steps.

A test of extreme difficulty that the new Range Rover Sport PHEV tackled in order to demonstrate to the world the capability of electric SUVs. Just a few days ago Tesla launched a unit of its future Roadster model into space, aided by the enormous technological capability and thrust of the rocket from its sister company SpaceX; on this occasion, the ascent to the “gates of heaven” was made by the Range Rover Sport PHEV under its own power, that is, combining the power of its hybrid powertrain with the efficient Terrain Response 2 all-wheel-drive system, in dynamic mode.

The challenge began at the base of the Tianmen Mountain road, an 11.3 km route known as the Dragon Road. Its layout is an exceptional succession of all kinds of bends, both right and left, that rival—if not surpass—roads such as the Stelvio Pass in the Swiss Alps or the Road of Death in the Bolivian Andes in toughness and difficulty.

Behind the wheel of the Range Rover Sport PHEV, Ho-Pin Tung, a driver for the Panasonic Jaguar Racing Formula E team, who drove the hybrid (petrol-electric) version of the Range Rover for the test: “I have experienced Formula E, Formula 1 and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but this has undoubtedly been one of the most demanding driving challenges I have faced. The Range Rover Sport PHEV performed brilliantly, as it really inspired confidence on the mountain road and climbed the stairs to the ‘Gates of Heaven’ with barely any effort.”

The Land Rover model combines its petrol engine with an electric motor, thanks to which it can cover up to 50 km in fully electric mode on a single charge. During the test, Ho-Pin Tung used the 300 hp Ingenium petrol engine of the Range Rover to propel itself along the Devil’s Road, while the 116 hp electric motor was used for the challenge: crossing the gates of heaven.

“This was the most difficult challenge of the Range Rover Sport I have been involved in because, until we reached the top, we could not say categorically that we would succeed. Reaching the summit, we have demonstrated the fantastic capability of the Range Rover Sport plug-in hybrid as never before, with a genuine world first.”

The ascent of the Dragon Challenge has been the latest in the series of adventures completed by the Range Rover Sport, after the PHEV version made its debut in a race against two-time open-water swimming world champion Keri-Anne Payne and endurance athlete Ross Edglay in Devon, UK. Prior to this race it tackled the ascent of the legendary Pikes Peak (USA), broke the record by crossing the feared Empty Quarter desert on the Arabian Peninsula, and completed the 2,170 m Inferno descent in Mürren, Switzerland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBJ2h967VxA