Today, many automakers choose to present their cars through fascinating stories. From SUVs wandering around a world teeming with hybrids, to vehicles that were successfully preserved in amber with the aim to pass their extremely valuable DNA to the next generations, one can say that those classic ads which show powerful cars roaring through a spectacular mountain road are long forgotten. Or are they?
Land Rover remained faithful to the old-school feeling and, together with Spark44—a joint venture between JLR and agency management, dedicated to the Jaguar and Land Rover brands—decided to remind everyone how memorable a drive on a ‘hair-pinned’ road can be. Of course, it comes with a twist: Land Rover skipped those ordinary routes you’ve seen in car commercials thousands of times and went all in for the twists and turns that swirls around the Tianmen Mountain and go all the way up to the Heaven’s Gate.
You would think that a red carpet would have been spectacular enough to mark one’s presence among celebrities. Well, not for Land Rover. The brand decided to introduce its most dynamic Range Rover Sport in a memorable way. So, they replaced the traditional red carpet with another type of rug, one made of concrete and entirely dressed in gray.
While the famous road has been conquered by other cars before, no one has ever tried to reach the mountain’s highest point in a four-wheeled drive. Except for Land Rover. 100% sure about the performance, capability, and power of the new Range Rover Sport PHEV, the rugged car embarked on a unique journey to the gate of heaven, in China.
Tesla may be sending cars to Mars, but there’s so much more to be explored on earth! With the help of Ho-Pin Tung, Le Mans 24 Hour Winner and Jaguar Formula E Racing driver, the company took on the so-called “Dragon Challenge,” which saw Land Rover’s new ride climb on its own wheels all the way up to the legendary gate that is said to be the link between the mortal world and the gods’ playground.
First, the pilot faced 99 extremely dangerous curves of the Tianmen Mountains, which extend over a length of 11 km. One road leads to another so, at the end of it awaited a new challenge, only this time more difficult: the 999 stairs that lead to the natural wonder were waiting for the pilot, luring him to push boundaries and show the world what this SUV can do.
With a mission which seems almost impossible to overcome in a car, the professional pilot was determined to write history. At the wheel of the SUV, he climbed the 999 steps at a 45-degree angle. Not even the mist that surrounded the mountains during the final ascent managed to stop the duo from setting a new world record. After 22 minutes and 41 seconds, the new Range Rover Sport successfully emerged at the top of the mountain, becoming the world’s first vehicle to defeat Tianmen Mountain’s 99 turns and 999 steps.
Upon completion, the epic challenge became the most extreme one Land Rover has done so far. To diminish the chances of failure down to zero, the team ran many tests in the UK, where they built a test model of the 45-degree steps, similar to the real ones that waited for them in China.
“The Dragon Challenge is the hardest challenge I’ve ever been involved with because I can’t categorically say that we will succeed,” said Phil Jones, Land Rover Experience Special Projects Expert. “By making it to the summit, we’ve proven the phenomenal capability of the Range Rover Sport plug-in hybrid like never before – with a genuine world first,” he continued.
The creative agency was there throughout the whole procedure to make sure everything would be recorded on tape. The result? A 6-minute-long video that perfectly captures the car’s amazing performance. Brace yourselves for some steep action!