Hybrid Range Rover Effortlessly Climbs 999 Steep Steps in Under 23 Minutes

In Land Rover's latest promotional video, the British car company presents the ‘Dragon Challenge’. The challenge consists of navigating a windy road at Tianmen Mountain, China before ascending 999 steps to the famed Heaven's Gate rock formation.

The Range Rover Sport Plug-In Hybrid took on the challenge managing to complete the terrifying drive in 22 minutes and 41 seconds. While the course certainly demonstrated just how tough and torque-filled this hybrid car is, did they really have to choose such a sacred site to drive a car really fast over the top of?

Perhaps an even more intriguing question is how did they get the car back down the steps? Luckily the curious journalists from Motoring Magazine were able to get a response from Land Rover who said, “The RR Sport was reversed slowly down the steps in a controlled way using the safety cables.”

The 297kW/640 Nm plug-in hybrid Range Rover Sport took the 99 corners of the road at a terrifying speed and showed off the car's abilities by making the journey look easy. No doubt this is also thanks to the skills of the driver Ho-Pin Tung, who you can normally find behind the wheel of a Jaguar Formula E race car. Saying that one mistake form Tung on the tight corners could have meant serious injury or death.

The 999 steps the car managed to speed up are astonishingly steep are at a jaunty 45-degree angle meaning the car not only risked slipping down but also falling over if the balance of acceleration and grip was shaken.

Via: Land Rover