The Rolls-Royce Cullinan is one of the most anticipated cars to arrive in dealerships worldwide this year. It marks the beginning of an era and the first time the British manufacturer offers an SUV or, as they put it, a high-riding vehicle. No matter what you call it, the Cullinan will definitely be one of the most desirable cars in the world since it’s going to take the luxury of the Phantom in all of its entirety, and simply raise it a few good inches off the ground.
Rolls-Royce also claims that this car will be able to cover any sort of terrain effortlessly and has put quite a lot of effort into showing that’s not just a claim. During the past few weeks a Rolls-Royce Cullinan prototype was put though all sorts of interesting challenges across three countries in collaboration with National Geographic, via the so-called “Final Challenge”. The trip included stops in Scotland, the United Arab Emirates and finally the US.
One of the iconic places the Cullinan paid a visit to was Pikes Peak. The place is mostly known for the yearly hillclimb race which takes place here every summer, otherwise known for the number of victims it claimed over the years. It’s a dangerous, treacherous highway climbing up the mountain, with 156 turns over the course of 12.4 miles and, to make things more interesting, most of the track doesn’t have guardrails. At the end, you’re at over 14,000 feet elevation, the perfect place to test your engine’s reaction to rarefied air.
For this segment of the testing, the driver was switched for this final leg of testing, Clemens being the one taking the wheel for some high speed hill climbing. Of course, we are used to seeing proper race cars, specially prepped to take on the tight turns of the Pikes Peak track so seeing the big, heaving, tall Cullinan SUV doing it as well does seem a bit off but then again, this car has to do it all and it doesn’t look remotely as out of place as I imagined.
