ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS JOINS THE REBELLE RALLY SHOWCASING ITS FIRST SUV IN STYLE
· Rolls-Royce Cullinan joins the Rebelle Rally with its first entry into the world of adventure
· The Cullinan is the first SUV for Rolls-Royce featuring its first All-Wheel Drive system paired with the brand’s proprietary Architecture of Luxury to create an ‘Effortless, Everywhere’ experience
· Drawing from its strong history of adventure, Rolls-Royce enters this unique event with elements of serious competition and the ultimate luxury journey
· 2018 Rebelle Co-Champions have the honor to pilot in luxury for 2019 rally
When Rolls-Royce Motor Cars designed the Cullinan, they envisioned it being ‘Effortless, Everywhere’, and now that vehicle will be tested to its very limits when it enters as a competitor in the 2019 Rebelle Rally. The Cullinan will be contending in this unique adventure which combines elements of serious competition as teams navigate their way to checkpoints across the American West. Piloted by driver Emme Hall with direction by navigator Rebecca Donaghe, they’ll leave cell phones, computers, GPS and worries behind as the adventure is all about the teams and their endless abilities. True to its promise, Cullinan will provide the ultimate experience of ‘effortless everywhere.’
The Rebelle Rally, entering its fourth year, is the first all-female off-road navigational rally in the United States. The event has a unique challenge and scoring system where precise navigation and timing, not speed, is the ultimate goal. Participants trade in cell phones and GPS for old-school navigation in a competition for the elements of time, distance, headings, and hidden checkpoints. Armed only with maps, compasses, and roadbooks, 50 teams of two will be pushed to their limits as they make their way across 2,000+ kilometers of Nevada and California’s iconic terrain.
Rolls-Royce Cullinan Rally Debut
When Rolls-Royce Cullinan made its debut last year, it was truly a Rolls-Royce that has never been seen before. When Sir Henry Royce said, “Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better. When it does not exist, design it”, he could have had Cullinan in mind.
Architecture of Luxury
Key to the creation of the Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV is the new Architecture of Luxury – Rolls-Royce’s proprietary all-aluminium architecture. Introduced with the new Phantom in 2017. Cullinan uses this new architecture to deliver elegant Rolls-Royce design and presence with uncompromised comfort, space and usability.
The all-new aluminium sub-structure delivers extraordinary car body stiffness for exceptional ‘best-in-class’ functional performance on rough terrain while offering better ride comfort.
It was designed and engineered from the ground up to be scalable to a variety of size and weight requirements for future Rolls-Royce models. The engineering will also make it compatible with different propulsion, traction and control systems and industry electric drive. In short, the Architecture of Luxury is the technological underpinning for the long-term future Rolls-Royce product roadmap.
The component parts of the base architecture were reconfigured into a spaceframe for Cullinan that was higher and shorter while also delivering a completely new feature never seen before on a series production Rolls-Royce – a tailgate.
Technological Showcase
The integration of new technologies into the architecture was also key to ensuring the fundamental quality of Cullinan as Effortless, Everywhere. The engineering team began by creating a drivetrain that would bring Rolls-Royce’s famous ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ off-road.
“The drivetrain system we engineered for Cullinan had one key job to do,” explains Caroline Krismer, Engineering Project Leader for Cullinan. “To bring the famed Rolls-Royce ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ to all other terrains possible, while ensuring class-leading on-road behaviour in the SUV sector.”
Rolls-Royce’s celebrated Magic Carpet Ride is experienced off-road as well as on-road thanks to the new lighter architecture, and the latest generation of self-levelling air suspension. When driving off-road, the electronically controlled shock absorber adjustment system uses an air compression system to actively push down any wheel it detects losing traction to ensure every wheel is constantly in contact with the ground and maximum torque is being provided to all wheels.
Through a re-engineering of the existing air suspension system – including adding larger air struts with more air volume to cushion the blows of the toughest of terrains, the suspension makes millions of calculations every second as it continuously varies the electronically controlled shock absorber adjustment system – reacting to body and wheel acceleration, steering inputs and camera information. A new double-wishbone front axle and 5-link rear axle deliver astounding levels of control over lateral roll and shear forces and deliver incredible agility and stability, as does the addition of four-wheel steering, all contributing to incredible drivability and nimbleness.
“Put simply, what makes the car great on-road makes the car great off-road,” concludes Krismer.
Cullinan features the reworked new 6.75 litre twin-turbo V12 Rolls-Royce engine[1] to deliver just the right level of torque (850Nm) at the lowest possible revolutions (1,600rpm.) The Rolls-Royce engineering team has ensured Cullinan will take owners to places no modern Rolls-Royce owner has travelled in luxury before.
Mated to the celebrated Rolls-Royce V12 6.75 liter engine is an enhanced state of the art and fully capable eight-speed transmission that delivers with power and grace. Using Rolls-Royce’s unique Satellite Aided Transmission (SAT) technology, Cullinan’s systems read road and altitude data from the GPS system and anticipate upcoming gear shifts. This advanced SAT system reduces gear shifts by 20%, giving a more efficient and smoother ride regardless of road conditions. The drive system also features strengthened drive and prop shafts, the inclusion of drive to the front wheels as well as the back for the first time in Rolls-Royce history.
The final piece of the puzzle of ensuring that the Rolls-Royce Cullinan is Effortless, Everywhere is one single button. Known within Rolls-Royce as the ‘Everywhere’ button, one single push is all it takes to harness all the aforementioned peerless Rolls-Royce engineering and unleash all of Cullinan’s off-road capability.
Once engaged, the driver can finesse the off-road setting to conquer any situation, whether it be rough track, gravel, wet grass, mud, snow or sand delivering all 627 lb-ft of torque to all four wheels without interruption. Faced with deep snow, sand or the need to ford streams, Cullinan also delivers the deepest wading depth of any super-luxury SUV at 21-inches (540 mm) thanks to its highest ride height.
In-vehicle Technology
A host of cutting-edge technology makes Rolls-Royce Cullinan the most technologically advanced car of its type in the world. Further equipment includes:
· Alertness Assistant; a 4-Camera system with Panoramic View, all-round visibility and helicopter view
· Night Vision and Vision Assist including daytime and night-time Wildlife & Pedestrian warning
· Active Cruise Control
· Collision Warning
· Cross-Traffic Warning
· Lane Departure and Lane Change Warning
· An industry leading 7×3 High-Resolution Head-Up Display
· The latest Navigation and Entertainment Systems
Piloting the Adventure
Leading the Cullinan through this incredible adventure are the co-champion Rally team of Emme Hall and Rebecca Donaghe. This team has been competing together since 2016 and were both part of the first Rally four years ago. Emme Hall resides in Oakland and has been an automotive journalist with CNET since 2015. Navigator Rebecca is originally from Houston but now resides in Marina Del Rey where she works as a producer. Their combined skill sets complement each other and make for one unbelievable dynamic duo.
