Latest technology of Range Rover car tackle toughest roads on China's steep Tianmen Mountain

TECH

Latest technology of Range Rover car tackle toughest roads on China's steep Tianmen Mountain

2018-02-13 18:00 Last Updated At：02-14 18:36

Do you dare to sit in it and drive in the mountain?

Range Rover Sport has recently launched a new product capable of climbing stairs to Heaven instead of passing through every steep hairpin turn and thousands of steps by walking.

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Land Rover

The car has been shown in one of China’s most revered national landmarks, Tianmen Mountain in Hunan Province, to tackle the most challenging and twisting highways.

The car is with a British Engine P400e plug-in hybrid, a 4X4 electrical car with five seats. It's also the first SUV in the world that can ascend to the top of the "Heaven's Gate".

There are 99 treacherous hairpins in seven-mile Tianmen Mountain Road from the bottom and 999 steps at the finale to be finished. The final stairs are 45-degree steep.

A same kind of challenge has been finished with Panasonic Jaguar Formula-E using under 23 minutes and Ho-Pin Tung is the test driver of this Range Rover Sport PHEV petrol-electric SUV.

The diver was warned the fear was "crazy" and one Chinese official said, "If he crashes, he will die."

But he finally finished the challenge, saying "I'm still shaking. The adrenalin is something I’ve never experienced before. The mountain very generously gave us one shot to make it up here."

"I've experienced Formula E, Formula 1 and won at the 24 Hours of Le Mans but this was without doubt one of the most demanding driving challenges I’ve ever faced, he added. "The Range Rover Sport PHEV performed brilliantly as it inspired real confidence on the mountain road and climbed the stairs up to Heaven’s Gate effortlessly."

The cost of the vehicle is £70,800. It can run on zero-emission electric power for up to 31 miles and be fully charged from the mains in under three hours.

A spokesman for Land Rover said, "A dizzying 99 turns and 999 daunting steps didn’t stop the new Range Rover Sport PHEV from completing a world-first at one of China’s most famous landmarks."

"This was the hardest Range Rover Sport challenge I’ve ever been involved with because, until we reached the top, we couldn’t categorically say we would succeed," Land Rover Experience expert Phil Jones said. "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."

Former Navy sailor sentenced to 16 years for selling information about ships to Chinese intelligence

A former U.S. Navy sailor convicted of selling technical and operating manuals for ships and operating systems to an intelligence officer working for China was sentenced Monday to more than 16 years in prison, prosecutors said.

A federal judge in San Diego sentenced Jinchao Wei, 25, to 200 months. A federal jury convicted Wei in August of six crimes, including espionage. He was paid more than $12,000 for the information he sold, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

Wei, an engineer for the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, was one of two California-based sailors charged on Aug. 3, 2023, with providing sensitive military information to China. The other, Wenheng Zhao, was sentenced to more than two years in 2024 after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of receiving a bribe in violation of his official duties.

U.S. officials have for years expressed concern about the espionage threat they say the Chinese government poses, bringing criminal cases in recent years against Beijing intelligence operatives who have stolen sensitive government and commercial information, including through illegal hacking.

Wei was recruited via social media in 2022 by an intelligence officer who portrayed himself as a naval enthusiast working for the state-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, prosecutors said.

Evidence presented in court showed Wei told a friend that the person was “extremely suspicious” and that it was “quite obviously” espionage. Wei disregarded the friend's advice to delete the contact and instead moved conversations with the intelligence officer to a different encrypted messaging app Wei believed was more secure, prosecutors said.

Over the course of 18 months, Wei sent the officer photos and videos of the Essex, advised him of the location of various Navy ships and told him about the Essex's defensive weapons, prosecutors said.

Wei sold the intelligence officer 60 technical and operating manuals, including those for weapons control, aircraft and deck elevators. The manuals contained export control warnings and detailed the operations of multiple systems aboard the Essex and similar ships.

He was a petty officer second class, which is a enlisted sailor's rank.

The Navy's website says the Essex is equipped to transport and support a Marine Corps landing force of over 2,000 troops during an air and amphibious assault.

In a letter to the judge before sentencing, Wei apologized and said he shouldn’t have shared anything with the person who he had considered a friend. Wei said “introversion and loneliness” clouded his judgment.