Porsche Taps Richard Hammond to Handle a Hill Climb in the Cayenne EV Prototype
Other details are slim at the moment, but Porsche has also announced that the new Cayenne EV will offer the brand's Active Ride system seen previously on the Panamera and Taycan. That system is Porsche's active suspension, which can use hydraulic motors to pump 2000 lbs of force into each individual corner of a suspension to counteract the forces that a heavy car like a Cayenne EV would face during cornering, braking, and acceleration.Porsche also revealed the car's towing capacity of up to 7716 lbs, a number that will vary by configuration. The brand chose to showcase this by having former Top Gear and Grand Tour host Richard Hammond tow a hundred-year-old car with the Cayenne. The stunt is just one part of Hammond's 10-minute drive video focused on the Cayenne for his YouTube channel DriveTribe.
Porsche says that the Cayenne EV's time of 31.28 seconds is a record for any SUV at the 120-year-old Shelsley Walsh hill climb, beating the previous contender by four seconds. Given how short the hill climb is, that is an absolutely massive gap. The time was set by Gabriela Jílková, a simulator and development driver for the brand's Formula E team. The car's next appearance will be at another one of England's most famous meets featuring a hill climb: this weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed.
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