The Gentleman Magazine Issue 9 | June 2018 | Page 17

The Architecture of Luxury really comes into its own in creating
Cullinan. The engineering team behind Cullinan adapted the
Architecture of Luxury to the design template of a high-bodied
car laid down by Giles Taylor and his design team thanks to its
innate adaptability.
It was designed and engineered from the ground up in such
a way as to be scalable to the size and weight requirements
of different future Rolls-Royce models, including those
with different propulsion, traction and control systems, thus
underpinning the long-term future product roadmap.
Cullinan uses this new architecture in a wholly different manner
to deliver an iconic design and presence, uncompromised
comfort, space and usability, cutting edge technology and
the peerless on-road and off-road driving experience and
capability.
The component parts of the base architecture were reconfigured
into a spaceframe that was higher and shorter whilst also
delivering a completely new feature never seen before on a
series production Rolls-Royce – a tailgate.
The all-new aluminium sub-structure delivers extraordinary
car body stiffness for exceptional 'best-in-class' functional
performance on rough terrain whilst offering better ride
comfort.
The ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ taken off-road
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 impresses off-road
as well as on-road thanks to the new lighter architecture, and
the latest generation of self-levelling air suspension. Through
a thorough 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
strengthening of 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, and the complete reworking of the new
6.75 litre twin-turbo V12 Rolls-Royce engine 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.
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.
In the case of 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.
“Put simply, what makes the car great on-road makes the car
great off-road,” concludes Krismer.
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.
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