The latest Land Rover Discovery has taken on a 110-tonne road train in the Australian Outback… and won.
The sight of a seven-trailer truck being pulled by an SUV sounds far-fetched – but that’s what happened when Land Rover put the Discovery to the ultimate towing test Down Under.
Land Rover completed the impressive display of towing capability by pulling the 100m road train in the remote Northern Territory to announce the arrival of the 2018 model.
The Discovery Td6 has a maximum certified towing capacity of 3,500kg on public roads but successfully towed the 110-tonne road train 16km along a closed section of the Lasseter Highway, thanks to its 258PS 3.0-litre diesel engine and four-wheel-drive traction.
Road trains of up to four trailers are only permitted in Australia’s vast Outback regions and typically carry fuel, mineral ore and cattle between remote rural communities.
Special permission for Discovery to tow road train
Strict regulations limit their length to 53.5m so Land Rover obtained special permission to pull seven trailers and the 12-tonne tractor unit – retained to operate the hydraulic brakes fitted to the trailers.
John Bilato, Managing Director of haulage specialist G&S Transport, took the wheel for the epic pull.
He said: “When Land Rover got in touch, I didn’t think the vehicle would be able to do it, so I was amazed by how easily the standard Discovery pulled a 110-tonne road train.
“And the smoothness of the gear changes under that amount of load was genuinely impressive.”
Series of impressive Discovery towing demos
The extreme test was carried out using a Td6 and is the latest in a series of impressive towing demonstrations completed by the dynasty of Discoveries.
At its 1989 launch, the original Discovery I was used to pull a train and last year the Sport premium compact SUV towed a trio of rail carriages 85ft above the Rhine River.
The New Land Rover Discovery was crowned Tow Car Awards overall winner for 2017 earlier this year.
It is an accolade the previous Discovery had been awarded nine times over the previous ten years, culminating in it being chosen as Tow Car of the Decade in 2016.
While the demonstration of power was rather above and beyond the normal rigours your 4×4 will face, its good to know you have the right protection in place for your car. For specialists 4×4, off-road and Land Rover insurance contact the experts at Adrian Flux.
