With the completion of the Channel Tunnel, it became possible to drive from London to the tip of Russia. With that crossing a possibility, it didn't take long for someone to propose the near impossible: Driving across the Bering Sea pack ice to North America, for a London to New York traverse.
Land Rover accepted sponsorship and provided 3 defender 110s and 3 mechanics as team members. They also underwrote the cost of an amphibious unit required to cross bodies of water between sea ice. The amphibious was a Kevlar made catamaran, equipped with a hydraulic pump that drove 2 stern-mounted paddle wheels. With the vehicle mounted on top, the pump was driven from the rear power take-off on the Defender. The machine was dubbed the LRPC (Land Rover Powered Catamaran).
Check out this video of reconnaissance conducted by the team to determine feasability of the crossing.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2yv2pnJAKA (Sorry, embedding is disabled.)
Some stills of the Defenders in the video sporting Mattracks...
A well written
account of the project resides at Max Adventure, which provided Arctic base
leadership, recce advice and logistics co-ordination for the expedition.
You can find desktop backgrounds of the above two images in the right hand column of
their home page.
is a must in your Rover. 3 huge benefits: