- New Range Rover Sport set to challenge for fastest recorded time across one of the most treacherous terrains in the world
- 650,000km sq of hostile, unforgiving desert will provide backdrop for grueling test of man and machine
- Dawn to dusk drive in a standard production vehicle piloted by off‑road racer Moi Torrallardona
This coming week, Land Rover will attempt to set the fastest recorded time for a land vehicle crossing of the 'Empty Quarter' ‑ one of the harshest and most challenging desert environments on the planet, using a standard production New Range Rover Sport.
In the days running up to the challenge last minute checks are being made, with the challenge vehicle being prepped at the start line in Wadi Adda Wasir, Saudi Arabia. The route will run from there towards the finish line on the border of the United Arab Emirates, a distance of over 1000km ‑ further than the length of France.
The driver will be Moi Torrallardona, a 47 year‑old Spanish off‑road racer with extensive experience of the Dakar Rally, in which he competed for ten successive years with a best finish of 6th overall.
A dangerously arid climate with no reliable water sources and an ever‑shifting terrain, the Empty Quarter in the Arabian Peninsula is one of the most treacherous terrains man and machine could face. The driving conditions will be incredibly harsh, with temperatures of over 50 degrees C in the day and towering sand dunes stretching 850ft into the air.
The New Range Rover Sport will be production‑spec, challenging a terrain where usually only specialist sand vehicles are found. Moi will be exercising its breadth of capability to the limit in the process.
A full press release, selection of images from the challenge and b‑roll will be available on the 4th November, with the challenge vehicle due to be displayed at the Dubai Motor Show on the 5th November. A short documentary of the record attempt will then follow.
Photography assets, including imagery captured at initial prep days at the Jaguar Land Rover Test Centre in Dubai, are available on request or to download at www.media.landrover.com
Interview opportunities with driver Moi Torrallardona will be available on the 5th November at the Dubai Motor Show.
ENDS
Editors notes:
The Empty Quarter
The Empty Quarter, or Rub' al Khali as it is known in Arabic, is the largest sand desert in the world and the second largest desert after the Sahara on the planet. It is an enormous and incredibly harsh environment; taking up an area close to the size of North America.
The Empty Quarter spans 4 countries in the Arabic Peninsula: Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Temperatures regularly rise above 50 degrees C and any crossing, no matter how well organised, must be approached with extreme caution.
All‑New Range Rover Sport
Developed alongside the highly‑acclaimed Range Rover, the all‑new Range Rover Sport delivers the brand's best‑ever on‑road dynamics together with class‑leading, genuine Land Rover all‑terrain capability, while presenting customers with a more assertive and muscular exterior, more luxurious interior and the flexibility provided by the option of occasional third row seating.
Exploiting Land Rover's breakthrough lightweight suspension design and innovative dynamic chassis technologies, the All‑New Range Rover Sport's first‑in‑class aluminium architecture achieves a weight saving of more than 420kg.
Designed and engineered at Land Rover's development centres in the UK, the new model will be produced in a state‑of‑the‑art low‑energy manufacturing facility at Solihull, UK.
To download images, film and media packs, log onto
www.media.landrover.com or contact:
Dave Roynon
Manager, Land Rover Product PR & Strategy
T: 02746 564 148
M: 07764 377 640
