leisurewheels.co.za SEPTEMBER 2019 31
track that was now rutted in
places, meant that the driver
had to constantly assess the
track. Drive too slow and you
get stuck, drive too fast and you
risk pulling a tyre off the rim or
worse, get up close and personal
with the local shrubbery.
Then it happened. Often we
would get slightly stuck but a
quick reverse and a repeat with
a bit more loud pedal would see
us on your way. Not this time.
The Landy was properly stuck
in a severely rutted section that
needed to be taken with caution
as it was immediately followed
by a 90-degree right turn. A bit
of digging; okay quite a bit of
digging followed
by a mighty tug from our
Mercedes-Benz X-Class backup
bakkie and the Discovery was
free, allowing us to continue.
At this moment we realised
that the diff-lock was not happy.
Driving in Sand mode kept itpermanently locked and it was
being overworked on the faster
open sections. A quick reset
and the decision to continue
in Auto mode on the Terrain
Response put all well again. We
also decided to drop the tyre
pressures a bit more, the track
was deteriorating and digging
out a Discovery in the dark is
no fun. But with the tyres now
close to one bar we had to drive
with extra caution because
changing a tyre in the sand is
just as much fun as digging in
the sand.
The graveyard shift from
midnight until around 3am
was the trickiest. The sleep
monsters came and the track
got worse with every lap. But
as dawn approached, it brought
with it considerable dew and
moisture from the ocean. The
ruts remained but the sand was
a fair bit more compact, making
the driving slightly easier.Fortunately, or rather
remarkably, it was soon
evident that the tyres were
happy at around one bar and
we could push on. Dawn
brought rejuvenation among
the team and the end was in
sight, or so it felt.
But we still had nine hours
to go. Would the Landy make
it? We plugged away, the track
was getting deeply rutted and
the Disco was scraping its
belly in the sand, even on its
highest ride height setting. Yet,
the Landy remained happy,
skidding along, the engine
under-stressed even on the
steep climb dubbed Lang Duin,
all the while transporting its
driver in utmost comfort.
Our final pitstop at around
midday was the longest.
Skidding and scraping through
the ruts had filled the under
body protection with sand
and our technicians had to24-hour sand driving record ADVENTUREDRIVE