Weekly highlights from Land Rover's Silk Trail 2013
expedition, travelling 17,000km from Solihull, UK, to Mumbai, India
and taking-in the legendary Silk Road trading route that first
connected Asia with Europe more than 2,000 years ago. This epic
journey is the final validation test for prototypes of the new
Range Rover Hybrid before the model is signed-off for
production.
- Three Range Rover Hybrid prototypes become the first vehicles
from outside China to complete the demanding Xinjiang-to-Tibet
highway
- Silk Trail 2013 expedition team members are among the first
westerners ever to cross north-west China in the high Tibetan
mountains
- During seven consecutive days in thin air at 3,900 to 5,300
metres above sea-level, the Range Rover Hybrid prototypes continued
to perform well
- Expedition has covered more than 14,200 kilometres from
Solihull, with 3,000 kilometres to go through Nepal and India to
Mumbai
- Photographs and video on Land Rover media website
Pioneering a mountainous route across north-west China never
previously completed by a vehicle from outside the country, the
Silk Trail 2013 expedition has successfully traversed the
Xinjiang-Tibet highway, during five consecutive days and nights at
altitudes of 3,900 to 5,300 metres.
On this toughest leg so far on the journey from Solihull to
Mumbai, the expedition's team members covered ground very few
westerners have seen before, passing through military-controlled
areas close to international borders at altitudes classified by
medical practitioners and mountaineers as 'High', 'Very High', and
'Extremely High'.
Before entering China, the Silk Trail 2013 expedition spent the
last of its eight nights in scenic Kyrgyzstan at a yurt camp next
to Tash Rabat, a 15th Century brick-built caravanserai that
sheltered merchants travelling on the Silk Road. Next day, the
expedition reached Kashgar, one of China's westernmost and remotest
of cities, where in Roman times the north and south Silk Roads
split.
It was the high mountains that the three Range Rover Hybrid
prototypes would have to conquer. In the next five days, heading
south-east from Kashgar to Zhangmu on the China-Nepal border, the
roads climbed and fell repeatedly between altitudes of 3,500 and
5,400 metres.
At sea-level, 21 percent of the air is oxygen, but at 5,000
metres this is reduced to 10 percent. The effects of altitude were
experienced by the whole team, with short bursts of supplementary
oxygen required occasionally.
The performance of the Range Rover Hybrids was much less
affected by the thin air. With the torque-strong alliance of
electric-and-diesel engines proving only slightly less responsive
than usual to throttle commands, particularly on steep inclines;
the Range Rovers continued to make good progress with their heavy
loads.
Auto makers rarely have a chance to test their vehicles at such
extreme altitudes, so Land Rover engineers have been closely
monitoring data logged about the cars' behaviour. This demanding
journey is the final validation test of Range Rover Hybrid
prototypes before the model is signed-off for production.
The expedition's last night in China was spent less than a mile
away from the Friendship Bridge connecting China and Nepal, ahead
of a crossing into the penultimate country on this epic journey to
India.
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Editors Note:
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