Top Gear is said to be the world’s highest production costing automotive TV show and damn right it is. Watch the ‘polar challenge’ episode if you think otherwise. Its a 400 mile expedition from ‘Resolute’ a north Canadian town to the north pole in a Toyota Hilux pick up truck.
more pics of this Toyota Hilux after the jump.
At first I thought who’d wanna watch a couple of grumpy old geezers trying to do what has never been done before. But then I went ahead, moved my lazy bum and watched it. Gotta give it to them, the episode was rivetingly hilarious.
Its a race between Jeremy Clarkson and James May driving a Toyota Hilux/Tacoma pick up truck and Richard Hammond on a sledge pulled by 10 husky dogs. After watching the episode, I couldn’t help but feel Hammond had to endure more than our Jeremy & James duo. Nevertheless this is a superbly made installment, which in every way lives upto its production standards. The visuals were stunning and I liked the soundtrack, especially the one from ‘Requiem for a Dream’. For some reason, every time I listen to it, this track always gives me a Goose skin, but thats a different story altogether.
What grabbed me more than anything else was the Toyota Hilux / Tacoma pickup truck they used. Maan! look at it… if it could kill… all the polar bears that come its way will be eaten to extinction. The first things that seize our attention are the massive 38-inch tyres housed in those bulged out ‘bigger than Arnies’s lats’ flared wheel-arches. These coupled with the heavy duty winch up front and not to forget the shotgun hanging out at the back of the truck, gives it an image that screams out its 4WD seriousness.
Enroute, the Icelandics claim it impossible to pass in a car, is something called a boulder field with terrain so unforgiving that it would rip out the truck’s under-body parts. With the temperatures reaching a dick-freezing -65°C, a lot of things like the truck’s mechanical parts could go wrong. Heck, even the fuel in the tank’d be frozen at those temperatures.
To defeat these extreme conditions, the Hilux has been fitted with parts like heavy duty locking differentials, thick skid plates, fuel heaters etc. The mods have been done by ‘Arctic Trucks’ a company that specializes in prepping 4WDs for extreme conditions. Here’s the list of mods if you are interested.
- Studded snow tires of 38 inches in diameter on 15 inch arctic trucks aluminium wheels replace the standard 255/65 R16 wheels and run at pressures as low as 4psi to give good flotation over snow. Two valves per wheel.
- Heavy duty winch mounted on a heavy duty bulbar with lifting points.
- Xenon auxillary driving lights for areas with bad visibility.
- Arches flared by 30cm to protect the tires.
- standard 169bhp 3.0 D-4D engine modified for ultra-low air temperatures.
- Extra coolant added to boost coolant temperature before start-up together with fuel heaters and a heavy duty battery.
- Fat 5mm aluminium skid plates protect the bumper, suspension, transmission and transfer case.
- The position of the front suspension was moved 50mm towards the ground, then moved forward 40mm.
- Lots of kits including shovels, pry-bars, jacks, towing strap, tool kits, first aid kits and a chain saw.
- Locking front and rear diffs modified to cope with the cold.
- Special exhaust, raised air intakes and an extra 90-litre fuel tank to increase the total capacity to 170-litres.
- Shotguns were carried for protection against polar bear attack.
I can’t just stress enough in writing, how much you need watch this episode in Hi-Def. ahem… If only you could somehow get your hands on one.
If you still haven’t figured out how to watch the Hi-Def version,
here are the lower quality ones from youtube
[Source: Toyota & Top Gear]
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