Toyota Hilux reaches the South Pole

The Toyota Hilux has overcome yet another challenge by successfully traveling to the South Pole in Antartica, in what is the coldest and most hostile environment in the world. The Hilux joins this achievement to other successful journeys that included driving to the North Pole and conquering the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull.

A group of four Hiluxs was responsible for transporting the expedition members of the Indian National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) between the 10th November and 5th December 2010. The NCAOR expedition is responsible for studying chemistry, the glacial landscapes and the bedrock hidden beneath the ice. During this period the four Hiluxs traveled 4,600 km in Antartica between Novo Air Base and the South Pole.

These four Hilux were built by Toyota South Africa Motors and adapted to resist the harsh Antartica climate by Icelandic Toyota 4x4 conversion specialists, Arctic Trucks. The Toyota Hilux has for long been Artic Trucks first choice amongst equivalent vehicles because of its Quality, Durability and Reliability under even the most extreme driving conditions.

NCAOR selected the Hilux to undertake a journey where temperatures go below -40oC, with peaks of -56oC, with altitudes of over 3,400 m and an extremely difficult driving environment. The Hilux gathered the characteristics that were requested to travel along the world’s harshest continent.

One of these characteristics was the low comparable fuel consumption of 50 l/100 km, achieved in extreme conditions. The Hilux achieved  5 to 8 times lower consumptions than tracked vehicles while running on a less energy-efficient Jet 1A fuel, 24 hours a day and constantly using extra heating system.

By significantly reducing the amount of fuel transportation as well as fuel costs, this fuel efficiency also meant that the expedition only had to make one refueling stop.

Another positive characteristic of the Toyota Hilux for this journey is its high load carrying capacity. The Hilux combines a low unladen weight of just 2.2 tons with a payload capacity of 1.5 tons and a towing capacity of 3 tons, which represents an advantage for this kind of expedition where lots of material, spare parts, participants and fuel have to be transported.

Thanks to the Hilux the expedition maintained a faster average speed than any comparable expedition had previously achieved.

The four vehicles requested several adaptations in order to overtake Antarctica’s extreme driving conditions. Still the 3.0 D-4D diesel engine fitted under the bonnets remained entirely unchanged for the expedition.

The modifications included the integration of a crane to lift heavy equipment and fuel, the use of Jet 1A fuel with additional lubricants to tackle the extreme cold, revised front/rear suspension and drivetrain, extra heating system, crawler gears, crevasse protection and the fitment of extra large tires with a pressure as low as 2 psi.