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Think a little snow is tough?September 2, 2004 When a 50,000-kilometer drive around the world expedition was planned to raise money for the Parkinson's Disease Institute, the vehicles chosen were Land Rover Discoverys, provided by Land Rover Certified. The tires? BFGoodrich® Mud-Terrain T/A®KM tires. After 235 days of traveling some of the roughest and most challenging terrain on the planet, the team swears by the BFGoodrich tires. "We drove all the way from Sunnyvale, California to the bottom of South America," says expedition leader Nick Baggarly. "Our terrain-taming, mud-eating Mud-Terrain (T/A®KM) tires were perfect." Baggarly says the expedition traveled through countries in South America that contained mile after mile of mud – sometimes through seemingly endless bogs. The expedition will continue throughout the summer, anticipating a return to Sunnyvale - via Russia! – in early September. "In Peru we had to drive into a swamp that was typically from 6 to 12 inches deep. It was really muddy. And the tires just handled it. They have these DiggerLugz on the sidewall, and they're pretty amazing. In mud you can just kind of gun it and they'll just dig down until they grab something solid, and then move you forward." Expedition spokesman Justin Mounts voiced similar comments about travel in Costa Rica. "The roads in Costa Rica have potholes so bad it looks like a war zone." He described potholes wider than the track of the Land Rover Discoverys, and deeper than the radius of the tires. "You have to have a tire that can handle that without flinching," Mount said, "and the tire and your vehicle is your lifeline." Mounts said conditions were possibly worse in Chile. "The terrain we traveled – like the Carretera Austral in southern Chile – I don't think any of us have driven a worse road anywhere. Combine the corrugation, the loose gravel and the potholes, you would be amazed at what the tires endure." Amazingly enough, Baggarly said, the Land Rover Discoverys all reached the southern tip of South America without incurring a single puncture. You can follow the expedition's progress by contacting the Parkinson's Disease Foundation at www.parkinsonsinstitute.org/support/drivearoundtheworld and at the expedition web site: www.drivearoundtheworld.com Photo courtesy www.drivearoundtheworld.com |
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