What's the news?
Well, I guess this might just be a classic 'don't try this at home...' stunt. Land Rover has decided to demonstrate the towing capacity of its Discovery Sport SUV by having one pull a 100-tonne train for more than 10 kilometres along a Swiss railway.
The stunt, which took place at the Museumsbahn Stein am Rhein in Switzerland, and which included the dramatic 300-metre Hemishofen bridge across the Rhine, involved a Discovery Sport, using only its standard 180hp, 430Nm 2.0-litre diesel Ingenium engine, plus the optional nine-speed automatic gearbox.
The only modifications were the fitting of rail wheels to act as stabilisers for the car so that it wouldn't slip off the track. Those were fitted by car-to-rail specialists Aquarius Railroad Technologies, which converts service vehicles for rail companies so that their cars can be used on the track as well as the road.
Karl Richards, Lead Engineer for Stability Control Systems at Jaguar Land Rover, said: "Towing is in Land Rover's DNA, and despite Discovery Sport being the smallest model in the range, it has proved its exceptional towing capabilities. Over the years, we have introduced game-changing towing technologies to take the stress out of towing for our customers. I've spent most of my career travelling to the most punishing parts of the world to test Land Rovers in gruelling conditions, yet this is the most extreme towing test I've ever done."
Aquarius Railroad Technologies Managing Director James Platt, said: "For a vehicle of this size to pull a combined weight of more than 100 tonnes demonstrates real engineering integrity. No modifications were necessary to the drivetrain whatsoever and in tests the Discovery Sport generated more pull than our road-rail Defender, which is remarkable."
Anything else?
The Discovery Sport has a standard maximum towing weight of 2,500kg, which was clearly waived for the purposes of this test, and used the All Terrain Progress Control (a sort of off-road cruise control that gently and automatically accelerates the car from a standing start to find maximum traction) to get the pull started.