Land Rover Discovery Sport takes on a Dog Sled Team
The Land Rover Discovery Sport takes a six-dog sled team to an underground Ski Tunnel in Finland to see which is better – Disco or Dog.
Land Rover do like to set up a challenge or two to prove their off-road USP is still intact, and the latest involves the Land Rover Discovery Sport and a team of sled dogs in Finland.
With Europe pretty much devoid of snow and ice at this time of the year, Land Rover put Jami, the lead dog, in to the back of the Disco Sport and took him off to the underground Vesileppis Ski Tunnel in Finland to meet the rest of the team (read that as the Discovery Sport is very dog-friendly).
The Vesileppis Ski Tunnel is an undulating tunnel carved in to bedrock 35 metres below ground level and kept at a constant -2°C to keep a 20mm blanket of snow right through the summer months – perfect for the challenge.
The Discovery Sport set off in one direction and the six-dog sled team of Finnish middle distance champion Laura Kääriäinen went off in the other to see which was quicker.
The dog sled team had to negotiate the initial incline before getting a free run, but the Discovery Sport had to encounter ice blacks en-route to challenge it further and test its wheel articulation and traction control.
The Discovery Sport was driven by Karl Richards, JLR’s Lead Engineer for Stability Control. He said:
Snow is one of the most demanding surfaces drivers will encounter during winter around the world and Discovery Sport proved to be as comfortable in these conditions as the dogs. Land Rover’s advanced Terrain Response technology and intelligent four-wheel drive system ensure our premium compact SUV is in a class of its own when it comes to off-road driving – whether you’ve got two legs or four.
Check out the video below to see which won – Disco or Dog.
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