Back to the SP for EWR drivers.
Published on 20.12.2011 - South Pole Race 2011/2012 Centenary Race
The itinerary of the race
© EWR website
The three vehicles that have been from Novolazarevskaya to McMurdo are now back in SP. Rest of the EWR team at Novo is preparing the 100th Anniversary Race that was scheduled to start on 15 December.
Novo > SP > McMurdo > SP
The EWR driving team has done the itinerary Novolazarevskaya > McMurdo, passing through the South Pole, in 26 days.
Arriving on the way back at the South Pole, they have travelled a distance of 1.254 km in five days, which makes about 250 km every day, ten times the skiing expeditioners pace ! Another figure : it took them a total of 47 hours to do the distance McMurdo > South Pole, of which 17.5 hours were spent driving and 20.5 other hours "sleeping, taking pictures, talking, enjoying the breathtaking views and going to the bathroom..." They have 'climbed' from sea level to 2.897 m in less than 29 hours.
All this publicity -and even more publicity in the weeks to come becasue of the 100th Anniversary Race- is without doubt to demonstrate world wide that EWR vehicles car go and reach every where in Antarctica in no time.
Moreover, CEO Tony Martin can't resist to boast the capabilities of his company in Antarctica. On 17 December, he writes : "... EWR's capabilities in Antarctica with our Arctic Trucks Expedition trucks is even starting to impress me. There is nowhere on this continent where we cannot provide safe, fuel efficient, comfortable, 45km an hour (safe speeds), state of the art communications to scientists or adventurers alike..."
About the safety of the race
EWR would like to take one's share of the more and more juicy loot which is the development of Antarctic tourism, it shouldn't probably behave otherwise.
This commercial promotion goes with deep inner thoughts (one has to feel the subject) : "... There are many unique things about Antarctica", wrote Martin on 20 December), "but one that for me comes across as the most incredibly powerful is that it will expose the person within; the one you look at each morning in the mirror has never shown so clear. Antarctica is the most fantastic place to have a complete mental detox in a kind of solitude I have never felt before on any of my travels around the World. Simply because all of the noise, smells, advertising, bravado, social hang-ups, commitments, texts, phone calls and distractions in life disappear leaving you on your own and deep in your mind. The 100th Anniversary skiers will experience a magical transition in their state of their mind that very few have ever felt. ..."
The day after, he made an interesting statement about the safety layed upon the competitors for this 100th Anniversary Race. " The competitors have been given instructions on the communication systems we use for safety. This season we have added further device that transmits every 15 minutes to our control center the exact location, heartbeat, pulse rate and core temperature of the individual wearing it. In addition to this, they carry a Personal Locator Beacon, Iridium satellite phone and three GPS's. This allows the safety team to know exactly where everyone is at any given time. With the on board computers and GPS system the vehicles we use can drive in any weather condition to within 1 metre of the teams. Things normally happen when the weather is bad, so no planes can fly. This is one of the totally unique advantages that Extreme World Races has, and uses."
More details about that race, in our pages.
