Being South African is not for sissies – neither the people nor their vehicles.
South African extreme sportsmen were at the finish of the Dakar Rally, where temperatures rose to 48°C in the Atacama Desert in Chile, and at the end of the Extreme World Race to the South Pole, where temperatures dropped as low as -50°C.
And in these harshest of conditions, their vehicles in both cases were specially adapted Toyota Hiluxes made in South Africa.
When Giniel de Villiers and his Hilux V8 crossed the finishing line in Lima, Peru, in third place overall in the 2012 Dakar race, the extreme athletes Braam Malherbe and Peter van Kets were only halfway towards achieving their goal – to reach the South Pole, part of a race organised to commemorate the centenary of the first Race to the Pole by the Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, and the ill-fated Briton, Robert Falcon Scott, in January 1912.
Malherbe and Van Kets were up against six other teams of two from seven nations, racing on foot and with sleds over 768km to be the first to the Pole. By January 15 – when the Dakar race finished in Peru after more than 8 300km over some of the harshest terrain on earth – they were still about 400km short of their objective.
During their journey across the ice the South Africans (Team Mission Possible) were supported by a blue Hilux built in the Toyota South Africa Motors plant in Prospecton, Durban, before being converted by the Icelandic company Arctic Trucks International. It was driven by Emil Grimsson, MD of Arctic Trucks.
The other six teams, with competitors from Britain, Norway, Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany, were also supported by Hilux AT44 vehicles, five of which were built in SA.
The Norwegians reached the Pole first, followed by the Welsh and then the South Africans.
According to the race organisers, this was a remarkable achievement as the South Africans were not used to the extreme cold and skiing on snow. It was even more of a feat considering that they were pulling an extra 13kg each for nearly 200km.
That’s because they stepped in to help when a member of one of the British teams broke his arm but decided to continue unofficially. “We took the weight of the sled he was pulling and stayed with the Brits until the finishing line. It’s teamwork and bridging gaps between nations that will ensure a sustainable future, not trying to beat someone,” said Malherbe.
Van Kets, who has rowed the Atlantic Ocean solo, and Malherbe, who has run the Great Wall of China, both agreed the South Pole race was the most difficult endurance adventure they had ever done.
They said the Toyotas had saved lives on the expedition. Malherbe said: “If it was not for the vehicles it is highly unlikely that a British participant from a different team would have survived.
“He had contracted bilateral pneumonia and the only way a doctor could get to him was in one of these incredible vehicles. After diagnosing the problem, an aircraft was flown in and he was evacuated to a medical facility at the Russian base of Novo.”
At the Pole, Malherbe and Van Kets overstruck 1 000 coins for the SA Mint on an antique press – another world first for South Africa as no coins have ever been minted in Antarctica.
The race was filmed by the Johannesburg production company Urban Brew Studios and will be broadcast as a four-part documentary series, Cold Sweat, on SABC3 later this year. - Weekend Argus
For more information visit www.coldsweat.tv.