Range Rover Darien Gap

On one occasion they had waded the first vehicle over a small river at the evening before. The second vehicle was to be brought over the next morning. Meanwhile there had been a short, but heavy night rain so the the small river was more fast flowing. They decided to not use the rafts due to the flowing. Gavin was nearly across when the river took the vehicle and pushed them off the course.

The water went over the bonnet and the engine was rapidly switched off. Now the vehicle was like a dam and the water raised to above the roof height surprisingly fast. After several attempting, the crew managed to fasten a hand driven Tirfor winch to the Range Rover and slowly drew the car out of the wet obstacle. During the drying process where after, there were pumped water out of the cylinders and every oil was changed several times. The Range Rover started and was on the track again !

The expedition had radio contact with the two bases outside the Darien Gap. The Army Air Corps had Beaver aircraft for supply of petrol, mail, supply materials needed in the jungle. The goods were dropped with parachutes from the plane at places market by smoke signal, flares or balloons in the forest. The overall fuel consumption was approximately 1 mpg and the average distance a day through the Darien Gap were only 2 1/2 mile.

The Range Rover's suffered from extreme wear of the rear axle differential, because of the far too heavy loads and nearly 45 degrees of slopes, as well as the impact of the oversized swamp tyres. Much of the heavy load was on the roof with the spare tyres, ladders, rafts and equipment gears, only to give even more strain to the rear axle.

The centre differential could be locked, but with loss of sufficient grip one axle wheel did a fast

spin until grip again was gained, which resulted in even heavier load and wear on the rear axle

differential. The big swamp tyres were used from the beginning, but in the deep mud this selection proved to be a mistake. Masses of mud clung to the wheels with much wheel spin as result and with even bigger impact on the stressed the axles and differential. After 35 miles into the soggy, steamy jungle a rear differential broke and with all the power on the front axle, this unit broke as well. In addition there had been used wrong hypoid gear oil on the axles, which resulted in even harder wear with excessive temperature buildup and even faster axel differential break down, as a result. With one totally broke Range Rover they tried to haul it with the other Range Rover, only to get this vehicle with broken differential, too.

Gavin Thompson was flown out of the jungle to get in contact with Land-Rover Ltd's transmission expert Geoff Miller to explain what and how the differential broke on the Range Rover's. At Solihull in UK the transmission team build up a Range Rover with the same swamp tyres and weight as in the Darien jungle and drove round and round in the Jungle Track at Solihull, until the differential broke.

The conclusion was that there were too much weight for the differential to cope with when the big tyres had wheel spin in the mud. Geoff Miller and new differentials were flown in to the Darien jungle. He replaced the broken axles and reduced the total weight pr vehicle, as well as redistributed the weight balance. Off went the swamp tyres and on with the normal cross country ones. For the rest of the expedition there were no more differential problem. The whole session had set the expedition 26

days back according to the plan.

Meanwhile the expedition had bought in a second-hand Land-Rover Series II in Panama and it was used as a pathfinder for tracks through the jungle. The Range Rover's where now back to normal

health again and with extra long day sessions, they were able to proceed against the original time

schedule, despite even worse terrain ahead.

New trouble hit the expedition when they forced the Devil's Switchback, looked like a saw tooth like terrain with very steep ascents and descents when the small caravan of vehicles proceeded the Pucuru heights against Palo de las Letras at the Panama and Colombian border. The Land-Rover occasion-ally fell in a ravine and two of the invaluable ladders broke. The misrouting in the severe terrain cost them another extra 10 days delay.

On April 9th, a special event occur when the expedition hit the Colombian border, they found the wrecks of the Chevrolet Corvairs from the American expedition in 1962 ! The mission with the Chevrolet-led expedition named "Daring the Darien" was to drive 3 Corvairs to the border of South America, and the boundary stone at the border between Panama and Colombia marks the beginning of South America.

The enormous Great Atrato Swamp and river was the last part of the Darien Gap obstacle to overcome and is nearly 60 miles wide. The whole area is as big as Wales. Heading south and then east. This part were mainly forced by rafts. The Atrato svamp lake was weed-choked and machetes and grapnels failed to work. Only solution was to use the the power chain saws to make the

obstructions clear and blast a way through the weeds by using a lot of dynamite.

On April the 23rd the expedition reached the river bank which were more of big sponge like

islands of floating vegetation, than firm terra, near Barrangquilito. The soft ground were just able to

support the weight of the Range Rover's. It was here that the next leg of the Pan-American

Highway through South America begins again, after 96 unforgettable days in the 250 mile jungle

of Darien Gap. The British Army and three Rover vehicles had conquered the "El Tapon".

On rough and dirty roads they drow down to Medellin. At the British Leyland agent in Bogota, the Range Rove's got a much needed attend and thoroughly service.

On May the 13th the expedition started up again further south. The rest of the expedition crew had went home to UK again after a well done expedition. Compared to the severe obstacle of Darien Gap the roads to the Terra del Fuego were more uneventful.

In Quito, Ecuador and Lima, Peru, there were new stops to maintain and service the cars. In Santiago, Chile was new press conference held before they went further to Osorno. On the fast desert roads in Chile they were able to hold a speed of 90-100 mph and covering 800 miles in a day. On four days in Chile the Range Rover's covered 2375 miles! That compared to the speed in the Darien Gap jungle of average 2.5 miles a day!

The expedition had started in winter condition in Alaska and were now hitting winter again. Snow drifts blocked the planned road in Patagonia, so another route via bad roads had to be done. The expedition hit their end at Ushuaia Cape Horn at June 10th.

The mission of The British Trans-Americas Expedition was completed !

In 1962 - GM - General Motors led an expedition "Daring the Darien" across the Darien

Gap with 3 golden Chevrolet Corvairs, supported and a fuel truck as a serious expedition

as well as a great PR-stunt for the Corvair model.

The Corvair model were both an advanced new car with a flat 6-cylinder boxer engine in

the back of the car, drive on the rear wheel via an advanced swing-axel, and the Corvair was

a very hated vehicle because of the many serious accidents there were with Chevrolet Corvairs.

Ralph Nader led an consumer safety organization looking at the American Car Industry

and he wrote a book in 1965 "Unsafe at any speed", which is often characterized the book about the Corvair, but only one chapter is about the Corvair.

To defend the market's perception of the Chevrolet Corvair, GM did several PR actions like

this expedition through Darien in 1962.

The Corvairs had a very impressive suspension system and because the engine were at the rear above the driving wheels, it managed the water well and it did not get stucked so easily as ordinary 2-wheel drive cars with engine in front and driving wheels at rear. The expedition Corvairs were prepared with water proof electrical system, but they had only drive on the rear wheels and they were not equipped with a winch.

The fuel supply truck had both 4-wheel drive and a rigid winch. Because of the huge size

and the heavy weight, the truck was a big challenge to get through the jungle.

Local woodmen chopped driveable tracks in the jungle and made bridges over ditches

with tree logs.

The films at the right shows in an impressive way much of the tremendous hardships there

is to cross the jungle in Darien Gap area. The Corvair expedition headed the border between

Panama and Colombia at Palo de las Letras.

The battered Corvair vehicles with only a few 1000-miles on the odometer were left in the

jungle and the British Trans-Americas Expedition found the Corvairs at their expedition in 1972.

In Russell Braddons book "The Hundred Days of Darien" from the British expedition of 1972

one picture shows when they re-discovered the Corvairs near the Panamanien/Colombian border.

Again in 1990, the Corvairs were again pictured as shown above of a group of American Jeep enthusiasts.

Please enjoy these fantastic films......

Source: Corvairsation - December 2008

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