Land Rover Discovery Td6 tows 110-tonne road train

When carmakers want to demonstrate just how capable their vehicles are, towing heavy objects is one of the more preferred activities of choice. Land Rover is no exception to this, and have released a video starring its latest Discovery and a 110-tonne road train.

In Australia, road trains help to carry supplies between rural communities in the vast Outback regions, as you’ve probably seen in series 22 of Top Gear. Due to regulatory requirements, a road train cannot exceed 53.5 meters in length, and only up to four trailers are permitted.

However, special permission was given for Land Rover’s attempt with the Discovery, allowing them to pull seven trailers and the 12-tonne tractor unit – retained to operate the hydraulic brakes fitted to the trailers. A 16-km stretch of the Lasseter Highway in Australia’s Northern Territory was closed off just for the challenge.

According to official figures, the maximum permissible towing weight for the Discovery (this one is in Td6 guise) is 3,500 kg. That is certainly a lot less than the 100 m-long road train, which weighs in at 110 tonnes (inclusive of a 10-tonne ballast).

The Discovery Td6 here isn’t even modified extensively to take on the challenge, retaining its 3.0 litre turbocharged V6 (285 PS and 600 Nm) paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission and four-wheel drive system. Aside from the factory-fitted tow bar attachment to link it to the road train, the vehicle is otherwise stock.

“When Land Rover first got in touch, I didn’t think the vehicle would be able to do it, so I was amazed by how easily the standard Discovery pulled a 110-tonne road train. And the smoothness of the gear changes under that amount of load was genuinely impressive. These road trains are the most efficient form of road haulage on the planet and using the Discovery made this the most economical of all,” said John Bilato, managing director of Haulage Specialist G&S Transport, Took.

“Towing capability has always been an important part of Discovery DNA and the raw weight of the road train tells only half the story here. Pulling a rig and seven trailers, with the rolling resistance of so many axles to overcome, is a huge achievement. We expected the vehicle to do well but it passed this test with flying colours, hitting 44 km/h along its 16 km route,” added Quentin Spottiswoode, product engineer at Land Rover.

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