Land Rover tows 110-tonne Aussie ‘Road Train’

This is the amazing moment a Land Rover towed a 110-tonne road train through the Australian outback.

The Discovery has a maximum certified towing capacity of 3.5-tonnes on public road, but to show what the 4×4 was really capable of, Land Rover took a model out to the Lasseter Highway in the Northern Territory.

They then hooked the Discovery up to a 100-metre long, seven-trailer road train and towed it for almost 10 miles.

On the route, Discovery hit a top speed of 27mph as it towed the truck and trailers through the unforgiving landscape.

“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,” said John Bilato, managing director of haulage specialist G&S Transport, who took the wheel for the epic pull.

“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.”

Road trains of up to four trailers are only permitted in Australia’s vast Outback regions and typically carry fuel, mineral ore and cattle between remote rural communities.

Strict regulations limit their length to 53.5m so Land Rover obtained special permission to pull seven trailers and the 12-tonne tractor unit – retained to operate the hydraulic brakes fitted to the trailers.

Land Rover used a Td6 model Discovery, which is powered by a 254bhp 3-0-litre diesel engine with 440lb/ft of torque – that’s serious pulling power.