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GO BEYOND ... But Not That Far Ken

20.05.2006

Over three million readers of The Sun newspaper in Britain woke up this morning to read that their legendary motoring writer Ken Gibson is able to write that day’s story from the Land Rover G4 Challenge because of the strength of the Range Rover Sport in which he was driving.

Earlier this week, Gibson’s vehicle veered off a narrow mountain road high in the Bolivian Andes - outside Potosi, the highest city in the world. Three times the Range Rover Sport flipped over and down a cliff face that had its base over 400 metres below.

Inside the car was Gibson, Land Rover PR James Andrew and LRG4C event PR Waldo van der Waal. As the car tumbled over and over the three of them were protected by the rapid explosion of the car’s air bag system – including its roll-over airbag.

In the few seconds they were rolling, all three understandably feared for the worst. But, amazingly, the tumbling Range Rover was stopped from its fall by a narrow ledge - coming to a rest on its wheels less than a metre from the precipice and a further fall of more than 300 metres.

None of the three occupants suffered anything more than a few bruises and the Range Rover Sport had only one broken window and (once recovered back to the road) could be started up and driven.

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