Over the weekend, a team of engineers will be performing quite a strange world record attempt – the longest and deepest underwater drive. The team will try to do this with a heavily modified electric 1978 Landcruiser, dubbed the ‘Mudcrab’.
The drive will be 7 kilometres long and will be done at a depth of 30 metres, across the floor of Darwin Harbour, and as noted by the ABC, it’s the very same place the previous world record attempt was achieved, at a depth of 60-metres with 3 kilometres travelled, back in 1983.
“We’re driving a 45-year-old Landcruiser underneath the Darwin harbour to depths of thirty metres for seven kilometres – there’s nothing that seems to difficult about that,” said team member Luke Purdy to ABC News.
Purdy’s an interesting bloke – he’s one of the lead team members on an Australian show called Aussie Salvage Squad, and at one point, another producer on the team, Tommy Lawrence, floated the idea of driving a Landcruiser under the harbour. “Obviously the only answer there is yes,” Purdy added.
“We were lucky enough to float the idea, and the right members of the team kind of stepped forward, and honestly, the team has kind of just worked miracles, to be fair, and put together this old-school Landcruiser that’s actually going to drive underneath the Darwin Harbour.”
Purdy put this absolutely amazing graphic up on his Facebook page advertising the world-record attempt.
“It’s kind of been difficult because we’ve had to restore an old Landcruiser, make it electric, and then convert it to underwater spec, so in a way, we’ve kind of done three rebuilds at once. And it’s been very complicated, but also, very satisfying on what can happen when you get a heap of intelligent people together with a like-minded goal,” Purdy said.
I love goofy cars and challenges like this. The world-record attempt will take place on July 29 at 12pm at the Darwin harbour, with the Landcruiser planned to be underwater by 9am. Good luck to the team.