Nissan Patrol sets World Record Towing Russian Cargo Plane
Less Exciting Than It Sounds
By Imthishan Giado
Who doesn’t like a good surprise? When the invite for a ‘secret’ event for the Nissan Patrol arrived in my inbox, well…colour me intrigued. What could it be? Some sort of offroad spectacular? A chance to see what the self-proclaimed ‘Hero of All Terrain” could really do, once it was let off the leash?
No, not really. It pulled a plane.
To cut to the chase, we were shepherded to the Sharjah International Airport (in a van, which broke down on the way in 48-degree heat) to watch the Nissan Patrol set the Guinness World Record for the ‘heaviest object pulled by a production vehicle.’ The Patrol – completely stock except for some necessary ballast and a tow hitch custom built by Robbie’s Motorsport – pulled the 170.9 tonne Il-76 (we’ve bumped into one of those before) provided by RusAviation more than 50m to set a new world record. The old record was held by a V10 VW Touareg which pulled an 155-tonne 747.
Sounds exciting on paper and full credit to Nissan for pulling it off successfully, but as a live exercise it was a very good simulation of watching paint dry. But don’t take my word for it, check out the video I shot below which covers the entire event in excruciating real time.
Apart from the fact that it was terminally dull, one also has to wonder what relevance towing has to the Nissan Patrol. This sort of stunt seems better suited to the American pickup market, for the likes of the Dodge Ram and Chevrolet Silverado or Toyota Tundra which notably towed a Space Shuttle. Sure, the Patrol did it, but when’s the last time you saw a Patrol towing anything? It’s a full-on luxo-SUV that’s meant to take on the desert and extreme offroading, and this whole event seemed as odd a fit as Betty White’s second career as a post-profane octogenarian comedian. Or Miley Cyrus’ bizarre sudden interest in twerking. Sure they can do it, but does anyone really want to see them do it?
