Expedition
The Expedition
Andrew Regan: 'It was my idea. When I was flying back from the South Pole after a skiing expedition, I was looking out the window and the ground looked really, really flat. And I thought - we could actually drive across this.'
The awesome beauty of the Antarctic - utterly desolate; a pure uninhabited wilderness - has always drawn explorers and adventurers to its icy shores. From Shackleton and Scott to Ranulph Fiennes and even Michael Palin: the vast landmass still manages to capture the imagination.
The 2005 Antarctic World Record Expedition charted new territory. Not only did the team manage to reach the South Pole unassisted; they did it in a wheeled vehicle and they did it 21 days faster than the previous record time.
This was a team of ordinary men with regular day jobs. In the time-frame that others might use to go on holiday, they chose to drive where no man has driven before, and take enormous risks to achieve their goals.
Their goal was not just about getting there fast. The team also wanted to draw attention to the environmental and scientific issues connected with the Antarctic.
Doing it
And they're off... After months of preparation and weeks of hanging around waiting for a 'weather window' that would give them a clear forecast for the journey, the team piled into the Ice Challenger and headed into the Antarctic wilderness.
These are some of their experiences:
'I was very concerned when we broke down. We were in the middle of Antarctica. If we couldn't fix it, I did think we were probably screwed.' Andrew Regan
'It's a long way and the weather can change so quickly. It can go down to minus 70C. You can't do anything: you can't operate. No-one will come and get you. You might die slowly over a long period of time: that's it.' Andrew Regan
'As it was 24-hour daylight, we were just cat-napping in the back. It was very difficult to sleep, which made it wearing, to say the least.' Andrew Moon
'The cold wasn't really a problem: you get used to it. Minus 15C is a warm day in the Antarctic. Your body acclimatises to the temperature, and you mentally acclimatise, too. If you've been in it before, your fears go away.' Andrew Moon
'We went across a crevasse. We were just lucky that the crevasse wasn't very wide. If it was wider, and the ice and snow bridge across it had gone, we could all have gone down it and not come out.' Andrew Regan
'There was a complete whiteout. There was no definition. You couldn't see ahead. We had to make the decision: 'Do we stop and wait for it to clear, or do we keep going and hope to drive out of it.' We kept going: at about 10-15km/h. As far as we knew, there weren't any major crevasses in the area, but if there were, we would never have seen it before we were on top of it.' Andrew Moon
The vehicle
The Ice Challenger vehicle started off life in Canada, before it was shipped to Iceland where a team of three engineers spent almost 2,000 hours to modify it for the Antarctic challenge.
The engineer in charge of the modification joined the Ice Challenger team on their record-breaking journey - bringing his invaluable experience of driving on glaciers and through deep snow to the expedition.
'Even in sunlight in the Antarctic, it is difficult to see contrasts. You can't see the bumps and holes in the ice. My driving was pretty much the same as everyone else's - everyone hit bumps that they shouldn't have hit.' Andrew Regan
Specification
6-wheel drive: all wheels can be independently driven
Engine: low emission, turbo-charged, fuel-injected, 7.3 litre, V8 diesel
Gears: 20
Tyres: 44" high, 21" wide
Size: 6.5m long x 2.54m wide x 2.52m tall
Weight: 4.7 tonnes
Suspension: fully independent air suspension with 26" of travel on each wheel
Power supply: high wattage solar panels for independent power supply
Locators: GPS and satellite communications
'When we were in the queue to embark the vehicle at Tilbury Docks, the guard was so impressed that he took us through a special route. People were stopping to take pictures of it.' Andrew Moon
'We did have some heating in the vehicle, as well as body warmth, and the warmth from the engine. We kept the temperature at about 1-2C because we didn't want too much contrast with the outside temperature.' Andrew Moon
'At one point, we ran the tyre off its rim: which was very frustrating. We also had to stop frequently to change tyre pressure according to the terrain: for example, on soft snow, we had to let air out of the tyres. We stopped two or three times an hour to do this.' Andrew Moon
Motivation
What motivates people to go to the most desolate icy wasteland on the planet? What makes them want to break world records; to risk their lives in the pursuit of something as esoteric as a point on a compass? Here are some of the thoughts from the team:
'I've always been fascinated by the Antarctic, ever since I was a child.' Andrew Regan
'I'm much better with colder rather than hot climates. I'm not into the flies; I'm not into the desert...' Andrew Regan
'After a huge, high-profile seven-year dust-up with a corporate situation, I came out of it adamant on a couple of issues: one is surrounding myself with loyal people and the other is not wasting time.' Andrew Regan
'I originally just wanted to go to the top of the Earth and the bottom of the Earth. Effectively, I wanted to go there, stand there, and clear off. Because that would fit in with my life.' Andrew Regan
'But when I'd actually spent time on Antarctica, something captured me. We spent proper time there, we achieved some personal goals, drew attention to some of the issues. I wanted to go back.' Andrew Regan
'The idea was that we would go to places that no-one's ever been to in their lives.' Andrew Regan
'I've been climbing mountains since I was a teenager. I'd been to the Antarctic once before – and I've always been interested in it: for historical and environmental reasons.' Andrew Moon
'We didn't say 'We want to break a world record', but we knew that if the concept worked, it would be inevitable. We're likely to break the world record again in 2007: because we've got the advantage of knowing what we're doing, and having the right bit of kit.' Andrew Moon