Quite significantly, Isuzu UK has announced that the towing capacity of the new D-Max has been increased by 500kg. This means that the D-Max will be able to tow a maximum braked load of 3.5 tonnes, with the new certification applying to all Isuzu D-Max pick-ups registered in the UK from 1st July. This increase has been made, according to Isuzu, due to customer demand. What is important to realise here is that there is no technical or practical changes to the pick-ups specification, it is merely a change in the certification. In the last few months, Toyota has done the same with the Hilux, raising its capacity from what was often criticised as a meagre 2500kg to a more competitive 2800kg. Isuzu it seems has raised the bar higher. In our 2013 Pick-up Of The Year test (January 2013 issue) the top pick-ups for towing were the VW Amarok at 3200kg and the Ford Ranger Wildtrak at 3350kg. This new certification puts the Isuzu D-Max firmly at the top of the list – until, one can assume, either VW or Ford look at a new certification. Supply of both these excellent pick-ups remains a problem, and this move from Isuzu will certainly not do sales of the D-Max any harm. The Isuzu D-Max range includes single, extended (with rear-hinged side access panels) and double cab body configurations. Double cab models are available in four specifications: Isuzu D-Max, Eiger, Yukon and Utah. Prices start at £14,499 (CVOTR) for the entry-level Isuzu D-Max 4×2 single cab and rise to £21,999 (CVOTR) for the top-of-the-range Isuzu D-Max Utah 4×4 double cab automatic.

The ‘Heaven Can Wait, I’m Busy’ fundraising tour of a bunch of retired 4×4 enthusiasts in two Suzuki Jimnys has now hit Mongolia. This is one of the remotest sections of the tour, and totals an impressive 2300 miles across Mongolia and back into Russia, aiming to reach Vladivostock by the end of the month. At that point the drivers can take a rest, as the Jimnys will be put aboard a container ship for the 30-day trip from Vladivostock to Vancouver, Canada.

The expedition is the idea of retired businessman Leslie Carvall and the crew of 70-year olds are travelling alone with no frills, luxuries or any support team. Mongolia has meant a slower pace over some of the worst roads in the world, yet the little Jimnys have proved their reliability with a broken shock absorber bolt being the only running repair needed. The crew stopped at one of Suzuki’s larger dealerships at Novosibirsk in Siberia who quickly repaired the shock absorber, gave both Suzukis a major service and a well-needed valet. To date, the guys have crossed 16 countries and across three continents and can be monitored on Google Earth. There are regular updates to the website www.heavencanwaitimbusy.com with interviews and video clips of the challenge.

We have seen Jaguar Land Rover’s virtual design facility first hand and were seriously impressed with what it could do. Standing in the ‘cave’ you can appreciate the design of a vehicle in a high quality 3D representation that you can move, or that you can move around in. It’s even possible to sit on a real – not virtual – car seat and position yourself inside the new design to check sight lines, head room etc. Engineers can come down with a design for a new part, slip the details into the computer and see if it will fit in the space designated. It allows for virtual prototypes to be ‘built’ in the computer, without the need for any actual physical vehicle to be constructed. At the time, we did ask whether JLR would be prepared to ‘rent’ out the facility. The question was treated with some disdain at the time, but it seems now that the company has announced a massive five-year programme with four leading UK universities alongside the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The extensive £10m academic research project is aimed to advance the UK’s role in developing virtual simulation technologies and was unveiled earlier this month by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, The Rt.Hon Dr Vince Cable MP. This is apparently the first stage of a 20-year programme that is aimed to put the UK ‘at the leading edge of virtual simulation’. Bob Joyce, Jaguar Land Rover Engineering Director, explained to 4×4 Magazine: “While we already utilise a wide range of sophisticated virtual engineering tools and processes to design, engineer and test our new vehicles, we are keen to enhance the future capability of virtual simulation and tailor them for automotive product development. We want to make advances in the simulated driver and passenger experience, including more realistic imagery, sounds and even smells.  These projects will help us analyse increasingly complex cars at whole vehicle, system and component levels, as well as enhancing the high performance computers that industry will use in the future to mine increasing amounts of more complex data.” If they need some extra finance to fund the project, they could offer public demonstrations. It was truly fascinating to experience and is undoubtedly a major reason why JLR has been producing its recent string of market-leading vehicles over the last few years.

British polar explorer and Land Rover brand ambassador, Ben Saunders, along with teammate Tarka L’Herpiniere will be retracing Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova Antarctica expedition, some 100 years after it was first attempted, writes Sarah Harrington-James.

This is the latest challenge for Ben who has been leading polar expeditions for more than a decade and skied solo to the North Pole in 2004, where he still holds the record for the longest solo arctic journey by a Briton. He has been a brand ambassador for Land Rover since 2008 and the Scott Expedition, which starts at the end of October, is being sponsored and promoted by the manufacturer along with technology co-partner, Intel.

“There is a common misconception that everything’s been done in Antarctica, but what fascinated me for years is that the reality is very different,” said Ben at the Scott Expedition briefing at The Traveller’s Club, London. “In an age where Antarctica is increasingly in the spotlight and increasingly accessible to tourists, one of the most iconic journeys in polar history remains unfinished. The Scott Expedition will be the first time it’s been attempted, let alone completed, since the Terra Nova expedition more than a century ago. In terms of sheer human endeavour, Captain Scott and his team set the bar so high that their achievement has never been surpassed.”

For motorsport enthusiasts, the news that the new Range Rover Sport has just beaten the record for the production SUV class at the Pikes Peak hill climb in Colorado, USA, is a cause for celebration. This has to be the world’s most challenging hill climb, a 12.42 mile climb that includes 156 corners and rises some 1440m to the summit, which is at 4300m. It’s not for nothing that it is known as the Race To The Clouds. This was a serious record attempt, and JLR had Pikes Peak expert Paul Dallenback behind the wheel of the Sport. Dallenback has won the event three times, and you should check out the You Tube clips of the open wheel specials that these guys use to compete when the official event is run. Getting into the cossetted confines of a Range Rover Sport must have been very different for him, even if the model had the 5.0-litre supercharged engine delivering over 500bhp – although whether the unit was delivering that amount of power at the rarefied heights towards the end of the course is unlikely! The Range Rover completed the course in 12 minutes 35.61 seconds, which is an average of 59.17mph. Remembering this is a production 4×4, you can compare that with the outright record of 9 minutes 46.16 seconds which is held by Rhys Millen (off-road racing legend Rod Millen’s son) in a specially built Hyundai Genesis Coupe race car with 900bhp and 800lb ft of torque. Coincidentally, Paul Dallenback will be driving the 2013 version of the Hyundai at this year’s event, which is held at the end of June. The production record for the Range Rover will certainly do much to underline the Sport’s abilities to potential American customers.