Nissan Patrol sets new Guinness World Record by towing a 170.9 ton cargo plane over 50 metres at Sharjah Airport, UAE.
Some days at crankandpiston just don’t go exactly to plan. Take today as an example. We were invited to hang out with the guys from Nissan at Sharjah Airport. The picture above is of Samir Cherfan, Managing Director of Nissan Middle East, and he gave a very cool speech on the history of the Nissan Patrol.
We then watched an awesome video of Patrols doing what they do best. Things like jumping over sand dunes and other crazy cool stuff. The Patrol has been doing this since 1951 and Nissan have been perfecting it ever since. The Patrol rocks, no doubt.
Just as the movie ended, an airport official came in to the room asking if anyone had heavy duty jump leads as a fully laden cargo plane – weighing 170.9 ton – had a flat battery.
The problem was that this cargo plane was stuck right in the middle of the runway at Sharjah airport. Only needed moved about 50 metres but, obviously, nobody had any jump leads. Bloody typical…
The ever helpful guys from Nissan came up with a cunning plan and offered to tow the cargo plane with a Patrol. There was only one hitch with this plan. They would need a special hitch to tow a plane. A quick check of pockets drew a blank. Just not the kind of thing you carry with you on a day-to-day basis.
By pure coincidence Robbie, Cord and Jensen – from Robbie’s Motorsport Garage in Dubai – were hanging out at Sharjah airport today and offered to fabricate up a hitch for towing purposes. Crazy coincidental world, huh?