As early as 2007, the Chrysler Corporation set the Guinness World Record for the highest altitude achieved by a car. It built two modified Jeep Wranglers, merged with a German terrain team, navigated the volcano Ojos del Salado in Chile and set a record of 6,500 meters. Weeks later, a couple of Chilean locals broke the record in their 1986 Suzuki Samurai.
Jeep aims for a Guinness World Record
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As early as 2007, the Jeep “JK” generation launched the Wrangler. Some Jeep fans were skeptical of the big four-door Jeep without its beloved inline-six engine. So the brand decided to consolidate its reputation for building the most capable 4x4s with world records.
Jeep aims for Guinness world record for the highest altitude achieved by a motor vehicle. It knew it would need a carefully selected mountain, an experienced team and a special vehicle.
First, Jeep chose the volcano Ojos del Salado in Chile, the second highest mountain in the world. Then it took two Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon SUVs and upgraded them with Goodyear MT / R tires, winches and electronic height measurement technology – according to AutoBlog.
Finally, Jeep hired expedition leader Mattias Jeschke from Germany and his experienced Extreme Events team to make a race on the record.
Jeep height record: 21,804 feet
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Jeschke took the modified jeeps to Chile and spent five days navigating the slopes of the volcano.
Jeschke encountered hurricane strength winds, -22 degree temperatures and a punishing glacier at high altitude over clean ice. When Jeschke finally broke the record and reached a height of 21,804 feet, he proclaimed “Wranglers are unbeatable.” Then in the direction of Jeep, he erected a sign: “Jeep Parking Only: Everyone else can not get here anyway.”
Chrysler Corporation was particularly proud of the world record:
“This was exactly the challenge of distinguishing the new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited from all other 4 × 4 vehicles. A climb like this in not only terrain, but in extreme conditions, is a testament to the vehicle’s powertrain, suspension and overall quality performance.”
George Murphy, Chrysler Group Senior Vice President of Global Marketing.
Suzuki’s altitude record: 21,942 feet
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What Jeep did not know was that two local Chileans were determined to win the height record before a foreign team took it. Gonzalo Bravo and Eduardo Canales are terrain enthusiasts from the coastal city of Concón in Chile. Bravo owns a Suzuki Samurai from 1986 (called Jimny in many markets).
Suzuki is painted lime green and had a supercharged G16A 4-cylinder engine. In addition to lifting 4 × 4 and upgrading its tires, Bravo installed a compressor on the engine – according to AutoBlog again. This makes sense: when dealing with such thin air, a small boost can go a long way.
The duo tried the altitude record on the volcano Ojos del Salado several times. The first time, they had to return due to bad weather. The second time, their engine burned. But they towed their Suzuki back to the store, repaired it, and set off a third time.
The bad news was that Jeep had already broken the Ojos del Salado record when Bravo and Canales made their third attempt. The good news is that the German team had set a record and returned home, so Bravo knew exactly how high they had to climb to take the record home to Chile.
On their third attempt, the Canales and Bravo successfully navigated the Ojos del Salado and its glacier. They surpassed the Jeep team’s record and eventually returned at 21,942 feet above sea level.
The Chileans might say that they also picked up some rubbish on the road: Bravo pulled up the sign “Jeep Parking only” and took it home. And while the record-breaking jeeps are probably in a museum somewhere, Bravo switched a Toyota 2JZ GTE turbocharged I6 to its Samurai and is still blasting around the dunes near Concón.
See Bravo’s photos of his Suzuki’s rise in the video below:
▶“src =” https://www.youtube.com/embed/IIxM2d5yB24?feature=oembed “frameborder =” 0 “allow =” accelerometer; autospela; clip-writing; encrypted media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture “allow full screen>
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