究極へのドライブ － 何故、ニッサンパトロールを選んだのか？
以下の記事は英国人の冒険家マックマッケニー (Mac Mackenney) を中心とする組織 Max Adventure から引用したものである。マックスアドベンチャーとは聞き慣れない名前だが英国内ではテレビなどで紹介されており、主に自動車を使った冒険組織のようである。
僕が感じるに 歴史的に英国人は外に出て行こうとするバイキング的な性質を持っているので、それを後押しするスポンサーや人脈を観ると、この冒険的イベント組織はイギリス国家の国策の一部ではないかとも思う。いずれにしろ、自動車を使ったアドベンチャー的な行事には多くの資本と協力体制が必要な事は間違いがない。現在世界中で本格的に自動車冒険旅行に取り組んでいるのはキャメルトロフィー主催の歴史を持つ英国、そして英国人である。
その誇り高い英国人自動車冒険組織が冒険旅行を執行する為に選んだ車がニッサンパトロールである。現在のニッサンはフランスの資本も多く入っており純日本車とはいい難いが、それでも彼らがランドローバーを選ばないで、ニッサンパトロールを選んだのは興味深い出来事である。
Driven to Extremes – Why Nissan Patrols?
When Max Adventure were contracted to plan and lead the Driven to Extremes series of challenging expeditions, we were given a list of manufacturers from which we could choose our vehicles:
Ferrari (yes really), Hyundai, Audi, Jeep, Nissan or Land Rover
Our original brief was to drive some of the coldest, hottest and highest roads on the planet, with temperatures ranging from -60C to +50C and then up to 5,600 meters (18,372 feet - higher than Everest Base Camp). As it was, we couldn’t get to India to tackle the world’s highest road as Tibet was closed to foreigners, so blocking our way from the deserts of western China. Instead, we headed for the Malaysian Rainforest - either way, our choice of vehicle would still have been the same.
Max Adventure have been in the business of operating vehicles in remote and challenging environments since 1996 and there are 3 things that we need from a vehicle:
- Capability - If it can’t do the job, there isn’t much point in taking it
- Reliability - This all boils down to the design and build quality
- Simplicity - Everything will eventually break and accidents do happen
Ferrari, Hyundai and Audi were immediately removed from the list as they don’t produce strong enough 4x4 vehicles that we would need to tackle the rough roads and tracks found throughout Asia. The majority of car manufacturers that do produce 4x4 vehicles though have completely lost the plot when it comes to building utility vehicles and this has never been more so than Land Rover and their Defender model.
The last time Land Rover built a vehicle suitable for expedition use was back in 1998 with the 300Tdi powered model. Since then, the company has been obsessed with fitting smaller and ever more complex engines into their vehicles, along with reduced built quality and its subsequent lack of reliability. There have been reports of some vehicles needing new gearboxes after less than 10,000 miles!
Max Adventure are huge fans of the Land Rover brand and the majority of our vehicle expeditions have been undertaken in them, but when it came down to the safety of the Driven to Extremes team, not to mention our reputation as expedition specialists, there was no way that we could risk using any Land Rover product for these expeditions.
Instead, we opted for rugged, reliable and simple Nissan Patrols, as used extensively by the United Nations, Red Cross and other Aid Agencies in challenging conditions around the world. With their 4.2 litre, 6-cylinder, normally aspirated diesel engines, manual gearboxes and not a computer black box in sight, they were the perfect vehicles to handle the conditions that we would face.
Being of an older generation in terms of their design, the engines would be able to cope with the poor quality fuel that we were most likely have to use. Should we have an incident whilst in a remote location, our expedition mechanic, Paul Marsh would be able to fix it. Modern vehicles with their range of complex computer systems used to control everything from the engine management to operating the stereo would require a diagnostic computer to both find and then rectify any fault. As everyone of you who owns a smart phone or laptop will know, computers don’t like the heat, cold, mud, water, dust, or being dropped – everything that you will encounter when operating on a tough expedition.
One thing that you may not know is that computers also don’t like altitude. During our Everest medical research expedition back in 2007, there was only one laptop that could cope with the rigors of being at over 5,000 meters in height, the Panasonic Toughbook. Every other model we tested failed and vehicle diagnostic computers are likely to suffer exactly the same way.
Jeep have also gone the same way as Land Rover with small and complex engines, and this is why Toyota with their Land Cruiser and Nissan with the Patrol, between them have cornered 90% of the market when it comes to sales to Aid Agencies. During the 4 months that we were overseas, driving between eastern Siberia and Singapore, via the deserts of western China, we didn’t see a single Land Rover Defender or Jeep 4x4 – we lost count however of the number of Patrols we saw on the first day of arriving in Siberia! The locals can’t all be wrong in their choice of vehicle.
During the 3 expeditions, our Nissan Patrols covered over 20,000 kilometers, coping with temperatures from -57C to +50C, not to mention rough tracks, rocks, mud, poor quality fuel, dust and monsoon rains. Apart from Mika putting a dink along the bottom of his vehicle, not one thing failed on either car. We obviously used the best possible oils and lubricants in the form of Shell Helix Ultra and serviced the vehicles regularly, but not one component failed – I guarantee that wouldn’t have been the case if we had used Land Rovers!
ニッサンパトロールは2万キロを越す3つの極限での冒険旅行に耐えた実績が評価されている。
なぜトヨタランドクルーザー、ハイラックスが選ばれなかったのか？と思うがそこには大人の事情があるのであろう。（勿論その様な事は書かれていないが．．．）
また、本当はランドローバーを使いたかった！のだと思う。
つまり、これらはランドローバーに対するメッセージでもある。
こんなメッセージかな？
以下、100％フィクションです。
『ローバー君、何だね最近のちゃらちゃらした車造りは、本格的なオフロードを走る車が無いじゃないか！』
『サー、誤解しては困りますなぁ、新型のデンジローバーをご覧になりましたか？』
『ローバー君、君は何も分かって無いのう、究極のオフロード車と言うのはなぁ、
Capability - 可能性を秘めている（モディフィケーション等）
Reliability - 信頼性が高い、道具としての質が高い
Simplicity - 整備性が良い
．．．じゃーないといかんのだよ、ったく！』
『サー、我が社の顧客は金持ち連中でして．．．その．．．』
『ローバー君、君たちが目覚めるまで他国の４ｘ４を活用させてもらうよ、悔しかったらアドベンチャーに相応しい４ｘ４を造ってみなさい。』
．．．まずい事を言った！．．．かなぁ？
『ああ、言っておくが、これは君たちを非難しているのではないぞ、我が英国が世界一の４ｘ４を保持するための忠告だと思ってくれたまえ。』
『サー、分かりました。やってみます！』
と、いう感じでしょうか。
いやゃゃーっ！英国人は分かっているのだなぁ、
／
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