HUMMING ACROSS THE EMPTY QUARTER

the mid-summer heat of 1994 a 17-man team, principally sponsored by Jeddah

based Zahid Tractor, undertook a dramatic and successful crossing of the

Rub al Khali, becoming the first Westerners to have completed such an unassisted

crossing in summer. The key to their impressive achievement lay in the

six Hummer four-wheel drive vehicles that carried them with great speed

and efficiency across the Sands, from Abha in the west all the way to Salwa

in Eastern Saudi Arabia.

The Rub al Khali, also known as The Empty Quarter, is the combined size

of France, Belgium and Holland. It is the biggest sand desert in the world

with the largest sand dunes, some up to 300 metres high. The multi-national

team included American, Australian, Canadian, British, Swiss, Saudi Arabian

and Pakistani members, bringing together medical, navigation, engineering,

scientific and photographic skills to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime

experience.

Driving an average of 250 kms per day, in blood-boiling temperatures

ranging from 45 °C to over 60°C, the expedition travelled for six

days across open (off-road) desert, covering over 1,500 kilometres.

Discoveries made by the team included evidence of human habitation 7,000

– 15,000 years ago, plant fossils 6,000 – 35,000 years old, at least two

new meteorites in the Waber Crater and the potential for new water wells.

The entire expedition was only made possible by the use of Hummers,

civilian prototypes of the military Humvee used in “Desert Storm”.

The Hummers each carried fuel, water and supplies weighing in excess of

3.5 tonnes and were still able to climb dunes carrying a total weight of

5 tonnes. Surprisingly, the impressive Hummers did not require any water

or oil top-ups during the entire desert journey and at no time were they

in danger of over-heating.

In the words of the expedition’s geophysicist, Dr Jeff Wynn “make

no mistake, even a helicopter couldn’t operate as we did in the Rub’ (Empty

Quarter) because of fuel limitations and density-altitude barriers caused

by the extraordinary heat. Even if a helicopter would be able to operate

in these extreme conditions, it would not be able to carry several tonnes

of water and equipment, as each Hummer did.”

Dr Wynn continued: “For most people, from the first time you spend

an hour and a half digging yourself out of the sand, you forever after

fear the sand. For the first time in my experience, however, I stopped

worrying about sand on this expedition. The Hummer spoiled me terribly:

it drives over soft dunes as if talcum-fine sand is nothing unusual.”

Tino Fenech, the Hummer Product Manager for Zahid Tractor went along

on the expedition to videotape the event. “I could not fault the vehicle”

said Fenech. “A number of times I tried walking or running up a dune

to film the Hummers, but had difficulty in the soft and sinking sand, only

to see tonnes of metal crawling over the same dune with little effort and

sometimes overtaking me up the dune.”

At one point in the expedition a buried piece of bone punctured the

wall of one tyre. Not wishing to change the tyre in the middle of the noonday

sun, the team decided to continue for five hours until camp. The deflating

tyre was replenished by the Hummer’s tyre air compressor until the team

stopped for the night. When the car did come to a halt, with the air compressor

no longer running, the tyre deflated completely in a matter of a few minutes.

With the available “Run Flat” tyre system the Hummer can drive

on one of four flat tyres for up to 50 kilometres which is usually enough

distance to get to a position of safety.

Seen almost daily in television coverage of US military operations,

the Humvee was designed to last the Army through 12 years of field work.

Recent tests by the US Army have revised this longevity to 20 years of

service. The same technology is found in the civilian Hummer with added

creature comforts not lavished on the military version, such as air-conditioning.

Since its inception, the Hummer has been marketed by the US manufacturer

AM General as a vehicle that should be driven with environmental awareness.

Each new Hummer owner in the US is automatically registered with the TREAD

LIGHTLY organisation. Tread Lightly seeks to educate off road enthusiasts

to enjoy the outdoors with a minimum of disruption , be it on public or

private land.

In fact the Hummer is less likely to damage the environment than other

4×4 vehicles. Its first advance is the unique Central Tyre Inflation System,

CTIS: with CTIS the driver can inflate or deflate the tyres to match the

terrain from within the Hummer and while still driving – no stopping necessary.

Furthermore, whereas other 4x4s require speed to climb rocks or sand dunes,

the Hummer uses torque-power to climb, not dig, its way to the top. The

driver of a conventional four-wheel drive vehicle instinctively presses

the accelerator, creating a wheel-spin that usually has the reverse of

the desired effect, digging the vehicle further into the sand rather than

helping it to climb out. On the other hand the Hummer gives its driver

the option of transferring power from the spinning/loose-footing wheel

to the wheels on firmer ground, thus enabling the vehicle to literally

pull itself out, minimising degradation of the land surface.

There is no doubt that the Hummer proved its unique capabilities on

this challenging expedition and its use will provide new opportunities

for desert exploration in Arabia. With an impressive list of practical,

safety and comfort features, and a reliability that exceeds US military

specifications, it is not surprising that Zahid Tractor’s telephones have

been literally humming with enquiries ever since this most rigorous of

field trials.

Arabian Wildlife is pleased to congratulate the

come along, if only for the ride?