The Darien Gap

Sir,

Whilst I agree that Stephen Goss has indeed raised an old chestnut, I think the topic worthy of pursuit if only to set the record straight.

Having re-read the offending advertisement of October ’76 I feel the claim made is that these vehicles were the first to continuously journey from Alaska to the Cape and crossing the Darien in the process. A matter of interpretation I agree.

Incidentally as a matter of fact the Land-Rover flown in to act as path-finder for this party was a secondhand Series II, 88 in. (not LWB) and had definitely seen better days when pressed into service to guide the Range-Rovers to safety.

However, I am still very impressed by the fact that ordinary cars, albeit with support from trucks, should have made this journey and look forward to the possibility of Motor Sport including this “fascinating” article in a future edition.

The real point of this letter is that in both cases the journey across the Darien Gap was attempted with large parties and several vehicles, and as such any credit attaching itself to this part of the world rightly belongs to Richard Beirs and Terry Whitfield.

With a single series II, 88 in. Land-Rover they crossed in 134 days from February 1960. No supply and petrol trucks, no radio, no air-support: just one Land-Rover and two men.

Slough RICHARD J. CROWE