Toyota’s Hilux tackles volcano

The Hilux in front of Iceland’s Eyjafallajökull volcano hours before its eruption.

A NEW chapter has been written in the world-conquering history of Toyota’s mighty Hilux as it took on the ice and fire of Iceland’s Eyjafallajökull volcano, just hours before its eruption brought chaos to the skies of Europe.

The legendary pick-up that Top Gear simply could not destroy and which was the first car to be driven across the Arctic to the Magnetic North Pole proved the perfect transport for scientists racing to set up monitoring equipment before the long-dormant  mountain blew its top and sent a vast cloud of ash 30,000 feet into the sky.

The vehicles used for the expedition were prepared by specialist firm Arctic Trucks to the same extreme environment specification as the Hilux used by Jeremy Clarkson and James May for their historic polar expedition. With giant low pressure 38-inch tyres, the go-anywhere Hilux had the measure of every challenge in its path as it made its way through ice and snow towards the volcano’s fiery heart.

With Europe’s most advanced aircraft rendered powerless by the ash-filled atmosphere, it’s Hilux that once again has proved itself the master of everything man and nature can put in its path.