Electric Toyota LandCruiser crosses Darwin Harbour

A battery-electric Toyota LandCruiser has managed to drive from one side of Darwin Harbour to the other, completing the 7km journey across the sea floor in around 12 hours.

The car in question was a specially prepared 1978 FJ40 LandCruiser affectionately dubbed the ‘Mud Crab’, which took some six months to ready for the feat and yet the crew only tested it in saltwater once… four days before the event.

Each tyre was filled with water and weighed 150kg to keep the once-lightweight 4x4 on the sea floor.

The name proved fitting given the journey was painfully slow with an average speed of just 0.4km/h as the Mudcrab repeatedly got bogged in the soft mud and silt of the harbour floor, requiring a series of winches and buoys to get it moving again.

A team of 30 commercial divers took turns piloting the rig in 15-minute shifts due to the immense pressure 30m below the surface, however, their efforts clearly paid off given the Mud Crab emerged from the harbour at Mindil Beach at around 9:00pm Saturday night – much to the delight of the crew and spectators.

While final confirmation is pending, it’s thought the successful run has set a pair of new world records for the longest and deepest underwater drive, a record Darwin isn’t unfamiliar with.

Set at the same location back in 1983, the previous record stood at 3km and, funnily enough, was also claimed by a LandCruiser.

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