Landy Discovery v. dog sled: Ice race challenge in Finland

• Discovery Sport takes on dog sled team underground
• Unique race challenge in Finnish snow tunnel
• Landy puts huskies through summer cold-weather training

COOL RUNNINGS: The Land Rover Discovery Sport SUV and huskies sled team battle it out 35m underground. Image: Jaguar Land Rover

HELSINKI, Finland – About half of all Land Rover buyers globally regularly travel with a dog but this one carried six sled dogs up a mountain.

For a race. Through a tunnel. On snow.

The dogs, their sled and Finnish middle-distance sled-dog race champion Laura Kääriäinen were in for a unique training challenge against the Discovery Sport SUV one a one-kilometre track in Finland’s Vesileppis Ski Tunnel.

ICE QUEEN: Finnish sled-dog race champion Laura Kääriäinen encourages her lead husky before the race. Image: Jaguar Land Rover

The undulating tunnel was carved into rock 35m below ground and is kept at -2C to maintain a blanket of snow on its floor throughout the European summer.

Land Rover thought it the perfect place to put the Discovery Sport vehicle’s all-terrain capability to the test.

Watch the full race here.

The dogs, once strapped into the sled’s traces, had the straightforward task of running and, when up to speed, maintaining about 35km/h around the course.

The Discovery, however, had to cross a number of ice blocks to test its wheel articulation and traction control.

Over two laps of the tunnel the sled team and Discovery Sport were closely matched but the Land Rover, despite having to negotiate the giant ice cubes, won a nose – Land Rover didn’t specify whether that was a dog’s nose or a Discovery’s nose…

Driver Karl Richards, lead engineer for stability control systems at Jaguar Land Rover, told Carman’s Corner in a media release: “Snow is one of the most demanding surfaces a driver can encounter during winter around the world.

READ MORE Land Rover features on Carman’s Corner

“The Discovery Sport proved to be as comfortable in the chilly tunnel conditions as the dogs but the 4×4’s traction control of the four wheels proved superior to the 24 paws it was up against

An optional full-height luggage divider from Land Rover that fits into mounting points bars pets access to the rest of the cabin. A rubber boot mat protects the floor and even contains, er, minor spills.

Convenience features include Land Rover’s gesture-operated tail door for easy canine access and a wide-angle camera supplies a 25cm facia screen with an image of the pet(s).