The Managing Director, Mercedes-Benz Cars, Australia/Pacific Mr Horst von Sanden said “Just as the G-Class has stayed true to its unique heritage, we wanted to demonstrate the unique heritage and challenge of the far north of WA and the Canning Stock Route delivers that and more. I am very proud of my team, the local and international journalists and our support crew for completing this epic journey. It’s a fantastic achievement, well done”.

The Canning Stock Route is mapped by Wells and the only fuelling station along the drive is Well 33 otherwise you need to have drums of fuel trucked to a specific location.

On July 28 the first group of international media flew to Wiluna for the first seven day leg. On August 3 the second group of media flew in from all over the world to Well 33 to complete the toughest challenge the Australian Outback could muster. They took over from group one for the final leg of the drive.

Once the second team reached Well 33, a number of fellow travellers heading south in the opposite direction needed to stay the night due to their shock absorber failures and wait for additional parts to arrive.

Shortly after the second group left Well 33 (heading north) they too shredded and burst a number of tyres and shock absorbers.

The Canning Stock Route is notorious for shredding tyres and damaging shock absorbers and regardless of experience it is difficult to accommodate for all driving styles and track conditions. Just past Well 33 a decision was made to replace six damaged and four still usable shock absorbers and fly in additional shocks for the rest of the trek. At no point though were the G-Class vehicles un-driveable. The support crew swung into action according to plan and brought in replacement shock absorbers.

The Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, David McCarthy said “With temperatures averaging 32 degrees Celsius the team were faced with a very dry track; the Canning Stock Route was in its absolute worst condition. At no stage were we unable to keep going and finish the trek”, said McCarthy.

The drive continued and the drivers were treated to amazing views and came across sand dune after sand dune that could only be compared to a theme park, one of the drivers from the group said, “There are sand dunes before Tobin, packed so tightly together they almost meet at the base. It’s like riding a rollercoaster over the undulating hills, the G-Class climbing easily with the centre differential locked. For a couple of tougher dunes with lumpy soft sand approaches we engage the rear diff as well to give some additional traction.

When the opportunity allowed we were afforded an epic view into the far distance. The landscape casts a false image of lush rolling hills that could easily be prime farming land. But get closer and what looks like blanket ground cover breaks apart, the blood red desert sand breaking through the always present spinifex and random clusters of desert oak”, concluded the driver.

There was a sense of relief as the group arrived at Well 51 as this is officially the last Well they needed to pass on the Canning Stock Route and sets up the convoy of five G 350 BlueTEC station wagons and two G-Professionals (station wagon and cab chassis).

The convoy managed to meet the deadline and arrived at Biluna Station midday on Monday August 8 and prepare for the final 170 km leg to Halls Creek on Tuesday August 9. The team were understandably tired but were running on adrenalin as they knew they had finally completed the famous Canning Stock Route.