WORLD’S BEST JOB

PLANNING driving reconnaissance missions and then leading Land Rover Experience journeys means Marvin Verheyden must have close to the best job in the world. Marvin has been involved with Land Rover Experience for many years and been heavily involved in the destination selection process, a process that can take up to 18 months.

“Peru was already in our mind some years ago,” he says. “We were very excited when we recognised the variety of the country: desert, mountains, rainforest, and everything within hours by car.”

However, Peru threw up plenty of challenges because of this variety, with Marvin and the team requiring three recce trips due to heavy rains changing tracks. Even this Leg Three we were attending had to be altered due to the changing conditions.

Then there were the vehicles. The new Discovery has just been released, so it was the obvious participant vehicle. Impressively, it required few modifications, according to Marvin.

“We drove more or less with standard SE/HSE vehicles,” he says. “The only thing we changed was thicker underbody protection and the Goodyear Duratracs. Each vehicle also got an ARB fridge, Garmin GPS and a 220V inverter, plus one spare tyre and two jerry cans up top.”