West Yorkshire Farmer Records First Bering Straits Car Crossing

A farmer from West Yorkshire has driven his Land Rover Defender into the record books, following a successful attempt to become the first person to cross the Bering Straits using a road vehicle. Steve Burgess, the pioneering Yorkshireman, reserved special praise for the Cooper 4×4 tyres that helped him score the first.

The 52-year-old from Mirfield, near Huddersfield, drove 10,379 miles in 50 days, taking in the easternmost tip of Russia. Driving across icy tundra and frozen riverbeds with temperatures as low as -46 degrees Celsius in some of the most remote places on earth, the Cooper Discoverer ST off-road tyres was able to provide the additional traction and performance levels necessary for the feat.

The achievement relied on a masterstroke of invention, as – instead of trying to cross the Straits while they were covered with ice – Burgess waited for them to melt in the summer. Once they did, he strapped two huge floats on the sides of his Land Rover, added a motor and propeller on the back and sailed across the 56-mile stretch of water, pausing on the island of Little Diomede as the weather closed in, before continuing a few weeks later when conditions improved. He landed at 0100 local time on the beach of Wales, Alaska, on Friday 8 August, earning his place in history.

“It’s been a phenomenal trip,” gasped Burgess. “I can’t say it was all enjoyable – I wouldn’t do it again – but it has been incredible. We were on ice roads virtually all the way from Moscow – thousands and thousands of miles – and could not believe how much traction we got from the Cooper tyres; they were phenomenal.

“Landing on Wales was brilliant. It was the culmination of nearly nine years work, and to be the first to get across was incredible. I’d watched other people before me try to do it – rich people, big companies, and I thought ‘how am I going to square up to these people?’ But I showed them how it’s done!”

Burgess’s epic journey is set to continue. After returning to the UK to raise more funds, he plans to drive from top to bottom of North and South America, arriving in Cape Horn after travelling a total of 30,000 miles.