Celebrating the Spirit of Africa and the prowess of a Warrior

CELEBRATING its coming of age, the Spirit of Africa 4x4 driving challenge, now in its third year under the Nissan banner, saw 22 journalists and content creators, including some of our colleagues north of our borders, celebrate its 21st birthday, tackling the course in Cullinan just outside Pretoria.

- WILLEM VAN DE PUTTE

Founded by motorsport legend Sarel van der Merwe, the event saw us pairing up to take on various speed and technical challenges in the Nissan Navara PRO-4X Warrior by Premcar.

Navara PRO-4X Warrior

Launched in March, the Navara PRO-4X Warrior is a collaboration between Nissan and Australian engineering firm Premcar, making South Africa the first market outside Australia to build and offer the Warrior.

The exterior features a more aggressive look with a blacked-out grille, door handles, a roof rack, side steps, 17-inch alloys under flares and red accents, while inside the seats receive Warrior-banded black seats with red stitching. The modified front bumper improves the approach angle by two degrees to 35 degrees, with the departure angle still 27 degrees.

The suspension has also been transformed, providing increased ride height and a wider track, while improved springs and recalibrated dampers give better wheel articulation.

Under the bonnet is the same 2.5-litre turbo diesel engine with 140kW and 450Nm of torque coupled to a seven-speed automatic transmission with 4H, 4L and a rear difflock.

Off-road skills