Highway to the South Pole?

Question

Let's suppose there was a paved highway on the Antarctica that reached the South Pole (from about 65*S latitude to 90*S latitude), initially cleaned. A person drives a car on this highway in summer / winter. What weather and road conditions would he encounter (I suppose he shouldn't worry about snow, because of the dry climate)? What modifications would the car need to be able to reach the high latitudes (fuel, tires etc - I'm thinking of the extreme temperatures)?

Answer 1

You would probably just need enough fuel to never turn it off.  As long as it's running it's generating enough heat to keep from freezing.  You might need a heater inside the fuel tank though, and some sort of heat for the fuel lines as they pass under the car, but the vegetable oil conversions for diesel cars have to heat the fuel and have heated fuel lines so you could probably just copy their solution.

I think winds can get pretty intense, so you probably wouldn't want something that's either too light or too squared off.

Answer 2

Antarctica does get snow.  It doesn't really get very warm even in summer.  Most of the vehicles that have made this trip have been specially designed tracked vehicles.

You would need special lubricants and anti-freeze and--as mentioned--you would need to keep the engine running or otherwise warmed up throughout the trip.  I would not use a car, but would opt for a dual rear-wheel extended cab pickup truck with a well-heated camper shell and would pull a large enough trailer to carry whatever supplies were needed.

If it were possible to keep the highway cleared and reasonably dry a normal tread would likely work, but the tire would probably need to be a special composition to managed extreme cold.  A good set of chains could come in handy.

Many long-haul trucks carry auxiliary power units.  These are used to supply electrical power and heat to the truck when it is parked and allows the truck engine to be shut down without draining the battery.  If an auxiliary power unit could also keep the vehicle engine warmed up this might be a good additional accessory.

It would be an interesting experiment.  I personally would not want to do it.