London to Capetown World Record

[Scott Brady]

Max is an interesting chap from the UK. He has done some serious adventures with various Land Rovers, and is currently attempting to break the London to Cape Town record

Max Adventure is driving from London to Cape Town ... in record time!

10,000 miles...21 countries...3 continents...in under 13 days 8 hours 48 minutes

Supporting „Help for Heroes‰

Patrons:
Sir Stirling Moss OBE
Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE

Hi,

This Saturday 16th October at 9pm, I will be leading a 3-man team in an attempt to beat the current record for driving between London and Cape Town. To beat this record, we will be required to drive continuously, both day and night for nearly 2 weeks, driving, eating and sleeping in the cramped confines of a Land Rover Discovery.

Our journey will take us across Europe, Asia and Africa, where we will be subjected to heat, dust, noise and the constant movement of the car along pot holed roads and gravel tracks.

We are undertaking this challenge to raise money for Help for Heroes, a charity that supports our wounded soldiers from the conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In 30 years time, these wars will long be forgotten ˆ but while the politicians who sent our soldiers to war are enjoying the rich pleasures of the Œlecture circuit‚ being wined and dined by big business, those who were injured will still be fighting ˆ both physically and mentally.

Our responsibility to our injured will last for their lifetime and so we must now and in the future, continue to raise money to ensure that they are supported in every way possible.

Please help us with our goal in raising a minimum of £10,000 for Help for Heroes by donating at:

http://www.justgiving.com/maxadventure

Our vehicle is fitted with a live satellite tracking system and you can follow our progress, read news and see photos as we embark on this adventure. Please visit our website:

http://www.maxadventure.co.uk/L2CT

Thank you from the entire team:


Driving team:
Mac Mackenney
Chris Rawlings
Steve Mackenney

UK Team:
Steve Holland
Jon Fuller
Sean Comber

Visit the Max Adventure website at http://www.maxadventure.co.uk

 

[Scott Brady]

The start! Good luck Max

Saturday 16th October - Pall Mall, London

The moment of truth arrived at last. The team pulled up outside the Royal Automobile Club in London to be met by assorted friends and family. The RAC Club is the official start and AA building in Cape Town will be the finish.

The start location and time were independently witnessed by the officials from the RAC. These things have to be done properly for the all effort to mean anything.

Each of the three team members gave a short interview to put across how they were feeling in these last moments and what they expected the high and low points might be. You can watch these videos on the expedition website.

Having completed the formalities and said all the goodbyes the team pulled away at 21:18hrs BST.

The vehicle headed off into the revelry of the London Saturday night - passing people who had no idea of the undertaking that was starting off under their noses.

At the time of writing (Sunday 19:15) the team have been travelling for nearly 22 hours and are already in their eighth country, Croatia, and closing on the border with Serbia.

Check out the website for all the latest news, blogs, pictures and videos and watch the team's progress on our interactive map as their position is tracked and updated hourly by satellite:

Expedition website homepage : http://www.maxadventure.co.uk/L2CT

Expedition interactive map : http://www.maxadventure.co.uk/L2CT_map

 

[Scott Brady]

The latest: Crossing the Saudi border

There are a few 'crux' points on the team's chosen route to Cape Town. The first of these is entry in Saudi Arabia. Getting the correct permission and paperwork to transit the country by vehicle would fill a website on its own.

At 14:17hrs BST the team crossed the border and we are pleased to announce that all went smoothly. This is in no small part to the efforts of supporters on ground anticipating the team's arrival and preparing the way.

The next potential showstopper is making it on time to the ferry in Jeddah.

More photos and blogs have been added to the website this evening. Follow the team's progress on the expedition website:
http://www.maxadventure.co.uk/L2CT

 

[Christian P.]

Well done. By avoiding Egypt, they are saving like 2 weeks...

 

[gjackson]

Interesting that they ended up with a LHD DII. When I talked to Max last year, the big stumbling block was that RHD vehicles are illegal in Saudi and wouldn't be let across the border. He was talking to Land Rover about supplying trucks, but they could only do RHD LR4s.

cheers

 

[taco2go]

Can't see the web pages on my work computer- Is the current record 13 days?

 

[UK4X4]

LHD vehicles can be found in the UK

I had a porshe and a mazda RX7 ....both imports - the rx was from canada, came with military family and the Porshe was a crash damage we came acros history unknown.

4wds are especially available usually people who had a house in france portugal or spain and just drove home.

Exchange and mart has a LHD section

 

[zeroland]

My local paper featured an article the trip... Read more here

As interesting was the previous record in a Ford Cortina. No 4wd, just pure rear wheel drive. Eric Jackson is on facebook - Damn Long Way

 

[Scott Brady]

On the Red Sea

16:00hrs BST. The team are now on the ferry out of Jeddah. This will take them across the Red Sea to Suakin in Sudan.

There will be no more Yellowbrick tracking updates until they leave the ferry tomorrow morning after the 12 hour crossing.

During the day we have been receiving a stream of improved quality images. Some are replacements for what we have already. Others are new.

Have a look through the Europe and Asia Galleries to get up to date.

Galleries are here:
http://www.maxadventure.co.uk/news_detail.php?gal=true&tag=98
http://www.maxadventure.co.uk/news_detail.php?gal=true&tag=99

 

[Chris S]

North Zambia border tonight with 4 days to go - it looks like they might just make it. Who would have believed it.

Chris S

 

[zeroland]

I wonder how many village chickens they drove over in their haste...:smiley_drive:

 

[Scott Brady]

Latest update: Getting close

South Africa - the team are in the country and on their way to the finish point, driving their last stint through the night. The Garmin sat nav has given them an estimated arrival time at the AA of South Africa building, but the team don't want to announce it in case it jinxes the project!

There was a bit of a heart stopping moment when expedition leader Mac had his passport taken away for extra scrutiny. There seemed to be some confusion by the South African Immigration Officers with regards to his entry stamp when crossing from Zambia into Botswana this morning. Fortunately though, and with much relief to Mac who had visions of his co-drivers arriving triumphantly in Cape Town without him, his passport was returned and the team could go on their way.

A quick and friendly chat with the Customs Officers and at 19:23, the team entered their final country. The 21st flag was affixed to the bonnet of the car, circling the Max Adventure logo - a fantastic site and achievement in its own right, to have driven to South Africa in such a short time.

The team must concentrate hard now for the final run through the night. letting their guard down at this late stage could prove fatal. They are all very aware that after all the effort they have put in to get where they are, it would be foolish to throw it all away at the end. Nice and steady is the order of the day.

 

[Scott Brady]

They did it!

Huge congrats to Max and his team

The Max Aventure team of Mac MacKenney, Chris Rawlings & Steve MacKenney have travelled from London to Cape Town covering 10,000 miles through 20 countries and breaking the current record of 13 days, 8 hrs 48 mins set in 1963 by Eric Jackson & Ken Chambers.

The new record now stands at 11 DAYS 14 HOURS 11 MINUTES this is 1 Day 18 Hours 37 Minutes inside the previous record.

More news, blogs and photos will follow later on today so stay tuned to the expedition website:
http://www.maxadventure.co.uk/L2CT

 

[landcruising]

That must have been a great run! Lots of adrenaline I guess...
Adventurous greetings,
Coen

 

[haven]

Congratulations to the Max Adventure team! By my back of the envelope calculation, the team averaged about 36 miles per hour. Considering the time spent refueling and in border crossings, the average speed on the road must have been more than 40 mph.

Since the previous record was set 47 years ago and road conditions in Africa have improved a lot since then, I'm not surprised that the current effort came home with a faster time. The result makes me appreciate how fast the previous record holders were traveling in 1963, and why the record stood for so many years.