Wednesday 13th February 2013

10,000 miles in a Panda

Plucky Brits in a plucky car break record for driving from Cape Town to London - and all for charidee

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If ever there was any doubt about the Fiat Panda’s ruggedness, it just evaporated with the news that two Brits have driven one 10,000 miles from Cape Town to London, breaking the record for doing so in the process.

Young & Brace celebrate at the finish line

The Brits in question – Philip Young and Paul Brace – took 10 days, 13 hours and 28 minutes to do the trip, breaking the previously-existing record by more than a day. And rather than taking something obvious, such as a Land Rover or Cruiser, the pair opted to complete the challenge in ... a Panda.

Now, the initiated will be aware that that wasn’t such a bad plan. The Panda’s light, economical and nimble, making it an ideal partner for this challenge. The car was apparently showroom specification, with the exception of an extra fuel tank, two spare wheels, sump guards, strong springs, and a relocated air intake. Oh, and a foam mattress across the back seat for the co-driver to catch the occasional zizz.

Panda proved an ideal chariot

The route – 10,300 miles in all – took Young & Brace from South Africa, through Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, then across the Mediterranean to Italy, into France, and finally across the channel to the finishing point at Marble Arch. And the reason for such madness? Simple, really – to raise money for, and awareness of, Farm Africa – a charity that works with families in rural Africa, helping them to produce food more effectively by providing training and support to farmers.

So, a slightly daft deed for a good cause. Such things we can only celebrate here, so hearty congratulations to the pair, and of course, to the Panda, for making it (relatively) unscathed.

You can read more about the team’s exploits at their website.

[Reardy Mister]

Good lads!

(though 10,000 trouble free off-road miles in a stock Land Rover would have been more impressive)

[vit4]

Utterly fantastic.

I hope to do something similar myself one day.

[Twincam16]

Love stories like this.

Incidentally, doesn't Lancia have a car based on the Panda's platform? Why can't we have a sporty version with modifications based on this - the Lancia Ypsilon Integrale?

[bob1179]

Brilliant! I'd love to have a go at something like that.

[YorkshirePudding]

Fantastic,

[baby g]

Er, it wasn't the 4*4. Just a twinair FWD...

[Greg348]

Very good advertisment for Fiat too, maybe they should contribute something if they havent already?

[fivetenben]

As someone whose driven from London to Cape Town in a rather pathetic 60 days - and found that quite fast enough - all I can say is, WOW, that is one hell of an achievement!

When I first heard about this attempt to make the journey in 10 days I thought it rather overambitious and was sceptical to say the least, but sometimes it's very nice to be proven wrong. Good effort guys!

[Chris71]

Was it actually a Panda 4X4? Thought it was a standard Twin Air.

ETA Someone's stolen the rear driveshafts!

Edited by Chris71 on Wednesday 13th February 14:56

[Scrof]

Chris71 said:

Was it actually a Panda 4X4? Thought it was a standard Twin Air.

ETA Someone's stolen the rear driveshafts!

Edited by Chris71 on Wednesday 13th February 14:56

Crikey, you're right. Completely my mistake; misread the release by quite some margin. Apologies to the assembled masses.

Still, that makes this even more of an impressive achievement. 10,300 miles across Africa in a 2wd Panda. Bloomin' remarkable.

[Truckosaurus]

I was following their progress 'live' via their Facebook posts, they seemed to very well organised with fixers lined up in several countries allowing for pre-arranged river crossings (on a barge) and border openings to occur.

The biggest turmoil seemed to be the Alpine snow

[tomv1to]

Someone buy me a 500 Abarth I reckon I could beat them

Thats an impressive time. It took me and a mate just over two weeks to do slightly lower mileage route to get to Ulanbaataar in Mongolia in a Daihatsu Hi-Jet.

[excel monkey]

Twincam16 said:

Love stories like this. Why can't we have a sporty version with modifications based on this - the Lancia Ypsilon Integrale?

Because Lancia has no brand equity in the UK, and complex turbo hot hatches sell in tiny volumes.

[OdramaSwimLaden]

Reardy Mister said:

Good lads!

(though 10,000 trouble free off-road miles in a stock Land Rover would have been more impressive)

I think someone on here did it, trouble free, in a 2006 (?) Range Rover. Great thread with lots of pics......

[Twincam16]

excel monkey said:

Twincam16 said:

Love stories like this. Why can't we have a sporty version with modifications based on this - the Lancia Ypsilon Integrale?

Because Lancia has no brand equity in the UK, and complex turbo hot hatches sell in tiny volumes.

I don't care.

[McWigglebum3rd]

An average speed of 41Mph

FOOK me thats some going

[y2blade]

Absolutely fantastic

[excel monkey]

Twincam16 said:

excel monkey said:

Twincam16 said:

Love stories like this. Why can't we have a sporty version with modifications based on this - the Lancia Ypsilon Integrale?

Because Lancia has no brand equity in the UK, and complex turbo hot hatches sell in tiny volumes.

I don't care.

You asked a question. I gave you an answer.

[JB8]

McWigglebum3rd said:

An average speed of 41Mph

FOOK me thats some going

Certianly does, I drove from Goodwood to Mongolia and averaged about 12mph iirc

[threespires]

A terrific effort, I followed them all the way with their on board tracker giving updates every 15 mins it was quite exciting.
These are a couple of competitors from Philip Young's Peking Paris Rally 2007.


Bentley's Peking Paris Rally 2007