Life after V8Nam - it's the Pub2Pub thread...
Discussion
Many moons ago, late one Friday evening in a pub called the Seymour Arms, some friends and I came up with an idea of such glorious stupidity that it just had to happen. The idea was V8Nam - get a car with a V8, then drive it to Vietnam.
Thanks to said drunken conversation, three years ago this week I hopped into my old Corvette and set off East, eventually ending up in Singapore 5 months and 14,000 miles later. If you followed the trip thread on here, the journey will need no introduction; if not, here are some pics from the Corvette's Asian adventure:
...and there's a trip report here: http://80breakdowns.com/2014/07/23/the-east-is-lou...
Even before V8Nam was over, thoughts were already turning to what the next adventure would be. I mean, how do you surpass driving to the farthest-flung corner of Asia in a Corvette? The answer was a while coming, but I think it was worth the wait. And just like V8Nam, it has a suitably snappy title: Pub2Pub - a road trip from the northernmost bar on the planet, to the southernmost.
So that's the idea; how is it progressing? Well, we're still very much in the early stages of putting this latest drive together, which isn't too much of an issue as we won't be hitting the road until Summer 2017. On the plus side, we have the route all planned out (all 30,000 miles of it!) and are up and rolling on social media; on the down side, we still have no idea as to what vehicle we'll be taking, other than that it'll be something suitably impractical and pistonhead-worthy. As the V8Nam thread went down well, I'll be keeping this thread updated in a similar manner as we plan the trip, find & prepare a vehicle, and hit the road on the longest journey ever to be undertaken by a sports car.
I hope you enjoy following our progress...
Thanks to said drunken conversation, three years ago this week I hopped into my old Corvette and set off East, eventually ending up in Singapore 5 months and 14,000 miles later. If you followed the trip thread on here, the journey will need no introduction; if not, here are some pics from the Corvette's Asian adventure:
...and there's a trip report here: http://80breakdowns.com/2014/07/23/the-east-is-lou...
Even before V8Nam was over, thoughts were already turning to what the next adventure would be. I mean, how do you surpass driving to the farthest-flung corner of Asia in a Corvette? The answer was a while coming, but I think it was worth the wait. And just like V8Nam, it has a suitably snappy title: Pub2Pub - a road trip from the northernmost bar on the planet, to the southernmost.
So that's the idea; how is it progressing? Well, we're still very much in the early stages of putting this latest drive together, which isn't too much of an issue as we won't be hitting the road until Summer 2017. On the plus side, we have the route all planned out (all 30,000 miles of it!) and are up and rolling on social media; on the down side, we still have no idea as to what vehicle we'll be taking, other than that it'll be something suitably impractical and pistonhead-worthy. As the V8Nam thread went down well, I'll be keeping this thread updated in a similar manner as we plan the trip, find & prepare a vehicle, and hit the road on the longest journey ever to be undertaken by a sports car.
I hope you enjoy following our progress...
Cheers folks; if the trip ends up being half as memorable as V8Nam I'll be a happy chap.
Predictably, there have been quite a few conversations carried out over a beer on the subject... we're looking at two vehicles again; a sports car and a 4-seater, and there are a few thoughts on what vehicle would suit the trip here: http://80breakdowns.com/2015/03/10/in-search-of-st...
My ultimate ambition for this trip is to source a kit car, build it then undertake the journey in it. Obviously, this would require us to get a manufacturer onboard, something we're working on at the moment, so the final choice of vehicle depends on how that goes. Fingers crossed...
Codswallop said:
Very much looking forward to following this adventure as well. Look forward to seeing what cars you choose - any hints as to what we can expect?
Predictably, there have been quite a few conversations carried out over a beer on the subject... we're looking at two vehicles again; a sports car and a 4-seater, and there are a few thoughts on what vehicle would suit the trip here: http://80breakdowns.com/2015/03/10/in-search-of-st...
My ultimate ambition for this trip is to source a kit car, build it then undertake the journey in it. Obviously, this would require us to get a manufacturer onboard, something we're working on at the moment, so the final choice of vehicle depends on how that goes. Fingers crossed...
Slow said:
...and there was me expecting it to be an MX5! 
Iva Barchetta said:
Where are the 2 points to visit the 2 bars north n south ?
Epic adventure by the sounds of it.
The northernmost bar is in an abandoned Russian mining settlement on the island of Svalbard, at 78° north, or to put it another way, about 400 miles north of the city of Tromso, in Norway: Epic adventure by the sounds of it.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/soviet-ghost-...
The southernmost is at Vernadky Research Base, on the Antarctic Peninsula, where they distil vodka onsite and sell it to passers by for $3 a shot:
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-bar-at-vern...
And the route between them? Well, it's quite a trek...
http://80breakdowns.com/2015/04/30/planning-a-rout...
Given the route I would have thought one of these would be just the ticket.
http://www.seahorseamphibious.com/
http://www.seahorseamphibious.com/
Epic! in every sense of the word - looking forward to your thread.
I can imagine that the planning and logistics will be one of the hardest parts and it'll be a relief when you get on the road.
I'm sure that there will be trials, troubles and tribulations - I hope that they're not too significant - like bumps on the road. It wouldn't be as much of an adventure if it was too easy and straightforward - best of luck!
I can imagine that the planning and logistics will be one of the hardest parts and it'll be a relief when you get on the road.
I'm sure that there will be trials, troubles and tribulations - I hope that they're not too significant - like bumps on the road. It wouldn't be as much of an adventure if it was too easy and straightforward - best of luck!
Craikeybaby said:
I'm looking forward to reading more about this!
Hi Lewis, sorry about the radio silence; I've been camping in an obscure corner of France for the past few weeks so as you can imagine, progress has been pretty stationary. On the plus side, the drive back to the UK was a vaguely pistonhead-esque experience... https://80breakdowns.com/2016/04/15/racing-back/PositronicRay said:
Given the route I would have thought one of these would be just the ticket.
http://www.seahorseamphibious.com/
That's a pretty awesome piece of kit! Attempting to take one across the Atlantic would be a bit bold though, although such a feat has already been done at least once. As a honeymoon. And I'm not even joking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Carlinhttp://www.seahorseamphibious.com/
hidetheelephants said:
I'd have thought a Rolls Royce Camargue or a Brizzle 603 or 412 would be a good shout; barking mad, eccentric appearance and gigantic V8 wholesomeness.
All good calls - if only the budget would stretch to such decadence!Edited by hidetheelephants on Friday 15th April 19:13
Car-wise, I'm aiming for a similar vehicle structure to our previous big trips: A sports car, accompanied by something a bit bigger to cart all the trip paraphernalia around. given that there are currently 5 of us looking to do the whole journey, this set up would be perfect.
So what's the current state of play with the expedition? Well, as we've already got a solid route plan put together, we're currently focussing on building up a decent media following, both through social media and the more traditional outlets, to make involvement in the expedition as appealing as possible to sponsors. Realistically, we're looking to start approaching potential sponsors (both financial and vehicular) about a year before departure, so we've got another few months to get as much coverage arranged as possible - something which is all pretty new to me, as on previous trips I've pretty much just jumped in the car and gone, with the minimum of hype. Still, life's full of small challenges... and rather large ones, such as trying to get a TV production company onboard.
fivetenben said:
Craikeybaby said:
PositronicRay said:
Given the route I would have thought one of these would be just the ticket.
http://www.seahorseamphibious.com/
That's a pretty awesome piece of kit! Attempting to take one across the Atlantic would be a bit bold though, although such a feat has already been done at least once. As a honeymoon. And I'm not even joking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Carlinhttp://www.seahorseamphibious.com/
.
Back in the day, shot in black and white John Mills in the lead.
g3org3y said:
Bookmarked. This is what PH should be about.
Definitely agree about this.Are any magazines (websites
) interested in covering your journey as a bit of sponsorship too. This would also help procure a car as there would be a wider readership of your journey. About to head off and read about your previous adventure as somehow I missed the thread. Looks like great fun, wish I had th balls to do something similar.
The Big G said:
Definitely agree about this.
Are any magazines (websites) interested in covering your journey as a bit of sponsorship too. This would also help procure a car as there would be a wider readership of your journey.
About to head off and read about your previous adventure as somehow I missed the thread. Looks like great fun, wish I had th balls to do something similar.
I've not approached any magazines directly yet, though I don't anticipate any issues in getting coverage during and after the trip - The AfricanPorsche Expedition (http://bencoombs.net/africanporsche_tripreport1.html) reached an audience of 2.8 million people through all the different channels it was featured in, and I'm aiming to beat that with Pub2Pub.Are any magazines (websites
) interested in covering your journey as a bit of sponsorship too. This would also help procure a car as there would be a wider readership of your journey. About to head off and read about your previous adventure as somehow I missed the thread. Looks like great fun, wish I had th balls to do something similar.
So, while it would be very nice to have a magazine (or website
) onboard at this stage, I don't think it's 100% essential to gain sponsorship, as I already have a pretty solid track record of getting my trips in front of people.What I don't have at the moment is a track record of generating video and social media content, as we've simply not bothered with this side of things on past trips. Because of this, we're currently looking into the feasibility of getting a TV production company involved, and are starting to focus on building up the Facebook, instagram and twitter following, as these are actually pretty important in a sponsor's eyes. And it's all new to me!
If only roadtrippin' was still as simple as jumping into an old car and heading off into the sunset... as our first Pub2Pub promo video makes it appear: https://vimeo.com/136714225
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff