5 road trips to inspire you to just keep driving

Remember the PHer who took a Corvette to Vietnam? Here's what else he's been up to!

Ben Coombs is not your average petrolhead. When every sign points toward the journey being impossible, he defies logic and makes it anyway. From driving a Corvette to Vietnam to coaxing a Rover P6 to Morocco, there likely aren't many combinations of car and destination that he hasn't considered. Here he details his trips, past and future, and shares his advice for undertaking an epic road trip of your very own!

Have you ever been out for a drive in your pride and joy, and just wanted to keep going? To simply not go home, but instead watch the scenery roll past as you cruise towards the horizon, mile after mile, corner after corner, country after country?

I'm willing to bet that as you're currently reading PistonHeads, the answer is most likely yes. But just how far can you go in the sort of car owned by the average PHer? Well put simply, very far indeed! And you don't need a 4x4 to reach the ends of the Earth, either. Here are a few of my favourite trips I've undertaken so far, with the inside line on how you can make them happen as well.

1) V8Nam - England to Vietnam, with a V8
Everyone can recall at least one of those times when a friend's had an idea for an adventure so outlandish that it'll never happen, but so brilliant that you wish it would. V8Nam was one of those times - get a car with a V8; drive it to Vietnam. So a few years ago I found myself setting off for the far side of the world, in a convoy consisting only of a C4 Corvette and a 1978 Rolls Royce. 14,000 miles and five months later, having made it to Vietnam, journey's end was in fact reached in Singapore. The key to taking on a road trip of this scale was to ensure we broke the journey down into manageable legs! For V8Nam, this meant researching each individual leg of the journey to pre-empt any issues we'd need to overcome. These ranged from the simple - UK to Ukraine, which is basically a normal Euro road trip - to the preposterous: China needed three months of pre-arrival paperwork, £3,500 per car and the border crossing took four days! By effectively breaking the journey into a series of smaller road trips you make it more manageable, and therefore more achievable.

2) The African Porsche Expedition
This involved driving a Porsche from the UK to South Africa, via the Middle East... Even in 2008 this was the toughest prospect on the list, certainly not for the faint hearted, and with the current political situation in the Middle East it may not be so wise to attempt now. At the time, paperwork aside, the biggest challenges on this drive were reserved for the car. Despite raised suspension, the roads in The Sudan and Northern Kenya were sufficiently bad to almost defeat the long-suffering Porsche, which endured 27 separate breakdowns on the journey to Cape Town. The lesson here was not only the need for thorough vehicle preparation; but also what to take, with bodging materials being just as valuable as specific spares. It's amazing what predicaments you can solve armed with only duct tape, cable ties, silicon sealant and some lateral thinking.

However there's another moral to this story - that almost anything is possible. If a humble Porsche 944 can make it across some of Africa's worst roads, then there aren't many places on the planet that can't be reached in a normal car. Research the road conditions for any proposed journey and, nine times out of 10, you'll find there's no reason why a normal car can't make the trip.

3) The Mongol Rally
If you like the idea of making a big overland journey in a rubbish car, but are unsure of where to begin, this brilliant event is the place to start. The gist of it is this: buy a random car, keep preparation to the bare minimum, then, along with about 400 likeminded folk, drive it 10,000 miles from Europe to Mongolia. The event takes place every summer and has developed a cult-like following. I won't give any further advice on completing the rally, as the whole point is to set off into the unknown totally unprepared and figure everything out as you go along! But for further information you can head to www.mongolrally.com.

4) Morocco V8
If you're not in the position to be able to set aside a month or more for your road trip, then fear not! In only two weeks door-to-door, you too can drive from the UK to the Sahara and back and, what's more, you can do it at the helm of your very own V8 Rover P6. A round trip from southern England to Morocco comes in at under 3,000 miles, and with very straightforward borders and frequent ferry crossings via the Straits of Gibraltar, you can get to Africa quickly and explore Morocco's exotic vistas in style. The easiest route for this trans-continental caper is to take the ferry from Algeciras to Ceuta. The only unfamiliar paperwork you'll need in Africa being a customs document, which you'll get at the border, and insurance, which you can buy cheaply at the first town you reach. Inspired? The best source of further information for road tripping in this corner of Africa is 'Morocco Overland', by Doug Scott.

5) Pub2Pub
The problem I've found with epic road trips is that they're dangerously addictive. It's for this reason that next year will see me setting off on my grandest undertaking yet - a 30,000-mile journey from the northernmost bar on the planet to the southernmost! From the Arctic to the Antarctic, with the overland legs being undertaken in a sports car. I plan to detail the trip here on the site to keep you updated with our progress, and with all the lessons I learn along the way.

So there you have it - armed only with a car and a sense of adventure, the world can be your oyster. Any other suggestions or dream road trip plans of your own? Let's hear them!

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