London to Cape Town record broken

Discovery beats record set by Fiat Panda. If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing properly...

By Matt Bird / Sunday, 13 October 2013 / Loading comments

You may remember Philip Young and Paul Brace set a new Cape Town to London record

back in February

. 10,000 miles in 10 days was a stunning achievement, particularly in a largely unmodified Fiat Panda.

Was letting him overtake wise?

But their record stands no longer. Another pair of intrepid British explorers, Robert Belcher and Stephen Cooper, took ten hours less to complete the journey from Britain to South Africa; their time was 10 days, three hours and 16 minutes.

However, you will have noticed the distinct advantage held by these two over the Panda pair. They did the journey in a Land Rover Discovery, a vehicle rather more suited to this sort of expedition than the Panda. Again not far removed from production spec, the Discovery was fitted with larger fuel tanks, sump guards, off-road tyres and extra driving lamps.

Of course, there are plentiful tales of tribulations overcome. Libya was a tad tricky to get into, there were fuel shortages in Egypt and some fairly atrocious surfaces in Ethiopia. But our chaps persevered in the best British tradition to make it to Cape Town.

Belcher (L) and Cooper (R) evidently chuffed

Again the journey has been undertaken to benefit charity. Belcher and Cooper were raising funds for Farm Africa, and donations can still be made at their website.

Surprisingly, the duo also received sponsorship from Warranty Direct. This quote from Warranty Direct's MD Donald McClure sums up our shared concern beautifully: "When we were first approached for sponsorship and realised that they would be driving a Land Rover we were somewhat sceptical. Our Reliability Index shows the Land Rover Discovery as one of the more unreliable vehicles covered by Warranty Direct".

But the only issue throughout was a brake warning light and alarm that cured itself. So a marketing crisis averted and a new record set; well done lads!