Cape Town to London Record Attempt - February 2013
Discussion
Philip Young, the bloke generally credited with having kick-started the historic-rally scene and Endurance rallying has long been told to endure some of the pain he gives out to others... so is off to Cape Town on an attempt at driving home non-stop to hopefully break a long-standing World Record.
This is how the Daily Telegraph report this news on their website today. The car was unveiled yesterday at the Royal Geographical Society, where nearly 400 rally-enthusiasts attended a special film night showing the film of the London to Cape Town World Cup Rally.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/9705974/C...
Autocar have also run the story:
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motoring/fiat-pa...
More on the record run next February is here: http://www.africarecordrun.com
The Panda now has a Tony Fowkes radiator-protecting nudge-bar; will it withstand nudging elephants?
Tony Fowkes at his bodyshop in Park Royal, north London. (2nd on the ’77 London to Sydney as a works Mercedes driver behind Andrew Cowan, beating Hopkirk’s Citroen, and 4th on the 74 Lombard RAC Rally in a home-built Escort are two of his rally achievements).
He and his sons have prepped the Panda, some 500 hours have gone into ensuring it won't easily fall apart...
More on http://www.africarecordrun.com
Newsflash! Veteran regional news broadcaster Fred Dineage is interviewing Philip Young and Paul Brace on the ITV Meridian network, which may or may not go across Southern England or just a bit of it, around 6.0pm. (18/1/13)
No excuses allowed for a spot of snow then… with the Fiat Dealer in Basingstoke also trekking to the Southampton studio to provide the essential prop – a white Panda to wheel before the cameras.
TV debut follows on from the half page in the Sunday Telegraph, and national BBC radio broadcasts. Meanwhile, the ship carrying the Panda is inching its way through high seas towards Southern Africa, but due to the winds cant dock at Cape Town. Problems, problems…and the planned border crossing that is all new - opening up a land-based frontier between north Sudan and southern Egypt - is now not opening in January, as was originally announced… the headaches continue.
http://www.africarecordrun.com
No excuses allowed for a spot of snow then… with the Fiat Dealer in Basingstoke also trekking to the Southampton studio to provide the essential prop – a white Panda to wheel before the cameras.
TV debut follows on from the half page in the Sunday Telegraph, and national BBC radio broadcasts. Meanwhile, the ship carrying the Panda is inching its way through high seas towards Southern Africa, but due to the winds cant dock at Cape Town. Problems, problems…and the planned border crossing that is all new - opening up a land-based frontier between north Sudan and southern Egypt - is now not opening in January, as was originally announced… the headaches continue.
http://www.africarecordrun.com
Here is the interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9QeiCKNpqo
The real car must be near South Africa by now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9QeiCKNpqo
The real car must be near South Africa by now.
Just 17 hours to go.
Yesterday was spent unpacking, checking and cleaning the car.
After much heated debate it was decided to ditch more items, both personal and car spares in favour of weight and more space for sleeping.
This morning Philip and Paul have been on the Expresso Breakfast Show:
http://www.expressoshow.com/articles/Cape-Town-to-...
For more go to www.africarecordrun.com
The YellowBrick tracker is now live on the car.
Yesterday was spent unpacking, checking and cleaning the car.
After much heated debate it was decided to ditch more items, both personal and car spares in favour of weight and more space for sleeping.
This morning Philip and Paul have been on the Expresso Breakfast Show:
http://www.expressoshow.com/articles/Cape-Town-to-...
For more go to www.africarecordrun.com
The YellowBrick tracker is now live on the car.
Edited by rallycivic on Thursday 31st January 11:03
They crossed into Zambia on the Kazungula ferry just a day after starting, having covered 2,400 km:
The Panda is performing magnificently.
http://www.africarecordrun.com/map.html#ybm
The Panda is performing magnificently.
http://www.africarecordrun.com/map.html#ybm
3 days in, and they have crossed the equator, half-way across Kenya.
The road to Ethiopia is the very rough Marsabit road, which will really test the car today.
http://www.africarecordrun.com
Tracker map here: http://www.africarecordrun.com/map.html#ybm
They survived the Road from Hell with time to spare before the border opened.
The Panda Pair pulled into Moyale two hours sooner than the predicted 12 hrs. Philip texted: "Track ten times worse than last year. Car even surprised us, churning through deep sand with many troughs carved up by trucks". We also hear from Marsabit that the word on the street after they left was that they would never make it... They don't know Philip, Paul and the Panda.
They are now well into Ethiopia, and making much quicker progress.
The Panda Pair pulled into Moyale two hours sooner than the predicted 12 hrs. Philip texted: "Track ten times worse than last year. Car even surprised us, churning through deep sand with many troughs carved up by trucks". We also hear from Marsabit that the word on the street after they left was that they would never make it... They don't know Philip, Paul and the Panda.
They are now well into Ethiopia, and making much quicker progress.
They have had a very long and hard day in Ethiopia yesterday, where the roads were slower than expected and petrol very hard to find. After a long economy run, they reached the Sudanese border on empty.
They are now bouncing down the road in Sudan - the rear shock absorbers are clapped out.
The next border crossing is across water into Egypt. Turbo, the Egyptian fixer, is waiting at Abu Simbel equipped with a drum of 95 octane fuel.
http://www.africarecordrun.com/map.html#ybm
They have successfully crossed from Wadi Halfa in Sudan to Abu Simbel in Egypt by barge - the first to use what should become the regular border crossing in future. It went so smoothly that they are now 3 hours ahead of schedule.
More here: http://www.africarecordrun.com/blog.html#07a
http://www.africarecordrun.com/map.html#ybm
After three hours stationary on the Yellowbrick map, they are now on the move inside Libya - the story of the successful border crossing is here:
http://www.africarecordrun.com/blog.html#08a
Just 1500 kms to Tunisia, and then head for a ferry from Tunis.
http://www.africarecordrun.com/blog.html#08a
Just 1500 kms to Tunisia, and then head for a ferry from Tunis.
It took 18 hours across Libya, and they are now in Tunisia, and currently 300km from the ferry at Tunis. No waiting for dawn at that border.
The story of their trip across Libya is here:
http://www.africarecordrun.com/blog.html#08b
There is a Video Gallery on the web site with a piece about the Marsabit Road, and the Expresso interview:
http://www.africarecordrun.com
The story of their trip across Libya is here:
http://www.africarecordrun.com/blog.html#08b
There is a Video Gallery on the web site with a piece about the Marsabit Road, and the Expresso interview:
http://www.africarecordrun.com
Problems with snow on the A3 in Italy caused them to be diverted to the east coast, and they are now ahead of schedule. The Panda is now in France.
Everyone is invited to Marble Arch – 5.30pm – Monday Feb 11th. Come and cheer Philip Young & Paul Brace when they drive their remarkable Fiat Panda under Marble Arch at the end of their epic 10,000 mile drive.
Keep checking the Latest News on the site for ETA updates.
http://www.africarecordrun.com
Everyone is invited to Marble Arch – 5.30pm – Monday Feb 11th. Come and cheer Philip Young & Paul Brace when they drive their remarkable Fiat Panda under Marble Arch at the end of their epic 10,000 mile drive.
Keep checking the Latest News on the site for ETA updates.
http://www.africarecordrun.com
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