Tuesday 17th April 2018

Pub2Pub - Mission accomplished!

With 27,000 miles completed, Pub2Pub's TVR crosses the finish line

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Remember last summer? It seems like such a long time ago now. The McLaren Senna was still months from breaking cover and dividing opinion, the new TVR Griffith was still some mythical beast which nobody had yet seen and Shed of the Week could only muster up a thousand pound budget.

So, if last July feels a long way ago for you, it probably seems positively ancient history for the team behind Pub2Pub who, having set off from Dartmoor on July 2nd last year, finally burbled across the finish line in Devon on Sunday, having completed their journey from the Northernmost bar on the planet, to the southernmost.

So, what have they achieved? Arguably, the longest journey ever to be made by a sports car (although of course, you may know differently?) The final scores on the doors for the expedition's TVR Chimaera are 27,000 miles completed, across 25 countries, on three different continents. In the course of the trip, they've taken their steed to an altitude of 4,700m, endured temperatures of over 50°C, crossed everything from rainforests to salt flats, and even made it across Patagonia without anyone so much as batting an eyelid at the TVR's number plate.

If you've been following our coverage of the expedition, you'll know that it's been a pretty compelling advert for the TVR brand. The '97 Chimaera used for the journey has completed the entire trip without a single breakdown, and no major fettling other than a routine clutch change in Nicaragua, as the original clutch had began to slip. There can't be many cars - modern or otherwise - capable of completing such a feat so nonchalantly.

So with the Pub2Pub crew having crossed the finish line on Dartmoor, from where they set out over eight months ago, what's next? How do you surpass an eight-month trip across the globe in an old TVR? Pub2Pub's Ben Coombs explains:

"We've been so blown away by the interest which Pub2Pub has generated, that we've decided it'd be rude not to keep the ball rolling, so we're setting up Pub2Pub Adventures, with the dual goals of enabling others to enjoy their own bar-based adventures, and also raising the bar to surpass what we've just achieved, by undertaking yet bigger, bolder journeys."

So, it seems the Pub2Pub crew and their plucky slice of Blackpool fibreglass aren't retiring from roadtripping any time soon...

For more on the Pub2Pub Expedition, visit their Facebook page.

Pub2Pub would like to thank their friends and supporters, without whom the journey wouldn't have been possible:

TVR Car Club, Dartmoor Brewery, Classicline Insurance, Dewerstone lifestyle clothing
Gaz Shocks

 

 

[HardMiles]

Yes! Fab news! Well done.

Now makes me wish I’d spent my money on a TVR instead of the Jag.........

[unpc]

Well consider me jealous. I'd love to do something like this. I was thinking the other day I'd like to start in Prudhoe Bay in Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in something inappropriate but finding the time is going to be difficult.

Damn impressed with the TVR though.

[Big GT]

Interesting accomplishment and some great pics.

TVR's are strong cars.

I wonder what the overall fuel bill was

[anonymous-user]

Only on a TVR could a clutch change be called "routine"

(i've done hundreds of thousands of miles in cars and never had to change a clutch, routinely or otherwise...... ;-)


But still , great achievement Chaps! Where too next? 1st TVR in space? (Now we've had a Lotus there....)

[SturdyHSV]

Whilst I do appreciate the sentiment, I'd say there's probably quite a few cars, new or otherwise, that could manage to travel 27,000 miles, I'd wager some even without a clutch change...

Top work though, I'd imagine the driving part was the easy bit compared to the organisation required

[DeanHelix]

Max_Torque said:

1st TVR in space? (Now we've had a Lotus there....)

You mean Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster, right?

[fivetenben]

Big GT said:

Interesting accomplishment and some great pics.

TVR's are strong cars.

I wonder what the overall fuel bill was

Thanks.

I've not worked out the total fuel bill as frankly, I'm too scared, but it's somewhere in the region of £3500 - £4000.

Cheapest fuel was in Ecuador at 26p/litre; most expensive was Scandinavia, at a bit above UK prices, so it could've been a lot worse, I guess...

Max_Torque said:

Only on a TVR could a clutch change be called "routine"

(i've done hundreds of thousands of miles in cars and never had to change a clutch, routinely or otherwise...... ;-)


But still , great achievement Chaps! Where too next? 1st TVR in space? (Now we've had a Lotus there....)

The 'routine' bit comes from the fact that typically, the clutch on one of these TVRs lasts 50-60,000 miles before it needs replacing. The Pub2Pub one was changed at around 60,000 so it's kinda to be expected...

As for what's next, we have a few ideas, which we'll be revealing in a few days, so watch this space! :-)

[Leggy]

What a great achievement. Would love to do something like that, but wouldn’t have a clue where to start. Getting 8 months off work sounds appealing though....

[TheRainMaker]

Max_Torque said:

Only on a TVR could a clutch change be called "routine"

I’m guessing you have never owned anything fun

Not a dig, but you will find most low production cars are much the same, Ferrari, Lotus etc etc

Edited by TheRainMaker on Tuesday 17th April 19:36

[Oldandslow]

Always thought these cars were more reliable the more they got used. Leave a TVR sitting for a few months and then you get gremlins.

[GOG440]

Saw the car and very briefly spoke to the driver at Burghley, I think it is a fantastic achievement to drive any car 27k miles over mostly crappy roads with no real breakdowns (clutches are a consumable after all) least of all an elderly handbuilt sportscar, you would struggle to find a more inappropriate car to do that journey in and it made it.

[g3org3y]

Congrats Ben, amazing achievement.

(Don't forget the colour photos in the book please. )

[McFarnsworth]

Congrats on making it back.

So now that you have some time on your hands, when's the V8nam book coming out

[DonkeyApple]

Well done. A great road trip.

[ecsrobin]

A superb effort.

[99dndd]

Top job, well done.

[durbster]

Amazing and a great choice of car to annoy people who think a TVR would never be able to make it

I can't imagine how much time was spent in petrol stations though!

[alorotom]

Amazing achievement and been following throughout ... would love to do this sort of thing maybe in a shonky Renault etc... just need to find the time!

[fivetenben]

The Crack Fox said:

IKA Torino pictured, too, a car I have been lusting after for many years.

Well done, again, chaps.

What next?!

The Torino isn't just 'any' Torino - it's one of the three which conquered the 1969 Nurburgring 84hr race, in an all-Argentinian team under the stewardship of Fangio himself, which makes it a revered piece of Argentinian motoring history.







Up close, it's a fascinating vehicle, single-mindedly put together to run for day after day around the world's toughest racetrack. And to top it, its big straight-6 sounded absolutely epic.

What's next? As hinted at in the article, the reception Pub2Pub has received has been so positive that we're going to keep the ball rolling with the launch of Pub2Pub Adventures, an organisation with the dual goals of enabling people to join us on future quirky pub-based road trips, while also facilitating us to raise the bar we've set over the past eight months by undertaking even more unlikely odysseys.

More news on both of these goals to come soon...

[Shakermaker]

Great achievement. I thoroughly enjoyed the regular Facebook updates throughout the adventure as well! Definitely my kind of adventure