It’s taken a while for me to pen this, but finally, Cape Town, I have some news for you!
It was in 1963 that the last record was set for a London to Cape Town car adventure, when Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers beat the previous record of George Hinchliffe and his team by only 18 minutes. Considering that this is after 2 weeks of driving, and covering some 10,000 miles, that’s extremely close and could easily be disputed unless the teams start and finish at exactly the same points.
The current explorers therefore decided to fly to Cape Town to find out where exactly the finish point would be.
When the Guinness Book of Records administered the record, their rules had mentioned that the start point was Marble Arch in London and the finish was the Royal Cape Club in Cape Town. Max Adventure were however unable to find the Royal Cape Club (What?! It’s an institution!)
When John Hemsley set the record for Cape Town to London Overland (14 days 19 hours and only using a ferry to cross the English Channel), he started at the Head Office of the South African Automobile Association, unfortunately this has since been demolished.
So the finish point from now on will be the City Hall in Cape Town. The clock at the City Hall is an exact half scale copy of London’s Big Ben (Jeepers, you learn something new every day!)
The first recorded drive between London and Cape Town took place in 1924, when Major Chaplin Court Treatt led a team of 25/30hp Crossley trucks from Cape Town to Cairo and then onto London. The 10,000 mile journey took them 16 months to complete.
By the late 1930’s, the various overland routes from the Mediterranean to Cape Town were no longer the scene of just attempts to get there. The difficulties and dangers were still there, but they had proved surmountable, so speed replaced simple attainment of the goal as the object. This led to dangers of its own, since contempt for obstacles in the interest of haste meant taking risks.
On the 22nd December 1938, Humphrey Symons and Bertie Browning set out from London in an attempt to be the first to drive a ‘high-speed’ run to Cape Town. They aimed to finish in just 17 days.
The support behind the Max Adventure London to Cape Town adventure is astounding, with Sir Stirling Moss honouring Max Adventure with his patronage.
And…even the one, the only, the man, the legend…Jeremy Clarkson has put his support behind this record attempt!
The guys are attempting something quite considerable. Take this in:
10,000 miles, 20 countries in under 13 days, 8 hrs 48 minutes
This is who the guys are doing it for, Help For Heroes:
“Help for Heroes supports our wounded. Help for Heroes provides practical direct support to those servicemen and women wounded in the line of duty in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan”
There is so much information available on the website, that I’m going to simply forward you on to the Max Adventure London to Cape Town 2010 website .
Can’t wait for the guys to arrive safe in Cape Town after they finally kick off their adventure!
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