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Gruelling journey from London to Cape Town covered in a record breaking 10 days

17 Oct 2013|2,438 views

A team from Britain set a new London to Cape Town world record, on Monday, by covering 16,093km in just over 10 days.

The attempt was sponsored by Warranty Direct and was raising money and awareness for charity Farm Africa

The pair arrived at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town - a landmark start and finish point for this journey - on Monday 14^th of October after leaving London at 05:00am (12:00pm local time) on Friday, 4^th of October from the RAC Club on Pall Mall.

On the mammoth drive, the pair experienced a number of challenges starting with heavy rain and thunderstorms in Tunisia, a tense border crossing into Libya - following U.S.A troop activity - a fuel shortage in Egypt and giant potholes in Ethiopia. In total, Robert and Stephen travelled through 13 countries - England, France, Italy, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa to reach the southern edge of the African continent.

Passing through Europe in the first 27 hours, the pair actually managed to cover more than 2,735km - 17 percent of the total mileage in just 11 percent of the target time. Their vehicle, a 2005 Land Rover Discovery 3 was powered by a 2.7-litre TDV6 diesel engine, and held up to a tough schedule of being driven almost 24 hours a day across a variety of terrains including bumpy and potholed dirt roads.

Only one fault developed with the car during the trip. After hitting a bump in the road, the car's brake warning light came on, accompanied by a continuous alarm - which was cleared after hitting another bump a few hours later

Largely unmodified, the Solihull-built 4x4 had been given sump and undercarriage guards, chunkier tyres and four high-intensity lamps mounted on the roof to better prepare it for the tough driving conditions. Extra fuel tanks also provided a range of around 1,931km between refuelling.

Driver Robert Belcher said, "We're exhausted but absolutely elated to have broken the record and to have done it so safely and smoothly - if you don’t count the hundreds of miles of potholes through central Africa that is. Despite the complexities of crossing so many borders we had relatively easy passage through each country and the friendly faces along the way made it all so worthwhile."

The first attempt at the mammoth London-Cape Town journey was undertaken 80 years ago in 1933 in a Morris Eight convertible driven by Brits Cameron Gilg and Walter Kay, which took 158 days to navigate a 13,000 mile (20,921km) route, which started in Liverpool and included the crossing of the Sahara desert. Subsequent attempts at setting new records have been achieved on the 30^th, 50^th and 80^th anniversaries of that first run.

The previous record for the journey was set in February 2013 by Philip Young and Paul Brace in an 875cc Fiat Panda driving from Cape Town to London. It took them 10 days, 13 hours and 28 minutes.

A British team has set a new world record for driving from London to Cape Town, completing the 10,000 mile (16,093km) journey in just 10 days, three hours and 16 minutes earlier this week. Driving a British-made Land Rover Discovery, experienced endurance rally drivers Robert Belcher and Stephen Cooper broke the previous record, by more than 10 hours.

The pair arrived at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town - a landmark start and finish point for this journey - on Monday 14^th of October after leaving London at 05:00am (12:00pm local time) on Friday, 4^th of October from the RAC Club on Pall Mall.

On the mammoth drive, the pair experienced a number of challenges starting with heavy rain and thunderstorms in Tunisia, a tense border crossing into Libya - following U.S.A troop activity - a fuel shortage in Egypt and giant potholes in Ethiopia. In total, Robert and Stephen travelled through 13 countries - England, France, Italy, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa to reach the southern edge of the African continent.

Passing through Europe in the first 27 hours, the pair actually managed to cover more than 2,735km - 17 percent of the total mileage in just 11 percent of the target time. Their vehicle, a 2005 Land Rover Discovery 3 was powered by a 2.7-litre TDV6 diesel engine, and held up to a tough schedule of being driven almost 24 hours a day across a variety of terrains including bumpy and potholed dirt roads.

Largely unmodified, the Solihull-built 4x4 had been given sump and undercarriage guards, chunkier tyres and four high-intensity lamps mounted on the roof to better prepare it for the tough driving conditions. Extra fuel tanks also provided a range of around 1,931km between refuelling.

Driver Robert Belcher said, "We're exhausted but absolutely elated to have broken the record and to have done it so safely and smoothly - if you don’t count the hundreds of miles of potholes through central Africa that is. Despite the complexities of crossing so many borders we had relatively easy passage through each country and the friendly faces along the way made it all so worthwhile."

The first attempt at the mammoth London-Cape Town journey was undertaken 80 years ago in 1933 in a Morris Eight convertible driven by Brits Cameron Gilg and Walter Kay, which took 158 days to navigate a 13,000 mile (20,921km) route, which started in Liverpool and included the crossing of the Sahara desert. Subsequent attempts at setting new records have been achieved on the 30^th, 50^th and 80^th anniversaries of that first run.

The previous record for the journey was set in February 2013 by Philip Young and Paul Brace in an 875cc Fiat Panda driving from Cape Town to London. It took them 10 days, 13 hours and 28 minutes.