African referendum forces an early start

Planning the London to Cape Town record attempt is not just a case of getting into a car and setting off. In addition to the team and vehicle preparations, there is the route planning and departure date to consider. All previous attempts at the record have either been in December of January when the African rainy season has passed and the mud roads were at their driest.

Starting on the 6th January as per the current record holder Eric Jackson, had been the team’s original plan, but when their vehicle sponsor said they couldn’t help them with left-hand drive 4x4’s following a reconnaissance trip which uncovered right hand drives were banned, the team had to re-think and re-plan.

As an all British team embarking on a project to help British service personnel wounded in the current conflicts, it didn’t sit too well when talking to foreign car manufacturers and asking them for their support. Maybe Mac’s heart wasn’t in it, but after months of trying, he had not been able to secure interest from any other 4x4 manufacturers, so decided to go it alone.

A very tidy left-hand drive Discovery 2 was soon discovered on Autotrader and snapped up, not without a hefty cost though, fetching almost twice what a right-hand drive version would normally cost. Having been owned by a former RAF Pilot and current Captain for Virgin Atlantic, there was a good omen about the vehicle and Mac set about searching for the second.

The internet was scoured for months, but nothing came within the expedition budget and time was running out. With a large rally from London to Cape Town departing on December 31st and a planned time to Cape Town of just 28 days, their reconnaissance driver Sam Rutherford made it very clear that following the run he too would have an attempt on the Cape Town record. The Max Adventure team had to leave in 2010.

Time was dragging on and still no suitable vehicles appeared - Mac was going to have to face a stark decision. Split the team in half and run with just the one vehicle, or risk waiting longer for a second Land Rover Discovery. It was an agonising choice. On the up side there was a financial benefit in running with just the one car and it would probably be able to run faster on its own, but on the flip side he would have to say goodbye to 3 of his team mates who had worked so hard to be on the project. Safety was another crucial consideration as if one vehicle had an accident, the other would hopefully not be involved and could come to their aid.

This decision was eventually taken away from Mac when one of his in-country contacts emailed him to say that there would be heavy travel restrictions as from December and that the team’s record attempt should be brought forward. A month long religious holiday in another country meant that November was written off as being suitable, so this meant bringing it forward again to October. At present, the provisional start date is Saturday 16th October 2010.

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