Driving from the northest point of Europe to the southest point of Africa is a big challenge and can be achieved very hard especially now, when the African continent is full of conflicts. Called the Longest Drive, the team who tried to establish a new world record started from North Cape in Norway and reached Cape Agulhas in South Africa in 8 days 21 hours and 3 minutes.
During their journey, the team of three has covered more than 17.000 kilometers in a Porsche Cayenne SUV breaking the standing record by a solid 7 hours and 6 minutes.
In order to break the previous record of 9 days 4 hours and 9 minutes, careful initial preparations, strict driving and resting order and attentive handling of the car were required. For example, every single stop at the gas station took under 8 minutes, winter tire change was also performed in about 8 minutes, and even two broken rims were repaired in about 40 minutes.
During their record drive, the Longest Drive crew crossed the 20 countries in total. To cross the borders in shortest time possible, the Longest Drive crew has to take care of all required documentation in advance and to find locals who would help to speed up the process. The biggest challenge is not to drive a modern car though Africa but to cross the sometimes very chaotic borders.
The other challenging task was driving the car on non-stop. Normally the team went through 6 hours shifts. Furthermore, wild animals represents a big risk while driving in Africa, therefore the driver and codriver had to be fully concentrated at any time.
How did the Porsche cope with the challenge: 3 broken rims, 4 broken tires, broken shock absorber, broken windscreen and a bend suspension. The team also experienced some difficulties with the car after they filled low quality gasoline in Ethiopia, but the problem was quickly solved by getting better quality fuel.
