Press Release by The Longest Drive powered by Milius & Partners
Today ”The Longest Drive” enters a new era - it does not mean they turn their back to the non- stop long record drives, but it means they want to explore the outright pace on the rally raid- stages around the world. What better place to start than on the Dakar Intercontinental Rally. The driving force behind “The Longest Drive” Dane, Jan Kalmar has followed the rally every evening on Eurosport back when the rally took place in Africa until 2007, and he knew one day this had to be ticked on the bucket list.
2019 is the year where Jan with fellow Petrol-Head Ditmar Ulrich “Didi” will challenge the great dunes of Sahara, the rocky Atlas mountains, and the West African beaches. 6 000 km into the unknown...
“This is a whole new challenge” explains Jan. “Normally we have been going at a steady pace for 24 hours a day, now we run only 200-600 km a day but in harder terrain and surely with more intensity. This will be the first time we run against others and not just the clock, and here we don’t follow roads but simply points in the middle of nowhere.”
The preparations for the rally has like always been careful and lengthy, and the chosen Porsche Cayenne have had a full rebuild - it has been on a diet to compensate for the added protection. This specific car has, since it was build, been used for these adventures, and it has felt most parts of the world. It’s drivetrain is kept 100% standard until now – but for this rally the suspension has been lifted a bit extra to give some added ground clearance. Lots of support has been received from partners: building the car, supplying parts, coaching in the new way of navigating and of course the support team that carries food and tents and mechanic in between the stages along the route.
Safety wise, the team has 2 concerns, one is the safety of the car and here the roll cage has been improved, better seat belts and helmet with intercom. But there is an additional aspect to safety and that is the countries the team is crossing. Bad things happen everywhere and if we stop exploring the world it becomes a smaller place and the countries involved in this rally has done all they can to make sure all the teams gets a safe passage and to show the world outside what a beautiful place this is.
The Rally starts with a short stage near Malaga January 21st and then a ferry across the Mediterranean Sea where the team will face the real challenges. Planned arrival in Dakar is 2ndFebruary on the famous beach stage to the finish line. Here Didi and Jan will hopefully tired but full of amazing experiences cross the line and this could mark the beginning of a new era for The Longest Drive.
As always the team can be followed on www.thelongestdrive.net and two social media channels: Facebook: The Longest Drive Instagram: thelongestdrive
More info about the rally under www.intercontinentalrally.com
Please feel free to contact us in any regards.
Best regards, The Longest Drive Powered by Milius & Partners OÜ
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