Straight after reaching the Cape Agulhas as world record holders the planning started for the next challenge. It did not take long before the longest of all roads in the world came to the mind – The Pan Americana Highway with its almost 23.000 km.
As the Team knows that every successful endeavor requires good preparation, The Longest Drive decided to introduce the preparation trip to Panamericana – “The Highway to Mongolia”.
In October 2016, a team headed by TLD regular Jan Kalmar with two new South African team members Bob and Craig will test their abilities and endurance on Eurasian roads. Bob and Craig are both new to extreme endurance-driving like this but are very skillful drivers who want to see if they are ready for the Panamericana trip in 2017. Starting in Istanbul, the team will drive the “Zebra” Cayenne through Georgia, Russia, and Kazakhstan to reach the beautiful capital of Mongolia – Ulaanbaatar.
The start is on the European side of Istanbul. Heading along the northern coast of Turkey to Georgia, the team will start in summerly conditions. Further north crossing Caucasus into Russia, through mountain roads reaching the Kazakhstan border near Uralsk. Kazakhstan will be crossed to reach Russia after almost 3,400 km in autumn, early winter-weather conditions. A quite short leg in Russia will lead the team straight to Mongolia. Taking the southern path to Ulaanbaatar, in order not to encounter winter conditions in high mountains, The Longest Drive team expects to reach the capital of Mongolia after 10.000 km in about 5 days of constant driving.