An Aston drive across the world
V8 Vantage in charity drive from Tokyo to London
Richard Meredith and the 'well run-in' V8
Their aim is to bring the world's attention to road safety awareness and raise money to help save children from deaths and injury on the roads.
The journey is being undertaken in collaboration with the United Nations. It will promote the UN-backed Road Safety Is No Accident and the Make Roads Safe campaigns. Both are aimed at increasing awareness of road safety to help reduce the shocking toll of road-related injuries and fatalities, particularly in developing nations. Driving Home Road Safety 2007 aims to raise €100,000 to provide Chinese Children with educational books on road safety.
Teacher Richard Meredith (58) and travel specialist Phil Colley (41) are to set off on the 25th June from the InterContinental Hotel in Tokyo. On their journey they will pass through 15 different countries before arriving in central London some six weeks later.
Their steed for the trip will be an Aston Martin V8 Vantage. It’s the same car that in June 2006 marked the celebration of the company’s 30,000th production car by employees driving 30,000 miles in 30 days.
This durability test car has gone on to accumulate 100,000 miles and is now set to become the first car ever to cross the full extent of the new Asia Highway network of roads, arriving in early August in Trafalgar square, London – and in doing so achieving a place in the record books.
Much of the highway, which was first mooted 50 years ago and was completed last year, consists of improved roadways, but there are sections in central Asia which will test both the car and drivers to the full. This 10,000 mile journey will see the car travelling through: Japan, South Korea, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan , Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
The car has received minor modifications to allow it to contend with the expected road conditions. These include a strengthened sump guard, raised suspension and a full size spare wheel. The car will run on standard 18” wheels clad with Bridgestone tyres.
Richard Meredith said “I have dreamed of making this journey for two years. In Aston Martin I have found a partner with the confidence and enthusiasm to subject their car to a very public trial in the name of road safety and the effort they have put into this has been simply terrific. ”
Dr. Ulrich Bez, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Aston Martin said: “As makers of high performance cars we have a special responsibility to promote safe road use. Our cars meet the highest standards of active and passive safety and our driver training courses promote responsible driving. This initiative takes our commitment further by helping to educate children on all aspects of road safety.” Commenting on the challenge, Dr. Bez said: “Richard, Phil and the V8 Vantage face a tough journey ahead but I have every confidence that they will succeed.”
We hate to think what the residuals on this particular V8 will be like by the time they de-fleet it…
The whole project can be tracked from the 15th June through a dedicated micro-site available at the Aston Martin website below. The site updates the position of the car, provides images and a regular diary will also be available.
For further information on Make Roads Safe and Road Safety is no Accident:
Anyway good luck to them, will be interesting to see how the Aston's reliability holds up under some not so pleasant driving conditions, at least they are not crossing during the russian winter.
Anyway good luck to them, will be interesting to see how the Aston's reliability holds up under some not so pleasant driving conditions, at least they are not crossing during the russian winter.
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