Day 28, Cape Town, South Africa At last! We finally see the silhouette of Table Mountain…and roll down the long drive lined with palm trees to the Table Bay Hotel – the South Atlantic a pebble throw away. We have made it. It’s an emotional moment. Tears roll down the faces of grown men. The [...]

Day 28, Clanwilliam, South Africa Yesterday’s gruelling run through Namibia on 800km of gravel tracks was indeed a tough test for some crews, with tyres being the main problem. With last night spent camping a long way from the nearest broadband connection, we have no picture updates yet, but we may get some tonight. The [...]

Day 26 Windhoek, Namibia Watching the cars at the end of today’s second World Cup Section, Alastair Caldwell did well, although the four-cylinder Porsche sounds a lot noisier, and John Bayliss, driving Paul Carter, seemed to have the measure of it, lifting the broken Volvo over the worst of the ruts. Paula and Diane Unwin’s [...]

Day 24 Victoria Falls It is simply not possible to drive the full length of Africa without being in someone’s rainy-season. But if you try it in line with our time-table, it might just be possible to do it without exercising a windscreen wiper. Last night it truly rained, torrential torrents overflowed the guttering. This [...]

Day 20 Dodoma, Tanzania The 18th day of the London to Cape Town World Cup Rally was the one and only rest day, but of course it was nothing of the sort for most of the crews and even for the organisational support vehicles, which were also unable to go much further without urgent attention. [...]

For the lucky ones who could reach Nairobi under their own steam, the old colonial Safari Park Hotel must have appeared like a particularly well-appointed oasis. Two days of Kenyan roads have reduced a pretty serviceable group of cars to a drawn-out string of battered jalopies – this is African rallying at its toughest. Underlining [...]

Day 14 from Bahir Dar to Awasa was long – 750km in all – and harsh from the word go: beginning with 200km of difficult gravel, it started off particularly rough. Early starters drove it in the dark. Daybreak at Mota Road, the first of two World Cup Sections saw battle commence – the Subaru [...]

Keith Adams Day 13 Bahir Dar, Ethiopia For many teams, this was uncharted territory. The day was a mix of barren plain rising into the highlands of Ethiopia, but the formalities proved lengthy and frustrating. But getting into Ethiopia, ended up involving paying $10 tax, and inching along a queue. Once in, it was a [...]

Keith Adams After two sweltering days in Saudi Arabia, the teams have re-crossed the Red Sea, and are now back in Africa. Day 12 Gedaref, Sudan It took 2.5 hours after the ferry docked for all cars to clear customs and immigration and by 4.30 the first cars set out for the 700kms across a [...]

Keith Adams It’s goodbye from Egypt, and hello to Saudia Arabia Day 10-11, Yanbu, Saudi Arabia Yesterday was the most physically demanding day so far, with numerous cars suffering heavy time-losses stuck in the soft sand between the walls of the canyon that confronted crews at the start of the first desert section. The Egyptians [...]

Keith Adams After a week, the teams now touch down into Africa. This is where things should start to get even more challenging Day nine Safaga, Egypt It was no the rest for the wicked, and a tough day’s driving across Egypt towards the Red Sea was punctuated by a series of challenging rally stages. [...]

Keith Adams After a week, the teams now touch down into Africa. This is where things should start to get even more challenging Day eight Alexandria, Egypt After 36-hours at sea, the teams have arrived in Africa. Getting a car into Egypt is a bureaucratic nightmare, and that’s a challenge for first thing tomorrow… But [...]

Keith Adams The teams are now in the Mediterranean after a challenging day in Greece Day six Blue Star Ferry, Mediterranean The story of the rally today has been one of attrition and a battle of the elements. Over half the rally became stuck in glutinous mud this morning. The rally leaders got through, but [...]

Keith Adams The European leg of the London to Cape Town World Cup Rally 2012 has gone swimmingly for the AROnline-supported Girls Across Africa team of MG Maestro, Jane Edgington and Gill Cotton. Day five Kamena Vourla, Greece It was a rainy day for the teams, but a great challenge nevertheless. The route climbed 1000 [...]

Keith Adams The European leg of the London to Cape Town World Cup Rally 2012 has gone swimmingly for the AROnline-supported Girls Across Africa team of MG Maestro, Jane Edgington and Gill Cotton. Day four The Adriatic, Italy-Greece Another 5.00am start, and the London-Cape Town teams are threading through the Cypress trees, and into another [...]

Keith Adams Day three Florence, Italy Another long run from Central France to the beautiful Tuscany region of Italy, and the world famous ciy of Florence. And it was almost as if once the teams headed into Italy, someone had switched a light, as the sun came out, and ensured wonderful driving conditions for the [...]

Keith Adams The European leg of the London to Cape Town World Cup Rally 2012 has gone swimmingly for the AROnline-supported Girls Across Africa team of MG Maestro, Jane Edgington and Gill Cotton. Day two Beaune, France Day Two was a 5.00am start that saw the London-Cape Town teams heading into France via P&O’s finest [...]

Words: Keith Adams Photography: Gerard Brown MG ZR and MG Maestro in endurance rally one-two… Participants on the London to Cape Town World Cup Rally were flagged off from the Houses of Parliament on a cold and wet New Year’s Day, and created a spectacle. And it was fitting that at the end of the [...]

Words: Keith Adams Photography: Gerard Brown It’s an amazing event, with a scale that’s hard to comprehend. The ERA London to Cape Town World Cup Rally recaptures the spirit of the long distance World Cup Rallies of the 1970s, and a field of classic and modern rally cars will be battling into Europe and beyond [...]

Words: Keith Adams Photography: Gerard Brown We love an adventure at AROnline, and so the London to Cape Town World Cup Rally, which kicks off on 1 January 2012 has certainly caught our imagination. It’s going to be an epic event, and unique in its scope – as it will capture the spirit of the [...]