Interesting piece on What Diesel's website about driving to "all 4 corners of the UK" (Lands End to John O'Groats via Lowestoft and the NW of Scotland) in under 24 hours, in a Citroen C5 2.2 HDi.
Did it in just over 23 hours, average speed for the journey was just over 50mph, average consumption was about 38mpg.
Story here: www.whatdiesel.co.uk/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=10...5
Do you think it would be possible to do it much faster in a car? I don't think it would, given today's traffic etc.
Back in the 80s, one of the testers for the Norton factory on the rotary-engined bikes claimed he and a colleague did John O'Groats - Lands End (978 miles) in 12 hours 30 minutes -- an average of 78mph, which is obviously highly illegal!
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The line that interested me was:
"Luckily for us, the Scots are great drivers: courteous and well disciplined."
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That was impressive - considering that it involved the Ardnamurchan road. Averaging 25 along there is good going.
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END TO END 2004
The start ? Lands End 4.00am June 5th 2004.
In 1964 Royal Enfield developed a 5speed sports motorcycle called the ?Continental GT?. As a promotion for its launch they wanted to show the world what their new model was capable of. For this, Royal Enfield devised a 24-hour sprint where 5 riders would ride from John O?Groats to Lands End. On the way they planned a stop at Oulton Park where Geoff Duke would ride several laps and also a stop off at Silverstone where John Cooper would do the same. Unfortunately due to an Iced up track, Geoff Duke never got to ride at Oulton Park, but John Cooper rode several laps at Silverstone with a fastest lap of 73mph. Not bad for a 250 road bike in 1964.
Now 40 years on, Allan Hitchcock recreated this epic journey. Not on the original Continental GT, but instead on one of the new Royal Enfield Bullets dressed up with the GT specification. The plan wais to make the return journey from Lands End back up to John O?Groats using the same arrangement of 5 riders and 2 race circuits. Along the same roads where possible, as used in 1964, (977 miles), within the same time limit of 24hours. Not an easy feat with modern traffic and no motorways.
sorry no direct link to the pictures , goto www.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/ then on the top line photos/photo gallery/end to end 2004
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Do you think it would be possible to do it much faster in a car? I don't think it would given today's traffic etc.
I dont think so either.
I dimly recall an article in Autocar & Motor 20 years ago where they did a long cross country run in three cars; an Esprit Turbo, a 405 Mi16 (or was it an SRi?), and a Nova GTE. They finished in that order but the times between all three were a lot closer than expected.
Its heartening that he did it 54 minutes quicker in the C5 than they managed 10 years ago. Do you know what car they used 10 years ago?
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driving to "all 4 corners of the UK"(Lands End to John O'Groats via Lowestoft and the NW of Scotland)
Huh? Wouldn't one of those "corners" be somewhere in Northern Ireland?
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To get that average speed of 50mph, over that route and distance, I am sure you would need to to break the speed limit
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the last time they tried ireland i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii79/BigBazza_02/20-09...g
lets stick to england/scotland and wales ,,be easier
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 03/11/2008 at 18:56
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@ Rich 9-3: unfortunately, I don't what car was used in '98.
Wouldn't mind giving it a go myself ...
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According to ViaMichelin, to drive Lizard-Lowestoft-Kilchoan-Dunnet would take 24 hours and 32 minutes.
The actual route would be a few miles further, in that Lizard is not Lizard point, and Kilchoan is not Ardnamurchan point, etc, but there would not be much in it.
I know from experience that it is certainly possible to keep within the speed limit and yet do journeys quite a bit quicker than the time given by ViaMichelin.
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"Lowestoft is a welcome sight "
WHO is he trying to kid?
"The run along the A17 and through East Anglia has been dull. "
Understatement and a half, but this is one of our better roads :)
And 3 hours 10 minutes from Lowestoft to Newark, I dont think I would be broadcasting that in a magazine. Can you be done retrospectively for speeding if you admit it on a website/magazine?
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Would have enjoyed trying that, even at legal speeds but preferably not of course, when I was younger. These days though I don't think my constitution would shrug off the fatigue, or indeed the drugs that would be necessary, as easily as it would have in the past. But I used to enjoy marathon drives and still do up to a point.
Edited by Lud on 03/11/2008 at 21:00
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