Monday 14th October 2013

Britons Robert Belcher and Stephen Cooper driving a Land Rover Discovery arrived at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town to set a new world record for driving from London to Cape Town, making the 10,000-mile journey in 10 days, 3 hours and 16 minutes. The pair left London at 0500 GMT on Friday 4 October 2013 from the RAC Club on Pall Mall. En route, they encountered heavy rain and thunderstorms in Tunisia, a tense border crossing into Libya following US military activity, a fuel shortage in Egypt and giant potholes in Ethiopia. They visited 13 countries in all: England, France, Italy, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa. Passing through Europe in the first 27 hours, the pair managed to cover more than 1,700 miles – 17% of the total mileage in just 11% of the target time.