The story of the Vantage that crossed Asia finally finished
Click above for gallery of shots from the book Driven Together
Driving an Aston Martin V8 Vantage over the Asian Highway to promote highway safety strikes us as, if not the least safe thing we can think of, certainly dubious. Yet the Project 30,000 car piloted by Britons Richard Meredith and Phil Colley made the trek safely, albeit with quite a few adventures along the way: a cattle stampede, border hassles in Turkmenistan, and a sandstorm in China. And that road you see in the picture above is apparently what they call a "detour" in certain parts of the world. Yeah. The book of the journey, Driven Together, will come out late next month. To whet your appetite, check out the gallery of photos below, or if you can't wait, head over to Mercury Books now and pre-order a copy at a discount.
Gallery: Driven Together Book
[Source: Mercury Books]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tsunami Racer 7:09PM (10/31/2008)
imaging trying to find parts in the middle of BFE if something ever broke. well, at least we know now that any volvo dealer would have a key if they ever lost it :)
Reply
richard meredith 10:21AM (11/02/2008)
Hi, I'm the author of 'Driven Together' - upcoming book on the Asia Highway journey in the Aston; been following the comments; it's good to see so many people with a view; there's some stuff at www.mercurybooks.co.uk but anyone wanting to ask me something, just fire away!
Richard Meredith
richard meredith 9:40AM (11/05/2008)
Good call, Tsunami racer - no spare parts for a broken down Aston in most parts of Asia. Thankfully (did I hear you say miraculously?! ) ours never missed a beat. We were more worried about fuel quality and getting a flat - so we strapped a spare on board + extra cans. Didn't leave much room for us 'tho!
tv guy 8:42PM (10/31/2008)
A book? Pictures? Have these in-"duh"-viduals never heard of a video camera or television rights?
Opportunity lost...
Reply
Quan 9:26PM (10/31/2008)
Exactly what I was thinking; a good documentary of this would have been awesome.
Greg H 11:38AM (11/01/2008)
Wow - is a book with words AND pictures too difficult for you? Sure, a documentary might be nice in addition to the book, but books have charms all their own.
David 10:46PM (10/31/2008)
I wonder what borat thought of this "aston martin" very nice I presume.
Looking forward to reading about the journey.
Reply
Chris 12:55AM (11/01/2008)
I know its not with an Aston, but if video of a trip like this interests you, I suggest checking out Long Way Round. A documentary of Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman's trek around the world on motorbikes. It was originally a TV show, but there is a DVD available.
This seems like a really good book, I'll definitely be picking this up.
Reply
Adam Carolla 5:08AM (11/01/2008)
No point in making a TV docudrama, as there is no drama:
"a cattle stampede, border hassles in Turkmenistan, and a sandstorm in China"
From the photos, it looks like some cows walking around, some sand kicked up by a truck, and the border hassle was probably just a long queue or something. The book will be full of BS.
Reply
Mobius_1 9:14AM (11/01/2008)
I'd much rather have a Land Cruise :)
Reply
Mobius_1 9:14AM (11/01/2008)
Sorry, Cruiser...
Reply
saken 11:38AM (11/01/2008)
I think it is kinda cool to see people with such a spirit. I hope I will go to such journey some day by myself. Must be a lot of fun. It would be cool to see more photos and stories, I will be waiting for a book of website when available.
I was surprised that Aston Martin did very well in such environment , because Aston Martin belongs more to Monaco not dirt roads of Turkmenistan.
I would suggest Aston Martin try to drive around a world , it must be possible nowadays in less time than 80 days I think.
P.S. in turkmenistan ( some other countries too ) local milita road taxes and and border guards demanding money are part of a national culture and must be respected , even when in western societies it is called bribery. Put 10$ in documents they demand of you and everything will be okay, you may even become friends and have some really good local info from them.
Reply
ricmeredith 6:08AM (11/19/2008)
Move over Schumi: Feedback from reviewers of my new book ‘DRIVEN TOGETHER’ has ranged from almost praiseworthy (highly unusual from journalists!) to downright jealousy. The book raises serious issues about international travel and poor driving standards – especially in Asia - as well as the glamour of powering halfway across the world in an Aston Martin. But one question seems on all of their lips: Did it make you feel like James Bond? Here’s my answer …
“As an ordinary mortal – I’m a full-time writer and teacher – it was just an extraordinary thrill. And not just for a day, but for seven weeks! I usually drive a Ford Focus or go by push-bike – so the exhilaration factor was simply astounding, and especially in far-away places where they had only seen an Aston Martin in the James Bond films. It guaranteed us mega-attention wherever we went.
On the road, mostly in Europe, you get a strange sensation at the back of your neck whenever some kind of ‘opposition’ car comes into view – like a Porsche (which we called the Germans) or a Ferrari (the Italians). The testosterone takes over; it’s extremely difficult to resist. Anyone with an ounce of competitiveness will know what I mean.
It was amazing when we came up behind Michael Schumacher’s Maserati in France. The autoroute was a fantastic road and I got past him in the end. We were doing a speed that would have been way off the dial of any other car I’ve ever driven. To be honest, I think he must have let us pass. There were two ladies in there with him, so maybe that had something to do with it…
What made it tricky was that we were driving in support of a Road Safety campaign – but then again, the 7-times F1 champion was too: he’s on the committee of the same organisation!”
DRIVEN TOGETHER: Historic first crossing of Asia’s new Highway to the West
is available from all good bookstores from November 29