Farthest driven,Longest road trip anyone's done?

[galderdi]

I haven't done it but I was contemplating a trip from here (Brisbane, Queensland) to Germany. Drive the Nurburgring and then return trip. It would be about 30,000 miles return not including sea crossings. It sounds impossible but I know someone who did it in a 40 year old Australian car. From Australia to Indonesia, Thailand, India, Middle east, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France and Germany. It would be the trip of a lifetime.

[BluDestiny]

or your death.

[Tony D]

Galerdi, we think alike!

I recently picked up my Singapore/Malaysia/Thailand TomTom, and was thinking a PL510 Station Wagon set up to mimic the old Datsun Rally Support Vehicles would make for a popular vehicle through a similar route. RORO to Asia isn't that bad, and from Europe to the states even less! Really a round-the-world trip isn't out of the realm of possibility...

Actually, the costs of shipping a car RORO from US to Asia is less than the cost of a hire-car for 20-30 days. You could float it down to S'pore, auto tour through Malaysia/Thailand/Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam for a month, then ship it back!

Next year: Japan!

 

I'm surprised more don't ship on a RORO from Europe/UK to the States--90 day import/re-export is duty free, and no matter what you pay for the petrol.

 

Not that I've given it any thought, mind you!

[Tony D]

Really, the trailer was used for suitcases of my passenger and fireworks we bought along the way.

 

I can't stress how nice it is to have an immaculately clean

Interior on your z, and never having to put or recover anything from the hatch area.

 

I literally showed up at a hotel, chained it to a light post, and drove the car in "full sport mode" to the local steakhouse.

 

There just isn't much real payload capacity in a Z, and driving around former PRO-Rally stages with the hatch loaded sucked! The next year, I showed up-chained the trailer to an oak, and went on to show my son how to use the throttle to position the car in turns! Full suspension travel comes in handy in those instances.

 

Loading and unloading the back of the car sucks. Even a tent with a couple if sleeping bags is nice to have on a trailer as opposed to inside the car taking up space best kept clear for rear speaker soundwaves...

[galderdi]

My other dream is to do a full circuit of all the race tracks in Australia in one round trip. But the timing is a real issue with this idea. A few of them are only open once or twice per year. It would also mean trailering the car as it would be in race trim. That trip would be about 10,000 miles.

 

I did do 900 miles with a collapsed lung in an S130. Does that give me extra credit? Although I did spend the following month in hospital....yeah yeah I know I'm a wuss.

[Tony D]

357 miles with only one eye! Worked two days grinding and cleaning the body on my 71 Fairlady with junk flying everywhere (and me actually wearing a face shield for once!) -- only to have my right eye impaled with a rust chunk from water piping while taking a shower at the end of the day! Driving with no depth perception and a tube of visene dropping in the eye to get home!

Then "needle in the eye & pneumatic grinder to remove rust ring" from my corneas has me still wearing safety glasses when I shower in older hotels overseas to this day!

[gogriz91]

NO CHAINS during a snowstorm in a pass!? Brave,brave man. Lol Now that is something I def wouldn't try. I've been through Stevens Pass in Washington,and they'll stop and FORCE everyone traveling thru the pass to put chains on. Even 4x4 without studs. We were on studded tires and 4x4 even then,at very slow speeds,white knuckled driving.

 

Wow Phil... 500+ miles on a tank... Now that's some mpg!!! Lol I actually didn't really even think of gas mileage yet. I do remember when I first bought the ZX a few years back and was searching forums and read,the ZX's were averaging like 27-ish mpg.. Now its turbo'd thou,wrong size tires,(on purpose)195/60/14 and not driving straight thru. Making a road trip outta it and stopping to see the sites and attractions. Mt. Rush,some auto museum,(can't remember the name off hand),Strugis,etc. I have done the trip a cpl times for work and visiting,but in much newer and rental cars and didn't sight-see. I've lived in Clearwater,FL for a year,and have been to the Falls,New Hampshire,Jersey,Pittsburgh,Iowa,Minneapolis,Chicago,Long Beach,Englewood,and Seattle.. Wow,I've been a lot of places. Never wrote them out before. Lol

 

And all of a sudden,your trailer idea sounds pretty good Tony. Lol But,I still don't wanna tow a trailer. Only parts I haven't rebuilt or replaced was the tranny and rear diff. I did put new front and rear seals in the tranny. Output shafts. Rear diff was good but replaced the front and side seals for good measure.

 

And thank you Dapper for stepping in. Very nice lights. Def on my want list. Have to try and work those puppies into the budget thou. I see you have fog lights also? I'm totally just asking about those. Gonna try and fit the headlights into the budget as is,I'm sure to have a whole kit is outta my reach at the moment. But the next ZX I have lined up would def look good with them. Also Dapper,what are the 2 wattages offered. 55w is the brighter you offer? Is there an up charge for those? Anymore comparison pics of the 2 besides the one on your site?

 

Once again,thanks everyone for the stories and ideas.. My Co-pilot has a really nice camera and laptop.. Pics will DEF be uploaded. Hoping to have it on the road in the next 3 weeks. Roadtrip between June and July. We'er both gear heads pretty much,so everything automotive along the way will get attention.

 

At the risk of putting you on some lesser travelled roads depending on time you may want to consider taking Highway 2 across Wa through Idaho and into MT. Take a day, drive over the Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier National Park then cut down to Great Falls then to US 89 through White Sulphur Springs down to the freeway, the scenery is gorgeous, even better than what you'll see on the freeway alone but these roads, while in good shape, don't have the volume of traffic that the freeway obviously does. For what it's worth too, I'd cut across SE Montana to Belle Fourche on I-90 then US 212, you get to see Devils Tower but it is a remote part of the country, I'd be surprised if they get cell service out there.

Edited April 11, 2012 by gogriz91