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Leg 1: North Island
Day 1 Plan :
8am start at Cape Reinga car park. 542 km to Garnet Ave, Te Rapa, Hamilton. Estimated drive time 8 hours and 15 min. Estimated average speed 66 km/h. Morning break in Kawakawa, lunch at Wellsford and afternoon break in Drury. Estimated finish time is 6pm.
Day 1 Actual :
Departure: 8:40am |  |
Day 2 Plan:
8am start from Garnet Ave, Te Rapa, Hamilton. 538 km to Featherstone Street, Wellington. Estimated drive time 8 hours. Estimated average speed 67 km/h. Morning break in Taupo, lunch at Taihepe and afternoon break in Levin. Estimated finish time is 6pm.
Day 2 Actual :
Departure: 8:02am |
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Leg 2: South Island
Day 3 Plan :
Morning ferry to Picton. 12 noon start from from Picton. 337 km to Memorial Ave, Christchurch. Estimated drive time 4 hours and 50 min. Estimated average speed 70 km/h. Morning break on ferry, lunch on ferry or at Picton and afternoon break in Kaikoura. Estimated finish time is 5pm.
Day 3 Actual :
Departure (Picton): 11:24am |
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Day 4 Details :
9am start from Memorial Ave, Christchurch. 356 km to Princes Street, Dunedin. Estimated drive time 5 hours 20 min. Estimated average speed 67 km/h. Morning break in Ashburton, lunch at Oamaru and afternoon break in Palmerston. Estimated finish time is 3.30pm.
Day 4 Actual :
Departure: 9:07am |
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Day 5 Details :
9am start from Princes Street, Dunedin. 246 km to Bluff. Estimated drive time 3 hours 30 min. Estimated average speed 70 km/h. Morning break in Balclutha and lunch at Invercargill. 2:00pm finish.
Day 5 Actual :
Departure: 9:15am |
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Mark completed the challenge with an overall fuel consumption of 3.5 L/100km and at an average speed of 70km/h, slightly faster than predicted in the pre-trip calculations. That's only about 10km/h slower than the average person's trip. Mark and Paul found the driving days both mentally and physically demanding. Mentally, from the intense concentration needed to move the car with the least possible fuel used, and physically, because exterior temperatures reached up to 28°C and the car's cabin temperature well into the 40's. Day 1 was the hardest, with difficult terrain from the Cape to Whangarei. Then climbing 1000m to the summit of the Desert Road on Day 2. The South Island was the easier of the two Islands to drive but both Paul and Mark underestimated how difficult some of the gentle rolling country would be to drive efficiently.
Mark became so attuned to the car during the drive that even as the passenger he could feel how freely the car was moving along and could also detect trucks that caught up and sat in their draught. The biggest surprise was the huge difference that the coarse chip road surface made; it became very obvious that rough road surfaces costs our country hugely in terms of fuel consumption. On smooth flat surfaces the car could be driven at about 90km/h using about 2.6L/100km. Hills meant that this went up by 3 or 4 times.
At Bluff, the team was greeted by two TV stations and multiple newspapers. While completing the final fuel fill they even had people yelling out from their cars "Did you make it?" During the event there were articles in the Otago Daily Times, Southland Times, plus live crosses to radio stations. Not to mention being featured in Good! magazine with the final result being included as news on numerous Australian and American websites. Paul is now preparing a feature article that will appear in the February issue of NZ Autocar magazine.
Mark and Paul wish to thank the sponsors for all their support and to those they met along the journey.