We did it!

After months of planning and sorting out who, what, where and when, the Baron Crew set out on their epic inaugural challenge... and succeeded!

The challenge remember was to drive through all 42 traditional English Shire Counties, and to try and do it in under 24 hours. As nobody has ever tried to do it before, we didn't know whether it was possible in the timeframe, or what problems we would face along the way, not only in terms of the cars, but more importantly the people.

The Drivers

Here's a run down of the team:
Challenge Car Drivers:
Steve Gill - Double leg amputee
Matty Woolard - Single leg amputee
Mick Foulds - Double leg amputee
Paul Hagan - Double leg amputee
Jeff Winder - Single leg amputee
Steve Beasley - Single leg amputee
Team media and photographer
Terri Hunt - Single leg amputee
Support Drivers
Steve Hunt - all rounder
Lee Jennery - law enforcement
Matt Kitson - admin

Challenge Details

The approximate challenge distance was 1,600 miles, starting from the Cornwall side of the Tamar Bridge, driving up the west side of England, through Exeter, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester to Kendal. We then headed west across to our most northerly point, Consett, before turning South down the Eastern side through Nottingham, then out and around East Anglia, before zipping round the M25 clockwise to finish at Sandhurst.

Apart from pit stops for fuel, food and to change drivers, the challenge was continuous!

The Summary

The team convened at the Tesco Extra Sandhurst at noon on Tuesday 20th November, before driving down to our start point in Plymouth. We were hosted overnight by the Royal Marine Association, Plymouth who took great care of the guys and set them up for the challenge ahead.

On Wednesday 21st November, after some promo shots, the team set off from Cornwall in the Saab 93 kindly provided by Specialist Vehicle Rental, adapted for our drivers by Brig-Ayd Controls and insured by Adrian Flux Insurance. Supporting the main car was a nice Mercedes minibus lent to us by Norwich Car Hire, and all vehicles were full of Tesco and Fuel Genie supplied fuel.

Steady progress was made along A and M roads, although the Sat Nav wanted to take a few unusual routes, and we had to take a major route detour around Gloucester for roadworks and flooding. The first major pit stop was just south of Birmingham, where our film crew left us, and then it was the long drive up the M6 to the lake district as night arrived.

We managed to skirt most of the bad weather, although by the time we reached our most northerly point at Consett, we were about 45 minutes behind schedule. We picked up time as we turned to head south by skipping a couple of possible stops but managing to keep the driver rotation going with quicker changeovers.

Our next problem came when we found the A1 closed round Pontefract, and we went back to paper maps to navigate around. As we passed through Nottingham, the Sat Nav wasn't up to the job, so more manual map reading saw us through as we headed East out to Anglia, Wisbech and Ely. By this time the morning rush hour was building and it was slow progress around Cambridge. By the time we reached Northampton we were an hour behind but in need of a decent break.

The M40 and M25 were surprisingly free moving, but we never really caught back up and by the time the 24 hours ticked around we had checked off 39 of the 42 counties. Determined to finish the full course, we carried on and crossed the line at Sandhurst, 42 counties under our tyres in 26 hours and 34 minutes.

Our heartfelt thanks to all of those who took part in the challenge, to all of those who supported us through equipment, money and encouragement via facebook and twitter.

It was an epic challenge, and just you wait until 2013, we are already planning some big things.