1963 London to Cape Town January 20th
With Cape Town only five hundred miles away, and the seconds ticking away, Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers hit another problem. In Petrol in My Blood, Eric writes: “There was a bang from under the bonnet and a hell of a clattering sound. Oh God, no! It sounded as if a con rod had come through the cylinder block.” In fact, the dynamo had worked loose and dropped of. And they had left all their tools at Beitbridge, in order to save weight… They made a makeshift repair and pushed...
Read More1963 London to Cape Town January 19th
Accidents, bandits, delays, interrogations at gunpoint … Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers had experienced almost everything imaginable that could stop them beating the London to Sydney record. As they approached the South Africa border, they were pretty sure that they wouldn’t be able to sustain the average miles-per-hour they needed if they were to be successful. They were looking forward to getting to the passport control at Beitbridge so that they could borrow a piece of paper and...
Read More1963 London to Cape Town – January 18th
Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers still had a long way to go, especially if they were going to be in with a chance of beating the record. They had been averaging a good speed but as they left Arusha, the heavens opened and there was torrential rain. Once again, they had to drive a little slower, damaging their average speed. But even when the rain sopped, there were still obstacles to overcome. From Petrol in My Blood: We came to a river crossing that had no bridge and there was just a sea of mud;...
Read More1963 London to Cape Town – January 17th
It had been a terrifying few days. The early experiences – being interrogated at gunpoint, an accident and being accused of being spies – all these had paled into insignificance during the last couple of days. A gunfight with bandits have left Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers without petrol and without water. They were sure that they would never see England and their families again. It was only by a miracle they had survived. Were their troubles over? From Petrol in My Blood...
Read More1963 London to Cape Town – January 16th
I’ll start straight away with a quote from Petrol in My Blood: “We discussed the situation and realized, to be blunt, that we were in the shit. We finally admitted to ourselves and each other that there was a strong possibility that we might not make it home. We had no idea where we might be able to get water. We might only be able to make another fifty miles. We thought about our homes and families…” Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers had survived the bandit attack only to...
Read More1963 London to Cape Town January 15th
January 15th and the day that Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers had their most frightening experience on this trip to date. (And remember that they had already been at gunpoint several times and interrogated and accused of being spies!) They were thousands of miles away from home and yet it was only a few days since they had kissed their wives goodbye in London. They were feeling pretty confident – the car was running as well as could be expected and, despite being in a completely...
Read More1963 London to Cape Town January 14th
On January 14th, Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers approached a border control. This time, there were no guns pointing at them for a change. But Eric took a look at the transit book. This was a book in which all passing travelers had to add the details of their vehicles. When he was filling in the details of the Cortina he noticed that the last vehicle to go through was a Land Rover – there was no record at all of any saloon car going through – ever. Looking further, he realized that...
Read More1963 London to Cape Town – January 13th
On the previous day, Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers had been lost – thanks to paying attention to some self-appointed ‘expert’ guides. But at least a couple of days had passed by without them being held at gunpoint or accused of being spies – so that made a nice change. But don’t get the idea that it was plain sailing. Their temporary guides had now disappeared. From Petrol in My Blood: “Our guides waved us goodbye with a look of relief on their faces. Ken...
Read MoreLondon to Cape Town – January 12th, 1963
Every day do far, Ken Chambers and Eric Jackson has suffered various problems on their attempt to break the record for driving from London to Cape Town. Interrogations at gunpoint, dead bodies … that sort of thing. But today, there was a pleasant surprise. At Wadi Halfa they found that two chaps from Scotland and a massive Nubian called Hamid had driven from Khartoum to act as their guides. It had taken the guides several days to reach Wadi Halfa. They wouldn’t drive at night and...
Read MoreLondon to Cape Town – January 11th, 1963
There’s no passport stamp for January 11th. Even on their first full driving day – blasting down through Europe – they had encountered a serious delay. Then there had been an accident in Northern Africa and they were further delayed – and pretty terrified in the truth be known – by a bunch of armed men who had insisted that our intrepid duo were spies. More gun action had happened the following day when they were escorted at gunpoint into a room that held six dead...
Read MoreLondon to Cape Town – January 10th, 1963
Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers had left London on the afternoon of January 6th to attempt to drive to Cape Town in record time. The Ford Cortina was holding up well – there had been no problems at all with the car. But there had been problems in other ways. Already they had experienced delays in Europe, an accident in North Africa and had been accused of being spies – at gunpoint. If they were expecting this day to be trouble-free, they were very wrong indeed. As you can see from...
Read MoreLondon to Cape Town – January 9th, 1963
On January 9th, Ken Chambers and Eric Jackson encountered another problem. They were only on day four of their trip and were in Egypt, but already they’d had delays in Europe and a frightening accident en route. But today it was, in Eric’s words “a truckload of men dressed in camouflage outfits, carrying guns and with a very nasty piece of goods as their officer in charge.” Eric and Ken were suspected of being spies. Here is a passage from Petrol in My...
Read MoreLondon to Cape Town – January 8th, 1963
As you can see by the passport stamp above, by January 8th, 1963, our intrepid duo were now in Africa. This was when their real adventures began. The situation the previous day in Europe had meant that they’d been forced to change their route and had caused a delay in their planned schedule (there were to be many more) so they wanted to make great progress if they could. They were gradually becoming used to the heat. Ken Chambers had never set foot in Africa before and both he and Eric...
Read MoreLondon to Cape Town – January 7th, 1963
Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers arrived in Dunkerque in the early hours of the second day of their marathon trip. The Channel crossing had been uneventful and they were looking forward to a trouble-free quick drive down through France and Spain to catch another boat to Morocco and then on to Algeria. They had been told by George Hinchcliffe (who held the London to Cape Town record at that time) that this was the best route to take. Things didn’t quite go according to plan. As it says in...
Read MoreLondon to Cape Town – January 6th, 1963
On January 6th, 1963 Eric Jackson kissed his wife goodbye outside the RAC Headquarters on Pall Mall, London. Along with his co-driver Ken Chambers, he was leaving to embark on an epic driving challenge – beating the record for driving from London to Cape Town in South Africa. Ken and Eric had never driven together before but this was the first of many adventures they were to have. They left London at four in the afternoon. Newspaper reporters, photographers, RAC officials and the higher...
Read More