Detourist Ben Coombs starts Mini 6000 Expedition
To mark the 60th anniversary of the Mini Cooper Detour’s Ben Coombs has begun a massive journey. The automotive adventurer’s Mini 6000 Expedition will take the little car to new heights - 6,000 metres above sea level, to be precise!
“From crossing Africa in a Porsche, to driving the length of the Americas in a TVR, I’ve been hitting the road on long distance driving adventures in unlikely cars for many years now,” explains Ben. “However, distance isn’t the only metric with which driving adventures can be measured, so for this project I’ll be exploring another - height.”
During Ben’s previous American road trip – the Pub2Pub Expedition – he reached a high point of around 4,700m in his TVR Chimaera, while traversing the Bolivian Altiplano. So, while Ben already has some experience of high-altitude motoring, the Mini’s target altitude of 6,000m represents quite a step up. However, there are a few places where it could be possible to coax a low-slung Mini up to such heights.
“To find a road that high, you need to be willing to travel,” says Ben. “Western Europe’s highest road tops out at an altitude of only around 3,250m, while in North America, even on gravel tracks 4,347m is your limit. There are various roads which approach the 6,000m mark on the Tibetan Plateau, but the only real chance of finding a track which will enable us to take the Mini to this magic height is through a visit to South America. Both Chile and Peru harbour towering volcanoes with old mine tracks to their summits, such as the Aucanquilcha Stratovolcano, where an abandoned mine track reaches 6,176m above sea level. We plan to explore some of these possibilities, and to try to find a dirt track on which our Mini can celebrate the 60th anniversary of its illustrious forebear, at an altitude of six kilometres up.’
The Mini being used for the expedition is a 1974 Mini 1000, which has naturally received a few modifications for its overlanding adventure – including a bespoke roof tent. With four people taking part in the adventure, the Mini is being joined on its South American odyssey by a 1990 Range Rover, making for a duo of iconic British classics. Both cars left the UK by container in mid-October, and are now in Uruguay, about to begin their trip to the thin air of the Andes.
Detour will be providing exclusive regular updates on the Mini 6000 Expedition. So bookmark this page to follow the highs - and lows - of this incredible adventure.
If you’re going to drive from Europe to South Africa, you’re going to have to cross the Sahara. And if you’re behind the wheel of an old Porsche, you’d better hope luck is on your side.