Going round the world in 80 days might sound like a flight of literary fantasy but a new classic rally, launched last night in London, will do just that.
Rally the Globe is living up to its name with this 22,000-mile, three-part competitive adventure for pre-’76 cars that, just like Phileas Fogg’s circumnavigation, will start and finish in the British capital, in this case at Greenwich’s Prime Meridian Line.
Leg one will run from 23 May to 9 June 2020 and will see participants depart London bound for Casablanca, with the Portsmouth-Bilbao crossing giving crews a breather after a series of demanding tests before they’re challenged again across Spain and onto Morocco, covering around 3125 miles in all.
Part two kicks off on 19 September in Boston, USA, and will take in motorsport landmarks including Watkins Glen and Indianapolis, as well as Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park and the Rocky Mountains before finishing, around 6250 miles later, in Vancouver, Canada, on 10 October 2020.