Latest News

08 07.2009 - Drinks Reception with the team - 8th September 2009

The Skycar Expedition Team welcome you to a drinks reception and talk at the Royal Geographical Society, London 8th September 2009

02 03.2009 - The Last Leg - Kiffa to Tombouctou - Jon Hall

With the Skycar rebuilt and ready for action, we were grateful to have everyone in one piece.  The Malian Boarder was now in our sights and there was an air of excitement in the team.  This elation was oddly juxtaposed with the knowledge that there was still a long way to go in achieving our goal of Tombouctou.  To our relief our seemingly impossible itinerary became more achievable as we discovered a newly constructed and graded volcanic gravel route which took us through Nara, Guire and on to Soloko.  We were again pressured by West-African navigation as we convoyed on through the landscape to Nampala and Lere; and forced to travel into the dark looking for an appropriate camp location accompanied by the visual noise of dense billowing clouds of dust and the apprehension of what would be revealed as we stirred at first light.  As we moved forward into Mali the presence of military hardware became more evident; occasionally being stopped by edgy soldiers, made wary from the recent bloody attacks.

The scenery and the people seemed to constantly change as the expedition headed south from the sand dunes of Mauritania and now east into a land sporadically interrupted by the waters of the Niger River.  One element that did not change was the heat; resembling the opening of an oven door; a metaphor that stirred distant images of home and family back in England.  Not a single day seemed to pass without mechanical interruption or flat tyres hampering our vehicles, testing the cool of the team in their quest to make progress.  Headway was being made through the intricate scenery and excitable villages that produced a constant supply of colourfully adorned local inhabitants.

All of a sudden it was a though the whole expedition had gone into fast forward as we realised that we where literately on the last leg of our extraordinary journey.  We started to count down the kilometres of Malian terrain as Tombouctou became less and less a two year dream and more a reality on the horizon.  On Wednesday 26th March we found ourselves backlit in the deep orange light of the setting sun as we celebrated the final few kilometres in what seemed like a film setting especially arranged for this momentous moment.  We were unaware of the raucous festivities that awaited us in the town of Tombouctou which became more and more evident as our procession made its way through the backstreets.  Our friendly escort increased in magnitude as we headed to the centre of town; cars and motorbikes sounded their horns as the local people joined in our long awaited celebration. 

Tombouctou is steeped in mystery and has been a prized destination for travellers and explorers for many years, and for good reason: it’s not easy to get to.  We had arrived at our goal in true style, but not without complication.  The only task left now was for our repatriation team to bring the Skycar back to England to carry on the celebration of what has been an extraordinary journey and a steep learning curve in the development of the worlds first practical, road-going flying car.

Congratulations to all the team!

Jon

25 02.2009 - Gilo's Diary Update

13^th - 14^th February:  From Atar the convoy headed directly west 100km to the small town of Chinguetti surrounded on all sides by vast sand dunes. We found a perfect SkyCar take-off site at the base of the dunes and had an amazing early morning flight, the sun was just rising and skimming the SkyCar low level over the dunes at 60mph was just extraordinary fun!

15^th – 19^th February:  From Chinguetti we headed south for Tidjidkia, a 5 day crossing of the empty quarter flying and driving across incredible landscapes. The SkyCar was completely in its element screaming across the dunes, I was amazed at how well the transmission system and all the workings of the car handled the sandy environment. On the 4^th day we did develop a minor mechanical problem however with one of the main drive shaft bearings in the wheel drive transmission system. Luckily we have a complete workshop on board the trucks and Toby and Ben were straight in to help mend the problem. We took apart the whole rear end of the SkyCar, dismantling everything in the middle of the desert until the early hours of the morning, after quite a lot of head scratching Ben came up with a brilliant solution which was simple and has proven to totally reliable ever since!! 

20th – 22^nd February:  We were greeted in Tidjidkia by the town Governor and a military escort. They had heard that we would be arriving with a flying car and were extremely keen to see it fly. They guided us to the town airstrip, a perfect tarmac surface over a mile long. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect take-off site. Word soon passed around town and before we knew it the whole town had surrounded the airstrip to watch the SkyCar fly.

Neil took to the sky as the sun was setting and the whole town cheered with excitement and disbelief. I flew again early the following morning and although the take-off and flight around was fantastic (I clocked our record SkyCar flight speed during the flight of 87mph) My landing however was absolutely terrible, the conditions were tricky but I failed to make a proper approach to the airstrip and tried to drop the SkyCar in half way down the airstrip.  As I flew through wind shear at about 100ft the wing lurched to one side and instead of powering up and flying round for a better approach, I panicked and made a rushed landing in the scrub beside the airstrip. It was a very hard landing...but amazingly.. the SkyCar was unscathed.

We soon headed south out of Tidjikdia to Boumzguit, a small village about two days drive across the desert. Once in Boumzguit we had to make a decision...whether to head east across a huge dune field to Tamchekit, which may have been un passable to our huge support trucks, or head south to Kiffa a larger town on the main road to Nima. We found a local herdsman who knew the area well and he advised that passing over such huge dunes would be impossible with such huge trucks. We made the decision to head south to Kiffa and soon the landscape changed dramatically. Table top mountains began to appear on the horizon ahead of us, the sand dunes became a fantastic deep orange colour and it became much greener with little trees growing everywhere.

We found a take-off site in some flat lands between the dunes and early on Friday 20th morning I went for my best flight of the whole expedition....flying along at high speed over the sand dunes...skimming over the tree tops with beautiful still air and incredible views in every direction.  I made a much improved landing and after Neil had had a few attempts at take-off without success, we decided that our make-shift airstrip was too small and that I being lighter than Neil should have another flight and see if I could get airborne again. This was bad decision, it was midday by now and some powerful thermals were kicking in...the wind direction kept changing and the conditions weren’t perfect anymore. I went for it all the same and paid the consequences...on take-off I hit a cross wind which blew me off track towards a good sized tree....instead of backing off the power and aborting the take-off I held firm on the power hoping that I would climb away over the tree or would pass by it....this didn’t happen and I flew at around foot off the ground straight into the tree at about 60mph!! The tree impaled itself in the front of the SkyCar....uprooted immediately and flew another 50 metres attached to the front of the car. The whole front of the SkyCar was destroyed, the steering rack cracked and it looked a sorry sight. We all set to work on it, cut off the front of the car and used the ten tonne winch on the front of the truck to pull out all the bends. At about midnight we had finished rebuilding it and took the SkyCar out for a spin....it worked brilliantly!

Gilo Cardozo

18 02.2009 - Simon Temple's Blog

Nouadhibou to Atar...Welcome to the Desert
 
Another passport stamp later after Duncan eases us through border bureaucracy, we arrive in Nouadhibou, Mauritania to a local campsite.  A cold shower later, a meal and a beer at the local French restaurant we bunked down for the night.
 
The next day was rest and maintenance, and an opportunity to visit the ship graveyard in Banc d'Arguin with the SkyCar,  Motorbikes, and Mog.  Rubbish strewn beaches and abandoned rusty fishing boats were the backdrop to some great filming and photography opportunities. 
 
The following morning we set off from Nouadhibou with a final fuel fill to prepare for desert travel mode; the best part of the journey to come!  Simon W had loaded our Garmin GPS units with waypoints, and after an hours drive East, we finally turned off the highway to head for the desert.  At last! After miles and miles of tarseal road, this was probably the most satisfying part of the trip so far.   The SkyCar along with desert savvy trucks, and four KTM motorbikes enters into the Sahara in the Akchar Adrar reigon.  Within half an hour we could no longer see the road and there was no turning back! 
Nightfall approaches and the temperature drops from 30degrees+ to a cool sub 10degrees at night.  We found a suitable campsite, unloaded the kit and to our horror, the petrol containers in the back of the truck had drenched our sleeping bags and sleeping mats!  We let them air out, and cautiously placed the campfire away from harms way.  Gilo enlightened us some more with guitar and song from his impressive songlist and we slept under the stars in petrol soaked beds.
 
The next two days we continued our eastward journey running parallel with the Moroccan border following a Iron ore railway, and clocked up a 100km average in fairly flat desert terrain. The 'Full English' (Toby) in his Unimog, and Big Boy Ben Gott in his enormous 8x8 MAN truck made easy work of soft conditions.  Joining us in Noadibo, we had picked up a French couple with 17 yrs experience in Sahara travel in an impressive Paris-Dakar MAN race truck.  Mrs Wobbly got stuck in an unassuming sandtrap, which even proved difficult for Michel the Frenchman in his race truck.  Time to dump some air from the tyres for sand travel and away we went!
 
The Skycar is built for the sand with its low ground pressure, low centre of gravity, and powerful engine.  Neil and Gilo were tearing it apart it was truly awesome to see!
We elected a suitable campsite for the night, and discussed our plan for the SkyCar to fly to Ben Amera; the second largest monolith in the world, looming in the distance some 50kms away.
 
The next morning we found an excellent runway, a long, flat, rock-free take off with a slight breeze into wind.  Perfect!  Neil and Gilo took prepared for flight and the film crew set up alongside them.  Simon W flew ahead in his Paramotor which stunned our local guide Ahmed! He was really taken back by the fact that a person could just take off and fly from flat ground…let alone a 500kg car!
Neil and Gilo set off gaining full speed and were about to lift off when the only train for miles appeared in front of them.  Neil slammed on the brakes and ended up 50m from the train! You couldn't have timed it any better!
It was agreed that given the elected runway distance, only one of them would fly and after a paper-rock-scissors challenge it was Captain Neil Laughton at the helm once more.  The second attempt was a success and we watched the SkyCar climb to 1000ft and head for Ben Amera.  It was an effortless take off.  The look on our local guide Ahmeds face was priceless!
 
Simon W, Tim, Andy, and John were up ahead scouting the landing with motorbikes and Paramotor.  Neil came into land, alarming a local population who came dashing out of their village to greet him.  When the rest of the team caught up, one of the local men said he had a satellite dish and he had heard about the flying car expedition! He couldn't believe it.
 
After lunch at Ben Amera, we drove the final 100kms into Atar, with the landscape became more dramatic.  Arriving in Atar we headed for Bab Sahara camp and enjoyed a fine rest and fantastic meal put on by the staff.  Another night of route planning and maintenance, the Skycar expedition geared up for one of the most remote, scenic, and challenging parts of the trip ahead to Kiffa via Tidjikdja.
 
Simon Temple

10 02.2009 - Duncan Milligan's Blog



04 02.2009 - Matthew Mays Blog

Monday 26th, the Parajet Skycar team is split into two teams. Tim leads one team off as the advance party to look for a suitable landing site in Ceuta (consisting of bike & MAN 8x8 truck). The second team lead by Neil consists of the Skycar , Unimog and the camera car. Neil leads his team to Tarifa to look for a suitable site for the take off. The suitable site is found on Tarifa Beach.

Tuesday 27th , the Skycar followed by the mog boys and camera team proceed to take off area for a possible take off. On arrival the wind is already picking up and the local police arrive and pay us a visit. After much discussion the police leave happy and turn a blind eye to what is about to take place. Contact is made to HMS SABHAR who will be standing by in the Gibraltar Straights with two high speed craft for emergency back up if required. HMS SABHAR was unable to supply cover till the afternoon due to important exercises being carried out in the morning. The flight was put on hold until the afternoon so the helicopter was also put on hold till then. By midday the wind had picked up to in excess of 25 knots . The hard decision was made to abort for the day. HMS SABHAR and helicopter was put on standby till the morning. Gilo spent the rest of the afternoon checking the car for the next possible flight.

Wednesday 28th , the team was up before sunrise and proceeded to Tarifa Beach once again . The Skycar was driven into position ready for the flight, up came the sun and not a breath of air was felt, the feeling was good throughout. The calls where made, HMS SABHAR was going to make her way to the Gibraltar Straights, but no contact was made the helicopter. It turns out the original helicopter was now not available and frantic calls were being made to try and arrange another one. After around one and a half hours one was available but by now the wind was starting to get up. The new helicopter wouldn't be available to get to the required position until the afternoon which was not ideal. The team could slowly see the weather window closing around them as the wind was getting strong with strong gusts.The decision was made to abandon the take off again, what a disappointment. The arrangements where made for all parties to be in position for the Thursday morning for sunrise for the final attempt to fly the Gibraltar Straights. Gilo and Neil spent the rest of the afternoon making slight adjustments to the wing . The mog boys took the opportunity to put some finishing touches to the Unimog . The Skycar was seen to be taking a run down the beach with a small hop before stopping. It turns out whilst Neil was testing the adjustments to the wing there was a strong cross wind and the car proceeded towards the sea before stopping. The mog boys stood on the fence to see what had happened and saw no one running to the car so carried on working on the mog laughing and saying ‘phew lucky it stopped short of the sea’. Next the mobile goes and the boys discovered that Neil did accidentally manage to park in the sea so the car was pushed clear from the edge of the sea the wing had to be dried for the next day. The Unimog was now tasked to proceed to Algeciras for the late crossing by ferry to Ceuta. On arrival in Ceuta the mog boys scouted out another landing site for the Skycar that was found on a map but there was no access to it. Back to the car park that the advance party had found. We dossed down in the car park under a canvas sheet like vagabonds just to be on site for the flight, only to be awoken around 0200 hrs by the local boy racers wheel spinning into the car park and pumping out loud techno music . By 0400 hrs they had gone – phew!

Thursday 29th, morning the mog boys where up and eagerly awaiting the call from Tarifa Beach to let us know what was happening. The call was received by Toby and the flight was on. HMS SABHAR and two high speed craft standing by and the helicopter was taking of at the dedicated sunrise time. The tension was building in the car park, as the Unimog was being loaded up with kit and safety kit of loaded just in case it was required. All of a sudden a green lorry arrived in the car park closely followed by several others. Toby went over to the lorries to try and find out what was going on and was ordered to clear the car park. It was a military car park and not even Toby could talk to these chaps around to arrange the use of the car park. Frantic calls where then made to contact the other side of the Gibraltar Straights. A message was passed to Neil now on route and we received a call saying he would have to divert to nearby heliport. Tension was building again as the mog boys had to race to the heliport. On arrival we could see the heliport was inside part of the port, the heliport had sea on three sides of it. Toby received another call informing us Neil had mad a PAN PAN call to the helipad for an emergency landing. As the Unimog parked up on approach to the heliport we could see the Skycar in the distance approaching. Simon, the camera man, proceeded to the entrance closely followed by Toby. Matthew was with the Unimog and standing by the approach of the runway. The Skycar made its approach running parallel to the runway outside the outer part of the harbour wall over the top of some oil storage tanks and turned 180 degrease for the approach. The car seamed to stop and then go backwards towards a vast amount of houses whilst gaining altitude. The Skycar then advanced forwards to make an approach to the runway, the engine revs dropped and the Skycar was descending to the runway. One glance around at the heliport and all the staff was out at the doors. There were crowds of people gathering in the streets pointing. The Skycar was now too low for the approach and was heading for the side wall the revs increased and the car gained altitude to be back on course for a landing. The Skycar made contact with the tarmac there was a loud crack to be herd by everyone around.  It was ok, Neil stopped the car and leaped out waving his arms in the air and  shouting we’ve done it! Simon dashed out onto the runway and his camera was tackled from him smashing to the floor. Toby was stopped by three guards from entering the runway. Neil had done it, the first person to fly a car across the Gibraltar Straights. History was made! The next 15 mins were not as much fun as we where all detained at the heliport whilst all our passports and documents where ceased by armed police and the general thought was oops what was going to happen now. The guard ordered us to move the Skycar from the runway. The Skycar was pushed clear of the heliport and round to the car park where some repairs would need to be done due to the heavy landing . The rear nearside tyre was deflated, the nearside wishbone looked bent, windscreen was cracked, the tracking was out, the bolt on the steering column had sheered and the tip of the propeller was broken off. The team set about fixing the car under Toby's instructions whilst drinking tea and eating doughnuts from the cafe at the heliport .One of the official guards walked round to us and gave us our passports and other documentation back and told us to clear off. What a nice chap. The take off from Tarifa Beach was 1038 hrs approx and the landing was 1056 hrs approx. – A fantastically speedy journey!

The Unimog and Skycar proceed to the border control to gain entrance to Morocco. Around eight hours where spent at the border control due to the officer in charge who would not let the Skycar gain entrance as he said it was a plane and not a car. Toby spent eight hours sweet talking the officials round and they all agreed that he was right but the man in charge said no a no is no. That was it the whole expedition could go no further. Neil made several calls to the British Embassy. Toby had been informed by some of the guards that Tangiers would be a better route to get the Skycar in to Morocco.  The decision was made the Unimog and Skycar would leave the border and proceed back up the road to a petrol garage to meet with the camera car. Toby made a comment which turned out to be a fantastic idea, the rear of the Skycar to be cut of, the propeller had already been removed at the heliport. The plan was the Skycar would go from Ceuta to Algeciras by ferry and get the first ferry in the morning from Algeciras to Tangiers where we would all meet up. The Unimog and camera car proceeded back to the border where it took a further one and a half hours. There seemed to be another problem with the paper work as you can not take two vehicles registered to one person through the border at the same time, just as well Toby had spent eight hours humouring the officials and they helped us through. Once clear of the border control, the Unimog and camera car proceeded over the mountain roads to Tangiers to await the arrival of the Skycar in the morning.

04 02.2009 - Kim Vande Velde's Blog

Our Expedition Leader was planning to cross the Straits of Gibraltar by Skycar in what may prove to be precarious conditions, so on Monday 26 January he sent an advanced scouting team to recky suitable landing spots in Ceuta, a region of Spain that is located on the North Coast of the African continent. The A-team, as we came to be known, comprised Tim, Neil's Second in Command, Ben our experienced Dakar driver at the helm of the Man Truck, Dan as Expedition medical support in case the unthinkable should happen, Simon Westmore the paramotorist as landing expert and myself as linguist/negotiator.

Following a beautiful crossing by boat, the A-team spent two days in Ceuta on stand-by, waiting for confirmation that weather conditions in Tarifa were clear enough to fly and that we had requisite landing permission in Ceuta.

By Wednesday afternoon it became clear that the scouting team would need to cut loose and make the border crossing into Morocco if we were to make it in time to meet our sponsors in the South of Morocco. Flight conditions in Tarifa had not cleared (it is the wind surfing capital of Europe for a reason!) and there had been other issues, not least being the Skycar's dip in the sea (as documented by the Mog Boy blog, below) and the withdrawal of support by Ceuta heliport following a discussion with the Spanish equivalent of the CAA.

Thwarted by bureaucracy and weather, it was a frustrating day for the A-team as a feeling of helplessness mounted and we realised we would miss out on an historic moment as well as staying separated from the rest of our team. So with heavy hearts we set off to the border. Entry into Morocco was relatively smooth; it only took an hour and a half to make customs see why we had four bikes with us but only 1 rider so far (the other riders were to join us in Arfoud) and that the Man Truck really was only for our camping equipment rather than being the ideal spot for tearaways and/or smuggled goods. Duncan's later advice of 'if in doubt, start crying' would maybe have speeded up the process but after some patience and negotiation by the Tim and Kim border tag team, we were on our way!

Northern Morocco was breathtaking - green, luscious scenery, rolling hills and mountains covered in snow. We stayed in the mountain town of Chefchaouem on Wednesday night, meeting some locals, and carried on driving beyond Fez on Thursday. We camped out in the countryside on Thursday night and after a good dinner and camp fire we turned in, all sleeping in the Man truck apart from Simon, who wanted to sleep under the stars.

As we were drifting off to sleep, we heard two loud bangs echo off the truck metal work. We were being shot at! After a tense ten minutes it seemed that all we had been privvy to were either some warning shots or kids playing with a small calibre gun, but needless to say we all spent a restless night, and Simon valiantly kept watch over the camp.

On Friday, we raced down through snowy mountains and wide sunny plains, stopping only to take panoramic shots of the incredible scenery and have a brew, to meet our wonderful sponsors in Arfoud, just South of the Ziz Gorge. Neil and later on the self-titled 'Rear-End' team also managed to make it down to us through sheer determination and we were all extremely thankful to be reunited, without serious injury, looking forward to a well-earned weekend with sponsors and loved-ones and anticipating the start of the desert leg of the Expedition.

Andy, Duncan and Jon have joined the team in Morocco and will ride the KTM bikes to Timbuktu. Matthew and I have returned to the UK due to work commitments. We miss our team mates but wish them every success in completing our team's mission to Timbuktu, Inshallah.

Kim

22 01.2009 - Flight at Figueres and on through Spain

We left Paris in appalling wet weather and had a tough drive south through Orleans in blinding downpours, hail and crosswinds that caused a few interesting moments on the motorways. We continued south and after thirteen hours on the road arrived at Linda and Keith Gott's beautiful farmhouse near Angouleme where a log fire, canapés and copious amounts of red wine thawed us out ready for a day of vehicle maintenance and the opportunity to sort out a few  teething problems with some of our equipment. Ben and Toby worked wonders with a change in the Skycar gearing and dramatically improved the high speed drivability on the open road.

Following these repairs  we had to make good time to remain on schedule and we had a hard 508 km drive to Andorra with very varied weather conditions that saw temperatures drop to -7˚C; particularly tricky in the Skycar and on a motorbike when ice nearly forced us off the roads on more than one occasion. However, it was an excellent test for the Skycar at these high altitudes.

We had a ludicrous delay at the entry point to Spain as we had not been given the correct paperwork in Andorra. Despite our EU membership we found ourselves unable to get back into Europe.  Persistent negotiation eventually secured our passage through the border and we continued our journey South to Figueres where Alex Ledger at 'Sky School' hosted us at his airfield.

Dawn broke on 22^nd January to reveal the grass airstrip white with a thick frost and we were treated to a stunning sun rise as the Skycar wing was prepared for flight. This new wing incorporated some significant design changes that needed testing if a crossing of the Straits of Gibraltar were to be attempted.

The conditions were near perfect as Neil took his seat in the Skycar, made all the necessary checks and started the engine. It was a beautiful sight to see the wing inflate behind the car and the thrust of the propeller force the car down the strip towards us. At full throttle Neil passed the designated 'abort' position on the runway but kept going regardless. It was a heart stopping moment as the Skycar reached the end of the runway where the ground dropped away to the valley below. The car disappeared from sight and for a split second it all looked like it had gone horribly wrong but at the last moment the Skycar lifted clear into the air and began to climb and continued to do so to approximately 1000 feet.

Neil executed a twenty minute flight with several passes over the airfield before bringing the Skycar down to land. It was a heavy landing on two wheels with a big bounce on a precarious angle before levelling off and getting all four wheels on the ground. It had been a steep learning curve for Neil in this extraordinary prototype machine. The team gathered around the car in jubilation. This had been the longest and highest flight in history by a flying car and the team enjoyed celebrating this huge achievement that evening.

Once back on the road we travelled along the Spanish coast with a brief overnight stay near Valencia and then in the luxury of Castillo de Santa Catalina in Malaga thanks to the generosity of one of our sponsors Tim Warren of GSC. It was a wonderful way to relax at the end of the European leg of our journey. The team is now poised waiting to cross to Africa.

Tim Maw.

17 01.2009 - Diary Entry

Finally, after many months of intense preparations, complicated logistics, team briefings, sponsorship drives, charity fundraising, vehicle preparations, equipment purchases, visa applications and one hundred other tasks, the Skycar Expedition 2009 was underway.  Our start line was the Sheraton Park Hotel on Tuesday 13th January kicking off with a massive press launch which far surpassed our expectations in terms of how many crews and journalists turned up to see our flying car and who may have been intrigued as to who in their right mind would want to spend six weeks of their lives travelling to Timbuktu in it. We were amazed to see the BBC, ITV, C4, C5, CNN, NBC and a host of other channels including BBC Persia that launched their station with the story of a Parajet Skycar in central London.

After a hearty breakfast and final farewells to loved ones, our convoy of Skycar, KTM motorcycle, Landcruiser, Unimog and 8x8 Man Truck immediately got separated with a technical problem with one vehicle and the need for fuel of another. The following 48 hours was part canopy testing in Surrey, part collecting final kit and equipment from Hampshire and part travel to Dover for the ferry to France. Once the ship’s bow doors were closed and the ship pushed back out of dock I felt a wave of relief and anticipation.

We made our way to a camp site south of Calais in the pitch darkness and that night we discovered who snored the loudest. Suffice to say “Full English” and “Popeye” were in a league of their own. The following morning brought a 6 hour drive to Reims due to frequent checks on Skycar and refuelling every 100km or so. She’s a thirsty girl! We made it the house of GH Mumm and were treated like royalty that evening. The following day we were guided to an official airport in the Champagne region where we hoped to test the new drive system Gilo had installed the previous evening, try a different set of propellers and fly the new canopy with adjusted brake lines. Despite initial resistance from the authorities and a gusty wind, we managed to make the necessary trial launches. That afternoon, we made a detour to central Paris and filmed the Skycar in front of a majestic Eiffel Tower before retiring to our campsite at midnight and prepare for an alarm call at 5.00am. Oh joy!

Neil Laughton

16 01.2009 - The Off

The 13th January saw the worlds press descend on London to see the launch of the Parajet Skycar and its maiden voyage to Timbuktu.  The Sheraton Park Hotel in Knightsbridge was a fitting venue and was alive with eager journalist and film crews wanting time with the expedition members before their departure.  The evening allowed the team to spend time with their loved ones and say a final thanks to the expedition sponsors in the knowledge that tomorrow would be the start of a gruelling 42 day adventure across Europe and Africa.

The expedition is currently making its way through France, with its sights now placed firmly on the crossing of the Pyrenees and the Gibraltar Straits; confident in the knowledge that its timely departure has set them in good stead to remain on track, despite the logistics associated with an expedition of this size.

Only days into the expedition, a healthy sum has been raised for ‘Alive and Kicking’; a charity that makes and distributes high quality footballs in Africa using African materials and skills.  Fundraising efforts were helped by the auctioning of a team-signed football, won by a guest on the evening of the expedition launch.

29 11.2008 - Hard Work

The team are all working very hard, putting all the details into place in preparation for the ever nearing trip to Timbuktu.  As time draws in, the minutes from the expedition meetings get longer and longer;  with increasing amounts of tasks being handed out to the team for action.  No stone is being left unturned in preparing the team for every eventuality and the team is meeting, at RAF Alconbury, in December for a weekend of training in preparation for potential emergency situations on the expedition.

Press articles in the Sunday Times and London Lite, to mention a couple, have been well received and add to the ever growing momentum of this extraordinary expedition.  Outside Magazine are also planning to do an article in January 2009.  The car made another public appearance on the Parajet stand at the recent NEC Sports and Leisure Aviation Show in Birmingham drawing a lot of attention.

The team took a little time out recently to spend an evening with the expedition patron Sir Ranulph Fiennes BT, OBE at a talk he gave at the Royal Geographical Society on his recent expeditions.

05 11.2008 - Busy Times

Substantial progress is being made in preparation for this exciting journey from London to Timbuktu.  Word from the Parajet factory in Wiltshire is that the Skycar is nearing completion and the car is now road legal.  The car is now equipped with newly developed kit including a larger purpose designed wing and all new 3-blade carbon-fibre propeller.

Inquisitive eyes were allowed another glimpse of the Skycar at a recent rally day at Castle Combe Circuit, Wiltshire, which was followed by a team weekend at Dunsfold Aerodrome, Surrey.  The weekend was a chance for the entire team to get together and become fully accustomed with the expedition vehicles, which have been confirmed as: 1x Parajet Skycar, 1x 8-wheel drive support truck, 2x 4x4’s and 1x 650cc road bike, 3x 450cc off-road motorcycles.

The weekend was a good opportunity for the team to sit down and calculate, several times over, the exact quantities of both fuel and water needed to cross the Empty Quarter in the Sahara Desert – mistakes in this calculation would obviously have dire consequences. 

Our expedition Doctor also had a chance to run through our vaccination requirements and ensure the team was in tip-top condition in readiness for the gruelling environment that lay ahead.  Camping in typical November weather conditions that weekend was a true testament to the team’s commitment to making this expedition a success.

The expedition team comprises of experts from all walks of life; including a camera crew that are recording the team’s every move for use in a televised documentary about the car and its inaugural voyage to Timbuktu.

The expedition has been inundated with press enquiries, including Focus Magazine, Italy, who are covering the story and The UK Sunday Times newspaper will be printing an article on 9 November 2008 in their In Gear section.

11 08.2008 - Latest News

It has been an exciting two months for the team. The Skycar made it's first public appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, we welcomed an additional sponsor to the project and expedition planning gathers pace.

For much of the weekend the sun shone on Goodwood this year but despite a few showers the Skycar stayed dry on an artificial sand dune inside the main doors of the technology pvailion. Thanks to the influence of Daniel Rowe of Jackson Rowe, who secured this prestigious spot, the public were treated to their first view of the Skycar. Many viewers took some convincing that this was not merely a concept car but a fully functioning vehicle that will soon cross the Sahara by land and by air.