14 October 2024
Hello everyone – I hope this newsletter finds you all well!
It has been quite a while but this is just a brief newsletter to keep you up to speed as to where we are and how we’re going – I’m working from an iPad so if you’d excuse this newsletter not looking quite as flash as some of the previous ones!
A you’re aware Team Bean has been on the road for six weeks now – not all of that as driving time of course – but I’m delighted to say so far it has been an absolute blast!
I’m writing to you from Athens – indeed one of the nicer parts of Athens, quite close to the Marina – where we will depart tomorrow for Cairo.
For quick reference – if you’re not already onto it – the Birtles and the Bean Facebook page will give you a good idea of where we’re at and it gives a narrative of the route so far.
As a brief outline of what’s happened during the past six weeks – and it’s been rather full on!
To start with, team mechanic Tony Jordan and I had a stopover in Dubai to meet with Erin And Kassem representing Australian Business groups who’ve given us incredible support – including an impromptu meeting with the enthusiastic Chief of Police – a visit to the original Bean factory at Dudley in the Midlands, the Goodwood Revival, the Beaulieu Motoring Museum, then in London we had a tremendous farewell from the Royal Automobile Club at Pall Mall – (and a huge thank you to Charlie McCreery of the RAC!) – and then a wonderful departure from Australia House on The Strand farewelled by Miss England Milla Magee – where Lord Glendonbrook pledged fifty thousand pounds to The Royal Flying Doctor Service – King Charles III wrote to RFDS UK Chair Peter Box wishing our expedition all the very best – and then began a spectacular incident-free drive across the continent – en route checking with some of our sponsors, especially the wonderful crew at Harvey Norman in Slovenia and Croatia – to arrive here in Athens where the vehicles are now on the high seas on their way to Egypt.
We’re delighted to say everyone is safe, in excellent health and even more excellent spirits – and further, we are completely on schedule to arrive in Alexandria despite the vagaries of international shipping – certainly we’ve had a few things thrown our way initially that could have hampered our progress – all of which were beyond our control – ships cancelled, ships rerouted, sensor issues with the support vehicle – but we’ve always been able to recover the situation and press on.
As for the Bean itself, we are absolutely agog as to just how good the car is – having driven it from London to Athens through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and Greece – through a weather bomb, blistering heat, expressways, crowded cities, country roads, mountain passes – the car has barely had one spanner put on it for any kind or repair.
We have maintained a schedule of daily maintenance under the direction and watchful eye of Team Bean mechanic Tony Jordan – the 100 year-old car more than keeps up with modern autobahn / motorway traffic sitting comfortably around the 100 kmh mark – from the absolute get-go when this project was initially planned the imperative had always been to get this car to a stage where it can compete with modern traffic and it certainly does.
We have had terrific media coverage while overseas – at Australia House we had Australian news services covering our departure – Channels 7, 9, 10, SBS, ABC – in Europe interviewed by several hugely followed social media motoring influencers – and even in the Balkans at one point we were the lead news story nationally in Slovenia!
And our coverage is really picking up back in Australia with sensational double page spreads in last Saturday’s mastheads – both Matthew and I have been juggling our commitments in filing along with everything else under the sun as well as piloting the mighty Bean – it certainly hasn’t been easy but that is the absolute fun of the challenge!!!!!
Tomorrow we fly to Cairo to take delivery of the vehicles as soon as possible – we are anticipating some hurdles as we have heard that shipping has been impacted by the war in Gaza and the docks are filled with ships delivering munitions to almost every nation within the vicinity – our next move after commitments in Egypt is to head to Saudi before reaching the United Arab Emirates.
So that is a brief outline about where we are at this point – will update everyone soon.
Kind Regards and Yours in Motoring,
Warren Brown AM
