VW Golf GTi Mk2 '91



'91 VW Golf GTi (1.8L)


So why Honda?

I'm not obsessed with Honda's and they are not my favourite car company out there. They are very (were very) reliable, cheap and prolific. For that reason, I picture them being the best bet for going around the world by one company's motive power.

I have always loved the Honda CR-X. I have always loved hot-hatches. I cannot currently find a decent priced (decent - something I can afford) but I have tracked down a decent VW Golf that fits the bill.

I'm very interested to see what kind of price I can get it for, and what can be done with it over the next few months. If all goes well, I'd like to chronicle the experience. Updates to come.

Ayrton Senna

I watched the 2010 documentary entitled Senna last night, and by the end I was in tears. Not big girly ones, mind you, but I did have a little weep. Anyone with an interest in racing or motorsport or cars or awesome human beings should definitely check this film out!

My only issue with Senna was his attributing of his skill and insight as a gift from God, but in the end that is a very inconsequential aspect of this amazing driver. It was his ability to read the track and the car, anticipate other drivers and how different conditions would effect both the drivers and their cars.

He was stubborn and arrogant like the rest of us, but he didn't do it with an air of superiority, he simply knew he was right and continued with his course of action. He was dedicated and inspirational. He was a driving God!

And for it all to end in such a fluke of coincidence... a few inches in any direction and we might very well have had Senna around for plenty more Championships, and long enough for those of us born too late to feel what it was like when he was more than a memory.

For those of you who still follow F1 racing, there is a brilliant 20 second clip with Rubens discussing what it's like to drive for Williams with an icon like Senna. Brilliant.

CHECK IT OUT FOLKS!

Where is the motivation?

I was super excited about doing this.

That went away as the drudgery of work set in again...

But every time I think about it, the excitement returns and it just makes sense. I know it can be done, I'm pretty positive there would be the support for it, and if the goal is distance and speed, it should be able to be accomplished in relatively little time. Other transglobal car journeys seem to take upwards of 500+ days to complete. I'd like to cover a larger distance, a more thorough expedition across the globe, but in less time. 9-10 months, why not? It's not about sight seeing or luxury travelling, it's about taking a Honda to the edge and back again.

Since I have a lot of other stuff to set in order and get moving in my life, outside of my car interests, it seems to make sense to take the time to plan the route first. Plenty of research will need to be done, determining the best course to accomplish the route in the least amount of time and least amount of doubling back or re-entering specific geographical regions.

There are many countries that have such horrible diplomatic relations that travelling into one renders entering the next nearly impossible. I am curious if there are actually mainland countries we will have to fully avoid for political reasons.

Task number one is to deal with South America. I anticipate starting the expedition in Tierra del Fuego, making the trip north through the Americas and heading across to Asia after.

Is the Bering Strait passable in a Honda under the right conditions? Doubtful, but I'll have to look into it.

Time to buckle down, prioritise and start being productive.

Need to figure out where this is going

Its an epic task, and one that I'm not quite ready for. I have to keep in mind that in order to get a Honda around the world, a significant amount of planning and preparation will be involved, which can only be accomplished with the force of will behind such a project. My main task isn't to figure out the specifics or the technical aspects of the project - yet. My mission must be to draw interest and intrigue among a community of people who would like to see it accomplished.

It does make it far more difficult to find things to write about on a blog. A blog about this particular subject (until the trip is actually on), it would seem to me, would be better off a discussion or back and forth about what to and how to accomplish specific aspects of the expedition. Of course, that means more than just myself needs to be reading this on a regular basis and more than just myself needs to be providing input and feedback.

So again, it comes down to my job being one of "marketing guru and publicist." It is my goal to get as many people interested in watching and seeing the outcome of such an endeavour, to gather and discuss the possibilities and ramifications together in a common place.

As an English friend of mine would say, jokingly - "Holla back, aiiiight"
     -comment, discuss, tell me I'm crazy or to keep going!

1 week hiatus... too soon?

I have too much to write about to stop now, but life decided to catch up with me this last week. I'll be back in the next couple of days with plenty more ranting to fill the void!

Photography and being interactive

Just pondering the possibilities with time lapse photography on a transglobal journey.  It's not just as simple as strapping a camera to something and going at it, there are so many possibilities! Views coming and going, various compilations depicting activities from around the world, all from a car's perspective.

But why stop with just post-edited content? With today's technology, shouldn't it be possible from most places globally, to provide directly streamable content of the journey?

In what ways can the journey, taken by a few individuals, be experienced and enjoyed the world over? I would love to see specific events and challenges, and have it possible for people to watch us coming days in advance. I can't imagine a more enjoyable journey than one were the audience is involved long before it's finished, not just an afterthought on how to make it entertaining.

I do have quite a few ideas kicking around, and I will get them up for consideration and review - but drop all the suggestions you have!

Overland Journeys

Surfing the web, looking at some different routes and attempts at Overland, transglobal journeys. A couple from the UK (http://www.goingoverland.com/) that have spent a few years and a few expeditions travelling the world by Land Rover. Just checking out some of the pictures, the places they've been and conditions they were up against seems daunting...  How in the world can a CRX do that!?!

But it dawns on me quickly that it isn't the point to put a CRX through the exact terrain as a Land Rover, but to geographically travel around the world by whichever route a CRX could indeed make it. So when there is 4 foot deep snow in that direction, we go the other way. When a river needs to be forded instead of a 200 mile extra journey, it's the 200 miles that get travelled.

This is all about setting out in the world's most reliable brand of car, running it into the ground and being able to repair it anywhere along the way to keep going. There will be plenty of places the CRX cannot physically travel, which is why the expedition is called "Around the World in a Honda" and not "..in a CRX." Honda makes plenty of offroad vehicles that will surmount any challenges we would face.

A fine line.

It's a fine line between my accomplishing something and wasting time... A blog to accomplish this, really? The more I consider it, it makes sense that if I got this off the ground, a blog would be a natural progression; however, using it as motivating factor may still come into play.

Dividing my time between work, work and PS3 is a tough job, but one I will have to get over if I want to accomplish anything in the near future. It seems quite easy to fall into the normal routine of doing nothing and going nowhere.

I've spent over a year back in Canada after what I'll call my 3 year adventure in Thailand. I've spent over a year trying to figure out what I'm doing and where I'm going. I have 3 major passions in life - philosophy (Objectivist Philosophy to be specific), economics/business, and mechanics (motor vehicles predominantly). What better way to spend my mid-20's than travel the world by vehicle, engaging communities around the world and building contacts and continuing my studies toward a Doctorate of Philosophy?

So it's settled then - TransGlobal Car Journey it is! Now to get down to brass tacks....

Where to start and where to end?

Slow Start

Slow start to a blog, I know....

Lets just into the car I want to take!

1988 Honda CRX Si

Isn't she a beauty? Front wheel drive, 1.6 litre DOHC engine and just shy of 148 inches long, she just eats up the corners. Our US editions may have been somewhat lacking in the BHP (108bhp) department, but a few minor modifications would solve that problem, or better yet, dropping in Honda's 1.6 litre VTEC (150bhp) from their Japanese models. And at just one ton, this car is the very definition of eager.

How in the world would a CRX make it around the world?!? My first step would be to reduce the weight even more. Replacing the hatch and back windows with lightweight plastic would be just a start, along with a proper winch for the front. An extended mileage gas tank would be key.

I'm also very certain at this point that 90% of the journey can and should be completed without any forced induction... But lucky for me, strapping on a turbo to a CRX is like, errrr, well it's really quite easy. To reduce additional engine wear and all the other fun problems associated with turbos, it would only be attached when required.

With the proper tires, its size, weight and power there isn't terrain that I can think of that it couldn't traverse.

Stock vs Modified

Didn't foresee this issue, but in hindsight, it does seem pretty obvious...

Looking around at the availability of various Honda's around the world (and biasing my search for 88-89 series CRX's) it is becoming a little difficult to track down non-modified cars. Everyone and their grandmother is strapping turbos and messing with suspension....

There are a number of reasons that this poses a problem. The main reason this is an issue is Honda doesn't outfit their vehicles with these options for a reason. I'm all for getting your fingers dirty, and there are loads of cars that warrant a few modifications (coming from the American in me), but Honda built what they did for longevity, something most tuners forget when they start having to repair their Hondas bi-weekly. So a significant trend toward unreliability with aftermarket parts means a trans-global journey would be best to avoid such parts. The second issue is that with all the parts replaced with aftermarket pieces, finding stock replacements in various parts of the world may be harder than I'd originally anticipated.

I can also see plenty of places where a turbo would be oh so handy - is it smart to set out with a naturally aspirated 4 cylinder engine?

First blog, I'm quite lost

So needless to say, this is my first attempt at a blog. And to make matters worse, I decided to start it with an event in mind, and not just a general discussion that I would add to regularly. It'll take me a bit to get into the swing of things, learning what type of discussions people are interested in having on the topic.

Has anyone done a long distance trip in an old, used vehicle before? Any insight for someone who's taking shots in the dark at the moment?

I know I have all the ambition and dedication it will take to make the trip, but the more important part is to find a myriad group of people who also have an interest in the outcome.

Any and ALL suggestions are welcome, and indeed requested!

(Loving that the spell check built into Blogger.com doesn't recognize the word 'blog')

So what vehicles should it be?....

When I talk about going around the world in a Honda, in full disclosure I do not mean just one vehicle. Honda is a manufacturer of all sorts of vehicles, and the ultimate journey would showcase everything that Honda has to offer. This means 4 wheels, 2 wheels and no wheels!

So lets talk dream vehicles before I have to get the nitty-gritty of it all and be practical.... Honda S2000, Honda XR 650L, Honda NSX, Honda CBR1000RR.

Okay, dream time over, let's get talk realistic choices.
The cars with the most common Honda parts and engines will end up being the Civic line, that's almost a given. The 4WD setup of some of the later Civic's would be very beneficial in many circumstances; however, more moving parts means more that can go wrong. The FF (Front engine, Front wheel-drive) setup of the some of the shorter wheelbase variations would make for a simple drive train and far more simple repairs and modifications when needed. The FF setup maintains the benefits of the engine above the drive wheels for optimal traction.

I would be lying if I claimed I wasn't a bit biased in choosing a Honda CRX as the car platform to run the trip on. But the more I consider it, the more sense it makes. 1988-1989 CRX Si - typical and common engine, improved suspension over earlier models. Low weight, nimble and a winch could pull it up a cliff...

Common motorcycles: Honda CB400 Super Four or a Honda CRF 250-400cc. Versatile and common, easy to repair and can go just about anywhere.

Presentation?

One very important idea to me is to hook up a constant feed/video from the car's perspective to record the entire trip.... the entire thing, which means loads of data. But that alone wouldn't be entertaining to anyone. I'm very interested in the myriad presentation ideas that will spring up by simply proposing the question. If you had to present a round the world trip (or to watch a presentation), what would you like to see??

Challenges?

A round-the-world trip is self-explanitory... but why waste the opportunity to do as many 'firsts' along the way as possible? Any ideas about challenges that can be attempted anywhere in the world along the way? Something a car hasn't done yet, and you think it can?

My hypothesis

Simply put, with enough funding and access to resources, any vehicle with a determined team could make an 'around-the-world' trip (where ever possible by land); however, if a group wanted to do the entire trip, visiting literally every (or as many as possible) countries along the way, using only one source of motive power (one company) and know that repairs and parts could be made/found any step along the way - for this type of trip, you need a Honda.

Honda makes everything from 2 wheeled bikes to boats, super cars to family hatchbacks. They are one of the most prolific motor manufacturers on the globe, and known for their reliability and efficiency. If I had to live with one car for the rest of my life, it would have to be a Honda.

Of course Honda makes big off-road vehicles that would make the trip quite easy, but that isn't necessary. My hypothesis is that a simple, 2 wheel drive, 4 cylinder engine, common, run-of-the-mill Honda could make the trip. With a winch and a determined team, where couldn't you go with a Honda CRX?