Leicester man set to cross Sahara desert in 1943 Jeep ..

BBC - Leicester man set to cross Sahara desert in 1943 Jeep

Toby Savage and team will travel through the Sahara in two vintage vehicles




A Leicester man is combining his passion for vintage Jeeps and desert landscapes as he prepares to set out on an epic adventure across Egypt. In April 2011, Toby Savage from Clarendon Park will recreate one of the most daring missions of World War II.
The trip, which has taken three years to plan, will follow in the footsteps of the Long Range Desert Group on the 70th anniversary of their formation.
Toby will be joined by two friends but is looking for more people to sign up.
The group will travel 1,200 miles across a Egyptian desert in two reconditioned 1943 American Jeeps.

They were covering distances of a 1000 miles across the desert to strike the enemy where they were not expecting it


Toby Savage, trip leader


Toby said he and his friends, Sam Watson and John Carol, had dreamt of taking the vehicles across the Sahara covering routes made by the British Army unit during the war.
"The route that the Long Range Desert Group took during WWII was probably very hard work and very dangerous," said Toby.
"They were based in Cairo which was held by the English at the time and made very daring journeys in to desert.
"These guys were very rough and very brave.
"They were covering distances of a 1000 miles across the desert to strike the enemy where they were not expecting it."
Following history
For Toby the trip is also an opportunity to travel via his favourite form of transport; "I love the simplicity of them. They don't have any electronic gadgetry, no traction control, no ABS - nothing.
"So when you look under the bonnet it's just so easy to fix; you don't need a computer you just twist some wires then off it goes again.
"4x4's have a pretty bad reputation these days as gas guzzlers but these were the originals, this is the granddaddy of them all and they played a colossal part in winning the war."
In total the trip will need five people to make it work and it is expected to be expensive, however Toby has already had interest from people as far away as America and France, as well as several from the UK.
Anyone interested in getting involved in the trip should visit his website