Top Gear Is Attempting to Set an Off-Road World Record

Top Gear might be off the air, but the magazine lives on, and so do the adventures. The crew at Top Gear South Africa are setting out on a trip through Namakwaland, a region on the western side of the country. The goal is to cover 1000 kilometers (621 miles) in a fleet of Nissan Navara Warrior pickup trucks. Of course, there’s a bit more to it than that.

Being Top Gear, the trip will be done entirely off-road. By that, we mean 621 miles of absolutely no roads. The journey will largely follow the Orange River, marking the border between South Africa and Namibia. It will take the team through deserts, mountains, valleys, and generally desolate terrain, culminating at the western coast where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean. If they pull it off, it will be an official Guinness World Record for the longest off-road journey in a vehicle.

The Nissans in question are tweaked by Premcar, an Australian-based company that builds manufacturer-approved update packages. Called the Navara Warrior, it’s essentially a Nissan Frontier Pro4X with a 1.5-inch lift, upgraded shocks, aggressive all-terrain tires, and a few other off-road-focuses items like a roll bar. It recently went on sale in the South African market, and Nissan pinged Top Gear to give it a proper off-road test.

“It would not be a Top Gear SA challenge if it weren’t daring, so when Nissan SA approached us to help it make a statement with its latest and most capable Nissan Navara Warrior, we knew that we had to push the boundaries,” said Top Gear SA Publisher Avon Middleton. 

What about previous Top Gear off-road challenges undertaken by Clarkson, Hammond, and May? The infamous Polar Special featuring the trio racing to the North Pole only covered approximately 350 miles without roads. Similarly, the Botswana adventure, while spanning 1,000 miles total, still utilized roads for a good portion of the journey. The Okavango Delta, which the trio famously crossed in modified cars, is far shorter than the 621-mile trip being undertaken in South Africa.

If all goes well, the journey will end at the Atlantic Ocean on April 4.