Michelin and BFGoodrich take the Long Way Down

Drawing on their success in gruelling events such as the Dakar Rally, Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman and their team chose Michelin and BFGoodrich tyres to support their recently completed ‘Long Way Down’ adventure through Europe and Africa. Travelling from John O’Groats to Cape Town via Western Europe and East Africa, the epic journey took in everything from tarmac roads to deserts and supported the Unicef, CHAS and Riders for Health charities.

Michelin supplied its Anakee tyres for the BMW R1200GS Adventure motorcycles ridden by Ewan and Charley, and BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A tyres for the two Nissan Patrol support vehicles. The two men were impressed by the combination of wet and dry grip, mileage, handling and comfort, combined with some off-road ability offered by the Michelin Anakee, the same tyre they used in the US leg of their previous trip, the Long Way Round.

For the Nissan support vehicles, reliability was the key and after completing the support route of the Dakar Rally in 2006 the team was confident they could trust the BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A tyres to get them to the Cape without drama (or getting stuck!). Russ Malkin, one of the support vehicle drivers, stated: “Remarkably, our car survived the whole trip through Africa on one set of BFGoodrich tyres. Amazing!“

A television film crew accompanied the team during their ‘Long Way Down’ adventure and their record of the journey is now in the hands of producer and director Russ Malkin of Big Earth and David Alexanian of Elixir Films. It will be shown on the BBC and Fox TV in Autumn/Winter 2007, with a book and DVD also scheduled for release before the end of 2007. More information about the journey can be found at www.longwaydown.com.