We heard from retired businessman Les Carvell over a year ago now. He was proposing an overland trip and wondered if we would be interested in a feature. To be honest, emails like that are regular in the 4×4 Magazine office, often despite replying in a positive manner, we never hear another thing. In this case, Les Carvell was talking about a drive in Suzuki Jimnys around the ‘top of the world’ and we decided that it sounded very promising so we put in a word with Suzuki UK’s Head of Press and PR Alun Parry about it. Fast forward many months and it’s all about to happen! Les is joined with four other retired ‘avid Suzuki fans’ to begin a 28,000 fundraising tour around the world in aid of Save the Children and the Oakhaven Hospice in Lymington, Hampshire. The trip will start at Trafalgar Square on 31st March, and is planned to last for five months. All the participants are in their 70s, which is why they devised the whole project under the strapline: Heaven can wait, I’m busy!
The two Suzuki Jimnys are largely standard apart from All terrain tyres, additional luggage racks, uprated suspension and heavy-duty front and rear bumpers. The crew are learning all they can about maintenance and repair from Newmans Suzuki at Totton, Southampton who are sponsoring the challenge. For more information on the trip go to www.heavencanwaitimbusy.com. Here at the magazine, we wish them well and hope to be reporting on their exploits in a future issue.
