For over a year, we’ve been keeping an eye on the epic journey of the Transglobal Car Expedition. After a 16-month, 57,530-mile journey, the team has returned to New York City, where they started their journey back in January of 2024. In the 16 months since then, the team has crossed 42 countries, endured temperatures down to -50 degrees Celsius, and crossed both the Arctic and Antarctic ice shelves.
As a quick recap, the team set off on January 9, 2024 from the Explorer’s Club in Manhattan, and headed off on their journey to circumnavigate the globe by driving to the North Pole, then south through Europe, the Middle East, and Africa before crossing Antartica, and then heading back to New York via South and North America. Obviously, the team transported their rigs via boat between legs, but the route is still incredibly impressive. The group was made up of a core group of eight members, and along the way, assisting team members rotated in and out. The Transglobal Car Expedition was led by professional mountaineer Vasily Shakhnovsky. Vasily partnered with experienced mountaineer and expedition leader Alex Abramov to initiate the planning and execution of the trip. Amongst the core group were a host of experienced explorers, including Arctic Trucks Chairman Emil Grimsson, professional driver and rally champion Andrew Comri-Picard, mountaineer and polar explorer Vasily Elagin, and several more.
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The fleet of vehicles used during the Transglobal Car Expedition ranges from the relatively pedestrian modified Ford Expeditions to the sci-fi-esque six-wheeled Yemelyas that were specifically built for the team to cross Antarctica. Several of the rigs were modified by Arctic trucks, including AT44 6×6, which starts life as an F-350 before being fitted with 44-inch tires, a 151-gallon fuel capacity, and the ability to tow a 1,100-gallon fuel supply as it traversed the ice.
In and of itself, this expedition is an impressive testament to the spirit of adventure, but the Transglobal Car Expedition team set off to do much more than just complete the route. Along the way, they completed a number of scientific projects and experiments, including ice thickness at the poles, the flow of cosmic radiation, light pollution studies, and human physiological changes in extreme environments.
It’s been great to follow along on what will surely become a legendary expedition, and we hope this type of epic overland journey inspires some readers to go a little further, even if that’s all the way around the world.
