Around The World In 80 Days

At the magnificent Uluru National Park famed for its Ayer’s Rock, James Deakin joins the Cayenne convoy of the 2018 Porsche World Expedition  for an experience that is best described as sublime

- James Deakin

Hi, I’m planning to take a fleet of brand spanking new Cayennes around the world in 80 days. It will be a 30,000km drive through 20 countries across six continents. We will cross deserts, forests, jungles, islands, beaches, and one or two or three oceans. Oh, and I intend on letting the customers do all the driving. All I need is a world-class photographer who understands and loves the brand like his own child. You in?”

“How long do I have to decide?”

“10”

“Ten what?”

“9…8…7…6...”

“Wait. Let me just get my coat”

That was how international automotive and travel photographer Kim Tonning found out about—and eventually joined—the Porsche World Expedition (PWE) from Jan Kalmar, expedition leader and long-distance driving world record holder. Over the next two years, Kalmar would do a series of these awkwardly abrupt conversations with a small team of carefully selected people he had worked with over the years as a race-car driver and driving instructor, until he was finally able to put together a SWAT team of exceptional men and women who were just as crazy and passionate about creating something that would happen for the first and last time.

The initial idea was born back in 2011, but it took over five years to convince Stuttgart (where Porsche has its headquarters) that he wasn’t stark raving mad.

It’s one thing to hold the record for driving Cape to Cape—a 17,000 km trip from North Cape in Norway to Cape Agulhas in South Africa in eight days, 21 hours, and three minutes—but another thing entirely to create a similar type of experience that you can legally and morally drag customers to. Especially since Wi-fi is now considered a basic human right.