Pair head to Mali in pub-gift car

Glen Fitzpatrick customizes the rally car with a "zebra fur" interior

Two drivers from Kent are hoping to make a 4,000 mile journey to Mali, in West Africa, in an 18-year-old car given to them by their local pub.

Glenn Fitzpatrick, 35, from Gravesend and Caspar Mays, 35, from Canterbury are due to set off on 13 January on the inaugural Plymouth to Bamako run.

"It's a poor man's version of the Paris to Dakar rally," said Mr Fitzpatrick, a freelance artist.

"We have had the car checked over and I am confident we will get to Mali."

The pair will travel in a convoy of 10 cars in an event similar to the established Plymouth to Banjul challenge.

I hope the 'bodge it until you get home' technique will work Glenn Fitzpatrick

"The difference is that this is unchartered territory," said Mr Fitzpatrick, a freelance artist who served in the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars as a tank driver in the Gulf War.

"I hope my army training and previous experience in the desert in Kuwait will help get us out of any trouble," said the former pupil of St John's RC School.

"It will be quite difficult terrain and this time we haven't got a tank, but I hope the 'bodge it until you get home' technique will work."

Each team will have to carry its own provisions but Mr Fitzpatrick said he thought there would be safety in numbers.

The car, a Volvo 360 GLE, only has 38,000 miles on the clock.

After being donated by the Old City Bar in Canterbury, it was thoroughly overhauled, then checked by a local dealership which has declared it ready for the trip.

It has also been painted in a red flame design and fitted with a fake zebra fur interior.

One of the few rules is that the vehicles must cost less than £100.

Another is that they will be auctioned in Mali to raise money to supply local villages with water.

Mr Fitzpatrick and Mr Mays are also raising money by sponsorship for Demelza House children's hospice in Kent and have been promised about £1,000 so far.