You’re going to Oklahoma: we’re going to Patagonia

As almost a thousand MINI motorers in over 400 MINIs left the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, near Dallas, heading for Oklahoma City on Day Five of MINI TAKES THE STATES, a group of intrepid adventurers were heading in the opposite direction on a much longer and more challenging journey from Texas.

The 2,515 miles driven by MINI owners and enthusiasts on MTTS 2018 is certainly a tough challenge but when compared with the journey that lay ahead of three specially-equipped MINI Countryman plug-in hybrid models, that were on show at the Rise and Rally event, it doesn’t come close.

The three red plug-in hybrids chose Dallas as the starting point for an 11,000-mile drive to Ushuaia at the southern tip of South America along the infamous Pan- American Highway, the challenging road that travels through the mainland American nations.

The driving of the three Pan-American cars will be shared by journalists from all over world on different parts of the route to Tierra del Fuego and they will be supported by a team of six people from the MINI team in Munich. The three cars are almost standard vehicles with just a few additional accessories for assistance during the gruelling drive, including auxiliary lighting, emergency run-flat tires, two spares wheels and tires, roof racks and several additional fuel carrying containers.

The six-week drive will pass through Central American countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras and then through South American countries including Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina.

The leader of the expedition, Andreas Lampka, who is Head of Communications for MINI, told fans who gathered to wave off the cars in Dallas that when MTTS 2018 reaches its final destination in Keystone, Colorado, at the weekend, his team will be driving into Mexico City. When asked why they were making this trans-Continental journey, he said: “We want to show what these Countryman plug-in hybrids are capable of….and, of course, at MINI we are all adventurers aren’t we?”