Tokyo to London in an Aston Martin V8 Vantage

This year is definitely shaping up to be the year of cross-continental challenges. Already we’ve been touched by Ferrari’s 60th anniversary drive, an epic journey taking Ferraris from all over the world across 50 different countries, Mercedes’ Paris to Beijing challenge for its new Bluetec E-class and the announcement of Porsche’s Transsyberia run in August. Now, two Britons are preparing to drive a factory-prepped Aston Martin V8 Vantage from Tokyo to London along the newly completed Asia-Pacific Highway.

The aim is to bring attention to road safety awareness and raise money to help save children from deaths and injury on the roads. The journey is being undertaken in collaboration with the United Nations to promote its own 'Road Safety Is No Accident' and the 'Make Roads Safe campaigns'.

This 10,000 mile journey will see the car traveling through Japan, South Korea, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The only modifications to the car include a strengthened sump guard, raised suspension and a full size spare wheel.

Richard Meredith and Phil Colley will leave Tokyo on the 25th of June, and hope to arrive in London six weeks later. The Vantage they’ll be using is the same car that was driven previously for 30,000 miles in 30 days to celebrate the production of Aston’s 30,000th vehicle.