2018 Trans-America Challenge is less Smokey and the Bandit and more 5 Star Luxury
The 2018 Trans-America Challenge will add five-star hotels, “stunning locations” and gravel to its 8000km run in 2018… Who wants to enter a Pontiac Trans-Am?
THERE HAVE been plenty of Trans-American rallies, some legal and others illegal, but all have tapped into that Smokey and the Bandit essence of the open road, the 2018 Trans-America Challenge hopes to add a touch of luxury to the whole affair.
Last run in 2015 and now coming in for a thorough revamp, the 2018 Trans-America Challenge “will combine great American roads with five-star luxury. Crews will rally from Charleston, South Carolina, starting on 27th May and finishing in Seattle, Washington some 21-days later on 17th June 2018.”
But don’t think this will be some sort of rich man’s jolly, because “the route has been put together by ERA Rally Director and former World Rally Championship co-driver Fred Gallagher with the support of American historic rally guru Steve McKelvie”.
“Having competed in six professional USA rallies in the 1970s and 80s, I know there is a great wealth of terrain and stunning locations that have yet been untapped by historic rallying,” Gallagher said.
“Bringing in Steve will add a whole new dimension to the event. Our combined experience and knowledge will create a desirable route that not only takes in the best of the beautiful south but also features a fantastic range of gravel trails and forest regularities as we head towards the west. This will be the best Trans-Am yet!”
Starting in Charleston, the oldest city in the USA, on Sunday 27th May, the competitors will head to Charlotte, home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. From there, it’s on to Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee, before heading into the deep south of Jackson, Mississippi, and a rest day in the amazing city of New Orleans.
Then it’s into Texas with Galveston, Austin, Wichita Falls and Amarillo on the route before entering Santa Fe, New Mexico. After experiencing ‘cowboy country’, its time to head north to Colorado Springs and a luxurious rest day in the famous ski resort of Aspen before heading to the stunning desert plains of Moab and Sundance, Utah, Boise, Idaho and Newberg, Oregon. The competitors will arrive in Seattle three weeks later on Sunday 17th June having journeyed through twelve states and rallied 8,000 kilometres.
Now, who’s up for sharing the costs and entering a Pontiac Trans-Am…
