Transglobal Car Expedition embarks on trek to circle the globe via the poles

(Transglobal Car Expedition)

On January 10, the Transglobal Car Expedition team embarked on a historic mission: to circle the Earth by traversing both geographic North and South Poles. They’re heading north from New York City to start their excursion and will arrive back in New York from the south over 18 months and 50,000-plus kilometers (31,000 miles) later. The internationally renowned exploratory team, consisting of eight core men, along with several support staff, has set ambitious goals incorporating “extreme sport adventure, technological innovation, scientific data collection, and educational initiatives.”

Andrew Comrie-Picard at the expedition's kickoff in New York. (Mercedes Lilienthal)

Andrew Comrie-Picard, or ACP, may best be known as a North American Rally Champion, X Games medalist, Hollywood feature film stunt driver, and an extreme vehicle expert. But he’s also a global explorer with a major focus on science for the betterment of the environment and beyond. He’s one of the main players.

“I think planning for this expedition extended to at least five years now,” Comrie-Picard said. “The last three years have been very active in preparation, including four pre-expeditions in certain areas for testing. I'd say five years on paper and three years in the field.”

From left, expedition members Emil Grimsson, Andrew Comrie-Picard, Chris Walker (support staff), and Marcel Belperron. The man in black is a journalist. (Mercedes Lilienthal)

Four vehicle types will be involved in this massive expedition: specially built Arctic Truck vehicles (AT44 Ford F150 Hybrid, AT35 Ford Expedition, and AT44 6x6 Ford F350) will be used for specific regions. Amphibious Yemelya special mobile units are standing at the ready for the northern Arctic area. 

(Mercedes Lilienthal)

The Transglobal Car Expedition is slated to traverse both geographic and magnetic poles in a continuous trajectory. They plan to conduct a wide variety of science experiments, like understanding ice thicknesses via electromagnetic sonar at the North and South Poles, the flow of cosmic radiation coming from far-flung regions of our universe, light pollution and even the study of human physiological changes in extreme environments. The Transglobal Car Expedition’s scientific program includes the measurement of critical considerations and then understands the changes our planet is undergoing within the past several years. In short, these efforts will aid in the search for worldwide solutions to these problems. 

A critical group of global scientists and their affiliations are supporting Transglobal Car Expedition. They include personnel like astronaut and engineer Paolo Nespoli, who spent 313 days on the International Space Station. There’s Paola Catapano who works for CERN, the European organization for particle physics, as a science communicator. Rosy Mondardini is the director for research and innovation at the Citizen Science Center in Zurich, an initiative of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich. Christian Haas, the professor for sea ice geophysics and remote sensing at the University of Bremen, Germany, and others round out the team.

Transglobal Car Expedition’s previous jaunts have pushed many boundaries and had multiple accomplishments. Though it hasn’t come without cost and lessons learned.

(Transglobal Car Expedition)