Road to Rotary: Japan to France in an RX7

Soldato
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This sort of thing seems exciting on the face of it but I can't help but feel that 70% of the journey back would just be an extremely tedious week or two of driving through anonymous Russian 'countryside' with virtually nothing to see or do.
 
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Sounds insane but would definitely make for some great content and a wild experience. Life is all about risks and challenges.

The fact that it's an rx7 tho.. just wondering what happens if you breakdown in the middle of nowhere.
 
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Soldato
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I'd be more worried about making it through Russia in one piece than breaking down. You might not be allowed out at the other side.

Trying to get from that side of the world to Europe as a westerner now is so dangerous. It's all basically dictatorships and warzones.
I don't fear any of that to be honest. Aside from making sure I go through the right borders I'm allowed to and have the papers I need, the rest just doesn't phase me. I bet it'll all be fine.


I don't think I'd be up for doing most of the miles within Russia.

On the other hand, I can't imagine that Mongolia and Kazakhstan have the roads for an RX7 and you can't exactly do the route to the south of them.
I have the option of the two routes really. One is more interesting (via the stans) but also as you stated, not exactly RX7 friendly.
The stans route means more visas as well, so it might just be more russia. Again, will see how the whole thing pans out as I get into those details.


This sort of thing seems exciting on the face of it but I can't help but feel that 70% of the journey back would just be an extremely tedious week or two of driving through anonymous Russian 'countryside' with virtually nothing to see or do.
Totally with you on that. I think this is why it's important to have more than one car as well. A small bunch of you to make it what it is. It's about the common adventure together. I worked out we could aim for 5-6hrs driving a day and be at a decent timing without mashing ourselves. We would have to find places to stay along the route, meet people, generally just be open to what happens. Will some of that just be long ass stints of driving? Yea, probably.

Yep you won't be able to bodge it back together.
Like I said, there isn't anything that can't be figured out. Nothing.

I for one welcome having to try and find a Russian truck to buy to tow the RX7 somewhere :D

Sometimes not having everything figured out is the best part. Step into the unknown and see what comes from it. It's where some of the best things happen, but everyone is scared to problem solve, not know what to do, or just be completely out of their comfort zone. Why? Life is for living, not existing. You just have to step into the discomfort from time to time.
 
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Totally with you on that. I think this is why it's important to have more than one car as well. A small bunch of you to make it what it is. It's about the common adventure together. I worked out we could aim for 5-6hrs driving a day and be at a decent timing without mashing ourselves. We would have to find places to stay along the route, meet people, generally just be open to what happens. Will some of that just be long ass stints of driving? Yea, probably.
Won't that take you over a month if you are only doing 5 or 6 hours a day? That's before you include any lost days due to mechanicals, illness etc.

It sounds like full time work commitments won't be a factor by then but that seems like a long stretch away from the family.
 
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It sounds like full time work commitments won't be a factor by then but that seems like a long stretch away from the family.
Yea, totally. So to combat this the family are coming to Japan for a week just before the trip and hopefully can meet us (in nicer places than maybe bleak Siberia) along the way when we hit more mainland europe.

Fortunately I am single and have a great relationship with my ex and she fully supports my windmilling into this. Not something she would have done when we were together, for sure.
 
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Yea, totally. So to combat this the family are coming to Japan for a week just before the trip and hopefully can meet us (in nicer places than maybe bleak Siberia) along the way when we hit more mainland europe.

Fortunately I am single and have a great relationship with my ex and she fully supports my windmilling into this. Not something she would have done when we were together, for sure.
Ah OK, that makes more sense!

I'm sure you know what you are doing. I work away a lot, thankfully for shorter stints than I used to, and it can be tough but your situation sounds very different to mine.

It'll be an adventure, that's for sure! Is the plan to try and make a break into the Youtuber thing as a career? It seems very corporate now which makes it that bit harder to get traction but on the flipside makes individuals / small teams content that much more interesting.

Oh, and while I'm assuming you are looking to get an FD, I'm kind of hoping there will be a curve ball thrown in and you end up with an FB/FC :D
 
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Soldato
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In a bizarre turn of events (I have said that far too many times about how things have currently unfolded, but you know) I thought yesterday that I should look into some sponsors for the whole series and trip. I have the time and it could really help for many reasons haha

I had a couple in mind, but one of them being HKS, probably the biggest japanese car part company. So I dropped a couple of emails off yesterday. One to HKS and one to JAL (a ticket sponsor would be great so I could go back and forth a couple of times between now and then :p) and went to bed.

I woke up this morning to this:
hks.jpg


I'm now chatting to my man at HKS about how they can support the series! Madness.
 
Soldato
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It'll be an adventure, that's for sure! Is the plan to try and make a break into the Youtuber thing as a career? It seems very corporate now which makes it that bit harder to get traction but on the flipside makes individuals / small teams content that much more interesting.

What even is a career for me right now?! Ha!
It's for sure not easy in any way and I think that there are so many people doing things online and with creating content, it makes it even harder to find your audience. There is a lot of noise. I think this for me is why it's important to know what you want to create and share.

I'm going to give it a go when I can be more full time on it (hopefully soon) and utilise all the channels I can, such as instagram, tiktok, facebook and youtube. Try and see if it's possible to invest in myself and the idea and really see where it can go.

I'm 38 and 1/3rd and I figure that I have hated corporate for so long, I just keep thinking it'll be different this time and go back like I have amnesia and still hate it. Money is great, but it's soul sucking and it batters me mentally.

Planning these sorts of trips is like a business. It's the planning, the marketing strategy, content planning, costings, business development in potential sponsors, filming, editing, researching. It's everything all at once with no creative bounds and no time waste of filling in SOPs because some suit **** tells you to.

I have so many ideas for these sorts of trips. If it works out and can make some revenue, it'll go right back into the next mental idea and I'll jump right into that one and see where the world takes me.
 
Soldato
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I saw something very similar to this on Instagram the other week. Something along the lines of RX7s are £40k, or you can pick one up cheap in Japan and drive it back. It sounds amazing. Best of luck with the 'project'. I'll be keeping an eye on it.
 
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