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The specially modified 4x4 SUVs were support vehicles for Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman during their journey from John O’Groat’s to Cape Town in South Africa. The event was filmed for television and will be aired in early 2008.

The team’s SUVs were driven by television co-directors and executive producers Russ Malkin and David Alexanian. The stout film crew took the Nissans through everything the African continent had to throw at them. ”The vehicles were amazing – just one tire puncture along the way. The Nissans didn’t let us down once,” Malkin reported to Motive Club. “I finished on the same four tires I left on – in fact it was only as the SUVs were being driven away to be shipped back to my home in England that I realized how attached we’d became to them.

“Ewan and Charley really appreciated seeing the Nissans coming over the horizon – the vehicles meant friends, food, supplies and reassurance. The two SUVs became the mother ship of the journey, offering shelter during the more hazardous moments – they really did the job,” Malkin added.

Nissan fitted the vehicles with 450-mile range fuel tanks that help get the crew and cameras across the desert. “We were driving across the beautiful, but wild, desert in Namibia – we didn’t have to go that way but we wanted to because it looked so amazing,” he said. “But once out there you realize you really are in the middle of nowhere.”

The pair of adventure's, along with a medic, were members of a small support crew that followed Ewan and Charley on their epic journey, which finished at the shadow of Table Mountain in Cape Town. “The arrival in Cape Town was incredible – we approached in the Nissans and were met by hundreds of people with a helicopter overhead filming us – the sense of achievement, and relief, was amazing,” added Malkin. John Parslow, Nissan 4x4 brand manager in England, said: “We knew our vehicles would not let the crew down, but even so this is another incredible achievement by Ewan, Charley, Russ and David and we congratulate them on finishing the journey. This has been a fantastic partnership for us and we look forward to working with the guys on even more exciting projects in the future.”

The expedition was a follow-up to the original Long Way Down trip in 2004 that saw Ewan and Charley ride more than 19,000 miles through Europe and Asia, completing their journey in New York. This time the trip covered 15,000 miles supported by the Nissans that were home to the mobile editing suite used to document the pair’s adventure for a BBC TV series.

Two specially equipped Nissan Armadas completed the grueling 15,000-mile Long Way Down expedition, crossing the finish line without a single significant incident or mechanical failure.

They became the home-on-wheels to a film crew documenting the expedition.

Know More: The complete Long Way Down story, including clips for the BBC program, are available on the film crew’s website. Begin your journey by clicking here: www.longwaydown.com