Driving An S2000 From Spain To Japan

Twenty-one thousand kilometres in 60 days. That’s how long it took Spanish National Andri MP to drive from Barcelona to Tokyo.

When I first came across Adri’s journey on Instagram, I knew I had to meet up with him upon his arrival in Tokyo. Not just to check out his offroad converted S2000, but to chew his ear off with an encyclopedias worth of questions. 

It’s the sort of trip we all dream of, pulling away from home with a destination so optimistic it’s practically a gamble. For one reason or another, I had always assumed that such a trip was almost impossible; whether due to bureaucracy or breakdowns, there’s a lot that can happen when crossing the world.

Adri has completely flipped those reservations on their head. This isn’t my story to tell, however, so when I finally had the chance to meet up with Adri and his Honda S2000, we sat down for a chat:

AMP:  “At the age of 16 I started to spend many nights in front of my computer looking for Best Motoring and Hot Version content. That’s when I became a Japanese car enthusiast. Step by step I got more involved.

I always wanted to go to Japan and experience JDM culture in real life, so in 2023 I made the trip for the first time. I was able to visit places I had always dreamed of, namely, Ebisu Circuit. Being at Ebisu made me feel that someday, I would have to drive my very own car in Japan…

…I just had to figure out how to make it possible.

I’ve always wanted to travel around the world, but it was one of those bucket list items that you don’t think will happen anytime soon. 

Then I asked myself, why not now? I started thinking about building a car capable of driving through all the areas I had saved on Google Maps over the years. Deserts, valleys, waterfalls, canyons, mountains, I had to see it all.

The car had to be able to handle sand, water, gravel highways, and then still be good enough to use as a track car in Japan.

After some imagination and a few hours of CAD rendering, I created my vision of the car that I thought would be perfect for the trip. That’s why I chose the Honda S2000.

The storage capacity of the S2000 was the most difficult hurdle, because I wasn’t travelling alone. I was joined by a close friend, and space was limited. Before long, word of the trip was out, and more friends wanted to come with us.

Joining me, a BMW 325TDS Touring and a Honda Stream. In total, we had five guys in three cars, full of luggage, spare parts, and tools.

With the help of brands like Yokohama Tire and a few small local workshops, I was able to complete the S2000 project. A quick bout of test driving on local mountain roads, and everything was ready.

We kicked off the trip on July 14th, covering 16 countries and 21,000 km in just 60 days. Every day was an adventure.

We went in without much of a plan – things would just…happen. One key takeaway from the trip was that there were always good people around. It was one of the most remarkable parts of the journey: nice people everywhere, no matter the country.

Here’s just a few of the legends we met along the way:

• Andrei from Aktau, who stopped by at the hotel car park just to see the S2000, then took us to his favourite local beach to watch the sunset and drive around the dunes.
• A local welder helped us fix Marti’s BMW, then invited us to his home to eat watermelon with his entire family.
• A local in Ulan-Ude (Russia) who paid for our hotel stay because we didn’t have rubles in cash and our foreign cards didn’t work.
• In Kazakhstan, we got lost looking for a campsite, and a local man drove us to the perfect spot. Later, he returned with his wife and child to say hello and again, gave us a watermelon.
• In Vladivostok, we were welcomed like family. Locals took us to amazing places, offered us a place to stay, we even had dinner with a local, Aba’s family. It was the best dinner of the trip.

These are just five of so many examples in our 60 days of travel.

Rounding off the trip, we caught the Ferry from Busan in South Korea to Sakaiminato, Japan. My S2000 was the only car on the ship.

Upon arrival, the rest of the team rented a car, and we spent 15 days in Japan. We met truly amazing people like the ones behind Turnpike, Akira-san of Peaches Japan, and the Arios team. 

We drifted at Ebisu Circuit, visited Fuji Speedway to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Initial D and drove the S2000 around Hakone Turnpike on a sunny day – just behind the only road-legal Porsche 962, with Mount Fuji in the background…

Now it’s time to fly home, but my Honda stays in Japan.

The adventure isn’t over just yet. The next season starts in two months, when I’ll be back in Japan to get the car track-ready. Once again, nothing is planned, but Japan is the best country to improvise for this kind of adventure.”

After spending a few days with Adri, one thing was consistent; everyone that heard of his trip had a spark in their eyes when learning just how possible a trip like this is – myself included. This isn’t the end of Adri’s story on Turnpike, stay tuned for part two of his cross-continent adventure.