Video: How I conquered Africa in 13 days, by Yorkshire garage man Eric Jackson

Mr Jackson, now 86, was 39 when he and co-driver Ken Chambers amazed the motoring world with an endurance drive of 12,000 miles from London to Cape Town in an incredible 13 days, eight hours and 48 minutes.

At one point, about 1,700 miles from Cape Town, they calculated that they needed to drive at an average speed of 76mph to have any chance of breaking the existing record.

Their journey very nearly ended in disaster when they got into a shoot-out with bandits who set up a roadblock in Ethiopia and opened fire as the pair approached in their Ford Cortina GT.

Now, 47 years later their record has been broken - but only by a modest one day, 18 hours and 37 minutes, and by three men who had the benefit of a Land Rover Discovery kitted out with the latest in satellite navigation technology, mobile phones and laptop computers.

At his home in West Bretton, near Wakefield, Mr Jackson, the former owner of the Polar motor group and a works rally driver for Ford, said he had hoped to hold onto the record for a while longer but it had been broken "fair and square" by the Max Adventure team.

He recalled: "One or two people had a go (at our record) but some packed it in the Sahara, about 5,000 miles in. We had to take several detours and only broke the previous record by a few minutes."

The most terrifying incident came when bandits tried to ambush them in Ethiopia. It was at this moment that Mr Jackson was glad to have brought along two Smith & Wesson pistols, bought legally in Doncaster.

As bandits' bullets tore in their Cortina, Mr Jackson was so frightened for his life that he shot all 12 rounds towards the gunmen.

"Ken was driving and was very unflappable and got around the roadblock they had set up. It was all over in an instant. We were wetting ourselves, I make no bones about it."

They eventually arrived in Cape Town but could not find their Ford contact, Edgy Fabris, nor could they find a policeman to sign a document to prove their time of arrival.

By luck they eventually spotted Edgy in his distinctive white suit and the RAC official they so badly needed to verify the record.

"After five minutes with the RAC official we found out we had broken the record by 18 minutes ... we should have been ecstatic but we were not.

"We were both shivering as if we were flu victims; our limbs ached, our eyes were watering and we felt like death," he said.

Stepping onto the bathroom scales at the Mount Nelson hotel revealed he had lost 20lbs and his colleague 24lbs.

Almost half a century later, Mr Jackson and his daughter Jackie have been writing a book on his exploits, Petrol in the Blood, which is due to be published next year.

Mr Jackson has now sent his congratulations to the three-man team who beat his record - Mac Mackenney, his brother Steve, and Chris Rawlings, who raised money for forces charity Help the Heroes.

"I know how difficult the trip is and I have great admiration for Mac and the team and whilst I'd like to have kept the record for a lot longer I am delighted for Mac, Steve and Chris."

Mr Mackenney, a former Royal Engineer from Reading, said the terrain was tricky but bureaucratic border controls were just as draining.

He described Mr Jackson's 1963 trip as an "achievement far more impressive than ours was".

He recalled that Serbian officials wanted 120 to cover insurance while the fee in Jordan was 2. In Sudan the various fees and paperwork came to 350.

And in Zambia the roads often disappeared into deep chasms which could destroy a set of tyres in seconds, though the Land Rover coped well with no punctures.

One of the toughest lessons to learn for some was the extent of poverty and deprivation in parts of Africa, he said. During a short stop in Ethiopia, a boy aged about three clung to his brother's leg, apparently in desperation.

"Steve just broke down. He was probably thinking of his own children. Sometimes these things made it feel a bit pointless."

The sleep deprivation from virtually non-stop driving and navigating took its toll as the three men became short-tempered with one another.

By the end of the epic journey they had all reached their limits.

Back home in Reading, Mr Mackenny said: "We just broke down at the finishing point. Steve started crying and was hanging onto me. I started blubbing. What we did is still quite an achievement but not quite in Eric's league."

Watch an interview with Eric Jackson and flick through his scrapbook at yorkshirepost.co.uk/video

ERIC Jackson became known in the 1960s and 1970s for long distance drives, earning the nickname the Marathon Man.

As well as London to Cape Town, he also completed a 43-day round-the-world drive and took part in the first London to Sydney drive in 1968.

With co-driver Ken Chambers he once beat the liner RMS Windsor Castle from Cape Town to Southampton.

The previous London to Cape Town record which he broke in 1963 had been set by another Yorkshire car dealer - George Hinchcliffe from Bradford - in 1952.

The Hinchcliffe crew, like the Max Adventure team, had three drivers.

It was all over in an instant. We were wetting ourselves, I make no bones about it.

Andrew Robinson

trophies: From his collection of rally trophies, to setting out from the RAC in London, winning a race in Spain and finally arriving on the outskirts of Cairo in the record-setting Ford Cortina in 1963, life behind the wheel has been truly rewarding for Eric Jackson.

champion: Former rally driver Eric Jackson, 86, of Wakefield, set the record for the epic journey through Africa in 1963.picture: JAMES HARDISTY.