as a publicity stunt to promote the a40 sports, leonard lord bet alan hess of austin's publicity department that he could not drive round the world in 30 days in the car. in 1951 an a40 sports driven by hess achieved the "round-the-world" feat in 21 days rather than the planned 30 – with the assistance of a klm cargo plane – covering about 10,000 land miles, averaging 475 miles per day and consuming 29 mpg.