With a wave to his wife and children and a salute to assembled photographers, Neil Laughton, adventurer and pilot stepped into a small black buggy in central London, a vehicle which he intends to drive - by road and by air - to Timbuktu, to show the world the benefits of owning a flying car.

Mr Laughton plans to drive across most of Europe in what is essentially an adapted dune buggy, running on biofuel. As he approaches the natural barriers that lie in his path – the straits of Gibraltar, the Atlas Mountains, the trackless wastes of the Sahara – the ‘Skycar’ will take to the air.

A parachute attaches to the roof of the buggy and a large fan mounted upon its rear allows the car to take off on any runway over 200m long, and propels it forward once airborne.

The adaptation takes three minutes to perform and, after take off, the car cruises at an altitude of up to 3,000ft. Hanging beneath the silken wing, Mr Laughton, 45, steers using cables that alter the shape of the parachute.

The vehicle was designed by Giles Cardozo in 18 months and the expedition team claims that it is the “world’s first road-legal biofuelled car”.

It is, at £50,000, cheaper than rival flying car models, which tend to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, and Mr Laughton insists that it is “very easy” to fly.

This assessment comes from a man who already has a fixed-wing, helicopter and parachutist's licence. “But those three things took me many days and weeks to get qualified,” he said. “On my first flight in the Skycar I was helped into the car and took off and flew without any instructions.”

He admitted that the car was “not everyone’s cup of tea” but believes it will appeal to people who are “a little bit adventurous”.

Mr Laughton has spent the past three decades being a little bit adventurous himself. A Royal Marine in the 1980s, he joined the SAS in 1991. Since 1998 he has climbed the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, pulled a sled to the north pole, and become the first man to jet-ski around Britain.

Speaking to The Times from a service station on the A3 this morning, he said his family were “very supportive”.

“They are a little bit proud of what I am doing,” he said. “They think I am very sane but very ambitious.”

He was heading back home to West Sussex for one final pit stop before driving to Dover and taking the ferry across the channel. The team had hoped to fly but were unable to obtain the appropriate permission in time.

“We certainly want to fly over the straits of Gibraltar,” he said. “We are trying to get that permission.” After crossing the Empty Quarter of the Sahara Desert, he is looking forward to flying in to remote villages in West Africa. “I don’t think they will be able to believe that someone in a flying car has just visited them,” he said.

There are other potential obstacles besides mountains and deserts on the road to Timbuktu, however. “We have been following the Foreign Office advice on the political situation in the area north-west of Timbuktu,” he said. “There is a significant kidnap threat in that area so we have to be careful and will be choosing our route carefully and not publicising it too widely.”

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