Dan 21 years old, and David, 23 arrived nice and early at the launch at the Goodwood racetrack on Sunday 17th July, amid family, friends and another 900 or more nutters, awaiting the start of the Mongol Rally -known as the greatest motoring adventure on the planet .  No backup, no support, no camera crew with fridges and beer and smoked salmon sandwiches with the crust cut off. In fact no route……make it up as you go along!

What a scene before our eyes!  With the general appearance of an overgrown scrap yard, we saw hundreds of apparently clapped out cars in fancy dress.  You would be considered cheats if you’d spent more than a couple of hundred quid on your vehicle.  In comparison, our guys were very well prepared with the spare wheels, fuel tanks, full-on tool kits worthy of any well respecting garage (that bit is a slight exaggeration…….OK, they had some screwdrivers and spanners and a jack.) But hey, they had loads of loo roll, and a huge homemade ginger cake. So after a little last minute tinkering, and a refit of the high tension lead into the distributor (don’t I sound like I know just what I’m talking about??) they were ready for the off.  There was a seriously loud lap of honour, and off they drove into the sunlight……..and hopefully to be seen again at the finish line – in Russia, some 10000 miles later

It’s an annual event in aid of Cool Earth and other carefully chosen charities close to everyone’s heart for one reason or another. Our chosen charity is Macmillan Cancer support as we have all been touched by this terrible disease some way.

A word from one of our madcap adventurers:

Hello All.

The brief is simple; 10,000 miles in a very inappropriate and ill-equipped 1.2L car from Goodwood To Ulan-Ude, Russia via the Mongolian city of Ulaanbaatar.  We chose a 16 year old Subaru Justy, affectionately known s The Trusty Justy

The challenge ‘should’ take 6 weeks. Providing that all goes to our very optimistic plan!

We are going to zig-zag our way through Europe, trying to add in a few nearby countries on our way for bragging rights. The last tally was 23 countries which we will pass through.  We then go across the length of Turkey and through a couple of semi-western countries, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Then the real stuff starts. We will get the very dodgy Caspian Sea Ferry from Baku to Turkmenbashi. This can take between 18 hours and 1 week!  We are then mostly off road.

We will pop by the ‘Hole To Hell’ in Turkmenistan which is a flat-level volcano and an awesome spot.  From there it’s through the Old Russian Block: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan. These countries are huge! We are traveling 1500 miles in Kazakhstan alone.

Next comes our first Russian visit, entering near Ust’-Kan. It’s a couple of hundred miles over mountain tracks before dropping south into Mongolia.

East Mongolia to Ulaanbaatar is around 1000 miles. Here I have been advised that ‘the roads are not paved’ and when you zoom in on even the major trunk roads clearly labelled on Gmaps on a countrywide scale, they are just desert that people have at some point decided to drive across!

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, is kind of the ‘we made it’ point as it’s the old finish line before Mongolia started charging people £1000’s for giving locals their cars.

From there, we then have a nice and short 300-mile mountain pass journey north back to Russia, Ulan-Ude.

Why Macmillan:

My best friend, Matt had cancer when he was 17. No fault of
his own. He was the innocent one of our group; never smoked, drank excessively, etc. not really very fair!

He had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which basically means his white blood cells (immune system) where mutating into tumours and effectively
trying to kill him. He had to have very intense chemo to wipe out all of his white blood cells, then allow his body to re build and construct itself a whole new immune system. The chemo had to nearly kill him to kill the cancer.

It was really tough for all of us, especially him and his
family. Macmillan were there to support him when none of us knew how to. Without the strength which he gained from the support, he may not have survived.

You can follow their rally blog, and perhaps sponsor them too, if you feel it’s a worthy cause by copy and pasting this link:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/david-main3

Probably worth more than the car!

A few essentials bought by mum (of course!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First night camping on a wild night in belgium

A beautiful night camping in a sunflower field in budapest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made it into Bulgaria. Not technically the best way, but we made it!

 

 

Turkey!!!! And our chassis has collapsed…. Looks like we arrived just before the fun started tho? https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.express.co.uk/news/uk/692730/SAS-troops-poised-to-EVACUATE-Britons-from-Turkey-amid-fear-of-SECOND-military-coup/amp?client=safari#

 

 

 

Some further custom suspension lifting, with the help of some regular car mats 🙂

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                            A great use for the ski tracks app

 

 

Over 10,000 miles, 2 engine rebuilds, 14 tyres, a crash and many bodge repairs later…… Mongol rally, completed it!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/david-main3

If Macmillan cancer has any special meaning to yourself, please consider donating.

Many thanks