Mongolian Rally Mondays!
Happy Monday buffer-outers! We have something new for you this week. The first of (hopefully) many updates on a project that Cheezburger Network is proud to be a sponsor: The Mongol Rally!
The Cheezburger Network is sponsoring a team to participate in the Mongol Rally; a charity event where hundreds of teams raise money for official charities and then travel 10,000 miles across a third of this earth, from London, UK, to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.
This isn’t a traditional rally by any means. There are no stages, no set route and no help. Everything is up to the team to complete the journey. Additionally, there are no prizes for first place; the goal is to complete the event in one piece! Last year, 13 teams went MIA!
Just A Steppe Away is a team of 3 drivers: Kaine Robertson, Justin Herx and Christine Estrada. They will be braving the elements and giving it everything they’ve got in the barren wastes. This year, the charity they are racing for is Mercy Corps. The money raised from the 2010 Mongol Rally will fully fund various projects across rural aimags (districts) in Mongolia.
Check Out Their Car!
It’s a sturdy little Suzuki Wagon R+. It only has 77,000 on the odometer, so racking up another 10,000 in the middle of Kazakhstan shouldn’t be a problem!
I’ll keep you informed periodically with the team’s progress on their trek, but if you’d like to donate, or read up on their progress yourself, here is their official homepage!
And I should care…. why, exactly?
Because you like cars. And charity.
Mmmm… not so much, actually.
Don’t really care to much ether, especially since I’m not the one rallying..
Because it is one of the greatest rallys ever! I’ve seen the cars as they roll up to the State Dept. Store in Ulaanbaatar and it is pretty exciting to see a bunch of old clunkers roll in. The cars are normally donated and people there drive them year round.
DUMB DUMB DUMB.
A Toyota Hilux would be better.
Except that a Toyota Hilux is around $20,000 if you buy it used, and they’re raising money for charity.
Depends how old it is. I doubt one of similar vintage to the ’88 “Indestructible” Hilux from TopGear will be 20k.
Also, the rules say you can’t have anything over 10 years old, because the countries that they’re driving through don’t want a trail of broken vehicles to clean up after a charity event.
So, a 9 year old Toyota Hilux. Can’t fail.
Except if you bothered to read the rules, you’re not allowed anything over 1000ccs, £1000, or 2WD.
I gotta say, you’d probly be surprised by how far it’ll get, though if i were to go suzuki I’d at least get a Jimny…those things are tough lil mofo’s
also, we have something like this in australia, the Variety Bush bash or something…pretty much the same thing, only theres always crazy cars, i saw a Back to the Future DeLorean one yr…that was fun…also i dont think anyones gone missing in recent yrs…
Welcome to Mongolia!
I’m curious where they buy fuel in Mongolia. Any idea where the people went missing and from what cause? Out of fuel/water/food, perhaps? I reckon this would be a prime event to test a fuel/solar-electric hybrid vehicle.
Well, if you can make one that would fit within the regs… remember also that you have to sell/give away the car when you arrive (and give any proceeds to charity).
Coverage I saw of the last one, the properly prepared teams (IE those that finished) took plenty of spare tyres and high-capacity fuel canisters with them (as well as non-perishable food, oh, and water). No limit on the kit you can take with you so long as the car can carry it. Plus had to press the occasional bush mechanic into service.
The winners I saw, incidentally, were in even more basic cars… one Fiat Panda, one (euro) Ford Fiesta, and I think a Fiat 126 may also have made it. Lightweight, mechanically very simple, and built with a little bit of toughness because they’d typically be hanging about in rather rotten bits of ostensibly western europe. Point it at a roadless steppe and they eat it up. You don’t need oodles of power, anyway, when travelling at more than about 40mph is likely to get you killed by an unexpected ditch.
You mean Eastern Europe, not Western.
I own one of those things. They’re not too bad. Mine’s…. 1996, about 100,000K on it. Bought it for about $1700USD here in Okinawa, and I only wish the air conditioning worked. Other than that, it’s pretty good.
I don’t know I’d trust it to take me across Mongolia, but it’s got great mileage and is relatively versatile.
Strange, I was under the impression that the Japanese authorities *hated* old cars and they were insanely expensive to keep running… guess that info’s out of date.
ANYWAY. Top marks to the TWBO team. Hope you make it through alright, it’s one hell of a challenge you’re taking on. Make sure you pack some warm clothes (and loads of other stuff too). This is probably a good car choice given that it’s basically a tall box with wheels and already has roof bars.
Keep us posted on how you do! Don’t matter to me why you’re doing it; just have fun and do your best — charity causes are the best thing around and if you can be a little crazy along the way, even better.
Ugh, 13 teams went MIA?! Did they ever find them?! That souds like too much of a risk for me. That and the fact you would have to go days without bathing and clean clothes. I guess I’m not suited for an adventurer’s lifestyle XD
This TOTALLY sounds like a Top Gear road-trip special. Can’t wait for Mondays to hear all about it!!!!
[...] Time For another Monday installment of our Mongolian Rally team! [...]
[...] Time For another Monday installment of our Mongolian Rally team! [...]
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