Mongol rally

RI was going to put this in the hotlink thread as it gets a lot of traffic, but I figured it deserved it's own thread. I never got to do the BABE rally before (I think) it disappeared, but I love the idea of banger rallies. They are huge in Europe. I'm currently reading this book that I found on Amazon. "You want Breakfast now?" about a team doing the Mongol rally. It's a great read and I'm loving it. Three guys doing the rally from England to Mongolia, two of whom needed to learn to drive to be able to go!!!

The rally website is here. BAsicaly a 10,000 mile rally across Europe into Mongolia (although for 15 the end is in Russia). There are 3 rules:
1. Crap car, around 1.0L capacity, these days they are getting lax and allowing big blocks up to 1.2L!!!!
2. You're on you own. Find your own way and hopefully make it there.
3. You have to raise money for charity.
That's it.

tin top samurai

Since Camel Trophy isn't gonna happen for me, this is somewhat more likely!

Looks great!

Looks like fun. I'm in for a GRM team!

I've had my eye on this for 3 years, super fun!

My good friend did it last year in a Toyota Echo. It was an epic adventure to say the least.

He said one of the hardest things to find was a set of decent tires in Europe. None of the truck tires from the US have a required inspection stamp for the EU so they are a no go. He ended up running a set of delivery van tires on the echo. He had the car outfitted with a roof rack, under-body protection, and I think 4 spare tires. The car did great and handled the trip like a champ. I think it took about 3 weeks.

At the end of the rally you donate the car to charity in Mongolia. It was not a cheap adventure by any measure, I think he spent over 10k by the time it was all said and done.

I really want to do this.

The same buddy did another one in India where you drive across the country in a tuk tuk. He wanted me to tag along but unfortunately I can't afford to take off 2 weeks, on a non family vacation.

http://www.rickshawchallenge.com/