The Mongolian Job - Mongol Rally

10/09/2016

06/09/2016

The bonnet has been secured and the passenger window shut! Despite the dented bonnet the Panda looks better than ever with some new shiny sporty bonnet pins!

Massive shout out to Tony and the guys at The Rolling Stones Hostel for all their hard work and help!

06/09/2016

So the Pandas bonnet decided to break and smash the windscreen, the other 2 cars had to leave to get back to England on their timeframe. So I am currently in Irkutsk for 3 or 4 nights in a cool russian hostel where the owner has kindly offered to help me with some of my car problems. I will wait here for another team to convoy with and to do some much needed repairs. Here are a few of them.

1. Bonnet dented and won't stay down.
2. Passenger window always down.
3. Boot won't close or lock.
4. Windscreen smashed.
5. 1 tyre too big on the back.
6. Distributor contact points need cleaning.

Other than that, need to prepare the car for the drive ahead with an oil change and all new filters.

05/09/2016

Made it to the finish line! And, alas, time to split the team.

We wish Matt, George and Benny luck in their endeavours to drive the length of Russia in the next 4 days in an effort to save the cars for future generations.

Ed, Chris, Rich and Charlie are taking on the even harder task of flying home via a tourist stop in Moscow - sacrifices must be made.

Thanks again for all your support through the rally; expect some 'best bits' videos in the coming days, and of course a video of our sheep eye eating attempt

03/09/2016

49 days, nearly 12,000 miles & 19 countries... we've finally made it to Ulaanbaator! To celebrate this and your kind generosity, helping us reach £4500, we've sat down for a delicious authentic Mongolian dinner - Sheep's head complete with eye balls. Photos to come later!

Mongolia has been a testing country for the cars. The 'roads' have varied from beautiful tarmac to muddy dirt tracks to mile long sand planes. We had a few casualties on the way - the Yaris lost its exhaust, the Peugeot lost its sump guard and the Fiat had more distributor problems.

We arrived in the capital late last night and headed straight out for a quick dinner and a night out. We ended up in the poshest club in Ulaanbaator and partied the night in style!

Next stop is Ulan Ude where we check in with the Mongol Rally team and officially finish.

29/08/2016

The Mongolian Job has arrived in Mongolia!

Had a 22 hour day driving through Russia to the Mongol border (thanks to a nice few hours in the middle fixing the Panda again) but worth it.

Staying in Ulgii for the night to recover and appreciate some local food - no cow testes yet, we're still £65 off our new target! Massive thanks to all who have donated so far! We hope to finish the rally in a week

28/08/2016

28/08/2016

So since Pamirs, we've been through Kyryzstan, Kazakstan and are currently in Russia, a day's drive from the Mongolian border. Over that time Dora has continued to be a temperamental burden including being towed over 160km, random electrical failure, a cracked fuel tank, a new distributor and ignition coil. It also set off a car alarm with its newly aquired explosive backfiring. The Yaris has started to deteriorate needing jump starts and Freddie is just being wonderful. In Krygyzstan we racked up $160 of fines in one day, in Kazakstan we satisfied our fast food cravings with KFC and McDonald's on consecutive days for breakfast, lunch and snacks. We will hopefully be at the finish by the 5th September of all goes to plan... Wish us luck!

22/08/2016

We've finally done it, thanks to your amazing generosity we've reached our target of £4000! (£4645 with gift aid) All this money is going to some great causes: Cancer Research UK, Brain Tumour Research, The Honeypot Children's Charity and Cool Earth.

But lets not leave it there, lets smash it! Anything you can spare, however small, will be much appreciated. If we can reach over £4500 in donations then we vow to feast on the local Mongolian delicacies and record the experience for you all to see - we hear sheep testicles and eyeballs are a favourite!

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/themongolianjob