If your summer was a little ‘ho-hum’ then maybe you should have thought about taking part in the Mongol Rally: an 8 000 mile race from London to Ulaanbaata across 2 deserts and 5 mountain ranges, on roads ranging from bad to non-existent, with no support crew, and all in a car with no more than 1 litre of power. Now that’s intense.
The Mongol Rally is not about making sure you reach Mongolia but the fun you have trying. If you get there with no hiccups you won’t have any fun. Exceptions will be made for vehicles of notable unusualness with high comedy value. You are free to sneak, bribe, cheat, connive and generally out-wit the world to get yourselves to Ulaanbaatar. In fact you will probably have to. If you get to the end of the race without some good stories to tell, then the Mongol Rally has failed in its mission. Which it won’t.
160 cars set off on the race, 64 cars have finished, 19 cars were abandoned before the finish and 77 cars are still on the road. The website makes good use of Google Maps to display the routes people took. Maybe less ‘risky’ (okay, not even in the same class of risk) but this is something that I think could be a neat charity in North America. Anchorage, Alaska to St. John’s, Newfoundland anyone?
Alaska to Newfie Land? Count me in!!!