This is the greatest motoring adventure on the planet. This is 10,000 miles of chaos across mountain, deserts and steppe on roads ranging from bad to not-a-road in a tiny 1000cc car you bought from a scrapyard for £4.60. There’s no backup. There’s no set route. There’s no guarantee you’ll make it to the end. It’s just you, your rolling turd and planet-earth sized bucket of adventure.The rally has been happening in some form since 2004, and originally ran from Goodwood speedway in Southern England, ending in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. At the inception of the rally, Mongolia was rapidly modernizing, and inexpensive, economical vehicles and emergency vehicles were badly needed, and the rally fit into a niche of delivering economical, used European cars (or usable parts if the rally took too much of a toll on them), while also providing a bit of adventure and an excuse to raise some money for a good cause. Today, the cars aren’t needed (or even wanted in the country by the government, really), but somewhere around 300 to 400 teams each raising £1000 for charity adds up to a substantial chunk of dough every year. This year, the start line will actually be just outside of Prague, and due to pressure from the Mongolian government and probably a bunch of other reasons beyond my comprehension right now, the rally finish line will be in Ulan Ude, Russia,near Lake Baikal, just over the border from Ulaanbaatar. As we solidify more plans, I’ll keep updating with more posts under the Mongol Rally category.
Driving 10,000 miles in a 4×4 with heated seats and an electric milk frother is pointless. That’s why we set some rules for what constitutes a suitable Mongol Rally machine. They’re simple.We occasionally make exceptions, but there’d better be a good excuse or a really terrible car. With a rubbish vehicle, you’re more likely to break down and therefore more likely to have adventure, so you can remind yourself you’re alive without jamming a fork into your eyeballs.
- Cars: 1ltr (1000cc) or less
- Motorbikes: 125cc or less
Knowing where you’re going is boring. The Mongol Rally follows our ‘unroute’ ethos; you go where you please. Adventure doesn’t happen following a nob with a flag, It happens when you’re lost. We want you to go your own way, make it up as you go along, improvise and get lost. We won’t tell you where to stop, where to visit, where to stay or what to do. Our only job is to tell you where the finish line is and wait for you to turn up a battered but better person. Reality can occasionally scupper this idyll. Visas will need to be pre-planned if you are intending to go to certain countries, but on the whole, you can pretty much wing it and for those of you who live out that idea, we salute you.
The Mongol Rally is an adventure. What would be the point of it if we trundled along behind you to wipe your arse and fluff your pillows. To have a real adventure you need to be out in the world lost and stuck with only your team to rely on. So to ensure we don’t rob you of the point of the Rally once you set forth, you are on your own. And thus the “on your own” rule was born. If the sky falls on your head, prop it up with a stick and carry on. If you break down, find a way to fix it, buy a horse or start walking. If you want to know someone is helping you get to the finish line then the Mongol Rally is not for you. But if you’re here to get slapped about the jowls with the gauntlet of adventuring chaos you’ve found your calling.
The planet is the playground, so it only seems fair that if you’re having the mother of all adventures on it, you should give a little back to help keep it in good shape. With that in mind, we ask teams on the Rally to raise a minimum of £500 for our official charity Cool Earth. Anything above this can be raised for any other registered charity of your choice. -the Adventurists, www.theadventurists.com/
What is the Mongol Rally?
Twelve thousand miles. One thousand cc’s. Twenty something countries. One thousand pounds for charity.
The Mongol Rally is a charity adventure rally with three main rules: Your car’s motor must be less than 1000cc, you must raise £1000 for charity, and the there’s no set route – aside from the start and finish, you are on your own.
I’ll borrow from the creators, the Adventurists‘ own website for a bit more depth and detail: