We did it!
Hello Ulaanbaatar!
After 9500 miles across 16 countries we finally made it into Ulaanbaatar at 2pm local time on 29/08/2010, 5 weeks and a day since we left Goodwood! What an incredible and amazing experience the rally has been, crossing through Europe into Asia and watching the landscapes and faces around us changing as the state of the roads got worse and worse, before disappearing completely on entering Mongolia. As our beards grew longer and the length of time between showers increased we encountered friendly face after friendly face waving and smiling, or trying to help us out almost to the extent of annoyance. Iran especially exceeded all expectations and was by far everyones favourite country in terms of the people, so so friendly and made us feel like celebrities wherever we went, often handing us babies to get photos with. Another special mention goes to Diyar from Shymkent, Kazakhstan who saw us stranded on the roadside and ended up spending 5 hours with us, helping us get two new shocks in town and proudly showing us his petrol station.
Fiona the Fiesta (yes, that was her name) performed without fault through Europe, eating up the smooth tarmac and even peaking at 92mph on the German autobahn. Indeed, even as the roads got worse and potholes grew to car sized axle snappers she continued to drive and drive, only needing the fan rewiring in Turkey and new rear shocks in Kazakhstan. As the roads stopped being roads and turned into dirt tracks strewn with rocks, deep sand and the odd river crossing everything started to fall to pieces. In order of breaking, the following went wrong in Mongolia;
- Snapped front left spring - Cracked windscreen - Caved in fuel tank - Severed brake lines (so we had no rear brakes) - Snapped handbrake cable - No rear lights - Broken front lights - Roof rack got ripped off - Front right spring snapped - Exhaust hanging off - Battery packed up - Two flat tyres - The engine only had power in 1st and 2nd gear above 3500 revs (great fun!) - Steering rack developed a lot of play - Car wouldn't idle and needed constant revvingÂ
And finally, the best bodge we have could have ever even dreamt of... our rear axle detached itself from the chassis in the pouring rain in a dramatic, 'it's game over' kind of way. The solution? Obviously to hold it back in place with a 40 year old flathead screwdriver and keeping driving. For 500km. At speeds of up to 80mph. Wow.
We were very lucky throughout the rally as we were never on the roads alone. From the moment we left Goodwood a team of 3 Scottish lads followed us to Dover and then continued to convoy with us all the way to the middle of Mongolia, where their sump was holed by the same rock that took out our rear brakes. So a big shout out to the Road to Nowhere guys, Pete, Patrick and Jack who no doubt helped make our rally such a good experience. Also, Ben and Nick of notmobile.co.uk who joined our convoy in Turkey and faithfully stuck by us, despite Hollie the Hyundai being twice as fast as Fiona. The boys in Sheila the Agila, Tommy, Adam and Paddy (till Kazakhstan) who we spent many a huge night with in cities along the way will no doubt continue to be friends back in England. Of course, Paul and Emma in the WagonR spent 3 weeks with us, and Pauls' many hilarious tales were regaled regularly. And finally the boys in the Jack Wills sponsored Jimny who we only spent a week with, but they were great company and top lads.The many teams we met along the way provided great entertainment during rest breaks, especially Team Dino in the Renault Master ambulance - top guys.
There really are too many stories from the rally to write them all on here, but if you see one of us in the pub, or indeed anywhere I'm sure tales will gladly be shared. Essentially it was the biggest adventure of our lives to date and it didn't disappoint one bit. Go and explore places off the beaten track and away from tourists, you never know what might happen.
George, Will and Phil
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