Mongol Rally

some teams ship their cars back (expensive but organised by the Adventurists).

My team will be driving back

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-WT1jGVfqg

Our introductory video featuring our route and some video footage of our car's first journey!

 

Its hard to put a accurate figure on it I'm afraid. So far, my team has spent:

£570 on our car, already has M.O.T so don't need to worry about that.
£500 entry fee (split between 4 so £125 each)
£20 charity donation for a tent (Got this off another rallier, the tent is selling for £120 on Amazon atm but he didn't wan't anything so we donated £20 to his charity) (so £6.67 each)
Spent a bit on equipment (Off the top of my head we spent £10 on a car fire extinguisher, £15 on maps, about £60 on charging equipment (a cheap cigarette lighter charger adapter, a solar power charger and a power bank for £40) and £20 on a Haynes manual). That's about £35 each.

A lot of equipment we already had, we had jump leads, camping stove, sleeping bags, roll mats, camping chairs, first aid kit, etc so that was already sorted. My friend also has a SLR camera and I have a bridge camera with HD filming. I will also be buying a GoPro closer to the event.

We still have an awful lot to do and a few pieces of equipment to buy. I can't see the remaining equipment costing too much however, think we only need a camping table, ipod/radio adapter, torches and a pen knife.

For our car, there are a few things we need done. We fixed the accelerator cable ourselves and we need the alternating belt changed but one of team member's dad is a mechanic so will do that. We need a sump guard which is simply a sheet on metal below the car and a roof rack, which we are planning to make ourselves from my dad's old trailer. The car also needs a new battery (about £30-40) and 1 or 2 tyres. We already have all our tools for the trip but might also buy a few spare parts to take.

Some of the other things we need to sort:

Ferry from Dublin to Wales
With Stena Line it is £225 for a car and four passengers. Thankfully we have a contact who can get us 30% off, so it works out at £40 each. Will be booked in the next 2 weeks.

England to France
We will probably get the Euro Tunnel, its about £80 so £20 each.

Visas
This is the most expensive part of the trip as obviously the cost can't be split between the team. For some we will use the Visa Machine
Turkey: The visa is easy to get and is €20 so just over £13.
Azerbaijan: This is an e-visa and is £85 on the visa machine
Turkmenistan: Have to use the Visa Machine for this and its £85 for the visa and about £30 for the Letter of Invitation
Uzbekistan: £131 on the visa machine but we can do it ourselves for cheaper.
Tajikistan: £146 for the visa and invite on visa machine. Possibly cheaper to get it ourselves.
Kyrgyzstan: Free for UK Nationals
Kazakhstan: this is a tricky one. Currently free but that expires in July. No idea if they'll extend it. Can get it for £35 though so not too bad
Mongolia: Free
Russia: Can get this ourselves from the embassy in Dublin. Will cost about £80.

As you can see some of these are really dear.

Caspian Sea ferry

Depends on the car length, thankfully our micra is short. will be about €100 each.

Spending money

No idea really, we plan to spend most of our time camping to save money on hotels. Food and drink is extremely cheap in most of the countries too.

Petrol

Again hard to judge. Petrol is extremely cheap in most countries except Europe and this cost will be split by 4 so won't be too dear in total. A couple of hundred each.

Finally, the car needs insured (£500 split between three of us so £166 each) and we need travel insurance which is about £70 each.

Think that's most things although I have probably forgotten something!

 

Also, the visas would obviously be taken out if you didn't want to go to those countries. Same with the ferry. All depends on choice of route.

 

Yea, been speaking to a few people who did it last year and they've told me a few places to try. Campbell Irvine are the ones the organisers suggest, its £99 for a year with them but a few people last year found their own things for about £60-70

 

We were actually planning on going round a few companies tomorrow but that has fallen through due to other commitments. I'm hopeful the company I'm doing placement with will sponsor me too!

Will make sure to keep you updated on this thread!

 

If any of you are feeling particularly generous you can donate to our team here Our justgiving page has just gone 'live' after meeting the charity today.

https://www.justgiving.com/carofthecountydown/

We would be over the moon with any donation, doesn't have to be anything big, we would still really appreciate it!

Our charity supports families that have been impacted by the birth of premature children, both in supporting the family itself and in research into maternal and child health. Some examples of research that TinyLife have been involved in include: Fathers experiences in the NICU; Long term outcomes of premature birth; pregnancy risk factors for preterm birth and neonatal care, treatmetnt and medications

A little more info on our charity:
http://tinylife.org.uk/

Thanks!

 

Just to update you all we have begun to modify our car..



So far we have purchased a new radio, fixed a windscreen chip, fixed our accelerator cable, painted our engine purple, painted our wheels bright orange and added some stickers! Next on our list is getting a sump guard sorted for the base of the car to protect it from the desert roads.

Also just about to send off my first visa application, Tajikistan is the lucky country!

Again, if anyone feels like sponsoring us or liking our page, the links are in my previous comments!

 

Will try and find the full length video but there is a fair chance I have watched it before! Been researching the trip for over a year now so think I should be ok with visa's and routes etc, the Mongol Rally facebook groups are great for information, but thanks for the offer anyway!

 

First visa has arrived! Tajikistan was the lucky country!

 

Plenty has been happening in the last couple of months, we now also have double entry Russian visas as well as Uzebkistan visas (arrived today).

Will have a few more photos of the car up soon once we get a bit of work done to it.

 

Leaving Northern Ireland on July 17th, heading via Dublin and Wales to a Berkshire that night (staying with another rallier at his house). The next morning we will be driving to Goodwood Race Circuit for about 3pm before having a Mongol Rally Party that night. The next morning (Sunday the 19th), all 280 cars do a parade lap of the race track before setting off for Europe!

There are a couple of other parties organised by the Adventurists (the company who started the rally), but we are only heading to one more, in Czech Republic on Monday the 20th. Will be tough to get the Micra from the south of England to Czech Republic in a day and a half, we will be going through France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany on our way.

 

What do you think of it?

 

Haha, I'll have to see what I can do!

Still 4 weeks before I set off, taking it on its first real drive this weekend, heading to the Donegal rally so about 2 hours away from Belfast

 

Unfortunately that's who my dad works for and they kindly sponsored us to get their logo on it

 

Not actually too much to do, by the end of this week we will have our fuel lines running through the car (rather and under) and a sump guard on. Think we need a new wheel bearing too and a door hinge needs fixed. Also collecting 4 new tyres on Thursday from one of our sponsors!

Visa wise, it looks like we need to apply for one for Kazakhstan. It's visa free for British passport holders up to the 15th July (we will be entering mid-August) and they aren't likely to extend this until the current one has finished (We leave on July 17th so wouldn't have the time to get one then unfortunately). I've actually just finished doing my application and will be sending it tomorrow.

Still awaiting a LOI for Turkmenistan, but all the ralliers are usually given this the day before the rally commences so not worried about that. Also awaiting my e-visa for Azerbaijan, this is notorious for being a lengthy process but not panicking about it just yet!

Believe it or not someone has done it in a hearse before!