52 replies to this topic

[E.L.M.O]

nope, made 7500 miles though. got most the way through kazak.
really would love to have finished it. might do it again one day.
the scamp was built in 1973. think we were luck to get as far as we did!

[Timtom]

ha!.. You should do it again!.. otherwise u'll be thinking about how you didnt finish it!

Also.. Im thinking of doing it in a few years.. Was it expensive?.. All the travelling, eating, DRINKING, Fuel.. etc..

I would do it in a mini!

Edited by Timtom, 08 March 2007 - 08:18 PM.

[E.L.M.O]

ha!.. You should do it again!.. otherwise u'll be thinking about how you didnt finish it!

Also.. Im thinking of doing it in a few years.. Was it expensive?.. All the travelling, eating, DRINKING, Fuel.. etc..

I would do it in a mini!

its not about weather you finish or not, its about the experiance. the rally's tag line it "atempt to travel 10000 miles, 3 desrts and 5 mountain ranges in a car most people would dem unsuilitble and under powered to pick up the weekly shopping in. Most people who leave hyde park wont finish. its about the fun you have trying to do it. to see how far you can get.

Im happy with the experiance I had. I learnt alot. about the world and myself. The idea of the rally is to come back with a good story to tell.

i have many.

[Timtom]

True.. by the way... how did you get back then? From some random desert!?!?! Just hitchhike!?!?!

[E.L.M.O]

this was a post i wrote on page 1. ive edited it and added more info.

no, we were convoying with the bad colonies, dukes or harlow and team see you in a bar in ulaanbatar. They dropped us off at a town first. we were with them for a couple of days after the scamp died. takes that long to get anyhere. we were going to get a train from the town they dropped us at but there was issues. the station didnt want to sell us a ticket or even help us. the closest airport didnt have flights for 4 days so we ended up paying a random guy the equivelant of £80 to take us from kazakstan, into russia and drop us iff at an airport there. we had already bought tickets in kazakstan so knew there was a flight. We also let the guy have our tools we were going to take home with us. £100 worth of tools but to be honest getting home was proving to be a hasle so when he asked if he could have then (the guy who drove us didnt speak any english, so he just pointed and gestured, we didnt mind to much)
so other guy who spoke broken english helped us out and sorted everything. it was his mate that drove us. the guy was a legend. he was a life saver! we met him at the train station while sitting outside with the other teams trying to figure out what the hell we were going to do. he came over because he loved the cars and we (as always-everytime we stopped) attracted alot of attention from locals.

The guy offered to help us, he was good natured and could see we were in the "cr@p" He was one of the most helpful nicest guys ive ever met. He also he took us around his business, showed us how he does his banking each day. Kazakstan is a pretty run down country. the way i understand it Russia in its olden days took every resource and person of worth back to the mother country to make russia great! so it really is a country thats been stripped of most its worth. So anyone who has managed to make a good living and build up a business is extreamly proud. as you can imagine this guy was. he had his own business, and had just finished and moved into his new 3 bedroom house that he built with his own bare hands! he built it next to his old house. He took us to his house for dinner. he then had a call and had to dash off back to work for half hour. so he left us in his house with his 7 and 11 year old daughters and told them to cook us dinner while he was out!!! that just wouldnt happen in uk!
he did later make a joke / half serious comment about us marrying his daughters! we quickly changed the subject!
He said, so have you both got wife at uk?
Me:No
Team mate: No
Kazak guy: you marry my daughter?! she make great wife dont you think?! she cute, cook well?
Me: alittle young for my tasted to be honest! (while smilling)..................(she was 11! however even though she was shy, she spoke good english)
Team mate: we both have girlfriends anyway so sorry
Kazak guy: its ok, you have secret wife, yes?!
Me and Team mate in chorus: NO!!

when reading try to imagine the kazak guy sounding like borat. because he did!

Tis' was one of many quality moment!

[Timtom]

Kazak guy: its ok, you have secret wife, yes?!
Me and Team mate in chorus: NO!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

[E.L.M.O]

We had many quality moments like that, just doesnt happen it uk!
also the ukrainan border crossing guard who was as strick as "cough" we argued with for about 5 hours trying to get into the ukraine. we were refused and had to go back into poland and try another boarder crossing where they let us. anyway the gurard was a grumpy old sod but in the end he bought us a bolttle of vodka! couldnt beleive it!
i also made him move a 6 hours que of traffic for us. there was no way i was going to que for 7 hours to try and get into the ukraine to then be denined entry then have to que up for 6 hours to get back where we had just come from!
so he let us go straight to the front of the que where we met the badcolonies guys who had been deneid entry into the ukraine also. but they had just qued up for 6 hours to get back into Poland! Tut muppets! the guy pushed us right to the front of the que just infront of them! lol it was quality!
from then onward we convoyed. the next border crossing we met the see you in a bar in ulaanbatat team who joined our little convoy and the other end of the ukraine we met the dukes of harlow. (that was about a week later. we spent 2 nights in Kiev relaxing, showering and making much needed repairs.

Also Kiev had a TGI fridays. the only way we managed to get a table in their was the badcolonies told the tgi people it was my birthday! theres a few clips of us at tgi frindays drinking ALOT on the videos on the badcolonies.org website.
it was great, we had one of the cheapest hotels in kiev and we still had a living room etc. it was more like a small little appartment. funny thing is we parked our cars opposite in the most expensive hotels carpark because their car park was cheaper! then run across the road everytime to our multi roomed flea pit!

[Timtom]

hahahahahaaha sounds like sooooo much fun.. Can u go any route? aslong as u get from London to Mongolia?!

[E.L.M.O]

if you want. but there was kind of set route to a degree that most people stuck with. hang on i might have details somewhere
there was a north, middle and souther route you could take, the north was boring. was mostly just get to russia, stay there pay many bribes untill you take a sharp right and you reach mongolia.
the south was just stupid. a few people did it but i wasnt about to go driving through afganistan and iraq.
the middle route (our route was, Europe, ukraine russia, kazakstan, uzbekistan, kydgestan (sorry cant remember how to spell either of those) back into kazakstan, up to russia and along to then drop down into mongolia.

the rally gives certain towns along each route to stop off at. like checkpoints. you dont have to. its just nice to meet other ralliers. everyone stops at prague for the first night as their is a big *yellow human water* up. so you set off from Hyde park at 1pm on the sat. and you have to be in Prague for sunday night. we were lucky their aswell. we met another team as we entered the Czech republic. 2 top geezers from bristol (note to self, i should look them up at some point) they were meant to be ralling with another team that had a big casino company sponsor them and spent £10k on a custom built sj410! they got it built to their spec. it didnt make it off the start line! ha ha ha
anyway the bristol lads were taking the northern boring route. but we got chatting at the czech border and we also got alittle lost together (plenty of that to be done on the rally)
my co driver and i didnt have anything booked in the prague and were going to do what alot of people did and sleep in front or in the car in the underground car park we were all parked in. anyway because their mates didnt make it off the start line they were complaining that they had this room that they had to pay full price for because their mates werent their to split it anymore, so i cherp in "well i spose, errr yeah i spose we could help you out and split the cost with you so you dont have to pay it all if you want?" and they were really happy and we had a room for the night! job done!!!

the rallys all coming back to me now. its felt like another life recently. been getting caught up in the rat race and other things has made me forgey how "free" you feel on the rally. its sounds corny but you honestly do feel free. dam i miss it.


right, so there are places picked out along each route where people can stop for a night if they want. Kiev was one of the towns and in each town/city picked out a bar is selected that everyone should drink in if there going to stay in that town. that way theres more chance that you will bump into fellow ralliers.

[Timtom]

Wow.. Thats cool... Sounds sooooo fun!.. When u do get out of city life etc into openness it does feel so odd!.. I went to Croatia in 04.. and that was just amazing.. You feel that uve just got away from all boringness and met so many cool people!
You should get back into contact with those other teams! Share your stories!

Timtom

[minipip]

man u doing it again this yr? last yr i was off to my local drive through and saw 2 minis all rallyed up! so i went over said hi and they where on the rally! was so cool i wen home and checked it out. looks awsome but i couldent get the time off work to do it. looks brilliant.

[Timtom]

by the way.. Whats an sj410?!

[E.L.M.O]

I alreaqdy speak to the convoy lot regually. but havent spoken to the guys we met in the czech republic since for about 6 months. will look their numbers up in my mongol stuff book later. most of us have all swopped stories already.

your right its so nice to be free.
what really made me chill out is the openess.
in the uk, you can be in the country and still never in any real danger. you can walk down the road a bit and pick up network coverage, and you will always have a farmer near by with fences and his fields etc and places you cant go. there will be an electricity pilon, phone things, loads of stuff in uk that remind you your not truely in the countryside, and your still very close to civilization. i loved the fact that other than us, it was possible there was no one else around for miles in kazak. you could look to your left, look to your right, look ahead and behind and nothing but desert. and if you wanted to turn left then do it! drive over there, walk over there. no fence and no private land
what i found strange was the animals. kazak farmers let them roam around free land. how do they find them again?! i imagine their trained not to stry far from their food and water or something like that.

Also, between Russia and kazakstan their is about a mile between borders. ok i havent explained that correctly. you leave russia, ie bribe them, que for ages and fill in loads of paperwork, then drive to the kazak border 1 mile down the road! and then bribe them, que for ages and fill in loads of paperwork! but that land inbetween its desert wasteland. but who does it belong to?! as far as i can work out no one! so if you kill someone there what happens?! its strange stuff!

in the uk when you go abroad you know your leaving the country. you get on a plane or a boat and your leaving the uk. it felt strange leaving a country and entering another one without said boat or plane. I know the americans can do it with mexico canada and alaska but its something being a uk guy i wasnt used to. all the red tape at every crossing got tiresome at times aswell. it became the thing to call the english embassy for help as the guards thought it funny to keep us waiting for no reason for many many many hours on end. Plus filling in paperwork at every crossing wasnt always, if ever easy!

[Timtom]

You're making it sound so amazing! (which it undoubtedly is) Im guna have to do it!.. Get a good group of people..
by the way.. Yeh i get the bit about openness.. And the borders.. u get it alot between Slovenia and Crotia there was a few hundred yards of just nothingness.. Its weird... Im not sure who it does belong to..

[E.L.M.O]

so if you kill someone.....your a free man i guess?! then again i dont think its hard to get away with murder out their anyway!

man u doing it again this yr? last yr i was off to my local drive through and saw 2 minis all rallyed up! so i went over said hi and they where on the rally! was so cool i wen home and checked it out. looks awsome but i couldent get the time off work to do it. looks brilliant.

What colour were they? were they orange? if so i met up with them in russia and we got a great pic of them 2 parked up either side of the scamp and all us drivers and co drivers standing by our cars. I heard that later on one of them had a pretty bad accident. no major injuries but the front suspension colopased (so did ours a few times but only on the rear) anyway the car lost steering and hit a embankment and rolled a few times. brings home how serious the rally actually is.

by the way.. Whats an sj410?!

its a great little vechile, just takes away abit of the fun and adventrue from the rally. its a 1.L version of the suzki vitara. check them out on ebay or just google it. Suzki SJ410 its a 1.0L 4wd thing for almost no cash! there great and like i said the other team had one and put £10k into having it built and it broke down on the start line ha ha ha
alot of people used either the suzki sj410 (great for ground clearance also, 4wd and the perfect choice...............if your boring.) or the panda 4x4 again ideal great choice but not exactly being very daring or imagnative. try a front wheel drive 1.1 30year old mini scamp! alot of the "true hard core" ralliers didnt get on with the 4x4 panda or sj410 folk, many thought they werent in the true spirt of the rally. i tend to agree alough didnt give anyone to much of a hard time over it. espec as a sj410 towed us to a garage in russia where we had a skoda alternator fitted after ours decided to cracj itself along the bracket causing many issues, charging, snapped belts etc.....

Edited by The Last and the Ludicrous, 08 March 2007 - 11:02 PM.