Hello all - taking a 1.1 Saxo on the Mongol Rally..

[drucey]

Hi all,

In July, myself and two friends are entering the Mongol Rally in a 2001 1.1litre Citroen Saxo.

10,000 miles through 17 countries, 5 mountain ranges and two deserts across some of the most treacherous conditions known.

And thought it might be a good idea to find some clever people who know a thing or two about a Saxo for any hints and tips you might have!

Have a look at the site - http://www.scillymission.com

Look forward to speaking to you all

drucey

[Caino]

good luck !! i'd love to do something like this

[appo123]

i would love to do something like that shame i cant get enough time off at once at work

[saxtreme]

that sound well mental take me lol
i proper want to do some thing like that

[kevhoust]

Welcome to the site mate. What your doing sounds like it would be really good. Is it expensive to do?

[charityrallies]

Hey Guys - we picked up your discussion on our Google Alerts and thought we'd drop you our experience. We run Charity Rallies, with the Mongolia Charity Rally (mongolia.charityrallies.org) being the 100% charitable alternative to the Mongol Rally (a profit making company) and with an entry fee at half the price, reflecting the fact that we are not for profit and run by volunteers.

Check out this page we put together on costs of getting to Mongolia here - the answer is really "how long is a piece of string":

http://mongolia.charityrallies.org/costs

One thing I would encourage you to think about is the value of your donation. The Mongol Rally has made it fashionable to drive a POS car to Mongolia, wreck it on the way, then dump it there. This isn't for charity (even if you do get some friends to donate to a charity not related to Mongolia).

Our ethos is to push guys to drive vehicles that are useful for Mongolia, and which are a great donation. You can have a great drive to Mongolia while not wrecking the vehicle, and crucially - we offer transparency as to where your vehicle ends up. Other events do not.

If you're thinking about other rallies, we also go to Tajikistan (Roof of the World Rally) and have started a tuk tuk adventure in Cambodia (tuktuk.charityrallies.org).

Other charity rallies are out there which are also awesome (unrelated to us) - Dumball is a great European one (the organisers are great guys) and Budapest-Bamako is a good African one.

We're happy to answer any questions on Charity Rallies if you have any!

Best regards,

Dave @ Charity Rallies - info@gohelp.org.uk

[drucey]

Hello Dave,

With all due respect, perhaps it's not the most professional way of promoting your event - hijacking a newbie's first post and disrespecting the organizers of the event he's working so hard to do well in.

You mention the value of our donation, and the fact that your entry fee is half the cost of the Adventurists. Are you happy to say you offer just as much as the Adventurists? Not just in terms of advice for the rally, and support etc - do you offer a full, definitive Visa service? Do you host a number of events in the run up to the event to prepare us all? Anyone who signs up knows that the entry fee is purely logistical (and some profit for the Adventurists) - but no one complains, as teams will raise much more than that by the end. For the service we're getting, everyone is happy.

The value of our donation - we are well on target to reach £20,000 for the charities. That is just us. Mongol Rally teams have ALREADY raised over £90,000 for the Mongolian Charities this year, and fundraising has just begun!
The car is one thing - more a means of raising money and potentially donating something of relative value to those that receive it in the end. Your own website states "36 teams made it to Ulaanbaatar with their vehicles intact (if not exactly roadworthy)" - how is this any different? The Mongol Rally too has teams taking fully fitted out ambulances. Current count is 6 or 7 - already more than you had last year!

The charity rally (again, a fantastic event and cause) specifically lists a "preferred" list of vehicles - land rovers, terranos, land cruisers etc. This is yet another reason why the Mongol Rally and Mongolia Charity Rally are two very different events. I, personally, did check your event before signing up - and the reason for going is a challenge as well as an experience. I'm not saying driving 10,000 miles in anything isn't a challenge! But the concept of a small, family car, not exceeding 1.2 litres sums up something special for me.

This reply does seem very pro-The Adventurists. I'm not an employee, honest! Just someone who's looked at both events, made a choice, now working his ass off to make sure I finish it, and raise a hell of a lot of money along the way. And your business practice of jumping in and throwing your unwanted opinion around (in this situation, anyway) really doesn't fill a potential future entrant into the Roof of the World Rally with confidence.

[drucey]

Welcome to the site mate. What your doing sounds like it would be really good. Is it expensive to do?

Thanks bud - we've budgeted about £10k including the car for the three of us!

[sax-dan]

welcome to sax-p, and good luck

[Moke]

Welcome :) and good luck!

[Bluck]

My best mate's dad and uncle did this (or similar) last year, in a Fiesta. It was a fantastic experience for them and I really want to do it at some point! So good luck with it, and I hope you raise plenty of money and have a great time :)

And welcome to sax-p :y:

[charityrallies]

Hey Drucey,

Thanks for your post. Sorry - I re-read my post and didn't mean it to come off as bringing down the MR. A lot of us (me included) did the original MR in 2005, but set up Charity Rallies and UK registered charity Go Help when the MR was taken from being a charity event to a profit making event. Teams like you, whether you know it or not, build these events. You ARE the event. People want to do it because you're doing it/done it. So when some of the original organisers wanted to keep it charitable, and other guys wanted it to go profit making, there was a split. You're supporting the profit making event - that's great! You're also raising money for charity, which we fully support. All I wanted to convey in the post was that there was a 100% charitable alternative out there.

Don't get me wrong - I think what you're doing is epic. Now that we've been running the event for a few years, we have watched how the Adventurists manage their event and how we manage ours.

There is a lot I admire about the Adventurists, particularly their branding. That being said, I am concerned when we drive across Mongolia and see clapped out cars dumped all over the shop with their stickers on, the "Mongol Rally graveyard" on the border where cars that the Adventurists couldn't get into the country are left, and the lack of transparency as to what happens to the vehicles on arrival. And if you follow the press in UB - people aren't impressed with the image that they are building up of charity rallies as just bringing junk into the country.

What we want, and are pushing for, is a sustainable, long term event so that all the teams (whether you, other MR teams or our teams) can see the benefit of the hard work they put in year after year being sustainable and long term.

Mongolia doesn't actually have official tax free vehicle import laws or agreements - you need to negotiate these on a bilateral basis - but they do need ambulances, 4x4s for herders, motorbikes, and other useful vehicles, so allow these in tax free. Generally speaking, the types of vehicles on the Mongol Rally aren't really a great donation to the country - but maybe that's not the point in the first place. We can tell you exactly where every single one of our cars went - how much was raised, who it was donated to and where that cash was spent. Make sure you follow the progress of what happens to your vehicle once you have finished the event - do some independent research on the internet to see what happened in previous years. We care about the experience of all rally teams to Mongolia, which is why we raise the question - so smashing us down as just wanting to take down the event isn't really the point.

To the extent guys take better vehicles, that is great - it is good for the Mongolia and is a really valuable donation - I think you'll see that it was our efforts in pushing this that has resulted in the Adventurists encouraging this as well - this is a good thing all round. The more vehicles like this go out there - and are sustained (we provide financial resources to ensure that parts/maintenance is on hand for ambulances etc. that are donated), the better the charitable effort will be.

On the other hand, the size of the event and the amount raised for Mongolian charities is fantastic - fully support that.

In terms of what we offer - for half the entry fee of the MR, you get monthly conference calls with all of the organisers (Mongolia Charity Rally, Roof of the World Rally and Cambodian Tuk Tuk Challenge), monthly meet-ups (generally in London), 24/7 availability for calls/emails from the volunteers running the event, visa service for Turkmenistan (part of the event is getting the visas...it is part of the fun!), launch event/party, arrival, homestay with Mongolian families in Mongolia (do you get that with the Adventurists) and an off-road driving day, and a hell of a lot of effort put in by a big team of volunteers who are driven to Mongolia but who object to a charity rally being run for profit...

In terms of where the events go in the future, you will probably see a clampdown in Mongolia on the import of old/poor quality vehicles, with the Mongolia Charity Rally and the Mongol Rally being forced to take only high quality vehicles - great for Mongolia, but expensive for teams.

As for ROTW - driving the Pamir highway is awesome - don't let my post discourage you from that - it doesn't make a difference to me what event you do, after all, I don't make any cash from it!

Best of luck with the drive to Mongolia!

Best regards,

Dave.

[airman87]

sounds like a plan! welcome to saxp