Mongol Rally

Post by **Morris_Harding** » Wed May 30, 2007 8:59 pm

Hi all,

Anyone gone on or planning to go on the Mongol Rally in a Minor, or am I risking a lynch mob for suggesting that anyone whould wish to put their moggy on a Hyde Park to capital-of-mongolia run?

Any opinions/ comments folks!

Post by **rayofleamington** » Wed May 30, 2007 10:28 pm

Hi there - a few Minors have been entered in the Mongol rally, however the mongol Rally is supposed to be sub 1 litre. Minors produced from 62 onwards had 1.1 engines...

Only one Minor made it to the end (as far as I am aware) - this was Traveller. A green saloon packed up part way with burnt out exhaust valves.

The Mongol rally is far from an enjoyable holiday - it is relentless driving through interesting countries that you don't get to see.

If you want to have fun - try the 'Plymouth Dakar'. It's normally heavily oversubscribed as it's such a great event, and speaking from experience it's highly recommended! It is also much more worthwhile for charity.
Gambia (the destination) was a British colony, so there's a heap of ex-pats living there ready to soak up UK classic cars, as well as a great need for all kinds of cheap affordable transport.

It has also been done in a Minor: a 1954 saloon... (the oldest car ever to be entered - by a whole decade) ;-)

Post by **Judge** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:20 pm

rayofleamington wrote:A green saloon packed up part way with burnt out exhaust valves.

......and this prevented them from completing the run? We have previously done this repair on MOT without problem

Incidentally we recently invited the two guys that are doing this years rally to our branch meeting. Very interesting

Post by **rayofleamington** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 10:31 pm

......and this prevented them from completing the run?

It's very different from MOT - I'm guessing that if you stop for a day to find a garage and get repairs, you don't find yourself 700 miles behind the others with no chance of catching up?

Personally I'd have found a way of doing it, but it wasn't me ;-)
Plymouth Dakar has much more cameraderie as far as I can tell - some friends of mine were towed 1000 miles to get to the finish by another team...

Post by **Judge** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:02 pm

rayofleamington wrote:
......and this prevented them from completing the run?
It's very different from MOT - I'm guessing that if you stop for a day to find a garage and get repairs, you don't find yourself 700 miles behind the others with no chance of catching up?

No, sorry, I meant that the repair was done on site. Someone had an exhaust valve, someone else had a head gasket etc, etc

Post by **rayofleamington** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:20 pm

No, sorry, I meant that the repair was done on site. Someone had an exhaust valve, someone else had a head gasket etc, etc

That's the advantage when travelling with a bunch of clued up people on a single-make road trip - you've more chance of borrowing spares. On Plymouth Dakar I was tempted to take a complete head, but the more weight you carry the worse things get (travelling light is much better for the car on heavy terrain, but not good if you need something unique)