Summer 2019 | TOTAL MX-5 |^33[ MONGOLIA RALLY ]
A
t 24 years of age, the most
important piece of life advice I
can give anyone is always sober
up before acting on ideas you have down
the pub with a friend. As I found out the
hard way... What started out as a
drunken ‘good idea’ ended up with us in
Outer Mongolia in our mk1 MX-5; but
how did we get there?
A good friend, Alan Walker and I had
from quite early in our friendship at
university wanted to do some sort of
crazy road trip and had batted around a
few ideas over the years. One that had
crossed our path during many hare-
brained Google searches was the
Mongol Rally. For those who don’t know,
the ethos of the Mongol Rally is to buy an
utterly ridiculous and unsuitable heap
for £4.60 from a scrapyard and drive it
from the UK or Czech Republic to
Mongolia, by any means possible.
Typically crossing Europe, the Middle
East and central Asia.
Like many things, these ideas get put
on the back burner while the rest of life
gets in the way. For us, it was university
studies, girlfriends and work. However,
sometimes you realise, in the pub, that if
you don’t grasp some opportunities by
the proverbial, you will spend the rest of
your life thinking ‘if only’. The last
summer holiday of our university career
was just round the corner and with that
thought in mind we hit the ‘sign me up’
button. ‘What could possibly go wrong,’
mused Alan as we parted with our
entrants’ fees for the 2018 Mongol Rally.
Another congratulatory pint was
consumed and our thoughts turned to
what noble chariot would be suitable for
the journey that would eventually crunch
10,600 miles in seven weeks; traversing
almost completely two continents;crossing a number of deserts; climbing
the formidable Pamir Highway
ascending to 15,500 feet above sea level
and evading the corrupt authorities in a
number of countries.
YouTube gave us an insight into what
others have taken on the Mongol Rally in
the past, including an Austin Mini with a
telephone box on the roof. The most
common weapon of choice is the Nissan
Micra. I think I may have remarked I
would rather walk than do it in a Nissan
Micra. I’d always been fascinated by the
mk1 MX-5 and often been told of its
merits, including reliability, solid chassis
(if it hasn’t rusted through), availability
of parts etc. We went around in circles a
little as Alan went off on tangents which
included a Citroën 2CV, a Bedford Rascal
van and an Austin Metro. We eventually
agreed that the MX-5 would be such a
ridiculous choice of car to do it in that