Total MX-5 – July 2019

36 | TOTAL MX-5 |^ Summer 2019

[ FEATURE ]

connections in Istanbul where we had

planned to take a couple of days’ respite

and on our arrival asked whether they

might be able to find us a garage who

would fit our new springs. My lasting

memory from Istanbul, one of the most

beautiful cities in the world, is the motor

mechanic district that comprises mile

after mile of back street garages

performing all sorts of sordid chop and

swap repairs.

Another memory of Turkey was flying

down a long straight into a town towards

the east of the country, perhaps a little

faster than I should have been. The next

thing I see is the red baton of the police

checkpoint ahead waving us in for a

chat. Here we go again I thought. We had

been pulled over previously in the

Czech Republic for neglecting to buy a

vignette – the policeman gave us the

‘Mongol Rally special price’ of a €37 fine

instead of the customary €250: bargain. I

thought we were in for a speeding ticket

for sure in Turkey. The Turkish police

sergeant took a very suspicious stroll

around the periphery of our car arriving

back at the driver’s door where he

stopped, looked at me and said ‘Nice!’,

shook our hands and waved us off.

The reception we got everywhere was

one of amazement and awe. Repeatedly

we had people driving alongside us on

the wrong side of the road to take a

picture and wave, or to welcome us to

their country. If I have learnt nothing else

it is that despite all of the miserable

images we see on the news of how bad

our world is, actually it is largely filled

with wonderful, kind and mostly happy

people who are so hospitable and

welcoming. We have a lot to learn in the

UK. Our real political issues came once

we had gone through Georgia and

Azerbaijan and were trying to get into

Turkmenistan.

We had had to avoid Iran as Alan

couldn’t get an entrance visa at the time.

The alternative was a ferry from Baku to

Turkmenbashi. I can confirm that the

horror stories about this ferry crossing

are true – if dysentery hasn’t spread

across the camp in the five-day wait for

the ferry, then the food on board will

surely get you. When boarding the ferry

a clerical error with my ticket meant that

I wasn’t on the ship’s manifest. I become

known as passenger 201 (out of 200). The

result: being threatened with

deportation back to Baku. Thankfully and

eventually they must have realised that it

was more hassle than it was worth to

deport me.

Turkmenistan is still considered to be

one of the repressive countries in the

world, not far behind North Korea. This

meant that money was exchanged on the

black market as the ATMs do not accept

foreign bank cards. Nor can you get a

phone signal. Personal challenges aside,

the real challenge for the car came in

Uzbekistan. Since the fall of the USSR

these central Asian countries haven’t

invested much in their road network, and

it shows. We passed an articulated truck

which had had a trailer axle ripped off

after driving through a pothole. Not

really the terrain that Mazda had in mind

when it designed the MX-5 – the rear

skid plate really earnt its money here.

While Uzbekistan had some Tarmac, the

majority of Tajikistan had none.

It was testament to Mazda’s

engineering skills that as we passed

through 15,000 feet on the gravel-

Clockwise from

left: Other

entrants chose

bigger but less fun

cars; stuck in the

port of Baku

waiting for the

ferry; beautiful

road in Krgyzstan

after descending

the Pamir

Highway

Towing a fellow

Mongol Rallyist over

the Uzbekistan

border