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11-07-2010, 13:07
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International rally photos
After hearing some of my rally stories on the factory visit weekend a few people asked if I would post some more photos; so I'm finally getting around to that! Sorry it's taken a while, I've been off to Norway on a supercar tour and then it was the Goodwood Festival of Speed weekend here in the UK. I saw Hans VR in the supercar paddock with the orange aileron he drove off in after our factory visit. Photos of those to come but back to the rally stuff.
The first rally I did was the Plymouth - Banjul challenge, a 4200mile drive from the UK to Gambia. The rules state that cars must cost under £100. I bought an old Beetle for £99 which hadn't run for 15 years. Our first breakdown was 20minutes from home and there were many more. We made it to Gambia though and had so much fun that I got the rally bug! my co-driver, Claire at the roadside in Morocco with our Beetle "Poldi"  In Tangier a Landrover driver told us we'd need a 4x4 to get over the Atlas mountains. We decided to prove him wrong   Being overtaken by French cyclists in the Atlas Mountains, Morocco  Not much room for overtaking in the mountains  Narrow roads cling precariously to the steep mountainsides with little or nothing to prevent a plunge into the valleys below  Snow at the top, heading into the Tizi n Test pass, the highest point in the Atlas mountains.    On the Beach, Western Sahara  Daklha, Western Sahara with the other teams we travelled most of the way with.  Crossing a sandy track through a minefield between Western Sahara and Mauritania. The Beetle proved a great off-roader but the Fiat Uno didn't fair so well.  We spent 3 days off-road in the Mauritanian Sahara. The ambulance was another rally team, they bought it for £500 on ebay  Desert campsite  Where Poldi got his name from. The sticker was on the back when we rescued him from the scrap heap. At a campsite in Senegal a German man came up to us and said "I think I know this car" Walked around the back and pointed "Yes! Poldi! I remember Poldi!" Small world, it turned out he'd owned a VW dealership in Germany and this was on of the cars which had passed through his hands.  Watch out for the next installment.....UK to Mongolia, in a Nissan Micra! 
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11-07-2010, 13:15
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W
 W!! Amazing photographs, thanx for sharing!
__________________
Winning on sunday, selling on monday!
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12-07-2010, 14:36
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Cool pictures of cool adventures! Looks like a whole lot of fun!!!! Jeffrey
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13-07-2010, 12:45
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 900hp on Jet drives from twin cummins 450hp turbo diesels and it's the boat which appears in The Spy Who Loved Me. I bought it as a project and spent 3 long years fixing it up.
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14-07-2010, 20:48
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So, later the same year I was invited to a launch party for the Mongol Rally, 2 weeks before they were leaving. One of my friends was going and at the party we met someone desperate for a co-driver....my arm didn't take much twisting and work were very accommodating, arranging a month off for me at short notice.
The criteria was that cars had to be under 1000cc. So, I set out in a Suzuki SJ, it was rubbish and broke down even more than the bug! My newly met co-driver, an oxford engineering graduate didn't know one end of a car from the other and panicked every time the car made the slightest noise. He was somewhat obcessive and would spend at least an hour each morning re-packing the back of the car....I wasn't allowed to help as everything ahd to be in the precise place it was the day before. Lucky for me another team were also getting a little stressed with each other. One of them was sitting in the back of the car the whole time teaching himself guitar....the same song repeatedly! So, a deal was brokered and I swapped into a Nissan Micra driven by a hairy Irishman. Kazahkstan; lovely people, terrible roads  ...and where there was tarmac it had melted in the heat!  Flat Russian police car  Mini surrounded by huge Russian trucks.  The Altai mountains, Russia  a bridge too far  Toilet facilities at the Russia/WesternMongolia border  The sand sea, Western Mongolia  Meeting our first herd of camels  Locals helping us fix a puncture  The Micra outside a mongolian village shop  The moody skies in remote western Mongolia are perfect for photography. I won a competition with this one  The boys had already been invited into the Ger when I arrived. They were sitting with bowls infront of them and I was immediately handed one. Granny motioned that I should drink it in one. It looked like the sour yak milk I'd been given before so getting it down as quick as possible seemed like the best optioned.....it was fermented yak milk and damn near blew my head off. Then followed a bowl of home-brewed mongolian vodka, beautiful delicate flowery taste to it but again I was expected to drink it in one. After much laughter I discovered that you are considered a man if you can drink like that and the boys hadn't done it! This won me a great deal of respect from the old granny of the tribe!  The main road through western Mongolia 
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17-07-2010, 20:53
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Fabulous pictures. The one with mini is very
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20-07-2010, 22:22
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Meanwhile more rally photo's.... These are from last year, my longest rally to date. I drove from the UK to Singapore overland before flying into Australia. My route took me across the middle east including Iran and Pakistan and to Everest base camp in Tibet. The mountains of Montenegro had an almost tropical feel to them and some lovely tunnels!  We used the rally as an opportunity to raise money for 2 landmine charities. This is the first one we visited. A minefield clearance in Kosovo. Here we are in our flak jackets, right before the de-miners let me detonate the explosives they found that morning.  Cave dwellings, Cappodoccia, Turkey  Cappodoccia, Turkey  Persepolis, Iran  The wonderful Iranian family who invited me to stay  Dinner Iranian style  When my throttle cable broke in Bam near the Iran/Pakistan border the police dragged a mechanic out on a sunday to fix the car.   Typical of the crowds Pedro(my Baja Beetle) attracted in Pakistan  with the beautiful Pakistani trucks  Black market Iranian petrol for sale at the roadside  My only puncture in 21,000 miles 
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20-07-2010, 22:40
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and there's more.........
the burning ghats, varanasi, India Quote:
Meanwhile more rally photo's.... These are from last year, my longest rally to date. I drove from the UK to Singapore overland before flying into Australia. My route took me across the middle east including Iran and Pakistan and to Everest base camp in Tibet. The mountains of Montenegro had an almost tropical feel to them and some lovely tunnels! We used the rally as an opportunity to raise money for 2 landmine charities. This is the first one we visited. A minefield clearance in Kosovo. Here we are in our flak jackets, right before the de-miners let me detonate the explosives they found that morning. Cave dwellings, Cappodoccia, Turkey Cappodoccia, Turkey Persepolis, Iran The wonderful Iranian family who invited me to stay Dinner Iranian style When my throttle cable broke in Bam near the Iran/Pakistan border the police dragged a mechanic out on a sunday to fix the car. Typical of the crowds Pedro(my Baja Beetle) attracted in Pakistan with the beautiful Pakistani trucks Black market Iranian petrol for sale at the roadside
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