The Mongol Rally/ general adventure thread

[Larkonis Trassler]

I'm drunk right now but I see this post.

I know its cool to have a shit car...but wouldnt at least some sort of 4WD be advisable? the "spirit" of this might get bored if you're broken down in the middle of a desert with only the love of your country to keep you warm.

ex-mil issue land rover would be the best to be honest, with a yak on the roof.

This really They are easy to run and maintain east or west

4WD is a two-edged sword. It gives you better ability to traverse rough terrain, at the cost of being heavier (worse fuel economy) less efficient (more moving parts = more friction = you guessed it, less fuel economy), and more of a bitch to fix in the field (more parts = more shit to break = less fue--*Ed: We apologize, this joke has been taken out back and shot).
[i]From what I'm aware very little of the trip involves cross country, but, if you take a ford fiesta you are fucked. Take a good wagon and know how to maintain it.

Seconding all the common sense suggestions like cannibalizing a donor car before you leave the UK. Also get a real mechanic. The most awkward shit imagineable will break down at the worst time possible, and you need someone who knows enough about cars to be able to know how to both jury-rig temporary solutions and make permanent fixes to anything that breaks.
You need someone common who knows a bit about all cars and engines and can fix you up in the eastern bloc.

On the survival side of things, bring water purification tablets in addition to a nice compact mechanical water filter. (Seriously, you're driving through a desert, water will be a primary concern.), a sheet of plastic for use as a dew collector wouldn't go amiss either.
DayZ may have taught you things but desert survival is fucking hard. Pack a few books and at least 5l of water extra per person per day, sling a jerry can in your boot and three days of rations per person for three days (hell, I fucking planned for that when I was in Newcastle with a bunch of six formers)

Get someone certified at least up to wilderness first responder, preferably wilderness EMT, before you leave. Better if you can cross-train at least two folks for it. Learn the specific dangerous wildlife along your route and how to avoid being poisoned/eaten/mauled by them.

Bring duplicates (or better, triplicates) of all your really critical survival gear. Maps, compasses, etc.

Deserts get fucking cold at night, bring good sleeping bags.

Get everyone on the team a good full-tang fixed-blade knife and make sure they know how to use it. Knives are useful tools to have. I'd personally find some weight/space for a hatchet too.

Get a -good- medical supply kit together. Not some namby-pamby gauze-and-iodine-and-aspirin kit, but a proper suture kit, antivenom for anything venomous along your route, disinfectants, cast-making materials, splints, a couple pints of blood plasma, buffered saline drip bag, etc.

Get a satphone. They're expensive, but being able to call for help is worth it.

Learn orienteering and navigation. Particularly learn to astronavigate. The stars make damn fine navigation tools. They're hard to lose. Learn to use them.

That's all that comes to mind right at the moment, but I know I'm forgetting tons of other advice.

I tried to audit this but it's all good advice

[Steph]

Last time I heard about this I recall someone saying GPS were illegal in Mongolia. Is that true?

[Shirazzz]

That documentary is awesome but probably more from a photographers PoV however some of the Q&A in the reddit thread was really good, thanks.

A running theme in the advice from the guys that have been on the Mongol rally is take less than you think you need. On that point, while most of your advice is awesome, I think that things such as a hatchet, antivenom and a sat phone may be slightly ott. We dont want to go out of the way to put ourselves in harms way, but we also dont want to take a field hospital with us either.

Razor it would be great to see you as well as any others from FHC, however the route we are currently looking into is though Turkey, Iran, may be Iraq, and east from there. It may be worth turning up at the EU Festival with a car and do it that way. As for the route, Id love to see Russia, but by going further south it seems you would come into contact with may more varied cultures than going straight Russia>Mongolia.

[Joshua Foiritain]

A running theme in the advice from the guys that have been on the Mongol rally is take less than you think you need. On that point, while most of your advice is awesome, I think that things such as a hatchet, antivenom and a sat phone may be slightly ott. We dont want to go out of the way to put ourselves in harms way, but we also dont want to take a field hospital with us either.

I wouldn't consider the satphone over the top, when you're ~100km from the nearest living person and your car doesn't work you're gonna wanna have a batphone to phone home and tell you family you love them. Especially if you don't have an actual mechanic on your team (some basic car tinkering knowledge really wont cut it with the problems you'll probably be running into).

Apart from that; It sounds awesome.

[Klesk]

Make friends with another team on the first day and convoy that shit, safety in numbers, pool your resources etc.

Tapataptap

[cullnean]

There is a reason brits are advised against going to iran, just saying

Tapatalk crew

[Aurora148]

Driving through Iran one is unlikely to run into any problems. If you went into the centre of Tehran with a union flag and started blasting god save the queen you might have a problem.

[Cool09]

Driving through Iran one is unlikely to run into any problems. If you went into the centre of Tehran with a union flag and started blasting god save the queen you might have a problem.

Make it so

[Shirazzz]

Driving through Iran one is unlikely to run into any problems. If you went into the centre of Tehran with a union flag and started blasting god save the queen you might have a problem.

This
Will
Be
DONE

[lubica]

If you really plan to go with a Fiat Panda, for the love of god, try to get a hold of the 4wd version of it. The suspension was made by Puch, the cars are (or were until very recently) still used by the Italian Forestry service, which means it can probably drive up the side of a mountain and it is supposedly very durable and effective as far as 4wd drives go.

Best of luck to you chaps and if any secret service agent asks me anything, I don't know any of you.

[RazoR]

Driving through Iran one is unlikely to run into any problems. If you went into the centre of Tehran with a union flag and started blasting god save the queen you might have a problem.

This
Will
Be
DONE

I'm afraid Iran will be a nuclear wateland by then.

Also,

The bonus is you'lla have plenty of spare time to drink vodka and eat crayfish.
And you'll need a russian on your crew

[Sykes]

Fucking awesome. Go for it chaps

[ValorousBob]

Damn Shiraz this looks awesome. Us New World residents don't really have the option for these kind of shenanigans. I was also going to suggest doing this in a Reliant Robbin as a joke, when suddenly...

[Ophichius]

Making a request here. If you get this off the ground, paint the silhouette of a Tempest battleship somewhere on your vehicle.

-O

[ValorousBob]

Hahahaha or find the guy who made the metal cut out of Derek and leave it in Mongolia as some sort of SHC/FHC holy relic.

[marcus xero]

Operation: Derek II (Mongoloid edition)

[Shirazzz]

Hey bob look like loads of yanks do it, and if razor wants to come we need an american to balance him out. Also Im not going through Russia just to eat Crayfish and drink Vodka, I can do that in the UK. However come along and show us how well ruskies shoot/drive/drink/backflip.

And people better back THE FUCK away from Iran, no nuking it until at least next september please.

As for as Derek is concerned, if this gets off the ground ill see if I can get hold of the cut out ill take a load of pictures with it at places along the way. There seems to be a fair amount of interest in this and Im trying to judge how much of it is realistic. If people commit to this Ill set up a RAG website so we can really get started, for anyone interested, Ill be raising cash for GOSH.



EDIT: also as far as suggestions such as national anthems in Tehran and a Derek mascot, keep them coming. The more crazy stuff to do along the way the better.

[marcus xero]

maybe not too crazy.....the Iranians have this wierd habit of locking people up in Evin prison.....and elecrocuting your testicles....

[Shirazzz]

But I hear that kind of thing builds character?

[lubica]

maybe not too crazy.....the Iranians have this wierd habit of locking people up in Evin prison.....and elecrocuting your testicles....