Can you drive to Mongolia? Not without OKO
Having already supported a team who successfully completed the epic Rickshaw Run from one end of India to the other, when we were asked to help a team on the Mongol Rally (run by the same organisers, The Adventurists) we naturally agreed.
What is the Mongol Rally? It involves driving from Dover in England to Mongolia via Europe and Asia, with no back-up team, in a standard car with an engine of no more than 1200cc. When (if) there, the contestants must leave the car behind for the benefit of locals.
En route, they must traverse some truly appalling roads and extreme heat.
So our brave lads are The Gobi Brothers (David and René), raising money for Cancer Research UK (http://www.justgiving.com/David-Coplestone). They are driving this snazzy (but second-hand) chrome-finished Nissan Micra, complete with the obligatory OKO badge: and with OKO in their tyres they have, at the time of writing, crossed Europe and part of Russia, enduring some really bad roads but thus far without incident tyre-wise. Only some dodgy wheel bearings have troubled them, fixed by a friendly local Nissan dealer.
Now driving through plagues of locusts and crossing the steppes of Kazakhstan, they are making good time; according to the organisers’ map, out of 170 teams that started, they may be as high as 8th. (Not that it’s a race as such, it’s about the taking part, the adventure and raising money). We urge you to keep up with their epic trip via their blog at http://www.theadventurists.com/the-adventures/mongol-rally/updates/sms-69758: and do please donate to their very worthy cause.
Go go Gobi Brothers!