Mongol Rally 2008
Team 'Everybody Yurts'
Hello all, I suspect if you've made it to this site you know what it is all about,
thats right team mates Rich and Rob are driving to Mongolia in a Renault 4 on the Mongol Rally 2008!
Welcome to the homepage of team Everybody Yurts!
> What is the Mongol Rally 2008? In a nutshell: drive from Hyde Park to Ulaan Baator in a car to be
loved, lauded, and laughed at in equal measure, making tons of money for charity.
Take a look at this collection of past Mongol Rally videos for a better idea of what its all about.
> Sponsor us money! We are now accepting sponsorship via Just Giving.
All sponsorship raised will be split between The Mercy Corps and Hope and Homes For Children (see Charities page).
> Sponsor us more money! Your company's logo could be on the side
of our car, viewed by thousands across Europe and Asia, and millions in the press converage!
Get in touch if interested.
Everybory Yurts Mongol Rally Blog
Well on our way
BY ROB ON 23RD JULY 2008
First of all, a big thanks to all those who turned up to the launch day at Hyde Park. Having friends and family there really made it a special occasion. Feels like we've been on the road for a long time already. A lot to fit into one blog entry! Highlights/lowlights: snapping a fan belt in Germany, getting to the Czech Out party at 1:30am and seeing Rich as the only wench, bumping into many teams on the road and outgunning most of them, camping by a wonderful lake in Austria, spending three minutes in Serbia before turning back, and having three and a half (Taz was ripped in half) soft toys stolen from our roof rack at the Romanian Border! We are aiming for Sofia foday. Check out our progress and text updates HERE. We'll hopefully have some photos up soon!
Not one, not two, but three leaks
BY ROB ON 17TH JULY 2008
We have sprung leaks. One is not really a problem (slight rocker gasket problem, maybe - occaisonal top-up needed). The other two are causing real headaches with two days to go until Mongol Rally 2008. They are coming from the gearbox - the speedometer link and the left drive shaft exit gasket. We have ordered an emergency gasket and will attempt to have it fitted tomorrow. Sueaky bum time.
Seats, lights, interior, speakers!
BY ROB ON 15TH JULY 2008
We've been busy the last few days. Suddenly, we wish the Mongol Rally was an extra week away! But work is progressing. Third time lucky - we now have fitted some decent seats from an old Renault 5 which recline and have headrests. This is after a failed attempt with some Clio seats, and picking up a single R4 GTL seat that wasn't worth fitting. We now also have some cool rally lights (non-functional, just for show), a wonderful custom made interior (thank you, Laura and Sarah), and quadraphonic sound (we've tried War of The Worlds...and it rocks).
Wheels? We got wheels!
BY ROB ON 9TH JULY 2008
After weeks of searching nationwide for some extra spare wheels for the R4, I stumbled across a specialist mechanic 15 minutes away in South East London! He had cheap wheels for sale, but he also had something we couldn't resist! A rare set of five matching alloys! With the 145 tyres we were thinking of moving to!
Sponsorship changes
BY ROB ON 1ST JULY 2008
Mercifully, The Adventurists have relaxed their rules on sponsorship for the the rally, and we no longer have to use the woeful WillWeMakeIt.com site. As a result, we have now set up two JustGiving sites, which everyone loves - one for each of the charities. Easy to use? Tick. Ability to add easy to read messages? Tick. Payment options? Tick. Gift Aid? Tick. See the Charities page for more info and to donate.
Car Bits Part III - Revenge of the Sit
By Rob On 29th June 2008
On Friday Rich and I headed down to Portchester to pick up the R4. Si
had done a great job. The other rear shock was in, an extra radiator
fan had been fitted, some of the engine electronics had been
water-proofed, the rear suspension had been strengthened on each side
(the welding for which, had set alight some internal foam on numerous
occasions), and we had a neat little bonnet vent for extra ventilation.
Nice. In the couple of hours we were down there, Si also did a great
job on the exhaust and on the electronics, wiring in our radio and our
pimping blue LED switched four-way power adapter! Yes! One thing now
missing - the drivers side door lock. It had stopped working, so Si had
removed it to stop anyone opening that door. It now lives somewhere
inside the drivers door! The drive back to Clapham was enhanced by an
excellent blue ambience.
Car Bits Part II - Attack of the Wobbles
By Rob On 14th June 2008
I drove the R4 down to Portchester on the South Coast to let my uncle have a play. He knows his cars. He had a look under the bonnet, a fiddle here and there, and a kick of the wheels. I also brought down some rear shock absorbers we picked up cheaply off eBay at his request. The read end of the car was a little...under dampened, shall we say. In testing this, uncle Si found a bit of play in the rear right wheel. In testing this further, he decided we were lucky to be alive having driven all that way on a wheel with about 2 degrees of vertical play! Off came the wheel, and it turned out a nut hadn't been properly tightened after a recent change of the rear brakes and bearings. Phew. We managed to replace one of the rear shocks as well, and the difference was very pronounced
Car Bits - The Oil Filter Menace
By Rob On 7th June 2008
Time to start 'doing bits on the car'. Grandpa Brown, with fifty years
experience in the motor mechanics business, lent us a hand in doing some
maintenance essentials. The spark plugs were a little black, showing
signs of a rich mixture. So the carb was fiddled with, and the tick
over note and exhaust now sound much, much better. Next up was the fuel
filter, a tricky little thing. Getting out the old one - fine, getting
in the new one in required three pairs of hands, a dismantled gear
linkage system, and a lot of force.
Sponsors sought, ideas flowing
By Rob On 27th May 2008
OK...things are starting to hot up. And they need to. It's now less than two months until the rally now! There are
some pretty big things on our to-do list, one of which is the paint job. But before we went all out on some crazy flamey
monstrosity, we thought we'd concentrate on attractive a primary car sponsor first. There are some good leads on this
side of things. We're also working hard on other fronts to, and may have some more news shortly...
Mongol Rally team meeting
by rob on 25th may 2008
The Adventurists held a meeting for the Mongol Rally (and African Rally guys and gals in the most excellent Café 1001 on Brick Lane this Saturday. Team Everybody Yurts was there. Top of the bill was guest speaker Duncan Milligan talking on 'How Not To Die'. Most helpful it was too - some great advice on life on the road, how to deal with over-zealous officials (smile, don't take photos, don't offer bribes straight away), how to cope without a passport (cry), and how to have a great time. Also of note was the tasty carrot and chocolate cakes. And a big shout out to fellow Mongol Rally team 'A Very British Adventure' who entertained the crowds and locals by turning up in their gorgeous mini...with a red telephone box attached to the roof. We need to up our game...
Potential visa drama avoided
by rob on 15th may 2008
Two English clubs reaching the Champions League final, to be held in Moscow, threatened to swamp the Russain embassy with 50,000 visa applications! There were some worries this was going to hamper the applications of the Mongol Rally faithful, but it looks like that situation has been avoided (news link). Panic over people! I know you were all getting a little excited there for a minute!
South Wales Rally 2008
by rob on 22nd april 2008
This weekend was the car's first big road test. We've had a couple of people look the car over, and they've given it the thumbs-up mechanically, but there's no substitute for testing the beast on the open road. So the tyre pressures were checked, the oil level confirmed ok, and the radiator water topped up. The route (and this one doesn't warrant its own google maps link) was Essex to Clapham to South Wales to Clapham to Essex. She performed brilliantly. 679km with only a couple of squeaks and one random stall. Will she perform so faultlessly throughout the Mongol Rally 2008?
Visa applications in
by rich on 27th march 2008
After not much thought we decided on taking the Southern route option to get to Mongolia,
basically becuase it takes you through the most countries (16 in all) and looks the most adventurous - thats what its all about right?!
Unfortunately this means we need visas for 8 countries. Today we completed the monsterous task of filling in our visa forms -
11 forms each, 13 passport photos each, two sore hands and a whole load of visa fees later and we're done :)
First sponsors
by rich on 22nd Feb 2008
Massive thanks to Jim and Phil Power for donating money for the car!! They have stipulated that for their money they want ownership of the wheels - so we will be travelling to Mongolia on a full set of Power Wheels :)
We Have a Car!!
by rich on 19th jan 2008
We've bought the car thats (hopefully) going to take us halfway around the world!
We found this brilliant 1988 Renault 4 in South London, she's got a 956cc engine and is LHD, so perfect for driving abroad.
The Search for a Car
by rich on 16th dec 2008
The search is now on for a suitably unsuitable car to take us the 10,000 miles to Mongolia.
Popular cars in past Mongol Rallies have included Minis, 2CVs, Nissan Micras, and Suzuki SJs - but
ideally we're after something a litle different. The current favourite is the Renault 4 after seeing them everywhere
in Colombia last year. Unfortunately they're not so easy to come by overhere!
So here are a few of the options..