49 of 100: Mongol Rally

David got home from Norway yesterday, and this evening we went out to our favorite Mexican restaurant to celebrate and catch up. On his trip he went to the fiftieth birthday party of our Norwegian sister-in-law's nephew Marius, which was a full-on sit-down dinner complete with speeches and plenty to drink. It turns out Marius is an adventurer: one adventure being crossing Greenland (unclear just how: skis, maybe?) with three fellow adventurers. 

Said fellow adventurers were at the party, of course, and they apparently are scheming up a new adventure, this one involving cars—junkers, is how it came across, but the official/not-so-official website for the rally in question, known as the Mongol Rally, suggests it's not the age or condition of the car so much as the size that matters. Here's how they put it:

Any old dullard can purchase a 4x4 that could easily make it across the surface of the moon and drive a quarter of the world’s circumference, and that is exactly what the Mongol Rally is not about.

It’s about small. It’s about stupid. It’s about unsuitability. It’s about humour.

We have purposely set the bar for engine size to a mere 1 Litre—or 1000cc. We shall allow up to a 1.3 for those of you who can’t handle a whole litre of courage, but anything over this and you’ll have to contact us directly and pitch your ideas to us very carefully. We shall allow larger engines if we think it’s unsuitable and ridiculous enough.  

Ha ha, that is ridiculous. But there are rules, number 1 being that "small and shit vehicle." (The default car is apparently a Nissan Micra, though if you're interested, this thread has various other suggestions.) You can also opt for a motorbike, but nothing over 125cc. A scooter is best. Rule number 2: "You're completely on your own." As they put it, "if it's not dangerous and you aren't lost, you're not on an adventure." And rule number 3: Raise £500 for the official charity Cool Earth.

That's it! The entry fee is modest enough, £895 per vehicle (4 people on a team max) or £425 per motorbike. For that you get such things as "an awesome finish line to mark your glorious arrival" and "stories so fucking excellent your friends will be in awe of you for decades to come," as well, perhaps, as "a heap of expert knowledge and organisation in the months leading up to the launch"—though that pointedly does not include "a set route." And there's an unwritten rule number 4: You need to get your car back home once the race is finished. No abandoning it in Mongolia.

The Mongol Rally was launched in 2004 with six teams participating; four completed the course, which runs from West Sussex, England, or Prague if you wish, to, at that time, Ulan Bator, Mongolia (but this year it ended in Kazakhstan because they couldn't go through Russia... or maybe it was Iran that was out of bounds: I don't know; in any case, the end point seems to change). That's about 10,000 miles, and one participant said it took his team 5 weeks in 2020. These days, 250 to 300 teams take part in this mayhem. I wish I'd ever had that sort of chutzpah. Or maybe just the wacky friends, because I may well have had the chutzpah if I'd been in the proper company.

Here are a few videos. First, The Mongol Rally: A Brief Guide:

Next, Mongol Rally 2019: Official Recap of Overland Chaos:

And finally, here is an hour-and-a-half "full documentary" of the Mongol Rally as done in a Fiat Panda over the course of 70 days:

I think it's fitting that the folks who put this thing on call themselves The Adventurists. Who, by the way, also sponsor an entirely incomprehensible road trip adventure they call the Poles of Inconvenience—which has no rules whatsoever! Which I guess makes the challenge that much easier? The Poles in question are "splendidly inconvenient locations from Norway to Western Sahara and across to Turkey" and including "the UK's toughest off road track which is often mostly underwater." They also throw in "Golden Poles," randomly announced during the four-week (July–August) rally and worth heaps of points. I think just planning these extravaganzas would be a world of wicked fun.