IN THIS FEATURE Wacky Rallies Plymouth to Dakar Rally Hoggar Convoy The Mongol Rally Staples to Naples Ash, Kent to Tashkent Round up of the rest

Fancy driving one quarter of the world in three weeks? In 2001 Tom Morgan and a friend purchased a Fiat 126 in Prague. "What is the most ridiculous place we can drive it through?", they wondered, and eventually came up with Mongolia. Although they didn't make it there that time due to visa problems, the seed was sown and in 2004 the inaugural Mongol Rally took place. The rules are that, in addition to raising £1000 per car for the charity 'Send a Cow' , the car's engine size has to be less than 1 litre and the vehicle has to be recognisably undesirable. "Last year we had a pink Robin Reliant take part," remembers Tom. "It ended up with a cracked exhaust manifold that was gassing the drivers." In the end, the Reliant's drivers had to abandon it some 120 miles past Moscow.

Decisions, decisions...

The Mongol Rally is all about off-roading and the route is an incredible 8000 miles in total. You'll encounter potholes that can snap your car in two along with nine-hour border crossings, but the stunning scenery and driving is what everybody goes for. "The highlight for me was driving across the desert seeing plumes of dust and sand coming from the back of the car," says Tom. "Driving across Mongolia felt like crossing a huge golf course." This year the three-week rally leaves on July 30th and takes in Prague. Teams can then choose to go to Moscow, Kiev or Istanbul. They then regroup in Turkmenistan to go through Kazakhstan, then through Russia into Mongolia.

www.mongolrally.co.uk

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