An awfully big adventure

2010.07.24

One of the many entrants - I would have thought this old Green Goddess fire engine would be a good vehicle for the sort of terrain they'll be covering.

So much time and effort had been put into the cars and their paint schemes.

Prepared for every eventuality....

Some teams even had oversized mascots to take with them.

THese two chaps entertained us while we waited for the starting flag.

In between preparations for my first course of the summer I popped up to Goodwood today to see the start of the Mongol Rally. The rally starts from three bases around Europe (the other two are in Spain and Italy) but Goodwood is the biggest one – some 350 cars. Billed as the ‘Goodwood Festival of Slow’ (as opposed to the Festival of Speed I attended at the beginning of this month) it was a great opportunity to see many of the entrants before they attempt to drive across Europe to Ulan Bator in Mongolia in old cars and other vehicles, many of which should have been put to sleep years ago! There was a huge turnout of old ambulances and a few fire engines (ideal for being self sufficient in difficult terrain) plus cars of all shapes, sizes and paint jobs. No doubt a lot of these cars won’t make it all the way to the end of the rally but one thing’s for sure – their drivers are determined to have a damn good time trying! For more information about the Mongol Rally click here.