It's a bit late I know, but we arrived home on Friday 18th July after flying home from Astana International Airport in Kazakhstan.
Unfortunately, about 50km into Kazakhstan we hit a huge pothole which we think made a crack in the head of our engine. We lost a lot of water at the roadside after driving through the pothole, and since then the car would use as much coolant as we could fill it with, even after 4 tubs of Radweld! We then found oil in the radiator, and the engine wouldn't stop running even if you took the key out of the ignition!! We drove on for another 4 days through Kazakhstan, driving on the worst "roads" we've ever seen, but we decided that the car was in too bad a way to go on so we headed to the airport and flew home via Moscow.
The trip was very hard work, pretty miserable on occasions! But now we're home and we've had time to process everything that we did on the trip, it's turned out to be a really great experience that neither of us is going to forget for a long time! We also managed to raise £1,000 for charity which gives you a really good sense of achievement over the disappointment of having to duck out of the rally.
I will be updating the blog with a daily diary of our experience soon, but for now you can look at the pictures from the trip by clicking the link below (video's uploaded soon too!)
Mongolia Charity Rally Pictures
Cheers, Paul.
Team First Gear
Saturday, 2 August 2008
Sunday, 29 June 2008
6 Days to go!
Well, there is now just 6 days until Kev and I leave our comfortable little lives and head off for Mongolia!
The scale of the task that we will be undertaking is starting to have a greater impact as the leave date creeps ever closer, and I think we are both starting to wonder what the hell we have let ourselves in for! Yesterday we set about loading the car up with most of our kit and finished off the stickers and refitting items previously removed. We also managed to get a stereo fitted and a pair of speakers supplied by a local audio store, so at least I won't have Kev's singing the whole way as my only source of entertainment!
Dangerous Brian our ever helpful crazy mechanic has finished fitting the clutch and cambelt to Valerie and now she runs much sweeter than before. The crazy 55mph vibes are still present, but hopefully she will hold together long enough to get us through the tough Western Mongolian route into Ulaan Bataar.
Talking of the route, our map has been updated which you can browse below. Chances of us sticking to it religiously are pretty slim, but that's the kind of general direction we will be heading. I will add a Green marker to the map so you can see exactly where we are at any given time (wireless internet access dependant) and will be adding photos to the gallery, which to has been updated!
So the car is ready to go and I think we may be too, all we need now is for people to give generously to the charity we are rallying in aid via our Just Giving webpage - www.justgiving.com/teamfirstgear
Cheers, Paul.
The scale of the task that we will be undertaking is starting to have a greater impact as the leave date creeps ever closer, and I think we are both starting to wonder what the hell we have let ourselves in for! Yesterday we set about loading the car up with most of our kit and finished off the stickers and refitting items previously removed. We also managed to get a stereo fitted and a pair of speakers supplied by a local audio store, so at least I won't have Kev's singing the whole way as my only source of entertainment!
Dangerous Brian our ever helpful crazy mechanic has finished fitting the clutch and cambelt to Valerie and now she runs much sweeter than before. The crazy 55mph vibes are still present, but hopefully she will hold together long enough to get us through the tough Western Mongolian route into Ulaan Bataar.
Talking of the route, our map has been updated which you can browse below. Chances of us sticking to it religiously are pretty slim, but that's the kind of general direction we will be heading. I will add a Green marker to the map so you can see exactly where we are at any given time (wireless internet access dependant) and will be adding photos to the gallery, which to has been updated!
 |
| From Valerie |
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| From Random Bits |
So the car is ready to go and I think we may be too, all we need now is for people to give generously to the charity we are rallying in aid via our Just Giving webpage - www.justgiving.com/teamfirstgear
Cheers, Paul.
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Update
Well, it's been quite a while since we've done any work on the website or added anything to the blog so we are going to pick up the pace a little now!
It is now just 24 days until we leave and I think that apart from raising enough cash to cover the cost of the trip, we are pretty much there with our preparation. Since the last update Valerie has had all her fluids changed for fresh juice, she's had her special Animal PA System installed so we can roll through the desert making noises that should have come from the Jungle, and general items like water-proofing the MDF rear section of the car and sorting the wiring for that elusive CD Player has been sorted.
Fundraising has been a little slow but we are getting there, and hopefully a push from us over the next 3 weeks will see us hit our £1000 target before we leave! I have a few ideas up my sleave on how we can get the extra cash so I'll keep this updated with the progress!
It is now just 24 days until we leave and I think that apart from raising enough cash to cover the cost of the trip, we are pretty much there with our preparation. Since the last update Valerie has had all her fluids changed for fresh juice, she's had her special Animal PA System installed so we can roll through the desert making noises that should have come from the Jungle, and general items like water-proofing the MDF rear section of the car and sorting the wiring for that elusive CD Player has been sorted.
Fundraising has been a little slow but we are getting there, and hopefully a push from us over the next 3 weeks will see us hit our £1000 target before we leave! I have a few ideas up my sleave on how we can get the extra cash so I'll keep this updated with the progress!
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
Charity Please!
Here we are again! It's been a while since our last update so apologies for that! A few things have happened since, and I'll try to put them down in chronological order.
On the 28th February Kev and I went along to Club Velocitá HQ and met with the owner to sip Champagne, ogle super cars such as Lamborghini's, Ferrari's and Porsche's, and oh yea, discuss our little trip round the world!
We managed to secure Club Velocitá as sponsors by offering their fledgling super car club copious amounts of press coverage and promotion to boost their membership ranks in return for a small donation of lubricants and general service items ;) Well, the guys came good and we now have enough oil to join OPEC so cheers lads!
Another development in the sponsorship sector was Halfords in Farnborough offering us £80 worth of gift vouchers. This was a great help and went towards 2 large spot lights and all new ignition components to make Valerie purr like a contented kitten!
With all this gear, apart from a tune up Valerie is pretty much good to go! All we need now is monetary donations.
All the information about the charities etc. can be found on the website(www.teamfirstgear.co.uk), but I will give a little more background.
The 2 main reasons why Kev and I decided to enter this rally was firstly to raise lots of cash for some really great Charities, and secondly to have as much fun as possible! Exploring new countries and cultures is something that Kev and I both enjoy, and having the chance to do this whilst driving across continents and raising loads of cash for Charity is something that we are really looking forward to.
The Charities that we are supporting are CAMDA (Cambridge Mongolian Disaster Appeal) and the CDPF (Childrens Development and Protection Fund). CAMDA will be receiving all the money we raise via our Just Giving Page (http://www.justgiving.com/teamfirstgear) and the CDPF will be taking delivery of Valerie the lucky buggers! They will then be able to use her in one of their projects, or alternatively she will be sold at auction and all the proceeds will go directly to the charity.
As above, Valerie is pretty much ready to go, we just need you great people to help out and donate money in one (or both!) ways:
On the 28th February Kev and I went along to Club Velocitá HQ and met with the owner to sip Champagne, ogle super cars such as Lamborghini's, Ferrari's and Porsche's, and oh yea, discuss our little trip round the world!
We managed to secure Club Velocitá as sponsors by offering their fledgling super car club copious amounts of press coverage and promotion to boost their membership ranks in return for a small donation of lubricants and general service items ;) Well, the guys came good and we now have enough oil to join OPEC so cheers lads!
Another development in the sponsorship sector was Halfords in Farnborough offering us £80 worth of gift vouchers. This was a great help and went towards 2 large spot lights and all new ignition components to make Valerie purr like a contented kitten!
With all this gear, apart from a tune up Valerie is pretty much good to go! All we need now is monetary donations.
All the information about the charities etc. can be found on the website(www.teamfirstgear.co.uk), but I will give a little more background.
The 2 main reasons why Kev and I decided to enter this rally was firstly to raise lots of cash for some really great Charities, and secondly to have as much fun as possible! Exploring new countries and cultures is something that Kev and I both enjoy, and having the chance to do this whilst driving across continents and raising loads of cash for Charity is something that we are really looking forward to.
The Charities that we are supporting are CAMDA (Cambridge Mongolian Disaster Appeal) and the CDPF (Childrens Development and Protection Fund). CAMDA will be receiving all the money we raise via our Just Giving Page (http://www.justgiving.com/teamfirstgear) and the CDPF will be taking delivery of Valerie the lucky buggers! They will then be able to use her in one of their projects, or alternatively she will be sold at auction and all the proceeds will go directly to the charity.
As above, Valerie is pretty much ready to go, we just need you great people to help out and donate money in one (or both!) ways:
- Firstly, you can donate money to Just Giving and this will go on to our running tally
- Alternatively if you visit the site and click on the PayPal "Donate" button then the money will come straight through to us for use on the trip.
Excuse the cheese, but every donation, no matter how small makes a difference ;)
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
First Entry!
Well here it is, Team First Gears first blog entry!
It's been a long time coming but we've finally managed to get the website up and running (http://www.teamfirstgear.co.uk/) meaning we can now link to the blog so people can find it!
Now we're all here I may aswell let you know what's going on with Team First Gear. We have entered into the Mongolia Charity Rally 2008 run by the Go Help organisation, and are made up of 3 essential ingredients; 2 nutters and a suitably unsuitable car! No to be honest, Valerie (Our humble and trusted 18 year old Suzuki Vitara) is on her way to becoming a most excellent chariot, a far cry from the death trap she was when Kev picked her up! Yes, we believe that Valerie will be more than capable of carrying her 2 nut-job occupants all the way to Mongolia without incident…
Anyway, since Kev relieved her old owner of Valerie she’s been through quite the transformation! Kev hastily tore apart the roof, wrenched the seats from their mounts and covered her in chipboard. Then Paul pulled her underbits apart, fitted new spring spacers to give her 2” of extra ground clearance and then as a final touch, fitted refurbished 8-Spoke off-road wheels and tyres.
It's been a long time coming but we've finally managed to get the website up and running (http://www.teamfirstgear.co.uk/) meaning we can now link to the blog so people can find it!
Now we're all here I may aswell let you know what's going on with Team First Gear. We have entered into the Mongolia Charity Rally 2008 run by the Go Help organisation, and are made up of 3 essential ingredients; 2 nutters and a suitably unsuitable car! No to be honest, Valerie (Our humble and trusted 18 year old Suzuki Vitara) is on her way to becoming a most excellent chariot, a far cry from the death trap she was when Kev picked her up! Yes, we believe that Valerie will be more than capable of carrying her 2 nut-job occupants all the way to Mongolia without incident…
Anyway, since Kev relieved her old owner of Valerie she’s been through quite the transformation! Kev hastily tore apart the roof, wrenched the seats from their mounts and covered her in chipboard. Then Paul pulled her underbits apart, fitted new spring spacers to give her 2” of extra ground clearance and then as a final touch, fitted refurbished 8-Spoke off-road wheels and tyres.
Next on the cards for Valerie will be a new exhaust as the present one has more holes than St. Andrews golf course! Also needed is a new clutch that can bite a little harder than an OAP who’s lost their false teeth… Apart from that and a little tune up, Valerie is well on her way to becoming a globetrotting charlatan who laughs in the face of danger and adversity in her quest for adventure!
Moving swiftly on…
There will be an update soon, Paul and Kev will be meeting with a potential sponsor to discuss a deal on the 28th, so we’ll let you all know how it goes!
Cheers,
Team First Gear
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