Flash Bernard Small

RALLY UNDERWAY! NEWS NOW BEING POSTED BY ANDREW, DAVID'S BROTHER.

16/09/07

5.30pm GMT: FLASH BERNARD PULLS IN TO ULAAN BATAAR AND SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES THE MONGOL RALLY AFTER 57 DAYS ON THE ROAD. HIP, HIP, HOORAY!

Morning: 'Arvayheer – last stretch! 450km left. Heading to UB tonight. Hopefully less than 3 hours away. So excited!'

15/09/07

'Just arrived in Bayanhongor.'

14/09/07

'We are in Altay. Trouble witih cards so no money. Stayed overnight for Western Union transfer. Off in a bit. Hopefully 3 days to UB. Norfolk'nchance on truck. City of Arabia have broken six shock absorbers but still OK. We broke leaf spring two days ago, but repaired that evening. Roads are SO bad. Taking it slow.'

10/09/07

'Off again today towards Hovd.'

06/09/07

Flash Bernard lives again!!! 7am: 'Left Omsk last night, haven't stopped driving since. Got lost in Novosiribisk, but now on right track for Mongolia. 900km and counting.' 10.30am: 'About 600km from Mongolian border. Visas ran out yesterday. We are in Russia ILLEGALLY.'

04/09/07

'We're having more problems with visas.'

03/09/07

Visa complications, and the car's future still hangs in the balance. 'We've managed to negotiate with the authorities to pay £40 for a further ten days on our visas. If it turns out we can't fix our car after all, we can still get the trans-Siberian railway.'

02/09/07

'We need someone that speaks Russian and English to translate to these mechanics.' Later in the day: miraculously another mechanic thinks he can fix the car to get going again tomorrow!

01/09/07

5.30pm: The head gasket's gone again. Looks like the end of Flash Bernard.

10.30am: Yesterday's panic over. 'After being towed 120km to Tyumen, we managed to get the alternator fixed free of charge by a Suzuki specialist. On our way again, 5 days to Mongolia.' A brief panic when a bolt fell out of the underside of the car, but managed to find it again.

31/08/07

10.30am: 'Currently 640km from Omsk. Our alternator went last night which is not good. We're in a city called Tyumen, and have a mechanic looking over alternator now. Could be the end of the rally again…'

29/08/07

En route to Mongolia. '2,000 miles across Russia to get to Mongolia in 8 days.'

27/08/07

'Picking up visas at 3pm. Back into Russia tonight. Ten days to get to Mongolia.'

26/08/07

'We finally left Atyrau yesterday after almost two weeks. The guy who helped us out, Shaun, was probably the most helpful yet. Found us a cheap place to stay and didn't charge us a thing to fix the cars. We also went waterskiing and donutting on his boats. Legend. Right now about 50km from Uralsk.'

24/08/07

'Off tomorrow.' (Team still in Atyrau)

23/08/07

'Drove the car about today. Our Russian visas are still likely to run out though. We'll work out a solution.'

22/08/07

David calls London asking us to call the British Consulate in Russia to extend visas. 'Right now we can't even get the car started – that's our main problem.'

21/08/07

'We're still in Atyrau, not sure when we're going to leave. Worried about our visas for Russia running out before we get to Ulan Bataar.'

18/08/07

'Car should be up and running tomorrow. Had to make our own exhaust and head gaskets, and installed two fuck-off electric fans. No way this car is overheating!'

15/08/07

Still in Atyrau. Staying in an apartment for a fiver a night. Hopes buoyed. Under the instructions of the miraculous mechanic, everyone's got their hands dirty trying to fix all three teams' cars: FB, City of Arabia, Norfolk'nchance. By tomorrow they may be on their way again! Planning to head back into Russia and then to Mongolia.

14/08/07

In Atyrau. Hopes of making the finishing party on Saturday are no more, but all may not be lost. Norfolk'nchance have got in touch. FB meet them in a bar. City of Arabia still with FB in Atyrau with a broken Mini Moke. Norfolk'nchance have already chanced across an English mechanic. He seems to think anything is fixable... so confidence us up again.

13/08/07

It's all over... or is it? 1pm. 'It's a sad day, our head gasket has gone in the engine. We have to leave the car! We're still going to get the train to Mongolia, but Flash Bernard is dead :(' But then team spots another Mongol Rally-branded Suzuki jeep in a hotel car park in Atyrau. It's Norfolk'nchance, and their Suzuki too is dead. FB leave a message under the windscreen asking them to get in touch. Amazingly, the car is exactly the same, with a number plate just seven digits away from Flash Bernard's. So... try to make patch them together and make one good car? Time is running out...

10/08/07

11.30am. 'About 300km from Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad), nice day, bit windy. Roads good. Hopefully to Kazakh border tomorrow.'

09/08/07

City of Arabia has caught up! Both cars staying in Rostov on the Don, in one of the biggest Russian breweries (Balktika). Tomorrow it's on to Volgograd. City of Arabia's Mini Moke is being fixed by the mechanics in the brewery...

08/08/07

2pm. Flash Bernard has had to leave the two other teams in its convoy (City of Arabia, Le Mong) behind. Made 600km yesterday, well inside Russia now.'

06/08/07

4pm. 'We left Odessa this morning. We're about 300km from the Russian border now. Not sure if we'll get across today.'

05/08/07

Team remains in Odessa, trying to muster the last of the rallyists into a rearguard convoy. Will need to leave soon even if other teams remain behind; City of Arabia still awaiting delivery of replacement part.

02/08/07

2pm. 'We have V5 and are in Moldova. 40km from [Ukrainian] border.'

01/08/07

1pm. '[Starter motor] fixed! That was crazy. The guy took [it] to bits, got the hacksaw out, cut it and smashed it to pieces, then put it all back together again. £35. WTF.'

Bad news. DHL made an error on English side and V5 form won't be delivered for another day.

31/07/07

Team still in Iasi. Will go tomorrow (Weds) am early to DHL office (already found out its location today) to await arrival of V5 which could happen any time between 9am-6pm. Better than waiting for it to be delivered to hotel. Then get on road immediately to Odesa to liaise with City of Arabia. A scare over the starter motor: it's taking ages to start the car and the problem seems to be getting worse.

David: 'We're f***ing bored here just waiting.'

30/07/07

9am 'Camped at border. In morning City of Arabia left for Odesa to get spare part, we returned to Iasi. Staying in hotel. V5 arrives Weds. Rendezvous with COA then. >:('

29/07/07

7pm David: 'Call me ASAP.' Andrew called. Team unable to bribe border patrol. Will have to return to Iasi and await DHL delivery of V5 on Wednesday.'

5.45pm 'Left Vlad's early this morning, towards Moldova. Got print out of reg doc from random apple store in Iasi, Romania. So weird. Hope to bribe Moldovan patrol in 20 minutes.'

28/07/07

5.30pm 'Just this second temporarily fixed suspension [other team City of Arabia's car], to Ukraine tomorrow morning to pick up spare part for permanent fix.'

3.30pm 'Haven't moved since last update, hopefully [other team City of Arabia's] suspension should be fixed within the hour, yesterday was national holiday, so work couldn't be done.'

27/07/07

11.30am. 'Maramureş = WOW. Miles of primitive living conditions, occasionally dwarfed by huge ornate monasteries. Mountain roads very hard. Worst roads so far, Moke's [team City of Arabia's] suspension is gone, found B&B owned by engineer Vladimir. Speaks good English. Food excellent. Need to stay until suspension is fixed. Going blueberry picking.'

26/07/07

10.30am. 'Budapest to Baia Mare, Romania. Needed V5 for [Romanian] border, blagged through with insurance. Through Maramureş area today – untouched by technology for 200 years!'

25/07/07

10.20am. David: 'We've been sent an email [of the vehicle registration document]. Going to try [to enter Ukraine] with a printed copy of that.'

24/07/07

7.45pm. Message by phone from David in Budapest. Minor crisis. Vehicle registration document left in England at Ben's house. Looks like it will have to be air-couriered out, post-haste, before the team can enter Ukraine. Frantic attempts to discover whether it's a necessity. All research suggests it is...

2pm. '30km from Budapest. Chilled by a river today: it's 41 degrees C. Car's still running great, keeping an eye on temperature.'

23/07/07

11pm. 'Reached Bratislava about 9.45pm. Drove round the city for about 45 minutes to find a hostel but it was full. Found another rally car inside Hungarian border, and currently finding somewhere to camp.'

No news for most of the day, David's phone appears to be off. But finally an update at 5.30pm. 'Everything going great! Battery ran out in Prague, so couldn't text. Currently convoying with another team in the jokest vehicle ever. 150km away from Bratislava! PARTY!' ... 'Prague party was last night, but we didn't turn up until midnight, and we hadn't slept one bit.'

22/07/07

8pm. 'We're about 10 minutes from crossing into the Czech Republic. Guessing about 150km from Prague.'

7.15pm: 'Back on the road now after about 7 hours stationary in a petrol station, draining oil from the engine. Ben overfilled it by 250%.'

2pm: 'Oil problems.' ...

Various updates through the night from the team. At 10pm last night: 'We're barely inside Belgium. Heading towards Brussels. Have had some major scares with the temperature gauge, which turned out to be the stupidest, and simplest thing and ended up wasting a few hours. We've decided to drive through the night to Prague.' At 9.40am this morning: 'About 2 hours from Prague, haven't stopped yet since we left Calais. Knackered but taking it in sleeping/driving shifts. Car is running perfectly. By the time we reach Prague, we will also have done a tenth of our whole journey in one day. This is crazier than I could ever have imagined.'

20/07/07

Well, it's the 20th now, which means we leave tomorrow. I'm certainly excited, but I'm also incredibly nervous. I'm sure Ben's feeling the same. What we're about to undertake is quite astonishing really. Our car is now completely sorted; with a different engine to the one Rob promised us previously; but with only 50000 miles on the clock this time (which is ace!). We've also had our stereo fitted (well the speakers at least). Got our spare tyres today and pete @ fivefish printed up a couple more stickers for us for sheen tyres.

Got everything packed yesterday, packed the car today. Never before have I ever felt so worried that we've left something important out of the equation.

Launch party tonight, will be good to see everyone there. Early rise tomorrow, so I'm definitely not drinking. I probably won't update this until I get back, hopefully I can ask my brother to update any quick things that happen whilst we're on the rally. So...without further ado, goodbye!

13/07/07

ONE WEEK TO GO. OH MY GOD.

Since our last list of things to do, we've; decided to use some old tents we found hanging around, bought maps of the key areas, been offered a bunch of spares and persuaded a load more people to come to our going away party at essence. Excitement has well and truly kicked in, kicked back and is here to stay. That's not to say we're not crapping ourselves about things to come! Especially with what happened today...

After deciding that Rob was our best bet, we spoke to him on the phone and he told us that he'd bring the engine out for a little test run just to make sure everything was still running sweet. A few hours later he called back with some bad news; the engine he had was playing up quite a bit. He told us that he had a couple of people were selling their SJs to him for breaking and he would have a call around to see if the engines were in good nick. Shortly after speaking to him for the second time he rang back and said he had found a guy with a slightly newer engine, but it was going to cost us a little bit more. A little bit more turned out to be £125 more in fact, which, to be honest, was a little depressing. Ben and I had a talk about it and decided that with a week to go this was our only hope.

Before we had time to respond, Rob called back and told us that he had been looking at the official Mongol Rally website and noticed that it was a charity event. So, rather kindly, he offered to throw in some spare parts for us just in case we needed them! This helped us make our difficult decision easier and so we agreed to take the car down on Friday (today).

Which brings us to this morning. We knew we had to take the car down to East Sussex, but we needed to avoid the motorway. So we planned a route which took us into Central London, then straight down to our destination. We took two cars, myself in the Mercedes, and ben in the jeep. After about an hour and a half of driving ben calls me and just says "We have to stop." So we pull over at the nearest layby (just inside the M25), I get out the car and all I can hear is this godawful rattling sound coming towards me; almost like a gattling gun was upon me.

Our engine was GONE; this car was just NOT going to go any further. So we call the AA and after about two hours of waiting a tow truck turns up. Usual procedure and we're finally on our way again to Rob's; this time Ben's jumped in the Merc with me. We finally get to our destination and Rob turns out to be an absolute Suzuki 4x4 fanatic, I mean he's got 5 of these things dotted about the place; all completed modded out like they were moon buggys or somethign equally as crazy. A short discussion about the jeep and we're on our way again. Rob clearly knew his stuff and we were more than happy to leave Flash at his mercy. We should have the car back by tuesday/wednesday time if all goes to plan.

Then we started our long journey home again - by the time we got back to Ben's I was three hours late for work and Ben an hour and a half. At least now we've found confidence again with the well being of our car. Let me just repeat myself here. ONE WEEK TO GO!

11/07/07

After panicking to an insane degree about our busted engine, Ben and myself shot off about a billion emails to every suzuki club/breakers yard/potential seller we could find on the internet, and within two hours we had had an overwhelming response from a number of people dotted around the UK. We have been offered an engine as a donation from Alex at Club Zulu, one for £150 (fitted in about an hour apparently!) from Leigh in Canterbury and one for £400 with all the trimmings from Rob in East Sussex (he'll need the car for a couple of days though).

We've decided that our best option is Rob in Sussex. We're a little annoyed that we have to pay £400, but at this stage, we don't really care about the money. We're just waiting to hear back from him now to see when we can take the car down. Fingers crossed it's soon!

As part of our fundraising efforts, we've been organising a raffle by collecting some prizes from local shops etc. So far, we have:

At least we're raising a little bit of money eh?...albeit in the dying moments of our countdown.

09/07/07

Time for a loooong overdue update! Since the last update, what have we done? Well, according to this shoddy bit of paper with scribbles on it laying next to me, we've:

Apart from that, my aunty has donated yet another 20 litre jerry can for the cause and we've been donated a spare wheel from the lovely guys at Jap Spares, in Hounslow. Incidently, they've also said that if they come across anything likely to be useful to us, they'll give us a call, so fingers crossed! We also appeared in our local Guardian paper, photograph and all!

From good news to bad, rather worringly, ben got chicken pox last week (yes at 23!), and was in bed for a week solidly. He's all recovered now, but still a few scars remained. This has sucked royally for us, especially as it has meant ben hasn't been earning any crucial dollar!

Talkback Thames; the television company that my girlfriend's mother has worked for freelance have rejected our proposal for a show, after previously being really excited about the prospect (they would have agreed had Jack Osbourne not being doing it!).

Even more upsettingly, our car is potentially in a very bad way, as there seems to be a horrible noise coming from the engine area. Luckily Suzuki have agreed to see the car tomorrow morning (thank god), but right now we're a tad bit scared about the possible problems that we could face! It's time like this that we wish we knew more about cars than we currently do. What if this had happened in France??

On the plus side again, we had a car boot sale yesterday and ended up raising £143 which is great, and should pay for....our bribes. Ben has also managed to organise a night as the bar he works in (Essence) on Tuesday 17th, £3 entry before 10, £4 after, so we hope to raise a little bit more money from that. The cheque for 300 canadian dollars go through as soon as we'd have liked because these foreign things have got an average six week turn around before funds can be transfered, so it's unlikely we'll get that in time for the rally.

So after that rollercoster, that brings us to what we have left to do then:

And we have eleven days to do it all in.

25/06/07

Okey dokey, hello again fellow Flash followers, what have we been up to since last update? Well, we got the car back and it's AWESOME! The car stops on a dime now, which is what we had wished for. The clutch also responds a little better now too. We can't thank suzuki enough, they've probably made the difference between getting to Mongolia or not at all.

As for everything else, stickers are going on wednesday, still waiting to hear back from Darren@Maypole motors, and we are still yet to do the carboot because of the rubbish weather we've been having recently. Lots to sort out by next week including the vehicle details, deposit, entry agreement, next of kin details, car insurance, camping equipment and so on. Blahhh.

Ben finally told his work that he was leaving and they didn't seem to mind at all. Rather excitingly, it looks like they've agreed to hold a night in our honour - now we have to persuade them to help us out in takings. Fingers crossed as this could be the final push we need for comfortability.

25 DAYS TO GO!!

16/06/07

I'm writing this update as my sister requested it (but more importantly because we haven't done one in ages...again.

Not a massive deal has happened since the last update, we're still yet to get our car all stickered up and ryan from halfords is yet to install the sound system. HOWEVER, after having our car serviced by suzuki, ben picked the car back up last saturday (9th), and the guys in the garage told us what was wrong and what needed fixing/changing etc. Unfortunately for us we hadn't yet has confirmation that any of this would be done free of charge (as we'd hoped of course). So we went away with the impression that we'd get a call early monday to tell us whether we could indeed have everything as agreed in our initial talks all those weeks ago.

Monday came...nothing.

Tuesday came, we called, left a message, then...nothing.

Wednesday came...nothing, so I decided to head over to Ben's relatively early, as his new job at a late night bar has made sure he's turning into a vampire. We called again and spoke to Gary the service manager who said he still hadn't spoken with Chris and that he would definitely be in within the hour and we would get a call back.

At this point, it really felt like we'd gone straight back to square one again. We knew that the car had problems, we just didn't know if they were going to get fixed anytime soon but more importantly we didn't know if we'd have to pay for it.

Roughly three quarters of an hour later, Gary calls us back. I had to admit I was shocked when he did so. Shock turned into disbelief when he swiftly told me that Chris had agreed to provide everything - parts and service - all free of charge! BAM! Rest assured we spent the rest of the day being happy chappies, though come to think of it I can't remember for the life of me what we actually did...

Anyway, car's booked in for tuesday. Hopefully stereo goes in Thursday, and stickers go on after that.

On another potentially exciting note, our other good friend Robbie High and myself went down to Ben's workplace (Essence) on thursday and ended up chatting to this guy who owns another service garage in Surbiton called Maypole Motors. He may have been drunk when he said this, but he gave me his card and told me if we wanted more sponsorship to give him a call...I know what we're doing on monday now.

We called the carboot off for the second time in two consecutive sundays now, so it'll have to be 23rd instead (next week). Damn we need money.

07/06/07

Well, it's the evening of the 7th, and our car's still in the garage. We've heard nothing back from suzuki yet, and whenever we've called, they've either been busy, closed, or the person on the other end hasn't a clue what we're talking about.

I wonder if they took a look at it, laughed, then just scrapped it..

05/06/07

Today was a good day for us. Starting to write this update also made me remember that I'd forgotten to fill you guys in on a very important update for us from a few days ago. If anyone reading this remembers, 3 months ago Ben and I had a meeting with the boss of our local suzuki garage (Chiswick branch). Well after months of persistance - numerous phone calls, missed calls, messages and eventually the handing over of the reigns to my mother (thanks mum!), we FINALLY managed to get an appointment with the garage. This is where today's update comes in...

Ben and I took the car into the garage this morning and after an uncertain entrance (the service manager didn't know anything about the appointment!), the boss, Chris Wilkins turned up and confirmed everything.

We left the car there, and that's where we are at now. Hopefully they'll give us a complete overhaul - ideally a brand new suzuki - but whatever happens, at least we managed to get a HUGE sponsor.

Today was a good day. :)

Update: We now have seven sponsors in total. That's right, SEVEN!

2nd Update: Thought I should let people know that our other teams page now has 52 teams' websites on it, so if you're not on there and you're reading this, get in touch!

3rd Update: New photos of the rolling road day updated in the gallery section of our site.

04/06/07

I am terribly sorry about the lack of updates recently. I have to say that it's half because of our busyness and half because of my laziness. Rest assured though, here is another short update! Today, Ben and myself took the car down to chobam to take part in the rolling road day that had been organised by Richard (Varnish5000) from the forums.

We arrived at where we thought we had to be at about 12:50 (10 minutes early), and it took us a good 15 minutes driving back and forth to work out that where we actually had to be looked like a maximum security complex with massive signs reading "ALL PASSES MUST BE SHOWN OR YOU WILL BE SHOT!!" (or something to that effect).

A little chat with the security guard and it suddenly dawned on us that he (or that other chap in the car) had no idea what we were talking about. By this time, it was 10 past 1 and not another rallier in sight. We started to worry that maybe I'd got my dates/time mixed up.

We were running low on petrol, so we shot off to fill up, shortly before returning to the complex. One other car had turned up which instantly put us at ease. Unfortunately, that was how it remained for the rest of our time there: us and James, of team preparationM. We found out later that Richard had come down, but couldn't find the place for love nor money, so went home instead. Poor guy!!

Amongst the other people there, was Ian Mégevand of IMM-Photography.co.uk, who came down to take some snaps for us, and Charlie (surname unknown - apologies!) who owned the place, The Surrey Rolling Road. Thoroughly nice chaps indeed and after the day was over we shared a beer with them and spoke about various things that men are supposed to in those situations.

The day was a success despite the lack of cars turning up, and Charlie was happy because he could go home early. We also found out that although our car won't go very fast, the engine will most probably last the distance. We'll just have to see what Suzuki say on Tuesday eh?

PS, our car had a maximum power output of 42.2 HP (Horse Power for those not in the know.) Whooo!....I think?

PPS, I didn't win that DS, because I didn't read the rules properly. Whoops, typical me.

PPPS, why do I think anyone cares about whether I've won a DS or not? I guess that's the problem with being able to write when and whatever I want here.

24/05/07

Greetings avid readers! Ben again. I think it's time enough that I updated the website, after a considerable absence from the keyboard. I've got lots to tell you all, so put the kettle on, put your feet up, get your favourite cushion, ensure the screen is at head height and close the blinds to avoid glare from the monitor (safety first folks).

Considering we have but 50 days left until our departure, David and I are holding up quite well. The fact that we will be driving into an abyss of foreign lands, of which we both have little to no idea of standard custom or language, nor are we fully equipped to camp in the middle of nowhere! While there is still much to do, we have managed to conquer several problems.

The good people of iwantoneofthose.com and outdoordesign.co.uk (Rachel Priest and Jonathan Morgan respectively) ensured the arrival of the promised items detailed below. Allow to me to take this opportunity to thank them both once more for their generosity and both companies will of course receive prominent advertising all over the vehicle, our website and the official rally website, as well as being mentioned in press releases.

In other sponsorship news, Mr. Peter Corey of Five Fish (fivefish.co.uk), a fantastic print and design company, has offered to do all of our graphics for the vehicle. We visited Peter last week and planned out the logos and where they will all go, and if I do say so myself, the car is going to look amazing. Thank you Peter for your all your time and effort.

We plan to do another carboot sale the second sunday of July and this time in Hounslow. The Kingston car boot sale brought in over £150 for charity, so we have high hopes for the good people of Hounslow and hope they all dig deep!

18/05/07

While this doesn't have anything to do with the Rally directly, I thought I should post it here as this is something I really really really would like to take with me. What could this possibly be I hear you ask? Well, just read on:

I have wanted a nintendo DS since they were released like a million years ago. When I found out we got a place on the rally back in March, it made me want one even more. Think about it, if the trip takes us 4-5 weeks, and I'll be driving for roughly half of that time, that equates to me sitting in a passenger seat for 2-2.5 weeks solidly. What am I going to do for for all that time?? I'm certainly not going to read any books, because that's just silly! The best solution would be to finally get a Nintendo DS!

Anyway, today I chanced upon bobmeetsworld.com, admittedly whilst googling "Win a DS" (funds are very low, so why not?). This looks like the perfect competition held by a very nice chap, Bob. It's his birthday on 9th May and so he's giving away a DS to one lucky person.

As well as the competition, you can check out his tips on generating traffic, as well as getting more rss subscribers. Good to everyone who enters, good luck Bob but most importantly, good luck me. I really need to win this.

14/05/07

Ben here! (with a little editing from David, mind)

So although it may seem David and I have fallen off the edge of the earth, we are indeed still on terra firma. The past week (or so) has not been unlike the proverbial rollercoaster. Experiencing euphoric highs and manic lows, we have endured day after day of false promises from potential sponsors to hugely generous donations.

We also got the chance to meet up with Boj and Robin of Goldenoeuf; two great lads who were more than willing to throw ideas around with us about the rally and manly car stuff. We hope to see them again soon to discuss things in more detail, along with any other London-based teams (get in touch if you are reading this!).

The wonderful Trustees of the Calleva Foundation have donated a kindly sum of £1000 on our behalf for Hope & Homes for Children. I am pleased to say that the considerable donation will make an incredible difference to children across Europe and beyond. We can’t thank the Calleva Foundation enough. This incredibly charitable gesture now means we have raised a massive £1101 for hope and homes alone, absolutely smashing our target of £400.

After attempting contact with the good people of iwantoneofthose.com last month, I received a call from the one and only Rachel Priest who agreed to donate to us the Scotty Pro Charger. This item will be invaluable for us along our perilous journey by keeping everything electrical full of charge, from phones, to laptops, to ipods, to cameras and so on. Thank you so much Rachel and many thanks to iwantoneofthose.com!

Mr. Jonathan Morgan of outdoordesign.co.uk has offered to donate some essential travel accessories for our journey as well! Of which, the solar shower is sure to be invaluable where majority of our journey won’t offer us any opportunity to wash otherwise!

Everyone who has donated toward our journey and causes will of course receive in exchange, prominent advertising on our website and our rally vehicle. They will also be mentioned in press releases we secure and of course have the opportunity to align themselves with worthwhile causes and all-out adventure!

So with that, I bid you adieu for now and many thanks to one and all who have donated to us so far!

03/05/07

In an attempt to make our site a little prettier, I modified our other teams page so that it included all the teams logos (where applicable)....and it only took me about 2 hours! Pointless? probably, but I had fun nonetheless, and it looks less boring now!

29/04/07-02/05/07

Nothing nothing nothing...things have really slowed down for our rally progress since ben got a proper job!

28/04/07

I've just remembered a bit of important news that we forgot to update the site with. Last week sometime (it may have even been a week before that come to think of it), we received and email from a lovely chap named Robin North. He said he came across our site through the Mongol Rally mailing list so decided to get in contact. Seems him and his team mate, Bojan live locally (Clapham and Wimbledon respectively) and are also doing the rally in an SJ. Their team name is Goldenoeuf, (tagged by the slightly questionable pun The World Is Not Un Oeuf - sorry guys, but it's the truth! :P).

Anyway, we're currently in the middle of trying to organise a rendezvous with them at some point to discuss the finer points of our 1.0 litre 4x4s! Hopefully this is soon, as we could use some advice from people who know more about our car than we do...

We're starting to worry a little about the fact that we haven't had anyone look over the car yet. After talking to Rob on the phone about our failed communications with those people, Rob suggested that we get in contact with SJ-Uk, who are the main Suzuki SJ specialist in the United Kingdom, so this is one of the next things we have to do!

28/04/07

Met up with some of my old uni friends this evening. Got thoroughly drunk, lost them half way through the night and had a rather delicious subway sandwich on the way home.

27/04/07

Work work work Señora, work it all the time...

26/04/07

The stereo casing arrived this morning, so thanks to Anil Patel of Rhino Force (Suzuki SJ and Samurai spare parts and specialists) for donating that to the cause, free of charge! Time to make that important call to Halfords now. One thing is slightly bothering us though, the casing doesn't seem to actually fit anywhere...but we'll leave that to the experts to worry about.

25/04/07

My books ended on ebay. I managed to sell 26 of them and make £52 which is awesome (one book went for £23!). I calculated that in order to have made that at the carboot sale, I would have had to sell 250 of the same books at the price we were selling them at, so not too shabby. Ben's car finishes tomorrow, but things aren't looking to good on the bidding, especially since the reserve is set at £1000 :( He has had a private offer of £900 though, so not too shabby! Looks like he'll probably just take that.

The days are slowly ticking by..less than three months till departure date!

17-24/04/07

Blimey, a week since the last update! Slackerssss! Apologies to all those 2 people who actually bother reading this but Ben and I have been really busy working...well Ben has at least, I spent the last week listing stuff on ebay, watching as the bids roll in and generally surfing the internet.

For anyone who might be interested, follow this link to see the items I am selling. Quick, most of them have less than a day less! (All proceeds going to charity)

16/04/07

After an exausting day yesterday, I didn't feel like doing anything extremely productive today, so instead I sat on my arse all day sending various emails to various people whilst ben played with his cousin (not in THAT way!).

I thought it would be a good idea to contact some past ralliers for advice, so I trawled through the list of past team's websites collecting addresses and sending emails off/adding people to msn. I received two email replies - one from Jenn and one from Johnathan (surnames I have no idea) - whilst Mel Deere added me on msn. Both Jenn (past team name: Bonkers Bovine) and Mel (past team name: Round the World in 80 Parts) were very helpful; providing me with some very useful information/advice about the forthcoming trip, so thank you so much!!

Johnathan might have been helpful if he'd actually done the rally...the poor guy said he'd encountered problems last year which meant that he and his team mate had to abandon the rally. He did ask whether there were any drop outs this year (which there are!) as he was keen to get involved, so I gladly fowarded the email which the MR organisers had sent us. Good luck to you sir!

Finally, Jenn has asked us to find what has become of her beloved car Bonnie in Ulan Bator. Watch this space Jenn..

15/04/07

Boot sale No.1! Waking up at the crack of dawn is never something I enjoy and this morning was no different. It did make me feel a little better than I wasn't the only one suffering, as Ben and I had managed to convince rope my dad and my girlfriend, Emily into coming along to help us...

By 6:15, we were in the queue for the Carboot taking place at Tiffen Boys School in Kingston. About one hour later we were let through the gates, which means I basically could have slept in for another hour -grumblemoanwhinemoregrumbling- etc.

Moaning aside, the day proved to be a fantastic success and we managed to raise about £170 towards the charities; blowing all our previous estimates completely out the water.

Thanks to my Dad and Emily for putting all the effort in, thanks to Mags (ben's mum) and Emma (ben's cousin) for bringing more stuff along to sell half way through, and thanks to my mum for buying me a bacon sandwich.

Tonight Ben and I decided to go for a right posh, slap up meal with all the money raised!!*

*not really.

14/04/07

Last week I managed to get hold of a copy of The Long Way Round (Ewan Mcgregor's mental round the world trip on bikes). We thought it would be a good idea seems his journey near-mirrors our one (bar a few countries). Ben and I watched the first episode this morning and we already picked up a few crucial pointers such as: successfully bribing border control officers, how to give CPR and probably most importantly to make sure we don't get shot. Looking forward to the next episode!

Ben didn't mention it before, but in order for Ryan to install the stereo in our car we would first need to get hold of a console unit for the headset to actually sit in. After a few enquiries, we had a few people get back to us saying they might be able to dig one out for us, so fingers crossed!

Ben and I spent most of the day generally being hungover and feeling sorry for ourselves. In the evening we loaded two cars full of junk to sell at a carboot sale tomorrow...which is good because we've been having trouble raising money recently :(.

13/04/07

Greetings all! Ben again.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people who have come to the forefront and offered their assistance, whether that be by financial aid or practical donations.

My Irish Mammy - for assisting me financially in order to procure our motor and subsidising my Visa application costs among other things, as my company have failed miserably to pay me properly... ahh, the joys of payroll.

My Dad - for being the knowledgeable gent that he is and teaching me plenty of interesting and useful things about engines as well as always being there when I'm in need of some more pound sterling.

Mr. James Iddon - my ex-colleague supremo for sending a surprise gift through the post in the form of an air pressure gauge, which will be invaluable no doubt throughout our travels.

Mr. Luke Carter - my old school chum for being the first to step to the plate and donate on our justgiving.com pages. If everyone was as generous as you kind sir, the world would be a better place.

Mr Reggie Norton - a very kind gentleman from The Coyle Trust, who made a personal donation as his particular trust does not align themselves with individuals.

Mr. & Mrs. Staffell - for being incredibly supportive both financially and practically. Both full of great ideas and always on hand to help.

Mr. Simon Maudsley - Mr. Red Bull.. who will be offering his brand's support in outdoor events organising, ensuring these will be days/evenings to remember. Stay tuned for more info on those!

and of course Mr. Ryan Connell - as mentioned below, of Halfords Chiswick, who selflessly throws himself into the hazard that is the wiring in our car, in order for us to remain sane and entertained throughout our odyssey.

All others will be mentioned in due course, so apologies to anyone I have unintentionally missed at this stage.

Edit: Thanks to Terry and Maureen for listing Flash in the first place, and thanks to Steve Maynard for selling us a hard top.

12/04/07

Today had David and I rolling around in our own revelry as we secured our first OFFICIAL sponsor in Halfords, courtesy of my good friend Ryan Connell (the manager... a-thank-you)! As our trusty mechanical steed has no sound system to speak of.. whatsoever, Mr Connell has been kind enough to donate a stereo head unit, some speakers front and back and whatever other electronic wizardry and gizmos he can source! Not only that, but being the renowned chain that they are, invites several other big named companies, who's stickers will adorn our lovable 4 wheel drive, such as Ripspeed and the like.

While this may not seem an immediate necessity to you all, place yourselves in the Kazakh desert, having driven nearly non-stop for well over 2 weeks, with only David or my questionable inner thoughts for company... some light relief in the form of Timbaland, Kaiser Chiefs and Kool & the Gang will possibly be the only thing that keeps my sanity preserved.

11/04/07

I am working tremendously hard one evening last week (ahem... as always) and upon completion of yet another stupendously flavoursome cocktail I look up to see an old friend of mine stood before me whom I haven't seen for some time.

After a brief catch up, I discover he is now the manager (and has been for some time) of a rather large branch of Halfords. A light bulb turns on, alarm bells ring, sirens blare... foghorns near drown out my inner monologue. With that, I announce to him my quest for the Holy Grail in Suxhbataar Square, Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia; to which he scoffs and proclaims, "You're bloody mad". Quire. This is fast becoming the phrase of the moment' so much so that when I overhear the phrase I automatically think myself the topic of conversation... not that I'm struggling with a vanity issue you understand. *awkward silence*

Once said friend had gained his composure from fits of laughter and disbelief, he offered for David and I to come down to his branch with Flash Bernard (our trusty Suzuki) and let him have a good look at it. I quote, "I'd be happy to pimp your ride". Shhweet (sic)!

ETA Halfords car park: Tomorrow 13:30

Stay tuned!

10/04/07

There hasn't been a news update for a few days because we haven't been doing anything productive. Today was different however as we finally finished off our visas and posted them off! Whooooo.

In other news, I also compiled a list of costs so far just to give ourselves and others and idea of the money we are putting into this project. Here it is in all it's expensive glory:

05/04/07

Also dedicated to getting visas done. Though all we actually did today was get our passport photos taken..

02-04/04/07

These last few days have been dedicated to filling out visas. Long.

01/04/07

In an unexpected turn of events, David Staffell has been jailed for severe procrastination in a court of law and perverting the course of justice, thus sentenced to a minimum of 3 ½ years in Wormwood Scrubs. In response to his sentencing he stated, “Rolf Harris, Rolf Harris. LOL”. Complete nonsense.

With this, I, Ben Curwood will be taking over the news updates for our team, while David gets to grips with communal showering [no pun intended].

APRIL FOOLS!

Back in reality, David and I have been hard at work on various bits and pieces, so I thought I would add my two pence to the news updates. Having looked over much of David’s blogging, I realise I am fast becoming a human enigma and beginning to doubt my own existence. With that in mind, I thought it best to update you on my side of things, lest young David be the recipient of all the ego-stroking and back-slapping. First person prose is the treacherous back-alley of team writing, but alas is near impossible to avoid.

In the past couple of weeks, while not working until 3am, I have been approaching local businesses with Dave and attempting to wow them with our adventurousness. With a mixed bag of results, I have come to the realisation that there is much to do and with that I have been hard at work securing donations from close friends and family. My many thanks to those who have promised to donate/have already donated and their recognition will be added to the website very soon.

This week should offer us another step forward when we meet with Simon ******** from ******** (full details released upon approval of said collaborator). He seems more than keen to help us and arranged a meeting for early this week to discuss events organising for fundraising and sponsorship. A thoroughly nice chap I must admit and not too dissimilar to myself!

Sadly, it is time for me to head off to work again, for what promises to be a busy, sweaty evening complete with drunken customers and a vomit-scented night bus journey home.

See you soon

À bientôt

Tschüss

Hasta manaña

Hej då

Ittekimasu

31/03/07

Dad and I went to pick up the hardtop this morning from swindon. We managed to get a little bit lost on the way, and ended up taking 2 hours longer than i'd hoped to get there, but at least we did get there in the end. Steve Maynard (the guy we were buying it from) was a real nice guy. Not only did he have his own Suzuki Samurai (SJ413 model), he was extremely knowledgeable about the car and he even helped us put the hard top on, which took about an hour!

As for the journey itself, the round trip was about 170 miles, and we encountered no problems whatsoever. We did however, go through about £30 worth of petrol, which seems to be a bit much for a relatviely short trip. A quick bit of maths tells me that if this is our average fuel consumption for the rally, we're looking at about £1500 on petrol alone. Errr...no thanks.

PS: Photos for the hardtop coming soon.

30/03/07

Day off.

29/03/07

We got our visa information today, and my god does it look complicated. We have until 11th April to get everything off (including payment and passports). That's under two weeks. Ben needs to sort out whether he needs a British passport post haste!

Added gallery, wishlist and other teams sections to the website, as well as adding a paypal button for anyone wishing to donate directly to our cause instead.

28/03/07

Managed to secure the sale of a removable hard top for our SJ for £80; is in Swindon so will have to arrange a pick up date soon. Really pleased about this!

In other news, visited some various places to talk about sponsorship. SAFE! Ended up being a wholly unsuccessful trip. Bugger. Not to worry though, as we are determined not to be disheartened.

25-27/03/07

Took a few days off from doing Mongol Rally stuff due to various other commitments.

24/03/07

Judgement Day. What an exciting/exhausting day. Ben and I woke at 6:00am, to make sure we had enough time to get to Kings Cross to collect our tickets for the 9:30 train from Liverpool Street to Ipswich. We arrived in Ipswich at about 10:45 and jumped in a taxi. 12 miles later, and £17.80 skinter, we arrived at our destination and met Terry and Maureen; the owners of our future love affair - a C Reg, 1985, dark grey Suzuki SJ410!

After being ushered into the quaint Ipswichian abode, we were offered the usual hot beverage/cakey treats as you'd expect from such welcoming people, and usual conversation ensued. Terry told us a little about the car and it's minor flaws - he even told us that when he started the car this morning, the battery was flat and that he had put it on charge for a few hours, but we didn't think anything of it (you have to appreciate we were still pretty tired at this point, and simple brain functions don't always go to plan!). We told the couple of our trip, the torture regime we had planned their poor little car and gave them the address for our website. They were extremely impressed (obviously!), excited, and said they would happily track our progress as we made updates to the website.

We took it for a test drive, and everything seemed fine until we had to slow down and stop. We quickly discovered the brakes were absolute shite, multiplying the average stopping distance by about 80 times - which was obviously going to be a problem. Ben reassured me, and when we spoke to Tezza about it, he said that they would tighten up after a bit of usage; fair enough. So we parted with the £275 asking price (which Terry kindly refunded £20 of towards our cause!), the pair parted with their beloved 'Zuk', and we were on our way. 15 minutes down the road, the tea took its caffeiney toll on our bladders and we pulled over in the services. As we slowed down, our car stalled. Bollocks, we thought, that's never good. After geting out the car, we noticed a puddle of browny liquid form under the front bumper. Bollocks part two. A swift phone call to my dear papa and we deduced that it could be the brake fluid. Luckily for us, on closer inspection, we discovered it was just the radiator water mixing with the rust in the car. (This isn't a major problem, just needs a bit of cleaning).

After using the garage's facilities; in other words, the bushes out the back, we hopped back into the car to find that the engine wouldn't start. A third pair of bollocks. Pulling the car over to the side and after many phone calls and much deliberation, we came to the conclusion that the battery was flat, at which point it dawned on us that the few hours charge Terry had given it that morning was no where near enough! We tried to get the AA to come out using my mum's membership card, but they wouldn't come unless she was present, so instead we had to pay a further £52 to add me to the membership. With another stroke of luck, the AA man was just round the corner, and was with us in 10 minutes. The AA dude was real nice, and we learnt about carbarator icing as a bonus. He did a few tests on the car and agreed that the battery was screwed. We were relieved when he said he had a spare battery with him for sale, it set us back £45 (£25 if we take into account terry's £20 donation), and we were on our way again.

It was already 3 in the afternoon, and it turned into a race against time as I had to be back for work for 5, but race was the last thing we wanted to do in a rusty 22 year old car, especially since the brakes had the responsivity of a dead frog. (I'll freely admit, I was convinced we'd crash into at least one car). We took it nice and easy at a 50-60mph average all the way back home leaving plenty of distance between the cars in front of us, and making sure Ben shouted BRAKES! at every possibly opportunity.

We arrived in Richmond safe and sound, but our last problem came when we went to fill her up with petrol. Firstly, we spent a good minute trying to work out how to get the cap off, before I thought I'd found the answer by completely unscrewing the top part. Of course, this seperated it from the internal part, which Ben preceded to poke back down the petrol pipe, and subsequently into the car. We eventually got it out, filled her up after wasting about 30 minutes and got him home safely to Hampton (which is where he'll live until the epic day). I got to work an hour and a half late, and was subjected to the busiest night I think I can remember, whilst Ben fell asleep on the couch at 8:30. All in all it was a good day, and made for some good practice of things to come!

23/03/07

Ben wrote up a press release.

22/03/07

Secured sponsorship with Red Bull, and in talks with another company about potential sponsorship.

20&21/03/07

Took some days off from MR stuff.

19/03/07

Today we had a meeting with a top secret company who seemed pretty keen to hear of our challenge and said once they'd checked over everything, they would get back to us. Fingers crossed. Also completed press letter.

18/03/07

Today we had a pint.

17/03/07

WE BOUGHT A CAR!! It was going for a buy it now price of £275 on ebay, so we just couldn't say no. It's a black SJ410, and you can check it out in 'the car' section on this website. It is in Ipswich, which isn't too bad, but still an annoying 2 and a half hours away. More details to come!

16/03/07

Today, we got our first donation of £20. Awesome! We also went to visit a local suzuki dealer to talk about sponsorship and various other issues. The general manager wasn't around, so we have to go back on Monday. Progress is good!

15/03/07

Added about, news, team, car, route, charities, sponsors, donate and contact pages.

14/03/07

Flash Bernard Logo and website front page created!