The latest addition to the rear flanks!

A really big thank you to Marshall and Mo Carter, from the Pan-Clan N\West.  A very generous donation of £200 to St. John’s Hospice, Wirral.

From a fellow TR-Drivers Club members, Andy and Kirsty, who’ve kindly donated three large rolls of Gaffa tape, a bundle of assorted plastic ties and two cans of WD40.  What are you inferring? It’s a Hyundai, for goodness sake - it’ll be fine! See you at Billing in June!

Gosh! I feel like a school-kid again. Why? I’ve been learning how to navigate using GPS. Not the ‘take the next turning on the right’ sort of in-car navigation that we all know and love, but rather the ‘find you way across the next 150km of sandy shale using a three-legged camel and a ball-point pen’ type of navigation that’s much more useful when the road runs out somewhere in the middle of the Gobi Desert.

Individual members of the team have taken on separate responsibilities for the trip. Paul is now CC of all things mechanical. If it moves, has a propensity to break or seize up, then it’s down to him. That includes the replacing of cam-belts – and the repair of punctures – the fitting of light bulbs and re-fixing those loose bits of trim.    Oil pumps, fuel pumps, foot pumps and plug-gaps. Wheel bearings and track rods. In layman’s terms, all the oily bits. If we had it, his responsibilities would also include the maintenance of the air-conditioning system.

Another heavy responsibility is that of CC all things IT, Planning, Routing, and Logistics. Communications – and Spreadsheets.  Finance, and Sponsorship.

It includes anything [and everything] that doesn’t involve any form of pushing, pulling or getting wet feet. Guess that’s me.

 Finally, there’s Ade. The Wirral Contingent; the standard-bearer for all our friends north of Watford Gap.  He’s an avid born-again biker – and a biker who’s already got extensive experience in the administration of First Aid. He’s the obvious ‘team choice’ to be the one to go on a more intensive two-day course on ‘Adventure Survival’ and ‘How to fix broken bones with a toothpick and a piece of string….’           The countdown continues!

Thanks to Messrs Halfords [Sevenoaks] we now have a fire extinguisher, a portable cooking stove and a pair of ratchet straps….

The crew-members of Team-Phoenix are extremely grateful to VAL McMILLAN - and the members of the TR-DRIVERS CLUB - for kindly funding our Ferry Crossing to France in July! That’s another problem off our minds!

Having a vehicle on the road in full Rally livery is undoubtedly paying dividends. It has been seen - and reported upon - in the local Parish Magazine, and as the bonnet fills with signatures and messages of goodwill it gets easier: most are happy to drop unwanted shrapnel – and surplus car-park money – into the Official hospice collecting tin in exchange for a short loan of the indelible marker kept in the door pocket expressly for the purpose. We even give our supporters a choice of colours – red, blue or black. How many autographs will the average bonnet hold? More than you’d think: even indelible marker starts to fade when exposed to prolonged daylight! Finally, back to the graphics – the important public face of the car. We’ve been ‘given’ a sheet of authentic aircraft decals, something that may help to explain the large red notice fixed to both doors – Lift Handle to Open – and the JET FUEL ONLY sticker that takes pride of place on the filler cap. It even warns that ‘additives will be required for sub-zero temperatures’.

Please take the time to check out our latest Sponsor’s Web Site, www.dogcamsport.co.uk   A real essential, non-essential!

Thank you, Dogcam!

One hundred days into the countdown and we’re still being asked why anybody want to take a 1345cc Hyundai Accent all the way to Ulaanbaatar. Unfortunately, there’s no simple answer. ‘Why Not?’ is probably the best retort, but it’s not enough. Boiled down to the grist, along with Old Man Time the opportunity to see a large slice of hitherto undiscovered world is also slipping away. The chance to drive to Mongolia by way of Cappadocia is going to be a lot more of an unforgettable experience than popping into the likes of a local travel agency and booking a package-holiday in Hotel Rippoff, where one is cosseted for ten days by disinterested reps wearing blue coats. Once the die is cast there’s a lot to learn in double-quick time: the route – once committed to memory by with sufficient flexibility to absorb knockbacks – must include a visit to the ship’s graveyard at Zhalanash, in Kazakhstan. However, it seems that the wrecks are inaccessible by normal two-wheel drive vehicles so a photo shoot of the Hyundai slewed carelessly alongside one or more of the abandoned wrecks seems to be out of the question.  On the other hand, if the site is actually accessibly by 4x4s then all is not lost: we have, after all, a nice new tow-rope that cost us the princely sum of £1:00.

With potential trouble looming in Iran, the decision has now been taken for my team to cross from Turkey into Russia by way of the Black Sea. This will negate the need to enter either Iran, and will also close the doors on Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – a shame, because two other must-see’s that will fall by the wayside are the Gates Of Hell at Darvaza and the Russian Space Centre at  Baikonur.

 Another valid reason for undertaking such an adventurous jaunt is much more difficult to define: there comes a time when suddenly the prospect of doing something way out exceeds the desire to plod on day-by-day waiting for retirement and the eventual, inevitable slide into a ‘nice’ residential home somewhere.

Mix in a number of  informative and entertaining blogs from the 2011 contenders [www.returnoftheyak.com] and it’s a done deal!

 Unfortunately, their superb Skoda Fabia failed to make the finishing line, but shrewd planning ensured the Yak that had been carried – on the roof – all the way from Goodwood actually made it to the Finishers Party! 

More collusion. This one isn’t happier than when being knee-deep in thick mud at Guide Camp.   A sleeping bag, a tin plate and a tin mug - together with a set of camping-cutlery - was her chosen gift. If I can work out how to seperate the stainless steel knife from the matching fork and spoon then I won’t go hungry. The poor horse with a stone in it’s hoof?  Could be dinner now….