Frequently Asked Questions

Check the sign-up page for details of how to sign-up. 

If your car is registered outside the UK, this is no problem. You just need to ensure that you can give us the same details as would be found on a UK V5C registration certificate. You'll need this certificate to travel across borders with your car and is frequently called a "Car Passport" or "Machine Passport". It will contain key details for you car such as the Registered Owner, Make, Model, Engine Size, Chassis Number, Engine Number, Registration Number et al.

The Entry Fee for the Event does NOT include any telephone support whatsoever. If you get in a tricky situation, you need to call your insurance company or your mum.

We'll be accepting entries to the event until about a month before the launch. We will need time to process the import of vehicles into Mongolia so we can't promise that we will still be able to accept entries just before the launch, but we will try. It depends a lot on the date you intend to arrive in Mongolia. Contact us and we'll see what we can do.

You can join the rally from anywhere. If you want to start in Venice, Cape Town or Singapore we don't mind. We can't promise we'll be there to wave you off, but you'll be otherwise fully on the rally! We'll do everything we can to give you a full place on the rally as if you were starting from London, including sorting out the car import. We'll also help you publicise your team start point so that others can join you from the same start point. Let us know if there is anything else we can help with.

As many as you like. The world record for the number of people in a mini is 18. Beat that!

Petrol and diesel is readily available and you'll not need more than one spare jerry can providing you fill up everytime you see a petrol station.

No.
It will help if you do, but it isn't necessary. Being able to decipher the Cyrillic alphabet is useful for road signs. You'll find that a few gesticulations and "beckham" gets you a long way: invites to weddings will be piling up.

You can have as many as you want.

Not at all. This is a charity adventure not a mechanic's race. The less you know about cars the more fun you will have. There are plenty of cheap mechanics in the countries you travel through - breaking down is when you start having fun.

The deserts of Turkmenistan and Iran can hit 50 degrees in August, whilst the routes in western Mongolia will hit -10 at night by late September. Providing you get to Mongolia during July/August it shouldn't drop too cold at night. There will be lots of dust, though.

This can be quite tricky. First off, you can only buy insurance at a practical price if you stick to Europe and a bit beyond (e.g. Turkey). Secondly, don't mention 'rally' to any insurance company or they will think it is a race. Just tell them you are going exploring.

One useful trick is to cancel your UK insurance on the date you leave Europe, as outside Europe you buy the insurance at the border of the country you are driving into. They will only cover you third party. It is possible to get full cover but don't expect to get any money in the event of an accident!

You should get medical advice on injections and you must make sure you've got everything up to date. In remote places, you can't afford to get some nasty disease as there will be nobody to help you.

Rabies is useful, as dogs in Mongolia can be very aggresive, but is probably not worth the cost unless you plan on spending some time in Mongolia.

To take part in the rally, go to the sign-up page. If you want to leave at a different time, or in a future year, just sign-up and then contact us to tell us when you want to leave.

If you aren't sure yet, make sure you've created an account on the charity rallies network, and signed up for the email newsletters.

Of course not! You'll be driving through some remote places with no support system. If you want safety, take a weekend to Brighton.

If your car is registered outside the UK, this is no problem. You just need to ensure that you can give us the same details as would be found on a UK V5C registration certificate. You'll need this certificate to travel across borders with your car and is frequently called a "Car Passport" or "Machine Passport". It will contain key details for you car such as the Registered Owner, Make, Model, Engine Size, Chassis Number, Engine Number, Registration Number et al.

The import of the vehicles is handled by the Children’s Development Protection Fund and the cars are either used by the CDPF, transferred to other charities or sold on the open market with the proceeds used by the charity.

Yes, you can bring your vehicle back or leave it in Mongolia. The choice is yours.

Each vehicle is one team, no matter how many people you have in the vehicle.

Petrol and diesel is readily available and you'll not need more than one spare jerry can providing you fill up everytime you see a petrol station.

Not at all. This is a charity adventure not a mechanic's race. The less you know about cars the more fun you will have. There are plenty of cheap mechanics in the countries you travel through - breaking down is when you start having fun.

This can be quite tricky. First off, you can only buy insurance at a practical price if you stick to Europe and a bit beyond (e.g. Turkey). Secondly, don't mention 'rally' to any insurance company or they will think it is a race. Just tell them you are going exploring.

One useful trick is to cancel your UK insurance on the date you leave Europe, as outside Europe you buy the insurance at the border of the country you are driving into. They will only cover you third party. It is possible to get full cover but don't expect to get any money in the event of an accident!

You can join the rally from anywhere. If you want to start in Venice, Cape Town or Singapore we don't mind. We can't promise we'll be there to wave you off, but you'll be otherwise fully on the rally! We'll do everything we can to give you a full place on the rally as if you were starting from London, including sorting out the car import. We'll also help you publicise your team start point so that others can join you from the same start point. Let us know if there is anything else we can help with.

No. There are loads of different routes. The more creative and silly the route, the better. Two of the trustees have driven a route to Mongolia and took 76 days, another did it in two weeks. It depends on the route and how much you explore off the beaten track.

No.
It will help if you do, but it isn't necessary. Being able to decipher the Cyrillic alphabet is useful for road signs. You'll find that a few gesticulations and "beckham" gets you a long way: invites to weddings will be piling up.