Mongolia - Part Two

The road to Altai was horrendous. The gravel track turned into this weird, corrugated surface which rattled your bones to their very core. How it forms I have no idea - if it’s natural, it’s proof mother nature is evil. if it was man made, the guy was a total moron. Either way traveling at 20MPH over this will shake both you and the car to their component parts, so the only way is to speed up to about 50MPH and ride the crests of each ridge. This does work, but you have to keep the momentum up and if you spot a pothole, panic. It was here one of our weaker tyres (slightly dried out sidewall) decided to give way in quite a dramatic fashion…

At the time I was driving and barely even noticed at first – the surface is so violent and so noisy, I simply thought the road had just got even rougher. Then, out of the corner of my eye I noticed the rear bumper (ripped off by the flailing rubber) flapping about wildly in my rear view mirror and decided that something might me amiss.

Tyre replaced, we set up camp about 100KM from Altai and moved out the next morning - along the wrong road. Usually it didn’t matter if you take the left, un-signposted form or the right, un-signposted fork – they will come out together in the end. I guess this one did too, but it took 45KM to do so. In the mean time we were on a much less traveled route, only about the width of the car through the barren step, and it just felt wrong. We were still heading for the gap between two mountains a long way off in the distance, so hopefully it would work out….

This road got very rough, and morals dipped. Every now and then we would have to cross a ditch, usually at diagonals to keep ground clearance to a maximum. Our car was starting to run like crap; the Turkish exhaust welds had come apart so it was loud again, but we had a bigger problem. The check engine light would flash constantly and she would misfire, not wanting to go above 30MPH. Then it would sort itself, the light would stop flashing and we could power up to 50MPH, before it would die again. We assumed we must have bought bad fuel (the stuff we were running was a lot more yellow than it should be) or something more serious.

To make matters worse, our roof rack was starting to give up; 8000 miles had taken its toll on our roof, the weight of the rack crushing in the sides so that the feet of our THULE bars had no where to properly sit. They were spreading slightly and in effect, only the middle clamps were holding it to the car. Brake hard, and the whole lot slid forward, requiring us to get out and tighten it all up. The Siberian Tigers also had problems; a leaking gearbox and a ripped coolant line that kept requiring a patch up - every time we crossed a rough rut or dip, the repair would tear off. For the first time we worried we might not make it. We needed to get to Altai, and soon.

When we caught site of the major ‘road’ again (basically just a wider, more destroyed version of what we were on already) there was a noticeable sense of relief in the car. It was still running like garbage but help was near. We weren’t the only ones suffering…every 20KM or so we would find a rally team by the road side. A Danish team with a Mazda Demio had snapped an axle; a Fiesta with snapped rear springs; a Spanish Clio with a front wing missing two flats. These roads were starting to trash the cars, at least ours was still moving.

Altai appeared on the horizon around 4pm, and we discovered some industrious local garage owner had put up signs - ‘Mongol Rally Servis’. That’ll do me. Once there (along with a few more rally cars nursing wounds) we pointed at the EML and tried to gesture ‘rough running’…fingers crossed, we went to get something to eat.

Its worth mentioning at this point that you will NEVER be dirtier than you are after a week in Mongolia working on cars with no shower. Everything in or on the car is caked in dust or grime too, so after a wash with wet wipes you are instantly dirty again. Thus when we sat down for some ‘Buuz’ (steamed dumpling parcels filled with mystery meat, but pretty amazing) we looked like this.

After food, we found our mechanic. He ushered me around to the engine bay, unplugged what I would call the MAF - it was a sensor on the air box, so I assume that’s what it was - and got us to turn her over. It idled and revved perfectly. With a gesture of his spanner he shouted ‘Kaput’ at the sensor and said to leave it unplugged. He had also welded a bit of steel on where our sump guard had been and charged us $40. I was a very, very happy chappy. I got a puncture repair for a little over a dollar on our remaining spare and The Unprofessionals were back on track!

After setting up camp some way out of Altai and good nights sleep, we hit the road once again. More wide gravel tracks, more nothingness… time for some larking about perhaps?

We started with a drag race between the Skoda and the Accent (we killed them) and filmed a few clips of the car doing donuts, us playing golf in the steppe etc. Then…a final video which would proof one too many…

Next - Destination: Ulaan Baatar…



1 Comment

1. Kylie Batt says:

   May 20th, 2010

   Замечательное сообщение…

   Этимологический словник російської мови. В 4 т. Т. 3 (Муза - СЯП) if it was man made, the guy was a total moron. Either way traveling at […….

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