Off to Mongolia in a fire engine

Fiona Howard • Published 20 May 2010 10:53 0 Comments

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A GARELOCHHEAD man, his sister and some friends are Mongolia bound ... in an old fire engine.

Steve Smith, whose family home is in Portincaple, his step-sister Kate Austin who lives in Rosneath, and five friends are hard at work making preparations to join this year's Mongol Rally in their 1994 Dennis fire engine.

Steve, who has given up his job as chief engineer on the luxury yacht MY Arkley, and come home to Britain to prepare for the rally said: "I have been thinking about doing the Mongol Rally for some years and this year just decided to go for it."

The Mongol Rally is a 10,000-mile adventure with no back up. The rules dictate: "You are entirely responsible for yourself. If something goes wrong or you get yourself in a right old pickle, you have to get yourself out of it - there is absolutely no support or back-up once you hit the road.

"When you sign up you will have to sign our team entry agreement where you agree that you're definitely on an adventure, and definitely on your own."

But it is not just about sometimes hair-raising adventure; it is also about charity.

Each team has to raise a minimum of £1,000 for the rally charities and at the other end the vehicles are donated to the cause and auctioned off to raise funds for Mongolian charities supported by the rally.

The main rally is for small "granny cars" less than one litre in engine size but there is a new large vehicles category initiated a couple of years ago, for emergency or public service vehicles which can be used in Mongolia when they get there.

The organisers say: "We like to think of this as the evolution of the vehicles of significant comedy value but with a slightly more useful twist."

The old fire engine has until recently been serving as a fire engine limo providing entertainment for hen nights and other parties but Steve wants to see her back at her real work in Mongolia.

The rally begins on July 24 at Goodwood and Steve expects to take about six weeks to get to Mongolia.

Work has begun on the route planning and Steve is soon to sit his HGV driving test.

Steve and his band of adventurers will be raising cash for the Mongolian charities but also for Guide Dogs for the Blind because Kate has recently trained a guide dog puppy which has now started work for a Helensburgh owner.

Steve will be bringing the fire engine to Helensburgh so that he can rope his dad Willie in to helping get her ready for the adventure.

l If anyone would like to know more they can visit the rally website at http://mongolrally.theadventurists.com

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