LINGsCARS Mongol Rally - 2 British Lads Drive to Ulan Bator

James Rickwood-Dodsworth and Andy Wallace (both 19), from Newcastle and Gateshead cross Europe and take in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the Mongol Rally 2006.

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We want to drive to Mongolia, but there's a crazy Chinese woman standing on top of our newly-purchased car, in Gateshead, yelling "Take photos!".

Ling Valentine from our major sponsor LINGsCARS.com had just finished filming her promotional video for her new-car leasing website and we were all exhausted. She had forced us to drive like rally madmen for her video, and the car smelt hot. As soon as Ling's boots abandoned our roof and hit the ground, we hit the road.

Why did we choose a mental Chinese woman for a sponsor? Earlier, Ling had provided our food as she had promised. Eight boxes of identical "Chicken soup flavour" sell-by-date this month, Chinese brand packet noodle had been thrown into our Fiat, along with 100 pairs of chopsticks and two boxes of Chinese tea bags. We stood there and watched, with our mouths open. We were expecting food, not dried chemicals. "Go!" Ling simply yelled after provisioning us, then turned her back and walked off.

We jumped straight back in the rubbish car we had bought, an R reg Fiat Seicento, and it took us 7 hours to reach London from Gateshead. The rally rules stipulate a "car less than 1000cc", and when it was sitting and shining at the photo shoot, our black LINGsCARS Seicento had seemed a fine choice. That was before three breakdowns on the way to London; the radiator hose kept falling off the Seicento and eventually the engine seized. We reached the hotel at 2am and it seemed as if our rally was over. We called Ling, to apologise. "You useless! Mend car! Send photos!", she shouted, and the phone hammered down.
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Copyright LINGsCARS.com 2006

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Ling
• Valentine
• LINGsCARS
• LINGsCARS.com
• car
• cars
• lease
• leasing
• contract
• hire
• auto
• Mongol
• Rally
• Fiat
• Seicento
• Charity

[LINGsCARS]

No - Ling

[philball31]

Even though its a cinquecento......not a seicento....2 different looking cars.....and if memory serves.....says on the back of them

[AlanChurchill]

You never went did you??!?!?!?!?

[rs05uk]

Wanna sponser me, ill drive round in one of your finest with your graphics plastered up the car of your choice? (Preferably exotic). A garanteed result of profits to be made :), Unless you need a photographer, I do that too. I dont eat dragons for breakfast but i would do after a night of absoloute binge drinking.

[andycee33]

Shame they couldn't have thought of something more interesting to film rather than driving round a piece of wasteland like typical 19 year old boys !

[dredmaster]

lol my father hawe rally from berlin to mongolia in TRANSSYBERIA 2006 and win on secound place .. so this is nothing :P

[hohnjooper]

Great graphics I bet Hooper Signs of Gosforth did them!

[threecundies]

Gateshead to Ulan Bator, or a spin around a patch of scrapland near the Team Valley Trading Estate?

I like the idea of linking Gateshead (which Dr Johnson once described as a dirty road on the way to Newcastle) to Ulan Bator (which I believe translates as "Red Hero", a throwback to the 1920s when Mongolia became the world's second communist country after Soviet Russia).

Any chance of posting some shots of Felling Square or the Heworth roundabout?

[rohe60]

Any chance to see Ling naked ?