Will update with working pic links!
Here's the second load of photos and a bit of a story, right the way back from Kiev to the end. Unfortunately there was a bit of a lapse towards the end as I found myself too busy to take photos! Amazingly there are none of me fixing the car!
So finally, after about 4 days it was time to leave Kiev and head for the Ukraine/Russia border. On the way down however, there was a hell of a surpise... I'm falling asleep in the passenger seat when I swear to God I see a capri go past in the opposite direct. Surely not?!
But yup, sure enough... a few minutes later a capri pops up along side us:
After lots of shouting and arming waving, we decide that pulling over is the more sensible option.
Turns out that the 50deg North guys, Andy, Norm and Larry had to turn round and head back. It should so happended that be all turned out to be driving the same bit of road at the same time! What a crazy coinicidence, we could so easily have missed each other, but I'm so glad we didn't, what a laugh it was.
Great to meet the guys at last and there was even a ceremonial handing over of the golf club, so that we could hit a golf ball into the Gobi Desert on Andy's behalf!
Set up tent by a random lake for the night. Got a scare when we heard a car pull up and lots of shouting, expecting to be greeted by an angry farmer. But it turned out to be a group of locals wanting a bit of a curse word up!
Then it was back on the road to Lugansk, not without seeing more old ladies walk their cows of course:
In Lugansk, Bogdan had arranged for us to stay at his mother's, who unfortunately didn't speak a word of English! He also sent two of his friends home from holiday in Crimea to come and look after us!
Victor (second from left) and Dimitri (right), who were both huge characters and great fun. They looked after us extremely well, driving us around the city showing us the sites and making the occasional stop for "business...!
One of the main places they took us too was a random collection of old military aircraft that was tucked away in the outskirts on part of what looked like an old, disused airfield.
Very close to this was a small but cool scrap yard. The owner apparently is known for being crazy and drives all over to collect cars that most people assume fit for scrap and restoring them. I'm even sure I saw a cupole of mk3 escort shells... but I'm not sure!
Later that evening, Victor asked if we would go to his English speaking evening class. This was a crazy crazy experience. The students were so intrigued about Britian, England, being English etc. it was clear that very very rarely get to meet British people and treated us like celebs or something. They asked us so many questions, that were anything from language related, to political, to how easily we could get mobile phone coverage in Ukraine!
The following day we went to collect the car from a garage having had a UJ replaced
Outside was this gorgeous Lada, which looked like it had just had a respray.
Olly also found some USSR Ice cream:
Then, as we were driving around the town, we recieved a text from a couple of Irish guys we met in Kiev, saying that they were in Lugansk, just about to leave and head to the border. Within literally 5 seconds of Olly pressing send on a text reply, they appeared in the lane next to us! Lots of horn tooting and arm waving later, we had ourselves some new Mongol buddies to convoy with.
Couple more photos from Lugansk:
So, on the road again! Next stop Volgograd, or as many people know it, Stalingrad. A strange city, that to be honest we didn't get to see much of due to time constraints. We did however, stay in what we are fairly sure was a brothel and get to see the mother Russia statue, which was EXTREMELY impressive.
Inside the memorial there, the soldiers were very similar to those that you might see outside Buckingham Palace. Except this one guy, who wandered round casually telling members of the public off... and then strolled over to his statue-like mates so that he could tuck their shirts in and wipe their brows!
After Volgograd... Kazakhstan border at Astrakahn.
On the way down the terrain changed dramatically and we started to realise what we were letting ourselves in for. Very little wildlife, few animals, fewer people...!
Found a nice place to stop for a picnic though, a VERY dry river bed.
Olly was keen for some driveby shots
Got to astrakahn, got on the right road to the border and set up camp
The following day was just bizarre. We got to the border in good time and met a large group of French offroaders. They are a club called the Globe Trotters and every year go on an epic trip to different locations. They did Mongolia last year and chose Peking this year. These guys were seriously tooled up. They had more computers in their cars than most offices and the cars themselves were equally well equipped and suited to the task ahead. At this point we started to wonder if we'd chosen the right car...!
Luckily for us they had employed a Russian fixer and seeing as we managed to sneak in the mdddle of their group this made the Russian side of the border very easy!
The Kazakh side however.... not so much!
Halfway through sorting our vehicles' paperwork, the guard explained to Olly that everyone was going for lunch. Actually everyone. Myself and Donal, the passenger in the pickup had crossed through as passneger but were still in the border, just on the otherside of customs. So, the two of us were on one side, the two drivers on the other and the only other person inside the border crossing was a guard at the gate to stop us getting out! It was just bizarre and in the end we ended up having a picnic on the back of the pick up!
Finally through the border, Kazakhstan wasn't too great to the cars.
The pick up was in a bad way, spewing gearbox oil and smoke everywhere. In the end we found a petrol station, who picked a random customer to lead us to a garage (it's Sunday btw!). A couple of attempts and we found a lady with her children and no mechanic! Eventually the mechanic returned and after half the village crammed themselves into the garage to find out what was going on, much more arm waving and absolutely no succesful verbal communication, the problem was identified and work started. Only for us to be ushered inside and fed dinner! Again, the two ladies were so interested in this random bunch of westerners, it was crazy! Via our Russian phrasebook they wanted to know everything about us. I really can't explain what it's like to be an Englishman somewhere like this, it's incredible how well we were treated.
With the pickup sort of fixed and the imp now with a blown HG due to a dud waterpump, we plowed on towards Atyrau, Kazakstans first major city in the West of the country. Here the imp was fixed and we bumped into another couple of teams. One of which had to hang around for a couple of days whilst one of it's members got a rabies shot!
We met an Ex-pat working in the oil industry who allowed us to use his huge workshop to carry out our repairs, which consisted of raising the suspension, replacing the HG and fixing the extra, auxillarly electronic waterpump. First thing I saw as I walked into the 'shop...
Bloody MGB's get everywhere
One team we picked up was in a polski fiat 126, with a Russian speaking member... perfect! Our convoy had just gained a new member.
As we left Atyrau, we were told countless times to head up North West to Ural, and the East to Aktobe, as the road was far superiour. It's alright, we have a Russian speaker, so finding this road won't be a problem surely? WRONG. We managed to pick up the wrong road we were told to avoid by just about.... everyone!
The road was awful, I mean SERIOUSLY awful. Word's cannot describe how awful in fact. Well, they probably could, but my vocabularly is not sufficiently well developed! The good point was, that now we really felt like we were on the rally and doing what we were supposed to be, it was awesome!
Things went SERIOUSLY pear shaped from here though. The fiat started having what appeared to be gearbox problems and ended up getting towed a fairly decent way being the pickup. It got worse when it brakes started to fail and the tow rope snapped!
Someone came up with the idea though of ratchet strapping the fiat to the back of the pick up though and for some reason, enough people agreed for it to go ahead. Needless to say, it went wrong!
That night we camped, only to be rudely awoken by alot of goats the following morning!
It was not long after this that we started to notice the imp suspension appeared to be dropping again on one side.
As you may be able to see here, there was a visible kink on one arch
and further inspection revealed alot of damage to the shell
The roads were so poor and full of potholes, the car was literally trying to fold itself in half!
We ended up limping it to another town in the hope of finding a welder, but all that came of it was the pick up and fiat getting stuck in the sand, and a game of volleyball with the village kids!
So, in the end the decision was made to do a U-ey and head back to Atyrau, where we were to be looked after by our new ex-pat friend.
We left the fiat, who eventually we picked up by another team after struggling to find a tow from a local/truck
Have a couple of piccies from a random truck stop
When we got back to Atyrau and into the workshop, the damage to the shell was staggering. It had crack in the X, Y and Z planes, around the shock area, inner arch and floor. This pic shows some of the damage, but no where near all of it. You can also see one of the first plates that was welded in.
Shaun Weaver, our ex-pat friend was awesome. Whilst the work was being done on the car he arranged for us to be sent down to his place, where he took us out on the river behind his speedboat and played about with the various rubber inflatables you more often see in meditarean (sp?) holiday resorts! No photos I'm afraid, I was having too much fun.
He then took us out to dinner and really looked after us. He was supposed to be on the rally this year, taking part in an old shape mini. He had to drop out however when his team mate went AWOL. He is very keen on the rally and helps ralliers every year, as many pass through Atyrau, where he lives and works.
Eventually the car was all welded up and ready togo. Shaun's welder who was Russian and spoke little English kept saying "next job" till I couldn't think of anything else for him to do!
we headed out of Atyrau again, back into the dessert/steppe.
Where the pickup got stuck
We were doing well and were finally going East again. Until... I made the mistake of asking the guys to stop for a p*ss break. We did and both the cars were turned off.
Mistake #1. The pick up starter motor had been playing up and required a swift introduction to Sheryl, the crow bar in order for it to start. This time however, it was being stubborn.
Mistake #2. As we were trying to thwack the starter motor for the millionth time, we're not sure who, but someone slipped and hit a brake line. So we were left with a car that wouldn't start and no brakes!
After about 100km going backwards and forwards in the imp, we eventually turned round and limped the pickup back to the previous town. Some random guys were found on the street and employed to change the brake line, with massive thanks to their English speaking sister! Again, we experienced what it was like to be British in such a place, when a taxi driver dropped his son off with us so that he could learn/practice/improve his English whilst the car was fixed!
FINALLY, on the road again and heading East. We thought this was it, we'd lost nearly two weeks in Ukraine and Atyrau by this point and were keen to crack on. It was very apparent that we weren't going to make the finish on time we'd planned but hey, who cared?!
We got 30km out of the town and bang... there goes the imp gearbox. Crunching and grinding started and after a few km's of limping, we lost all four gears within about 30seconds of each other.
Side of the road. Again.
Neutral was inaccessible, so the rotoflexs were removed in order for the car to be towed. But the driveshafts were flailing around everywhere smashing the what not out of everything and anything.
We pulled over and slept in the car.
The following morning, we evaluated our situation and the car.
The gearbox was spent. The brakes were fading and it became apparent that the shell was still bending. The kink that had appeared on the offside arch had also popped up on the nearside. This time however it was much worse and the rear suspension on that side had visably sunk a few inches.
The brakes were dieing, loosing fluid from an unidentifiable location, the doors no longer closed because of the shell bending and the rear nearside window was trying to break free.
We made the extremely tough decision, that the car probably wasn't going to take any further part in the rally. Now THAT was difficult. Trust me.
Still, that wasn't all, the car was untowable after all. It took two more trips and all day to return to the previous town in order to find a 38mm socket. Required to remove the driveshafts completely. Once this was done however I realised my mistake and set about removing the UJs inorder to separat the hubshafts and refitt them, so that the wheels would stay on!
It is SUCH a horrible feeling, to spend so long and so much time working on a car, knowing that you will not get to drive it again and you are in fact making it even less driveable.
So, after a 500km tow to the next city, the car was disposed of at Customs. Things weren't that simple though. As final nails in the coffin, the tow rope snapped as we arrived at the city and the rear side window made a break for freedom.
As if it wasn't soul destroying enough though, we then had to watch our car be lynched out side the local police station by policemen and passers by for anything they could lay their hands on that I said I didn't need. They were like vultures, ripping our baby to bits
Still, we're proud of what we achieved and believe we gave it our all. By the end of it the imp had lada rotoflexs, a waterpump off a jag and suspension rubbers from a Merc!
It may not have got to Mongolia, but in all honesty both we and it were underprepared. At least there is now an imp in Kazakhstan and some of it will inevitable go on to help a Lada or something similar get another few 1000kms
One of a seriously wonky imp
and of a sad looking imp
At the time of writing, it's 4am in Kostanay, a city in North Kazakhstan. Olly has joined the boys in the pick up and is carrying onto Mongolia, whilst I'm sitting in a hotel room... again, potentially and probably a brothel, waiting for my flight in the morning. The good news I guess, is that it's my 21st birthday. By my reckoning that means cheaper car insurance and the potential for day cover. Awesome.
It was fun whilst it lasted... well, most of it
So be honest, who thought we would get as far as Kazakhstan?
I've put most of the interesting pics in here, but there may be a few more you've not seen in the photobucket, so check it out!
www.photobucket.com/albums/ae56/impposiblewww.imp-possible.co.ukThanks to all of you who supported us in anyway at all. There are a few individuals who were just superb, I'd love to name them but I'd hate to leave anyone out and upset them. I'm sure you all know who you are anyway.
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Ax GTi Turbo