“Neither tried nor tested”: Launching the Mongol Rally at the Festival of Slow.

What do you get with 170(ish) tiny hatchback cars, 50 or so second-hand ambulances, a handful of firetrucks (all sirens still definitely in working order), and approximately 700 people crazy enough to think they can drive from London to Mongolia? You get the Mongol Rally, that’s what.

I was beyond stoked when my new favorite friends, the Adventurists, asked me to come down yesterday to the Goodwood Motor Circuit outside Chichester to help photograph the Festival of Slow, the massive celebration they put on to launch the Mongol Rally every year. With another 90 teams due to meet up in Prague tomorrow with the 230 that took off from the UK, that’s well over 300 teams who will all be attempting a pretty ridiculous journey: 10,000 miles in six weeks through countries you don’t hear often listed on a traveller’s itinerary: Slovakia, Ukraine, Iran, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and–of course–Mongolia.

With teams hailing from the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, the US, Canada, and even South Korea, their final destination was really the only thing they had in common. “Monmouth to Mongolia,” “Salem to Mongolia,” “England to Mongolia”–and so the sides of each car seemed to read. Throughout the day, stories filtered around of Australians wandering into the makeshift office asking if there were any maps for sale, of groups waiting on a missing team member literally flying into Heathrow on that day from Canada, and of girls who’d booked themselves rooms at places like the Hilton in Moscow and the Radisson in Iran. Come on girls, I wanted to say, we can do better than that.

What made the day even more exciting for me was having a vested interest in a couple of the teams. My good friend Edward and his teammate Alex are driving under the name of Banter Bus–visit their website to get updates and follow along. Another group of new travel blogging friends, Sherry Ott of Ottsworld, Dave and Deb of the Planet D, and Rick Griffin of Midlife Road Trip, are all making the trek together in the same impossibly small car. Getting to stop by their car stands and wish both teams good luck before they set off was such a great part of the day.

But perhaps my coolest memory was sporting an oh-so-attractive green vest and flashing my hot pink wristband at the guards that allowed me access onto the track of such a historic venue in Britain. As I ran up and down the sides of the starting line, snapping pics of all the teams as they shot out confetti and filled the air with horns and sirens and yells, it was all I could do not to jump into one of the cars and take off with them.

But, as they say, there’s always next year…

Good luck to everyone taking part in the rally–see you in Mongolia!