A BAKERY firm worker is ready to roll as he prepares for an epic 8,000-mile car rally across 15 countries with three pals – in an old banger that cost just £500.
Car enthusiast George Loftus, who works the Jones Village Bakery in Wrexham, will be taking part in this year’s Mongol Rally that’s been described as “motoring stupidity on a grand scale”.
Along the way they will be driving on the world’s second highest road, the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan which reaches 15,272 feet.
At that point the oxygen is so thin it’s hard to breathe and is likely affect the car’s engine – so they might have to start pushing.
According to George, a senior development technologist, he and his mates, Tom Suter, Jon Fowell and Ying Baker, were inspired by the crazy adventures of Top Gear trio Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond.
The team have called themselves No Half Sends – a slang term for no half measure. The madcap motorists first met at Shropshire’s Harper Adams University where they bonded over their interest in cars.
George, who lives in the Sundorne area of Shrewsbury and previously lived just outside Whitchurch on his parents’ farm, revealed the team will be taking part in the rally in a Renault Clio 2009 Sport Tourer.
The car has a 1.2 litre petrol engine, already has 138,000 miles on the clock – and it may not be entirely reliable, George admits.
George, 27, said: “The Mongol Rally is an organised charity rally that runs each year.
“It started off in 2004, and it sees teams take a small and unreliable car from Prague to Oskemen, Kazakhstan.
“Teams are given a start location and time, and a finish location and time – and that is it.
“There is no set route so teams must plan their own way.
“The rally organisers like to promote the adventure aspect by allowing teams to come up with their own route and embrace the unpredictability that comes with travelling intercontinentally.
“There are just a couple of rules – the car engine must be no bigger than 1.3 litres, and £500 must be raised for the Cool Earth charity.”
George and the team, one of 198 groups taking part this year, will be counting up the countries even before they reach the start in Prague.
Starting in the UK, they will travel through France, Belgium and Germany to reach the Czech Republic.
From there, the rally team will head through Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Georgia.
Then it’s a spin through Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan before reaching the finish line in Kazakhstan.
Although it might seem like a half-baked idea, fortunately George knows a thing or two about running repairs should they be needed.
George said: “It will take us two days just to get to the official start line in Prague from the UK, that alone will be about 800 to 1,000 miles for the start on July 13.
“We will cross into Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, and that will be interesting to see the landscape change there.
“Then we head down to Turkey and we’re looking forward to driving in Istanbul, we’re staying there for a night.
“We then head to Georgia but currently the border is shut between Georgia and Azerbaijan so we have to ship our car from Tbilisi to Baku on the back of a lorry and we will fly across the border and then wait in Baku to collect the car.
“Once we’ve got the car, we are crossing the Caspian Sea on a ferry.
“In Kazakhstan you’re now coming onto dirt roads and then cross the border into Uzbekistan, then into Tajikistan.”
George said the team will have to think about altitude sickness when they reach the Pamir Highway, believed to be the second highest road in the world.
He said: “Oxygen gets a little bit thinner up there, and that’s where you start thinking about taking altitude sickness tablets.
“The car will start to struggle with the lack of oxygen but also as you go further east the fuel quality drops as well so the car won’t run as well.”
He thanked the Village Bakery for its support for the charity challenge, saying: “The support has been massive from the bakery and they’ve got their stickers on the car, in a pride of place. The support has been great from the whole team at the bakery.”
As well as raising money for the Cool Earth charity, George’s team will be supporting five other charities in their sponsored drive, Lupus UK, the Stroke Association, Grinshill Animal Rescue, mental health charity BEN support for life, and the farming charity RABI which all have close connections to members of the team.
Village Bakery shareholder Robin Jones said: “I must admit it seems a bit bonkers but I take off my hat to George and his team because it’s going to be an epic adventure and they’re going to be raising money for some very good causes.”
It was a message echoed by CEO Simon Thorpe who added: “George is a great guy who is a great asset to the team.
“He’s a very capable and resourceful young man and I am sure he is going to need those qualities during this amazing adventure. If was in the car with George I would fancy my chances of making it to the finish line.
“We wish him Tom, Jon and Ying all the very best.”
