Who are we?
The Wartburger Kings are a team who are about to take the adventure of a lifetime as part of the Mongol Rally in 2017.
The team consists of a pair of regular guys, Brano and Lubo, that are fun loving travel junkies hungry for adventure who want to drive their trusty East German Wartburg Knight (353) to Mongolia and raise money for good causes on their way.
Branislav Adam
Driver and mechanic
Lubo Durisin
Driver, navigator and digital marketing specialist
Never give up, success is often much closer than you think.
So what is the Mongol Rally?
The Mongol Rally is not your average rally - it thunders 10,000 miles across the mountains, desert and steppe of Europe and Asia each summer. Sound difficult? Well even more so in a tiny old car with limited support.
The best thing about the rally? It’s all for a good cause as we’re raising £3,000 for CoolEarth - a charity to save our rainforests and Hodina Detom, a Slovak charity focused on helping children in Slovakia.
How are we getting there?
One of the reasons the Mongol Rally is also different from other motor one of the toughest rallies on the plant is the engine restrictions. Limited to 1.2 litres or less, the rally cars are more suited for commuting in the city, not travelling thousands of miles over all sorts of terrain.
We decided to take it a step further and chose a 40 year old East German car. Our Wartburg 353 Tourist (Wartburg Knight for the Brits), has a 3 cylinder, 992cc engine and does 0 to 60 in... well we hope it will do 60 fully loaded.
So why the communist relic? We hope it's simplicity translates into reliability. We know the roads are going to try their best to destroy our car so a basic machine with as little to break as possible is the key to success - at least that's what we keep telling ourselves.
Our goals
1. Our first and foremost goal is to arrive and return home safe and sound! The actual target is for us and our 'communist' vehicle to complete the journey through Europe and West Asia to Ulaanbataar, the capital city of Mongolia.
2. We also want to raise money for good causes as part of journey. We're hoping to raise £2,000 for Cool Earth, a charity that helps protect the world's rainforests, and 1,000€ for Hodina Detom, a Slovak children's charity.
3. Finally we wish to create a log and short film for our followers and the rest of the world.
We need your help
With 40-60 days spent driving over 20,000 kilometres, the trip will not necessarily be cheap. We’re hoping to help the burden on our wallets by picking up a few sponsors (charity funds will be kept separate).
Our estimated / calculated costs:
Car: Wartburg Knight (Tourist 353) = € 700
- Repairs / modifications on the car and spare parts (on the go) = £600
- Camping equipment and campsite fees for 2 people = £800
- Video / photo equipment = £1,000
- Petrol and oil for the car = £1000
- Visa and other fees for 2 people = £1,000
- Food (no restaurant) = £400
- Unexpected expenses = £100
and much more ...
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= Total estimated cost of more than £5,000
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor and be part of our journey - whether its a logo on our car or donating some equipment for use on our trip (camping gear, canned food, etc), please contact us through the form.
Our Charities
We’re taking part in the Mongol Rally because we want to see the world, but we also want to give back to you. This is why we’re trying to raise as much money as possible between our two charities, Cool Earth and Hodina Detom.
Cool Earth: Cool Earth is a charity that works alongside indigenous villages to halt rainforest destruction. By building better incomes, better schools and better clinics, Cool Earth gives their partner villages the resources they need to keep their forest intact. Cool Earth is now working alongside 65 rainforest villages throughout the world. These partner villages are protecting 352,000 acres of forest that lie directly in the path of chainsaws and bulldozers.
Hodina Detom (Slovak Charity): They focus on helping children and teenagers with different needs and physical conditions from all different environments. In order to support them, they are creating a network of people to help support them by involving them in the community, educating them, and helping them succeed.
Donations can be made by visiting www.justgiving.com/fundraising/WartburgerKings or sending a SMS (Slovak only) to 800 with the text "MR17" for a 4€ donation.
Contact us
Have any questions, want to sponsor us or just want to say hello?
Write to us below: