Here - Epilepsy Research UK

Team Brainbox at the Mongol Rally – July 2014
This summer Dougie Clark, Fraser Macpherson and Alan Lipowski drove 10,000 miles from London to Ulan
Bataar in Mongolia as Team BrainBox in the Mongol Rally 2014. Dougie has epilepsy, and undertook this
massive challenge to raise awareness and funds and we’re delighted to have received over £6,000 from this
amazing adventure!
Dougie says “This summer was the 10th anniversary of my first epileptic seizure. I knew that I wanted to do
something to mark it, and, because I knew (hoped!) I would be getting my driving license on June 4th, I
thought I would drive a big brain all the way to Mongolia and raise money for Epilepsy Research UK by
doing the Mongol Rally.
A Photo Diary
Here is me getting my driving license back from the DVLA… on the 19th of
June, the day of the start of the rally, phew!
Preparation
The Brain in its various stages of development - Every border guard wanted to see inside!
Before we left, P&A Wood Rolls Royce gave the Brainbox a service and we tried out Olympic Rowing Gold
Medallist Heather Stanning’s Gold Medal as a furry dice substitute! Purple is not Fraser’s colour.
The Start
The Rally started in Battersea Park and we cruised all the way to Germany that first day without incident.
On Day 2, just into the Czech Republic the gear box began to shred itself
apart from the inside. Our Toyota Yaris was 15 years old and had 15,5000
miles on the clock so we had expected some problems but this was serious
to the tune of a new gearbox that cost 2 times what we paid for the whole
car. And a wait of 4 days in Prague, but there are worse places to be stuck.
The inside of our broken gearbox, note teeth have been smashed off and
the build up of metal filings.
The staff at Emil Frey (http://www.emilfrey.cz) were superb and
did a great job on the car and we would thoroughly recommend
them if you ever break down in Prague! This is Bobo our mechanic
and Petra and Pavel the managers with their wee dug Maggie.
On the roof of Dracula’s Castle, Transylvania,
Romania
At the Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey
The BrainBox in for a check up in Tblisi, Georgia,
with Zaza the mechanic and Nina our Georgian
‘fixer’
In the ‘dodgy’ bit of Russia between South Ossetia and
Chechnya
Crossing from Russia into Kazakhstan near Astrakhan
Going to chat to a Kazakhstani traffic cop in Atyrau, in the back of an
unmarked Ford Transit. Turns out driving the wrong way down a 4 lane
highway is expensive. He did have a cool hat though.
Crossing the Katun River, Biysk, Central Siberia.
Spectacular!
After 25 days we crossed into Mongolia from Russia. We
met these wee guys about 2 miles in.
The roads got more serious in Mongolia and we found ourselves driving through rivers, in river beds, no
roads, and, worst of all, corrugated road, for 2 days straight (20hrs driving). This driving was the undoubted
highlight of the adventure.
The wildlife was pretty interesting too:
Yaks, eagles, camels and camera shy groundhogs. And Scotsmen on camels.
Me, Alan and Fraser at the finish line after 31 days driving 10,000 miles through France, Belgium, The
Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Russia,
Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. Our big brain got there in one piece and I cannot recommend the
Mongol Rally (http://www.theadventurists.com) highly enough.”
Dougie has made an inspirational video, he’s written a letter to epilepsy and you can watch this on
our website www.epilepsyresearch.org.uk/about-epilepsy/videos-about-epilepsy/