Like the rest of the ralliers on the site, I'm sure you've all been getting the Mongol Rally emails and are feeling very jealous of Ironsides. I wish I was doing it again this year. It's good to see that Ironsides have picked a Fiat in which to tackle the rally. The Pope (as we affectionately called our Italian designed/Polish built Fiat Cinquecento - hence the name) was a brilliant but somewhat unreliable car.

A few Fiat tips:
a) the vibration damper on the driveshaft will break (probably in the Ukraine) meaning that the steering wheel will vibrate manically. However, you will get used to after a while although you may experience a tingling in your hands for weeks after the rally.
b) Poland and the Czech Republic have LOADS of cheap spares. However, after that you will not see another Fiat garage until Almaty, Kazakhstan.
c) make sure the cooling system works BEFORE you leave.
d) Lada parts can be bashed, bent and beaten to fit a Fiat.

Despite not taking part in the rally this year, another car related adventure awaits me this summer... I have decided to drive around South Africa and Namibia. Picking up the car in Cape Town, heading up the Western cape to the Namibian border and then caning around safari parks and sand dunes for a month. Reports will follow in September/October.

Already this year I have been to Paris - gorgeous European city but still can't knock Rome off my number one spot, although it does narrowly get the edge over Barcelona into my top 5. I have also just got back from Hong Kong, carrying out research for my University dissertation. If anyone knows much about the Hong Kong economy and how it has changed in relation to China since 1997 then I would be grateful for any input!

And last but not least, I have still not figured out how to put pictures up on here. I am completely inept when it comes to anything more than typing, so any advice would be appreciated!