.travel is the lead sponsor for The Mongol Rally 2006. The ‘Wacky Races’ style rally begins on 22 July 2006 at 12pm, when 200 wholly unsuitable, sub-1 litre vehicles will converge at Hyde Park, London. for the start of an 8 thousand mile charity trek across 7 mountain ranges and 3 deserts to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia.

The Mongol Rally is now in its 3rd year and has grown from humble beginnings to boast an impressive 200 teams. Other than crossing a number of checkpoints there is no specific set route to Mongolia and it will take upwards of a month to reach Ulaanbaatar.

The aim of the event is to raise a quarter of a million pounds for the African charity ‘Send a cow’ and a selection of excellent Mongolian Charities such as helping street children living in the capital city, rural herding families, micro economic programmes and wildlife conservation.

.travel has chosen to sponsor the event because it shares in the Mongol Rally’s inspiration for travellers to be innovative, explore the world in new ways and connect with the international travel community.

‘This is by far one of the most interesting ways one can travel,’ expressed Ron Andruff, president of Tralliance, (the company who oversees The .travel Registry). ‘As part of an initiative that promotes a new age of travel and whose goal is to unify the global travel community, we are excited to be a part of the Mongol Rally and help support their worthwhile cause.’

p>The line of sub-1 litre cars 1km long, including Fiat Pandas, Citroen 2CVs, classic Minis, Mini Scamps, Suzuki’s and even a motorcycle - a Honda C90 (125cc) will tour past Buckingham Palace, The Mall and Trafalgar Square before heading south to the ferry ports.

The majority of competitors will head straight to Dover for early evening crossings
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