Kiwi team in the Mongol Rally 2025 Baaa'd Decisions raising money for 'Cool Earth'
Four Kiwis are facing some of the world’s most dangerous roads during the Mongol Rally in the cheapest car they could find, to raise money for charity.
The event is an international car rally where teams are challenged to drive small-engined, often unreliable cars, about 16,000km across Europe andAsia.
Speaking to Herald Now host Ryan Bridge on a video call from Baku, Azerbaijan, Kiwi team Baaa’d Decisions member Robbie Howatson said one of his highlights of the trip so far was taking their bright yellow Hyundai along two of the world’s most dangerous roads, the D915 and the Dark Canyon, in Turkey.
“I got to drive through the Dark Canyon, which is like 10km of hand-carved tunnels with just sheer drop-offs down the side into the river. So that was pretty, pretty exhilarating driving.”
The rally’s engine size restrictions do not allow for anything bigger than a litre so the team looked for the “cheapest one-litre car we could get” while in the United Kingdom, said member Sean Yung.
Yung told Bridge: “I’ve had some mates do this in the past and saw they had a good time, so I came up with that and these three all agreed and came along”.
The team of Yung, Howatson, Ben Goodson and Steve Gausel are raising money for Cool Earth, a charity which gives money to indigenous communities living in rainforests to enable them to fight climate change.
The official Mongol Rally start line is in the Czech Republic but the team have driven their car from the UK. Photo/ Supplied
They are in the middle of the more than 100 car field but the event isn’t “exactly a race” said Yung.
“I think anyone that passes the finish line’s kind of the winner. Some teams have already dropped out, some teams haven’t even started yet due to car issues.”
Baaa’d Decisions started the intercontinental rally on July 12 and expected to finish on August 23, Howatson said.
