Four young Danish boys go on an extreme road trip in a 20-year-old Skoda

Four young Danish boys take on extreme road trip in a 20-year-old Skoda

The boys are participating in this year's Mongol Rally, where they will drive up to 15,000 kilometers from Prague to northeastern Kazakhstan.

Friends have driven on Death Road, a very narrow mountain route in Turkey. Private video: Nikolaj Hokland 38 minutes ago

Four boys. A twenty-year-old Skoda Fabia without air conditioning. 15,000 kilometers from Prague to Öskemen in northeastern Kazakhstan.

That is the journey that Martin Haarup, Eddie Young, Max Søltoft, and Nikolaj Hokland from Silkeborg have embarked on.

> "But the question is how much of the car will be left, and how many problems we'll encounter along the way"

> – Martin Haarup

They are taking part in the motor rally Mongol Rally, where the rules are simple: drive the route in the most unsuitable car possible, and if the car breaks down, you have to find a solution yourself. Along the way, they are collecting money for the charities Cool Earth and Doctors Without Borders.

- You have nothing but yourself and whoever else you meet on the road, says Nikolaj Hokland.

The friends have been away for two weeks, driven about 6,000 kilometers, and have now reached Tbilisi in Georgia.

- The friends from Silkeborg have installed a pipe from the radiator hood up to the roof, in case they have to drive through water. (Photo: © Private photo: Nikolaj Hokland)

- The boys' team name is Fabiatastic Four. (Photo: © Private photo: Nikolaj Hokland)

- They got up at 4:30 AM to watch the daily launch of hot air balloons in Turkey. (Photo: © Private photo: Nikolaj Hokland)

- Death Road in Turkey. (Photo: © Private photo: Nikolaj Hokland)

- The car has already been to the garage twice. (Photo: © Private photo: Nikolaj Hokland)

1 / 5 The friends from Silkeborg have installed a pipe from the radiator hood up to the roof, in case they have to drive through water. (Photo: © Private photo: Nikolaj Hokland) 1 / 5 The boys' team name is Fabiatastic Four. (Photo: © Private photo: Nikolaj Hokland) 2 / 5 They got up at 4:30 AM to watch the daily launch of hot air balloons in Turkey. (Photo: © Private photo: Nikolaj Hokland) 3 / 5 Death Road in Turkey. (Photo: © Private photo: Nikolaj Hokland) 4 / 5 The car has already been to the garage twice. (Photo: © Private photo: Nikolaj Hokland) 5 / 5

The boys are positively surprised at how things have gone so far, even though they have had the car at various garages.

- The engine "coughed" a bit at first, but then we met a kind mechanic in Romania who changed the car's spark plugs, says Nikolaj Hokland.

In Turkey, they also got new suspension installed.

- The car is running almost too well right now.

Read also: Four young people from Silkeborg ready for Mongol Rally ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/reels/fire-unge-fra-silkeborg-klar-til-mongol-rally )

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'Death Road'

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The friends from Silkeborg have also had some wild experiences along the way. But so far, Death Road tops the list – a narrow mountain road in Turkey with 29 hairpin turns.

- We drove on the road in fog and darkness, which didn't exactly help the experience, but luckily we got through safely, says Nikolaj Hokland.

But besides narrow roads, a highlight was also when they saw the daily launch of hot air balloons in the Cappadocia region of Turkey.

It required a lot of concentration when the boys drove on Death Road. Private video: Nikolaj Hokland

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The real rally begins now

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The next stop on the journey is Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. They are not allowed to cross the border there by car, so they have to hand it over to a haulier while they themselves fly to the city and meet him again. From Baku, they take a ferry across the Caspian Sea and onward toward Kazakhstan.

- The rally only really begins when we cross the Caspian Sea, because we've driven on gravel roads so far, but when we hit Kazakhstan, we'll have to drive where there are no roads at all, says Nikolaj Hokland.

The boys are aiming to make it all the way, and their goal is to reach Öskemen no later than August 22.

- But the question is how much of the car will be left, and how many problems we'll encounter along the way, says Martin Haarup.

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Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.