I own an eight-year old car and it gives me a little bit of trouble. You might have a good idea what I go through, but in this part of the world cars seem to be made of tougher stuff. All over Dushanbe you can see ancient Soviet cars, trucks and things in between that seem just to have kept going forever. Patching over the rust and making do, I suppose that must have been what kept these guys going. Raising money for Habitat for Humanity as well as their own chosen charities, the seventeen teams on the Tajik Rally, raced from Munich to Dushanbe using cars that had to be both at least ten years old, and with a capacity of 1.2 litres or less. Apart from these small restrictions, the teams each had more or less total freedom to choose their routes. I suppose finding someone to do an engine rebuild in rural Georgia would be a great part of the adventure. This is a summary of the routes, apparently.
Just as the rally was coming to a finish, we met up with Hugh, the race organiser to see if they'd like to have a presence at the festival. If you're going to travel from Central Europe to Central Asia, you're pretty much on your own Silk Road adventure, so we thought we'd try and get these folks on board, maybe display the unaccountably clean looking cars that dragged through.
Part of the whole project, though, was that the cars would be sold in Tajikistan as soon as they arrived, and the proceeds donated to Habitat for Humanity, and the competitors were heading back soon after arriving, with a little relaxation time in Dushanbe. That suited us pretty well, and we joined them at their welcome party at Orash for a couple of beers/colas. A really cracking bunch, they were nearly as diverse as we were, and had a really interesting experience getting here. Definitely have to get them on board for next year!
By Andy Gra
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