The Ten Year Rule

By a curious stroke of luck the Fur Balls have managed to find a solution to the 10 year rule. As a reminder this is the new rule for 2009 that states that all vehicles taking part in the rally have to be less than 10 years old or the vehicle will need to be exported out of Mongolia at the end. The penalty for not adhering to this rule is to forfeit a hefty deposit. The reason for this rule is that the Mongolian government had cottoned onto the fact that they could get some half decent vehicles out of this rally rather than the detritus that had been dumped over recent years.

Much time had been devoted by the team as to how to overcome this obstacle, well OK not that much really. Imagine the collective delight when we were informed that because Dennis was an emergency vehicle he was exempt from the 10 year rule, due to emergency vehicles being in short supply. Fearing a dispute with the Mongolian authorities when the true identity of Dennis was discovered Tony sought further clarification and was assured that despite the fact that Dennis has no fire fighting equipment save a couple of ladders and is for the most part covered in fur he will still be a valuable vehicle to the Mongolians. No news to us of course who were well aware of an opening in the market for Furry Fire Engine Limousines in Ulaanbataar.

And so with one full sweep the Fur Balls have broken the 2 key rules of the rally; that the engine size must be less than a litre and that the vehicle must be less than 10 years old; and got away with it. Legends. One could almost think that Charlie planned it this way, but then again we are talking about Charlie.