Sunday 27 May 2007

Ze STC Aftershow Picture Party!

The STC was a smashing success. I’m slightly miffed that I couldn’t be there, but Martin seems to have done a rather excellent job, because the cool people at the conference have donated a very spiffy 750€ for our charities. That means we’ve reached the goal of collecting 1500€! A big thank you to everyone who opened their wallets!

But wait! It gets even better! Our sponsor Microsoft is doubling the donations from the STC, which means we have now collected almost 2250€ for the Mercy Corps Mongolia and the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, way more than the minimum requirement for the Rally. This of course does not mean that you should no longer donate. We obviously want to collect as much money for our charities as possible. So, um, go!

Anyway, enough with this whole “making the world a better place”-business. Time for the good stuff. Here’s our super-double-excellent photo gallery from the mega-triple-awesome STC. Enjoy.

This is our car. Shot by someone who knows which side of the camera is up. In other words, probably not by Martin.

This is one of the best sites on all of the internets! You should go and visit it right now! Oh wait, you already are. Well done! Clearly you are person of refined taste and superb judgement.

Hey, that’s us!

That’s not us. But he is one handsome devil, so he fits right in.

Is there still a chance we can switch cars and take the BMW?

“Let me ask you a question…”

“…are you guys crazy?!?”

I’m reasonably sure this is not a close-up of our engine bay. Reasonably.

We submitted this picture for the 2008 Pirelli Calender and we are expecting the acceptance letter any day now.

This photographer is really good. He makes Martin look 10 years younger!

“Hm, I wonder what Richard is doing right now…”

This is what he was doing. Just for your information. I'm not bragging or anything. This is the reason I’m only slightly miffed that I wasn’t at the STC, however.

I don’t know who that is, but he’s very excited. (Actually I do, it's the awesome Ingo!)

And now we know why!

We let people write their names on our car. Now do you wish you had come? Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I just upgraded my miffedness from “slightly” to “substantially”.

Martin talking to some dudes who definitely think we’re crazy.

Did I mention we let people sign our car? We let even let an Alien sign the car. Right between M. Pleucxkuscneschi und L. Brahomphumpberg.

You can go here to see more awesome pictures of the STC. But be warned: they’ll make you regret you're failure to show up even more! Let’s face facts here; we both know it’s already tearing you up on the inside. Once you click that link, the tears will be coming hard. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Come back tomorrow for another awe-inspiring update of www.mongolrally.de: Where the Awesome never stops!

Friday 25 May 2007

He's back!

I'm back from Rio and I still have all my fingers. This means that we will return to our regular update schedule once I've beaten the jet lag. (Which hopefully means tomorrow.)

Friday 18 May 2007

Meet Ze Germans!

As I’ve mentioned earlier, we’re being sponsored by the Microsoft Student Technology Conference 2007. What this means is that we will actually be at the STC this year. We’ll even bring our car, which will allow you to marvel at our magnificient mint-colored rally-stripes from up close!

Martin will give a little talk about the rally, and you’ll even have an opportunity to write your name on the car, so a small part of you can come with us on our journey.

So join us at the STC 2007 in Duisburg! It’s all the excitement of actually doing the rally, without all the tire-changing and getting-robbed. That’s what we experts call a win-win situation! If you don’t come, you will regret it for the rest of your life. Just look at that picture of Martin having fun at STC04! If you come, we’ll laugh and talk all night and have drinks and we’ll be best friends forever!

Disclaimers: When I say „we“ will be there, I mean Martin and the car. I can’t come, because I will still be in Rio enjoying a cool coconut water on Ipanema beach. Except this time the conference will be over and I willl actually be on the beach and not just wishing I were. Also, we won’t really be best friends forever. Unless you’re really, really cool. In that case we may be able to work something out, especially if you make a large donation to one of our charities. Offer void in Louisiana and were prohibited.

Ze Car IV - The Stickering

Behold! Our mighty Polo has now been polished and has all the stickers applied. The car is also registered and insured. The license-plate number is MH-MR 7777. (Unfortunately MH-MR 2007 was already taken.)

We’ve spent over seven hours applying the stickers to the cars, but I think the result is well worth it. Take special note of our beautifully tasteless mint-green rally stripes. Amazing!

By the way, when I say that „we“ spent seven hours applying the stickers, I’m not actually including myself. „We“ in this case is actually Martin and the ever-helpful Mirko. As they were working they’re butts off, I was probably lying on Ipanema beach, enjoying the sun and a cool coconut-water.

(Actually I was most likely suffering through another badly prepared talk about Grid-Computing by a guy with very limited english-language skills and a fear of people. Nothing spells excitement like someone mumbled something at his shoes while throwing unreadable black-on-dark-blue slides at the wall. But I like the Ipanema-story better, so let’s stick to that, shall we?)

Martin is clearly slacking. Three pictures and still no butts in sight!

Just when you're ready to give up on him, the guy always comes through! Two butts in one shot, the car's and Mirko's! Clearly this is the work of a true master. Well done, Martin!

Finally, another shout-out to TwoTypes², who not only sponsored and produced all the stickers, but also designed our logo. Thanks guys!

Ze Sponsors

You’ve already seen the banners of our sponsors on the right, but we haven’t really made an official announcement yet. So here we go: Our primary sponsor is Microsoft. Specifically we are promoting the Student Technology Conference 2007 in Duisburg. (More exciting news on that in a bit.)

Additionally we’re being sponsored by TwoTypes², the excellent advertising agency that's helping us with all the stickers for our car. (Pictures coming soon!) Special thanks to TwoTypes²’s Henrik Bökenkröger for designing our super-shiny logo. (See above.)

Ze Updates

Good morning everyone. Lots of things have happened recently, but I haven’t really had the time to update the blog. Right now I’m taking a few hours out of my well deserved holiday (Greetings from Rio!) to catch up, so you’ll be seeing several updates today. Stay tuned!

Sunday 6 May 2007

Ze Car III - The Rephotographing

Martin has made some proper (and 100% butt-free!) pictures of our car. Enjoy!

Don't forget to admire the lovely rust spots under the door!

Witness the awesome power of our 1-liter naturally aspirated straight-4!

Can you feel the power?

To protect the ozone layer, Ze Germans only use 100% recycled number plates.

Somebody scratched an upside down V into the back of the car. We have no idea why.

We also have absolutely no clue what the strange triangular thing on dashboard is. Any ideas?

The sellers claimed that the car has run less than 100.000 kilometers. We have our doubts.

We're going to spend a lot of time in those seats. I bet they're incredibly uncomfortable.

Professional driver on closed circuit, do not attempt.

Thursday 3 May 2007

Ze Car II - The Arrival

Martin picked up our car yesterday. It looks to be in reasonably good shape and survived its first trip just fine. We'll have it checked out by our expert (aka Martin's Dad) soon, but so far the car is getting the thumbs up from Martin.

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, this picture makes Martin look like a complete doofus. Well done Mirko! (And thanks for helping us pick up the car.)

Unfortunately Martin's photography skills have turned out to be, let's say, limited. He made a bunch of pictures, but most of them ended up featuring Mirko's butt instead of the car (possibly in revenge for the thumbs-up image?). There's also no pictures of the front of the car or the interior, so, uh, I guess I'll be handling the camera during the actual trip. If only to prevent a series of unflattering photos of my butt.

Here are two more pictures of the car. Enjoy.

I chose this image because the car/button quotient heavily favors the car.

Winner of the 2007 "Best Image Of Our Mongol Rally Car Not Featuring A Butt"-Award. I wish I was kidding.

As it turns out: not true. This picture features a reflection of a butt, meaning the award goes to the tumbs-up picture above. Mostly because it's now the only picture of our rally car not featuring a butt, thus winning by default.