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£400 Nissan Micra takes on Mongol Rally on Firestone tyres

A £400 1999 Nissan Micra is taking on a 10,000-mile, five week journey across Asia on Firestone tyres.

Bristol fundraiser Joe Scott and his friends Oisin Minogue, Aleix Gemino and Matt Sales, are currently competing in the Mongol Rally on Firestone Multihawk tyres, taking in 20 countries, three deserts and five mountain ranges.

The race began on July 18 and the team aims to raise over £1,000 for Cool Earth, which works to halt deforestation and climate change.

The 27-year-old said: “I was watching Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman travel around Mongolia some years ago and the idea always appealed to me. It’s going to be a huge challenge, because if you break down, you get no help and the terrain is uncompromising.

“Some people think we’re crazy to do, while my mum wasn’t best pleased when I told her, but she understands that it’s something I need to get out of my system.”

Any mechanical issues will be dealt with by Joe, Matt will utilise his geography teaching skills to navigate the route, while Alex is the culinary expert who will keep the team fed and watered. Oisin, meanwhile, is a photography expert who will capture every magical moment along the way.

Joe added: “It then occurred to me that we would need some top quality tyres to keep us on track. For all the mechanical work done already, we know that there’s only four contact points with the road, and that’s the tyres.”