Almost everyone has probably heard of the world-famous Dakar Rally, but we don’t want to talk about that today. Instead, we want to share the story of our awesome Estonian men and how they took a crazy journey to Budapest, the capital of Hungary, with a Mitsubishi Pajero that has seen its days. Only to take part in the world’s largest charity amateur rally – BUDABEST-BAMAKO 2024 – starting from January 26th.

A Navirec tracking device was installed on the car, which allows you, dear reader, to follow the journey of these men in real-time. This is one he*k of an adventure!

Budabest-Bamako 2024 – “The World’s Last Great Adventure”

The Dakar Rally is world-famous and well-known for its danger, strict rules, and high prices for the participants. In 2005, a Hungarian came up with the idea of ​​organizing something similar, but more wallet-friendly and suitable for simpler rally fans. The idea gave birth to a rally called Budapest-Bamako (also known as The Great African Run), which is celebrating its 15th birthday this year. It is a charity rally that collects money to support the people of poorer African countries. You can read more about the charity of this year’s rally here.

The Budapest-Bamako Rally has become extremely popular and the limited starting places are sold out in just a matter of days. Everyone can participate. And when we say everyone, we mean EVERYONE.

According to the organizers, the tough journey that crosses 10 countries and is more than 8,000 km long can be completed with any vehicle, be it an ATV, SUV, passenger car, motorcycle, or even a shopping cart. The only rule of the rally is that the participants must be at least 18 years old and must take into account the fact that in case of problems, they have little to rely on other than good luck and their skills. There is no hope for rescue helicopters and towing trucks when stuck in the sand of the Sahara desert.

Interesting facts about the Budapest-Bamako rally 2024:

• the rally lasts for 18 days (Dakar rally – 14 days),
• no. of stages is 15 (Dakar rally – 12),
• no. of countries crossed 10 (Dakar rally – 1),
• no. of continents 2 (Dakar rally – 1),
• total distance 8276 km (Dakar rally – 7860km),
• no. of vehicles participating is 354 (Dakar rally – 112),
• no. of drivers is 1102 (Dakar rally – 585).

With these numbers, Budapest-Bamako beats the Dakar Rally by a long shot and is thus the world’s largest (amateur) rally. It is certainly not a safe undertaking, and according to the organizers, in addition to the nervous tension resulting from the competition, the participants have to take into account such problems as food poisoning, corrupt policemen, sunstroke, dangerous traffic conditions, improvised service fees on the roads, border crossings that drag on for days, bandits, kidnapping, sandstorms in the desert, and lynching by locals if you hit a man or an animal. Sounds exciting…

Team Andcar aka Andri Sirp, Janar Dede, Kaspar Mattisen and Martin Vaga

Four (crazy) brave Estonian men – Andri, Janar, Kaspar, and Martin – decided that their 2006 Mitsubishi Pajero, which in otherwise peaceful Estonia calmly helped clear the snow with its front-mounted plow, deserves another warm summer vacation in its old age.

So yesterday, on January 22, the journey from Rakke to the capital of Hungary began, where on January 26, the lucky race number 8 will start the crazy rally through Europe and West Africa. You can’t be a sissy if you face life’s biggest and probably most dangerous adventure with such a big smile!

We are very honored and also very happy that the Pajero that went to conquer the sands of the Sahara desert was equipped with a Navirec GPS tracker, which allows all fans to essentially drive the entire rally along in real time. Thanks, guys, for the trust and opportunity!

We’ll be keeping an eye on what the men are doing as the rally progresses, but bigger fans can also take a look at their official Facebook page HERE. Fingers crossed, because in just a few days the official start of the rally will be given in Budapest! We wish the guys all the best on their journey!