TWO housemates who are driving more than 10,000 miles to raise money for charity almost failed to cross the start line of the Mongol Rally after their car overheated. But dogged David Pipe and Craig Bellars, of Blenheim Way in Stevenage, have since made i

TWO housemates who are driving more than 10,000 miles to raise money for charity almost failed to cross the start line of the Mongol Rally after their car overheated.

But dogged David Pipe and Craig Bellars, of Blenheim Way in Stevenage, have since made it to Turkey's capital, Ankara, in their nine-year-old Nissan Micra, having covered more than 2,000 miles.

Team Knight Micra - so called because they have souped up their car to look like a version of Knight Rider's KITT - hopes to arrive in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital, in three to four weeks time.

The journey for the 300 teams taking part started at Goodwood in Chichester.

"It started with a parade lap of the racecourse," Craig explained, "but unfortunately as we were queuing with the engine idling for a long time, the engine overheated.

"As a result we nearly didn't make it off the start line.

"We hobbled round the parade lap at low speed and then had to pull over for a while to give the engine a rest.

"Thankfully, since then the car has been running better than expected and we really need to thank John at Hitchin Motorcare for all the hard work him and his boys put into it to make sure KITT has the best chance of making it to Mongolia."

Craig and David have passed through nine different countries in less than a week.

"We have made it through Europe in really good time, despite getting quite lost in Hungary," Craig said.

But, he added: "We know it is only going to get harder from here as the standard of roads deteriorates - we have just finished our final motorway of the entire trip."

They hope to raise �2,000 for Mercy Corps Mongolia and have already secured �1,600.

To sponsor the pair, visit www.justgiving.com/teamknightmicra