Arun Esslingen,Germany.

Chief conspirator, of unparalleled and questionable genius, incredibly sharp on paper and in person, and most importantly, inclined acutely towards the fun side! Maharaj (as his close friends refer to him) and his first mate Rajesh met at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in India. The foundation was laid for the rally then as both are quite nuts in their own ways...no wonder it all came together now! Maharaj studied further at HS Esslingen, Germany (where he met his other team mate Jose) and followed his passion for automobiles. He is currently working in Germany at Huber Automotive on automotive control systems. On the side tries his hand at many activities including snowboarding, mountain biking, directing plays and creative writing/editing. He even composes his own songs with his rusted guitar. Adventure loving, car crazy and travel nut, the Mongol rally was custom made for him...he figured the year long wait for that 30 second window to grab a confirmed place in the rally was worth it. An all round personality...hoping to scale new horizons with every feet covered and every feat managed.

Rajesh Bergen,Norway.

Sorry guys i couldnt really write about myself...but this is what a friend graciously managed to come up with... :)

While the evolution created Human V1.0, Thatha was born Human V3.0. A cult in himself, with his peculiar and "dont shit me but make sense" approaches, he is the strategist and executor beyond imagination. His passion for adventure started at a very young age when he imagined himself to be a reincarnation of John Rambo, saving his fellow students from teachers. The adventurist in him never died since then. The biggest victims being his friends in college (Yes, the genius did go to college, that too one of the best in India, BITS-Pilani), at work (He drills for his living in Schlumberger, whom and where he drills is still not clear ;) and online (I am a victim too. I review this website at least thrice a day). A couple of months back, the Tom Morgan in Maharaj and Joolz in Thatha, erected the plan for one of the greatest rally of their life time. First Rally for Thatha and what a way to start! With highest per-capita-wellwishers, Thatha, do make it in one piece!!!

KristieAmsterdam, the Netherlands

There's only one word that can fully describe Kristie M. Wilson: "Firecracker" -- and a functional one too. Simply put, the writer, engineer, and adventure enthusiast based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands enjoys living life to the fullest, so when Rajesh invited her to join Arun, Jose and Rajasekhar on a road trip to Mongolia--which was already on her things to do in life list--she naturally jumped on the opportunity! When not working on her day job, Kristie is busy writing renewable energy related articles for Inhabitat.com, and outlining her second novel (her first novel Miss Optimist is due this Spring 2009). Outside of anything involving her pink laptop, Kristie enjoys sports from tennis, kite-surfing, snowboarding (particularly off-piste), surfing, skiing, beach volleyball, running, and rock-climbing. Having lived in 4 continents already and visited 5, this multi-lingual, passionate minded individual ultimately hopes to strengthen and solidify her global citizenship mark by embarking on this trip with an awesome team and for an excellent purpose!

Raja Edinburgh,Scotland.

Born and brought up in beautiful part of south India, Raja is a nature-lover, explorer and has a great passion for travelling and photography. He always loves to experience and learn about other cultures. After finishing his Masters degree in Scotland he ended up in a job with UK Civil services. He has travelled across the UK and loves to spend most of his free time in the Scottish highlands and Western isles. He jumped into team "Rustics" with Rajesh, his best and childhood friend. Raja sums up his feelings about the rally by saying “This is going to be the best action in my life. Great to team up with Arun, Kristie, Jose, Sang and Rajesh. Apart from adventure we are doing this for a good cause and expecting each and everyone’s support and wishes for this rally"

Dingeman Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

Extremity and Balance cross at Dingeman: A person who carries a knack for any-sport, while practicing true sportsmanship. Don’t be surprised to find Dingeman skiing the steepest powder in the off-terrain in the Alps, or wind surfing the largest surf swells wherever that may be—it’s all a part of his carpe diem way of life. Though born, raised and educated in Holland, travelling is embedded in his genes. He was in Myanmar celebrating his post-Civil Engineering degree success with friends when he got an offer to work as a Drilling and Measurements Engineer for Schlumberger Ltd. in Equatorial Guinea – since then, just like Rajesh, he could really be anywhere where work takes him – Beijjing, Tunis, Houston, Accra, Paris, just to name a few. Rest assured, wherever he is, he’s ready – for sports, for car-fixing –house building, life for anything! Hence when told about the Mongolian Rally, Dingeman could only reply, “Let’s Make It Happen!”