So here are a couple of clips from the Russian version of Top Gear, they have done a little piece on testing the so called toughest vehicle Russia has ever produced, yup that’s right , its the Gaz 66, our beloved Truck the World Gorki.

The Russian Top Gear Team, test the truck through a series of brutal processes, first they drop a mid size family car onto the Gaz from 12 metres, then knock it around with a wrecking ball, finishing it off by hitting it with a flame thrower and then submerging it in a cold Russian river. Will the mighty Gaz survive the tortuous tests? Will it still start and be able to be driven?

The clips are well worth a look, giving you a look at the Gaz in its native homeland, the clips have subtitles too, so you can enjoy the dry Russian humour while you watch.

So, trucktheworld has been in hiatus. No, that’s not a holiday spot in the Caribbean, it means we’ve taken a short break – reason being, Rikki was back in New Zealand, and Alex was growing his beard. (Rikki sarcastically strokes his beard and laughs with a hearty tone)

But all cylinders are firing once again. Got a couple of new updates for you, letting you know what’s going on with the truck, the warehouse, and our new foray into professional documentary making.

It’s feeling good. The truck isn’t ready yet, but we are. Rikki got back, and joined the ranks of the un/self-employed, finally joining trucktheworld full time. Up until now, he’s only been dreaming this shit, and working on it after school, but once he returned from his holiday in NZ, both of us were up the creek -- build your own paddle.

He didn’t return empty handed however, he had a bottle of codeine, a new motorised rotor for the camera’s, and a crossbow. Yup a crossbow. We will now be able to shoot grizzly bears from a hundred feet, and still be able to re-use the arrow once it passes through the torso. Cool.

Other things are changing. Looks like we’re going to have to go to china soon, and when we return from that visa run, we’re going to be homeless. Nothing like a bit of pressure to up the ante, put a spring in the step, and, well, get that bloody truck up and running.

The weather has been delightful. I can already sense that summer in Mongolia, is an amazing time, a beautiful thing to behold. It’s like the rains arriving in India, the wet finally hitting Darwin after a month of teasing, or daylight savings in the south island. It’s not just the land that is affected, it’s the people, who are very much of the land, and there’s a change, like world cup fever in England. To survive the winter, five months of sub zero conditions, to be alive, healthy, and in many cases, beautiful, is something to be proud of, an achievement.

So yes we are about to be homeless. Yes, we have to go on a visa run to china, temporarily forsaking the truck and our documentary making expedition here in UB. But, it’s impossible to miss the vibe, summer is here, and as d.i double z double e said before us ‘it’s gonna be a long hot summa!’ believe it -- we will share it all.

We think the truck will be up and running some time in may. Rikki truly is a mastermind, his attention to detail is inspiring. It’s a daunting trip, task, challenge, this journey we have set out for ourselves, but I have no doubts about the practical sides of it. I have complete faith in the truck, and the concept, and any time a difficulty seems to arrive, it is solved before it gets time to sink in and fester. Yeah – I’m gonna live in a truck for the next few years – and yeah, I reckon there’s nowhere else I’d rather be – that truck is going to be better than most accommodation I’ve had in the last five years. It’s gonna be pimped – and the places we plan to go … shit, I haven’t heard of most of them.

I realise that there are many details left out from our website. To be honest, we’re not sure who’s reading – we figure it is only people who know us, and therefore, have missed out lots of details we figure you already know. Like, how we got here, why we’re doing this, how long we’ve been planning it, what we plan to do .. etc etc.

Truth is, we are very much learning everything as we go. We’ve never made videos, audiocasts (coming soon) or documentary’s before, we’ve never built Russian military trucks from scratch either. But we’re ambitious. We are doing it. We don’t know if it will work, or how it will end, but that’s the point.

Sorry, I actually got off point there for a minute, my point, is that I think we should write a little over the next few weeks, about ourselves, and where we are at, in order to level the playing field, put all our cards on the table. So if there’s anything you’d like to see, anything you’d like to know, let us know, and we’ll get it online. Trucktheworld … it’s a family.

So welcome to trucktheworld as a full time entity.
It’s gonna be a long, hot summer

A quick technical update for you gear heads.

A showcase of our professional ambition.

Ok so bit of a gap here but we are still rolling, plans are coming to fruition , and the truck inches towards completion.

Enjoy the spoils, hard work, we bloody love it!!!