Graduates George Knight, of Dingley, Dom Sanders and Rob Smith, both of Harborough, and their friend Rob Lawrence, all aged 23, will use the trip to raise money for Rainbows Children’s Hospice and say they hatched the plan in order to get off the beaten track.

Business studies graduate George, of Sutton Lane, said: “It seems like everyone goes to Thailand or Australia these days and we’ve never been the kind of people to do what others do. Maybe this is one of the few real adventures left you can do on a budget.”

Their plan has been inspired by the Mongol Rally – an annual event which sees the brave souls who enter driving from Britain to Mongolia in the cheapest cars they can find.

Team Kill Rob, as the fearless adventurers have named themselves, have so far spent £350 on a 16-year-old Nissan Micra GS (one owner from new and just 53,000 miles on the clock) and plan to buy another before painting them in their orange team colours and setting off from Harborough in the summer.

The team hopes the cars, the benefits of which they list as a 5-speed gearbox, interior clock and AM/FM radio, will help take them from Harborough across Europe, Ukraine, Turkey and Azerbaijan before a ferry across the Caspian sea sees them to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and on to the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar.

Along the way they hope to take their clapped-out bangers round a few laps of Germany’s Nurburgring racetrack and visit Chernobyl in the Ukraine.

George, who is currently working at Market Harborough Waste Site with fellow team-member Dom, said: “We haven’t got an exact route planned yet but that’s part of the adventure. Our immunisation programmes finish on July 2 and we will set off shortly after. We’ve planned to get to Mongolia in six to eight weeks and will leave the cars there and fly home. We are taking camping equipment but might try to stay in a hotel every few days as a bit of a treat.

“Working here you can use lots of stuff other people throw away. We’ve managed to pick up spare parts, a new camping stove, walkie-talkies and some nice metal petrol cans. We’re just waiting for a tent.”

The team are looking for people and businesses in Harborough to sponsor them on their travels and help raise money for Rainbows.

For more information or to sponsor the team visit www.killrob.co.uk or email killrob@hotmail.co.uk.