Well, where do i start. Last year myself and 2 mates decided over a few drinks at a christmas do that we wanted to do a banger rally. The mongol rally was going to take too long so we settled for one called 'Bratislava or bust'. Basically it was a 5 day challenge based rally across Europe, starting in France, passing through Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Austria and ending in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was absolutely immense, we did it in a 1.6 sierra that was pretty asthmatic and managed to drink 5 litres of oil in the 5 days. we met some awesome people, saw some breathtaking sights and drove some of the best roads in the world. We also raised £2k for charity. 2 vids we did after last years rally This year we are doing it again, although one guy didn't get permission from his girl and the other is travelling around south america so it's with 2 other mates. The route is different but the destination the same. We will be spending a night at lake garda again which means the stelvio pass, etc will be hit again. This year the rally is 7 days and we will be taking a few days to get back. My main aim was to get something quicker, so to start with i picked up a '93 sri redtop cavalier needing some tlc. with the mk2 build taking longer than expected i completely ran out of time to sort the chavalier. I sold it on friday and the hunt then began to find something else [1] petrol, [2] mot'd, [3] taxed and [4] a bit different. So we picked this up on saturday. 2001 mg zt, 2.5 v6, 91k, mot'd 7 months, taxed 6 months, 1/2 leather seats, tv, etc all for £600. The lacquer had lifted on most of the car and the paint underneath was in a bad shape so we didn't feel too bad doing some decorations. It'll get a respray when we get back. The plan is the same as last year, take a load of markers with us and get anyone and everyone to sign it as we go. Took off the back box last night to get a bit more grumble out of it, still 3 other boxes + a cat left so it's not loud, just throaty. Anyway, here is our 14ft bee. Leave in 2 weeks, can't wait. I would recommend everyone to doing something like this at least once in their lives. The unpredictability of what will happen and the completely unplanned routes leaves it a true sense of adventure. I'll report back with pics, vids of the trip. Richie
Did a similar trip to Romania in 2010, in a donated 106 that was heading for the scrappies! My dad has a mondeo which has been repainted and will be used for the third time to do it all again in August, 4000 miles round trip. We stayed in Romania for a few days in sigisoara, brilliant, although drivers in Hungary are crazy - overtaking moves and general driving standards were shocking to say the least!
lol rich I spotted that car on gumtree is the guy going that was up to my place with you? Listening to him for 7 days would be worth the trip alone, though someone might actually die of laughter lol
Last year we spent about 500 each and gave the car away at the end Yip Pete, gumtree is the place. Aye marks coming too, will be good craic. Might get the car up to the detailing night and get people to sign/draw on it, and also partake in banter
ah i had a friend just literally done the same thing, dunlop is his name, u never know with ni being so small!
Well we head of for the rally at 6am this morning. Only just back from the garage after the clutch slave cylinder decided it wanted to be a ball bag and cover the clutch and flywheel in clutch fluid. Gearbag out job which we only realised how much of a pain in the arse it was until all of us were simultaneously cursing at a gearbox that refused to come easily or in peace. I think rover/mg encapsulated the idea of a 'square peg in a round hole' quite well. Anyway suppose its better happening now that perched on the side of an alp with some kind of wild cow licking our windscreen. I'll try and update but we have many beers to sample Yours, Richie
Christ almighty, I cant believe thats the car I missed by ten mins! Right before you drive the car, you must let me get down and check the car out incase it detonates on route as the timing belts where due on this at 75k and the pretensioners dont last more than 70k!!! As for when you get back, talk to me about selling me the car in the state it currently is as I would happily buy it if the money goes to charity.
Crap just relaized you have gone, if you need ANY advice when on tour let me know, why didnt someone tag me lol!
Journey to the rally - [belfast - Kent] We left Belfast on the 7 o'clock ferry for cairnryan with the aim to pick one of our teammates up in gatwick because he couldn't get the day off work and he's a p***k. We horsed it down the road and the only bit of congestion we hit the whole day was 5 minutes on the m25. The car got it tight but didn't put a foot wrong. Turned up for registration that night and everyone's faces dropped when we turned up backfiring like a trooper. By the time we got registered and got to the hotel we were beat. We got our dinner at 23.00 and I ate most of it with one eye open, nice wee pint of fosters though. Miles today - 650 Day 1 - rally starts [kent - Brussels] The day kicked of at 8.30 meeting at kent university to meet everyone and get an introduction. About 30/35 cars in total I think with about 15 dropping out the night before. Rally started at about 9.30 and we dicked about Canterbury for a while before heading for the channel tunnel, even the staff wanted to sign the car Off the tunnel and the first destination was Brugge. Stunning city and we got a pic with the tower in the background, made more famous by the film 'In Brugge' with colin farrel and brendan gleeson'. on a side note, the women, oh my good god. Tonight we are slumming it in our 4 star hotel that we got for £60. Away out for some dinner, beers and some views around Brussels. Miles today - 300
Unreal, would love to do something like this, but with my luck the car would blow up in the middle Best of luck with it, car doesn't look out of place in that last photo at all lol
Richie im coping your reports onto the owners club, and when you get back there will be a nice paypal collection for you that im going to sort on your return, should be a significant contribution thanks to their support.