Month: September 2010

Day 7 – Bled to Prague

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After a relaxing night in the beautiful town of Bled (Slovenia), the teams were up bright and early for the drive to Prague (Czech Republic). This was the last day of the 2010 Motoscape Rally, so all the teams were checking their cars and the routes to ensure there would be no delays getting to Prague for the presentation, meal and big night out in Prague.

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The journey from Bled to Prague is around 400 miles, so most teams took the direct route, however the organisers took the time to visit Český Krumlov. This is probably one of the best mediaeval cities in central Europe and was made a ‘Unesco world heritage site’ in 1992.

The drive from Slovenia to the Czech Republic varies from the amazing scenery, as you start the journey with the awe-inspiring mountain landscape in Bled, to the rural landscape of the Czech Republic, which is completely different to the other countries we have visited on the rally. To top it all a fitting end to this years rally has to be a night in the world famous city of Prague, what more could you ask for!

As teams started rolling in to the exquisite 4* hotel in Prague, some had time to take a swim, sauna and visit the gym, while others got there in just enough time to go out on the town and meet up with the other teams for the final nights presentation.

The complimentary meal and presentation was held in a mediaeval style cellar restaurant in the centre of Prague, and was a great place for all the teams to get together for one last time to reminisce about their time on the rally, have a few cheeky “sherbets”, and plan their night out in the beautiful city of Prague. A big thank you also to the waiters and waitresses in the restaurant, it’s not easy to keep up with a restaurant full of hungry Motoscapers, and they pulled it off in style, we will see you again next year!

What a great night for everyone to get together, and well done to “Blue Waffle” for winning the Motoscape 2010 Push on to Prague Rally, and also the £100 daily prize from the challenges on Day 6 in Bled!

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After the meal and presentation the teams hit the city for Prague to celebrate the end of an amazing experience, and one that many of the teams said they would love to do again next year.

Prague has something for everyone, whether you want to have a relaxing coffee in the old town, or go and watch a show involving midgets (so the “Tommy Coupe” guys told us anyway!), you really can’t find a better place to end our European Road Trip!

The 2010 Prague Rally was the best Motoscape Rally yet, due mainly to the fantastic mix of people, vast array of decorated bangers, and not forgetting the amazing variety of “brewskies” sampled in all the different countries visited!

A massive thank you to everyone who took part, we hope you all had a fantastic time and we hope to see you again next year!

Cheers boys and girls

Paul, Peter and Mark!

Push on to Prague 2010 Winners

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So the Motoscape 2010 Push on to Prague Rally has come to an end! And I’m sure you all want to know who’s won?

Well we won’t keep you waiting, congratulations… Blue Waffle! Squadies Matthew, Deano and Oz walk away with the £700 cash prize as well as the £300 they won through the daily challenges. So the guys have raised £1000 for their charities, Help for Heroes and ABF – The Soldiers Charity through not to mention all the other fundraising their team (and the Smoke my Bandit team of Stu, Anneliese, Mark and Wildey) did prior to the rally. They even managed to get their car donated, so they can sell it when they get back and give the proceeds to the charities too!

It just goes to show that you can do something different to raise money for charity and have an amazing experience at the same time. Well done Blue Waffle, a team name none of us will ever forget!

Final Results for the Prague – Top 3:

1st Place: Blue Waffle
2nd Place: Team Sick Pigeon
3rd Place: Drive Through Bandits

Well Done to all the teams!!!

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Day 6 – Rimini to Bled

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After the big final night for the Rimini entrants, the teams gathered at 7.45am for the morning meeting, with quite a few sore heads. One of the Rimini guys even fell asleep on the toilet, he must have had a good night!

As the weather was so hot, many of the Prague teams decided to spend the morning chilling on the beach and swimming in the warm Adriatic Sea as a farewell to the Rimini guys and gals. Everyone had a great giggle as they relaxed after 5 days of awesome driving!

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We also need to give a quick mention to Amy, Oliver & Kevin from the “Lean Green Maxi Machine” who came up with a clever twist on their banger, which was to record a diary of each of the days events on the car! What a great idea Guys! Check out their photos below:

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The journey from Rimini to Bled is around 325 miles, with more hairpin bends as you reach Slovenia! There’s a few things you can see on route, and the “Moonraker” boys even went to Venice to find St michaels Square was flooded, come on boys what do you expect in Venice! Ross and Ross from the “R & R” team visited the famous caves at in Bled and had an interesting time seeing those magnificent Stalactites and Stalagmites.

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You’ll also be wondering who was yesterdays challenge winner? Well you will have to wait until  tomorrow as this will be announced at the final nights presentation tomorrow!

Once you reach Bled the first thing most teams do is visit the lake (or the pub for a some of the teams). Lake Bled is one the of most beautiful areas in Slovenia and highly recommended. It’s really something where we need to let the photos do the talking (we’ve even thrown in a few of the teams funny pics!).

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The teams had a relaxed evening last night getting ready for the final night in Prague tomorrow. A few sampled the local Slovenian food, with a few Slovenian beers, while others went to the famous Bled Chinese Restaurant, which went down well!

Tomorrow we head to Prague, which needs no introduction and all the remaining entrants are excited for a great day on the road and night in Prague. Find out how we got on tomorrow!

Day 5 – Ritten / Rennon to Rimini

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Following on from the magnificent drive on the Stelvio pass,the teams pressed on from Rennon to Rimini (which is a relatively short journey). This was the last day of the Motoscape Rally for some, so all the teams were working hard on their cars and planning the route to make sure their journey went smoothly. Shane (on the rally with his dad Chris) from “CSK Motorsport” is showing the other teams how to prep the car for the days journey

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The journey from Rennon to Rimini is around 260 miles, with the option to travel on the motorway, with most teams doing this and then having time to relax on the beautiful Rimini beach, and even go for a dip in the sea. The teams staying on for the Prague rally were busy out and about completing the challenges, as well as visiting the wonderful car museums on the way, including the Ferrari museum and the “Classic Boys” discovered the Masserati museum, which has a mix of Masseratis and other classic cars.

These museums are excellent whether you are into your cars or not. The Ferrari museum allows anyone to take a drive in a number of different Ferraris and prices start from 40 Euros, that has to be the bargain of the trip, and highly recommended by all the teams. Keiran from “Batten Bees” was blown away with his Ferrari experience, I think we know what Keiran wants for Christmas this year! Take a look at images below:

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What about yesterdays challenges for the Prague teams? You might have noticed if you’ve been following the blog that “Blue Waffle” have been leading the pack, and this meant other teams were taking it seriously today to try and bag the £100 prize. It was “Team Sick Pigeon” that gave an amazing effort doing the challenges, blowing the other teams out the water! Well done to them, and they get the £100 prize of the day!

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In the evening, the teams on the Prague rally hit the town for a bite to eat and a few brewskies, and the organisers arranged a complimentary meal and presentation of prizes with all the Rimini teams, a fitting finale to the rally. What a great night for everyone to get together, and well done to “Monza or Bust” for winning the 2010 Motoscape Roll on Rimini Rally!

After the meal and presentation the teams hit the town of Rimini to celebrate the end of an amazing experience for all the teams, and one that many teams said they would love to do again. We also had a first for the Motoscape Rally, Scott from “Team Aerodynamicsmtih” flew his girlfriend Nikki out to meet up with him and the other entrants on the final night, then proposed to her in the bar in front of all the Motoscapers! She said YES, and everyone was in great spirits for the rest of the night in the Rose and Crown bar on Rimini beach, which had a  great live band and awesome banter amongst all the teams.

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The spirit, camaraderie, convoys, banter, togetherness and general enthusiasm of the entrants on this years rally has shone through. Peter, the other half of “Team Aerodynamicsmtih” on the Rimini Rally, has decided to cancel his flight home, and carry on to Prague with Mike and Mike from “Confused and Chinglish” because he’s having such a great time, he didn’t want to go home! Many Rimini teams wished they were carrying on to Prague, but hey-ho there’s always next year!

Tomorrow we head to Slovenia, a country many will have never visited before, so will get experience something new. Find out how we got on tomorrow!

Roll on Rimini 2010 Winners

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So 2010 Motoscape Roll on Rimini Rally has come to an end! And I’m sure you all want to know who’s won?

Well we won’t keep you waiting, congratulations… Monza or Bust! Father and Son team Gerard Sr and Gerard Junior, they walk away with the £700 cash prize. A really great effort by all the teams, and it just goes to show how great the spirit of the rally has been, Gerard and Gerard bought  beers, for everyone and then donated some of their winnings to the “Batten Bees team” a very worthy charity from Killorglin, Ireland.

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Final Rimini Top 3:

1st Place: Monza or Bust
2nd Place: Super Mario Brothers GTI
3rd Place: Batten Bees

Well Done to all the teams!!!

Day 4 – Feldkirch to Ritten / Rennon

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There was huge excitement in the group this morning for what is one of the highlights of the trip, the “Stelvio Pass”. The teams were setting off from Feldkirch and heading to Ritten / Rennon near Bolzano in Italy.

The journey from Feldkirch to Ritten / Rennon is around 220 miles and nearly all the teams managed to avoid the motorways today, and stick to windy roads up in the mountains, which really pushed all the cars, along with completing the interesting challenges for the day.

What an amazing effort by the teams today up the cloudy Stelvio Pass. We got some awesome photos from the summit. The teams have two choices to get to the top of the pass, firstly the shorter route using the Umbrail Pass which leads on to the Stelvio or secondly using the beginning of the Stevio near Bormeo. If you are wondering what this famous pass has to offer take a look at some of the teams photographs.

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It was great to see the teams along the way from our journey to Rennon. We caught up with “Piston Broke” and “Booze Brothers” going the opposite direction to the Stelvio, but soon corrected them with a quick lesson on map reading!

“Call the Cops” left the hotel at 8am and decided to visit Lichtenstein and various other passes along the way and rolled up to the hotel at 9pm, one of the longest journeys of the day! Incidentally the earliest team back to the hotel was “Moonraker: Live and Let Drive” at 3.30 p.m, a great effort.

As the drive was so long and hard on the cars, we extended the check in time for the competition so everyone could get their results in. Well done yet again to “Blue Waffle” who were the winners for the day and they bag the £100 prize!

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The town of Rennon (also known as Ritten) is a beautiful historic town perched in the fabulous Dolomites. Many of the teams enjoyed a heavy night in the hotel bar sampling genuine Italian beers and of course various “Sherberts”. A few of the teams decided to take a late dip in the pool (around 1.00 a.m) despite the fact that the place was in pitch dark. The hotel owner, did see the funny side of it!

Tomorrow we head to Rimini, which is the end of the trip for some teams and everyone is looking forward to the complimentary meal tonight, followed by a night out in Rimini. Find out how we got on tomorrow!