Pre-Rally Build Up

Hey everyone, hopefully your all prepared for the experience of a lifetime, as the 2011 Motoscape Banger Rally starts in just over 2 weeks!

Here at Motoscape HQ, we can’t believe how quickly this year’s rally has come round. It doesn’t seem like 2 minutes since we were enjoying the first beer in St Omer 12 months ago.

We hope all your preparation is going to plan and can’t wait to see your motoring masterpieces! If you can’t wait till the 3rd of September to show off your banger, why not post it on the facebook page for all to see!

Everyone should have had their pre-rally packs via email now, if you haven’t just email us at [email protected], but here’s a few essentials you need for the rally:

  • Your passports
  • Driving Licenses for all those planning on driving
  • Insurance certificate to cover all those drivers
  • Valid test certificate (MOT)
  • A sense of humour :)
  • Some spending money for the trip
  • A digital camera & computer lead / memory card reader (important for challenges)
  • A Sat Nav (with Europe enabled) or detailed European road maps
  • And most importantly of all, your team and your car!

If you’ve got a website / blog or facebook page for your team,  feel free to email it over to us and we can put the link under your team name on the teams page – https://www.motoscape-rally.co.uk/teams.asp

This year we are going to be updating the website constantly with updates from the rally. Every day there will be a blog on the latest rally news, challenges, leader boards, photos and general daily goings on.

If your friends and family want to keep up to date with the rally, point them in the direction of our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/MotoscapeBangerRally

This will be the main hub for all the latest news & photos with instant updates to their news feeds so pass it on.

We want this years rally to be the best one yet and we hope you are all as excited as we are!

The Motoscape Team will be at the Etap Hotel in St Omer from 11am on Saturday 3rd September ready for registration!

Look forward to meeting you all

Paul, Peter and Mark
The Motoscape Team

Day 2 – St Omer to Koblenz

Today was the first day of challenges on the rally, and all the teams met early in the car park for challenge and route guide. Congratulations to all the teams who came down in fancy dress and got the bonus points!

The journey from St Omer to Koblenz is around 300 miles depending which route you take, with many of teams stopping off at the famous Nürburgring. There’s nothing better than ripping a banger round one of the best race tracks available to the public. Where else can you buy a car for £250, decorate it, then take on the race track mixing with Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Maseratis and all other racing cars… what an awesome experience!

Gerard from “Monza or Bust” also came across Sabine Schmitz (the lady who drove the Ford transit van round the Nürburgring on Top Gear). She thought the rally was a fantastic idea and enjoyed meeting some of the entrants and their banger creations. Check out some of the pics below:

Between 5 and 7pm the teams started to drift into the 4* hotel in Koblenz complete with the days completed challenge sheets. Great effort by all the teams and congratulations to “Blue Waffle”, the winners for the day and they bag the £100 prize! The cash prize for Best Decorated Banger goes to “Moonraker: Live and Let Drive”, one of the most innovative bangers ever, well done Simon and Peter.

Koblenz hosts a fantastic wine and beer festival and Sunday night was the finale of the festival, so guess where the majority of the Motoscapers were heading!

The wine festival is a fantastic mix of live bands, traditional German food and drink, nightclubs and true mix of high spirited Germans, who really know how to party! It gave the teams a great chance to get to know each other, so thanks to all the teams for making it a great day.

One of the guys from “Team Aerodynamic Smith”, truly got into the spirit of the festival drinking wine by the bottle instead of the by the glass!

The evening is further enhanced by what can only be described as an absolutely spectacular firework display. Similar to the Millennium firework display in the UK, the feedback from the teams was incredible. Check out the pics for an insight into a true party in Germany!

Despite one car with a dodgy battery (they were saved by the Irish boys, “Batten Bees”), everyone made it in one piece and will be raring to go to Austria.

One more thing before we leave for Feldkirch, we had a visit from the German motorway police (yes we thought they were stripograms too, but sadly not!) who came to check out the organisation and legality of the rally, and we passed with flying colours!

So all in all, a really eventful day, with 2 prize winners, zero Nürburgring casualties, all cars present and correct, a visit from the police and an amazing night at the festival made it an unforgettable day for everybody.

Day 1 – Journey to St Omer

Well what can we say. What an amazing start to the 2010 Motoscape Rally ,congratulations to all the teams for making a fantastic effort with cars and costumes. After the worst part of the journey  is over(driving through the UK!!!), a smooth ferry trip and a short drive to St Omer from Calais, ourselves and the teams gathered in the hotel car park for  team registrations

The atmosphere was buzzing and everyone was in high spirits, with some of the best  decorated bangers we  have ever seen, check them out below:

Some of the highlights ……….

All the bangers, especially the Green Maxi, Tommy Coupe’s hat  , the Moonraker rocket, MARMITES Lyrca costume, Cumbernauld’s Flux Capacitor and Chatney Racing’s VW Camper Van, are just a few of the potential winner of the “ BEST DECORATED BANGER COMPETITION”

Last night saw everyone go to the town square in St Omer for a bite to eat and  a few drinks (a few too many drinks for some teams!) It was a great night with all the teams getting to know each other, making a fantastic start to what’s going to be an awesome rally!  Roll on Koblenz!

What to expect in St Omer

St Omer is a beautiful small medieval French town, with plenty of restaurants and bars. It is only 30 miles from the ferry terminal in Calais. Late afternoon on Saturday is when everyone meets up.

There’s a great atmosphere as teams take great interest in the painted contraptions that steadily arrive for the registration. One or two teams will probably arrive earlier in the day and may already have sampled the French beer. After registration everyone wanders into the town which is about 10 minutes walk from the hotel. Being Saturday night there are plenty of people out and about.

The heart of the town is a cobbled square surrounded by a mix of shops, restaurants and bars in typical French architecture, some dating back to the 13th century. The centre piece of St Omer is the beautiful Notre Damme Cathedral which took centuries to complete and is widely recognised as the best example of gothic architecture outside of Paris.

There are plenty of places open late in which to partake in the consumption of the liquid nectar. Most people will have there sensible heads on but one or two will no doubt turn up for registration the next day, a little worse for wear.

Sunday morning sees breakfast followed by the team briefings, information packs and then that’s it we’re on our way Germany!!!