Year: 2010

What to expect in St Omer

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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!!!

Bled, Europe’s Hidden Paradise

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Sorry for the delay with the blog posts lately guys, you know, a lot of work goes into organising a banger rally, especially when we are planning on making this years rally the best one yet!

But we’ve put a little piece together on one of the highlights of the 2010 Motoscape Rally, a place I’m sure most of you will never have been before,  Bled in Slovenia.

Bled, Slovenia

This town is an absolute gem and must be one of the most beautiful places in Europe. Bled is a lakeside town in Slovenia which is surrounded by the spectacular Julian Alps and those on the Push on to Prague rally will see for themselves why it is known as the hidden paradise.

Lake BledThe scenery makes it an ideal walking / cycling haven or just a fantastic place to relax and take in the scenery. If there are any runners out there, it’s definitely worth bringing your running gear and running round the lake.

Another amazing thing to do whilst in Slovenia visiting the unbelievable underground Caves of Postojna, which is over 4 miles and is accessed by a special underground electric train.

Caves of Postojna The caves boast the very best examples of stalactites and stalagmites any where in the world and is well worth the visit.

In the evenings there are plenty of bars and restaurants, many of which look over Lake Bled which is illuminated by the night.

Visiting places like Bled is what makes the Motoscape Rally a journey like no other, I can’t think of another trip where one day you’re bolting round the Nurburgring like the Stig, then another day you’re chilling out with a cold beer staring across the awe-inspiring Lake Bled!

If any of you have been to Bled before, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

Why choose the Motoscape Rally?

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Struggling to decide on which banger rally to take part in? Well here are a few reasons that make the Motoscape Rally stand out from the rest!

1. Daily prize funds & a big cash prize at the end.
“Either take on the challenges, or just come on the rally for the sheer adventure”

2. Team briefings every morning, with all the vital information you will need for the days driving.
“If you’re still in bed just nominate a team member to pick up a briefing pack every day”

3. Organised accommodation in quality hotels (or you can book your own).
“Whether you want to kip in the car or go 3 / 4 star, the choice is yours”

4. Guidance on places of interest on the route.
“From art galleries to lap dancing bars, we’ve got the information you need”

5. Do things that are only possible on the Motoscape Rally
“Where else could you drive the Stelvio Pass, take on the Nurburgring and visit the Ferrari museum in one week”

6. Get your exclusive Motoscape FREE merchandise.
“High quality limited edition Motoscape fleeces for all entrants, plus other freebies too”

7. Finally, we have a vast experience of organising banger rallies, which means you will not just see endless tarmac on a Motoscape Rally, you will actually be able to get a taste of life in each country we visit, including, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.
“If you are a tarmac junkie, then you need to look at a 3 day rally, but if you actually see the best sights in Europe, and have a giggle along the way, come on the Motoscape Rally!”

We started the Motoscape Rally back in 2005, after we went on a “well known” banger rally that was poorly organised! It had terrible organisation, a plain boring route of motorway driving, no real challenges or prizes and just a lack of effort from the organisers. We’ve proved a banger rally can be an incredible event, and if you join the Motoscape Rally, you will see the effort we go to, to make this one of the best experiences you will ever have.

See you in September!

What can you expect at the Nurburgring, Germany?

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One of the highlights of our banger rallies for many “Motoscapers” is the Nurburgring. So, if you’ve never heard of the Nurburgring, you want to know what to expect right? Well, we don’t want to give too much away as you want to experience it yourself, but here’s our quick guide!

The ring is easily found by the efficient German road network and is definitely worth the effort! Once you arrive at the circuit you will be amazed how accessible the track is, you simply pull up into the car park, buy a ticket (if you wish) from the little booth, put the ticket in the barrier and you are there! A stunning 20km of race circuit ready for you to drive like a star in the reasonably priced car!

The only rules are the car has to be road worthy with no bits hanging off or likely to fall off. One of last years teams ended up taping up the plastic pipes on the back of the car with gaffa tape! Could you imagine something like this in the UK, a 20km racing track where you can turn up in pretty much whatever you like and take it round the track for a few Euros and no checks? Our health and safety officials would have a field day.

The other thing to bear in mind is to keep to the right and indicate right when cars are approaching just to let them know you have seen them.

You also need to have your wits about you, because the Germans love their cars. We’ve seen some amazing cars on all our visits to the Nurburgring, from Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Pagani Zondas, and even VW camper van in bright yellow covered in flowers. But these cars don’t compare to the might that is all the Motoscapers taking to the ring in their beloved bangers!

Every year this fantastic race track get’s such great feedback on our rallies.

You can choose to drive round the circuit as many times as you like or sit back and watch everybody else just visit the circuit’s museum or have a drink in the cafes and restaurants.

So are you ready to embark on a lap of what is widely considered the toughest, most dangerous and most demanding purpose-built race track in the world, nicknamed ‘the green hell’ by Jackie Stewart? If so, head over to our registration section and sign up to one of this year’s rallies. It will be a trip you will never forget!

Motoscape Rally Video Diary

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Want a day by day guide to taking part in the Motoscape Banger Rally? Well then check out the videos below! One of the teams on last years Rimini Rally put together this awesome set of videos, so to get a feel of what taking part in the Motoscape Rally is like, take a look below:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

We hope you’ve all enjoyed watching these videos as much as we have. It’s great to see teams put this much effort in, to give people chance to watch what it’s like taking part in our rally. If anyone coming on this year’s rallies wants to make a video diary, feel free, we will definitely put it on our youtube page for everyone to see.