2011 Day 7 – Bled to Prague

After enjoying the meal and sociable drink last night in Bled, the teams were making sure they were up bright and early for the drive to Prague. This was the last day of the 2011 Motoscape Rally, so no challenges today, except to get to Prague in one piece! The Arthur Ant Hill Mob made sure they set off extra early for their taxi to make it in time (which it did, yey!)

The journey from Bled to Prague in the Czech Republic is around 400 miles, so most teams took the direct route to get straight to the hotel. Today is a reasonably long drive compared to other days on the Motoscape Rally, but we unfortunately can’t be driving up and down mountains and passes every day (although I’m sure Alex, Lyndon and Andy from 3 Idiots Abroad would disagree!!).

Somes teams who still wanted to visit somewhere different on the way to a small detour and visited 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!

Most teams got to the hotel in Prague in plenty of time to check the bar was fully stocked and to get ready for the night ahead and the final meal and presentation on behalf of Motoscape.

The meal and presentation was held in a cellar restaurant in the centre of Prague and was a nice place for teams to get together one last time, have a few beers and find out the overall winners of this years rally before heading into the beautiful city of Prague.

What a great night for everyone to get together, and well done to Team Gee for winning the 2011 Motoscape ”Road Trip to Prague”.

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 you want to finish the rally with a big blow out at the cities best night clubs, you really can’t find a better place to end our European Road Trip!

We’ve all got so many great memories from this year’s rallies, and it’s been one hell of journey. We, the organisers can safely say it has been the best year yet, mainly due to the enthusiasm of the teams, the effort put in to their bangers and the fact it was just a great bunch of people. We want to keep improving the rally every year so thanks to all the teams for their feedback, everything will be considered and we appreciate you taking the time to help us make it even better for next year.

Overall it’s been an amazing, hard working but enjoyable week, and we just want to say a massive, massive thank you to everyone who took part, we hope you all had a fantastic time and hope to see you again next year!

Remember you can get all the latest pics and updates at our facebook page, just visit our page here and click the “Like” button. So keep an eye on your inboxes and stay tuned to the website for our announcement of when registration opens for Motoscape 2012!

Cheers boys and girls

Paul, Peter and Mark!

P.S. Anyone who wants help with photos / facebook / twitter etc. when you get back home just email [email protected] and he’ll sort it out!

Motoscape Rally – Road Trip Prague 2011 Winners

That’s it, the 2011 Motoscape Rally, “Road Trip to Prague” 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… Team Gee! The boys from Newcastle won it by just a few points and they take home the £800 cash prize and gloating rights at being the 2011 Motoscape Prague Champions! They took an early lead on the first 2 days of the rally and it was theirs to lose, but they hung in there to take the grand prize. A great effort from David and the two Marks, who took part in the rally to raise money for Cancer Research. Well done lads, a great effort!

In 2nd place was Jess and Rach from When You Wish Upon a Car who take home £300 for being runners up. They also won the £100 daily prize from Day 6, making that a total of £500 in prize money including their other daily win, which is also going to Cancer Research. You might have seen some of their fancy dress pics, and if we had a competition for dressing as many different Disney characters as possible they’d have won!!!

Finishing in 3rd place was the 27 Club Trippers. Their effort in the challenges (and risqué fancy dress) was great and on another year they might have won, but Team Gee and When You Wish Upon a Car just pipped them at the finish line. A good effort from the boys who excelled in the “thinking out of the box” challenges!

Final Prague Top 4 (full top ten available next week):

1st Place: Team Gee
2nd Place: When You Wish Upon a Car
3rd Place: 27 Club Trippers
4th Place: Macmillan Ricerocket 2

Well Done to all the teams!!!

2011 Day 6 – Bologna to Bled

With yesterday being the final chance for all the entrants from both rallies to have one last great night out together, some people were feeling worse for wear after hitting the hotel bar and the city of Bologna. But still everyone on the Prague route knew they had just 2 days left of the rally, so spirits were high as we got ready for today’s journey.

Today we were travelling from Bologna to Bled in Slovenia, which is approximately 275 miles, but gives people some great opportunities to visit some amazing places.

Loads of teams visited Venice (one of the most romantic cities in the world). After parking up and getting a water taxi to the centre they spent up to 5 hours there and still got to the hotel in Bled on time! Rachel from When You Wish Upon a Car made friends with some pigeons in St Mark’s Square while other teams just took time to take in the beautiful scenery. The overall opinion though was that Venice was an amazing place to visit, and people probably wouldn’t have gone if they hadn’t come on the Motoscape Rally!

Other teams took our other route option so they could drive the Vršič Pass, which we had heard matches the Stelvio for an amazing driving road. The Motoscape Team headed on this route to get some pics and challenges for next year, and we ended up convoying with some of the teams, making it an amazing day. We got some awesome pics with Just Married, Veni Vermini Vomui, 3 Idiots Abroad, All Shook Up and The Beer View Mirrors. After driving on this road, we all agreed it was as good as the Stelvio, and the scenery put it marginally ahead in our opinion!

The Pass is situated in the Triglav National Park, so is must for anyone who likes breath taking scenery and the smell of true fresh air (even with our banger’s going up and down!). There’s some great little bridges throughout that we had lots of fun / jumping up and down on too (see below).

We even bumped into some crazy Bikers from Doncaster! They couldn’t get enough of the cars and even posed for a pic at the top of the Pass!

The roads in Slovenia are brilliant, and road leading to the Triglav National park even turned our very own Captain Slow (Peter) into Captain Speed, and he cooked the Motoscape Car’s brakes! The scenery is breathtaking, the rivers have the bluest water and the hair pin bends are awesome. Take a look below and see for yourself, there’s a lot of photos but it was great!

For the teams that got to bled in time to take part in the challenges, they headed down to the beautiful Lake Bled. The scenery there was great and teams got some excellent scenic photos throughout the day.

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!

Car wise, again we had no major casualties for the second day running (hurray!), however the rally is taking it’s toll on the vehicles. The Arthur Ant Hill Mob’s taxi had some over-heating trouble, which Kris from Starsky & Hutch helped them with. Team Avez-vous un Haynes Manual have got an oil leak but they think their Jag should pull through. Other teams are just having to take it steady on the roads, and stick to the speed limit!

On the evening in Bled, the Motoscape Team put on a lovely buffet meal at the hotel, then teams either had a few beers in the town, some went to the casino and others had an early night ready for the final night in Prague tomorrow!

So 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!

2011 Day 5 – Ritten / Rennon to Bologna

The morning after the Stelvio Pass, and some of the cars were really feeling it after a day on those hair pin bends. Today we were heading from Ritten / Rennon to Bologna in Italy which is around 190 miles, and was the end of the rally for the teams on the 5 day route. But before anyone could get started, the cars needed a bit of TLC in the hotel car park. The Crash Test Dummies had changed their brake pads, and even Postman Pat was helping out on Wrong Gear’s car!

Today was a relatively short drive to Bologna (around 3 hours) which gave teams plenty of time to do different things, and for the Prague teams to take part in their challenges for the day. The teams did a variety of things throughout the day. Gareth, Toni and Matthew from Baz to Bologna visited Lake Garda, Tribu Dei Chihuahua visited the Ducati Museum, while many teams grasped their opportunity to visit the Ferrari Museum and drive an actual Ferrari! The Team Webb boys even managed to get pulled over by the Police while out on their joy ride (see pic below!).

The Barking Mad car was a big hit at Ferrari, the Ferrari Girls wanted to take it home! The Arthur Ant Hill Mob girls had the guys at the Ferrari test drive offer 3 plane tickets home for the Bullet! They said NO of course!

The Lamborghini museum also went down well, with the Beer View Mirrors and All Shook Up teams getting some great snaps!

For the teams on the Prague rally that were concentrating on winning the daily cash prize and trying to creep up the leader board as the final day approaches, they headed into Bologna to take part in the challenges. Well done to Jessica and Rachel from When You Wish Upon a Car for winning the daily prize. It was their team limerick that snatched it, have a read below and see what you think:

There was two girls called Rachel and Jess
Who really loved fancy dress
Their navigation was s**t
But their outfits a hit
And by Prague they’ll surely be a mess!

On the car front today, we had no more major casualties, WOOP WOOP!

After what was deemed a banger casualty yesterday, Alex, Andrew and Lyndon from 3 Idiots Abroad had a ray of hope for their Calibre and got the part! They had to wait all day for their car to be repaired from the previous day in Switzerland, so they spent all day going up and down the Stelvio Pass in their Alfa Romeo hire car till their banger was restored, and finally made it the hotel at 1.30am. Still a great way to spend the day for 3 petrol heads!

In the evening, the teams on the Prague rally hit the town for a bite to eat and a few beers, and the organisers arranged a complimentary meal and presentation of prizes with all the Bologna teams, a fitting finale to the rally. What a great night for everyone to get together, and well done to  Wrong Gear and Tribu Dei Chihuahua for finishing joint first place and taking a share of the prizes on the 2011 Motoscape Rally, “Road Trip to Bologna”.

Tomorrow we head to Bled in Slovenia, with a route that lets you visit Venice, or take on another brilliant driving road, the Vršič Pass. Find out how we get on tomorrow!

Motoscape Rally – Road Trip Bologna 2011 Winners

Well that’s it! The 2011 Motoscape Rally, “Road Trip to Bologna” 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… on a joint first place finish for Wrong Gear and Tribu Dei Chihuahua! This is the first time 2 teams have tied in first place overall on one of our rallies, so the 1st and 2nd place prizes of £800 & £300 were combined then split between the teams, meaning £550 each, well done guys.

Also well done to 3 Birds in a Banger do Top Gun, they finished 3rd and walk away with £100!

Final Bologna Top 10:

1st Place (Joint): Tribu Dei Chihuahua!
1st Place (Joint): Wrong Gear
3rd Place: 3 Birds in a Banger do Top Gun
4th Place: More Than Just a Hard Shell
5th Place: Cupid Stunts
6th Place: Bottom Gear
7th Place: Team Paddy
8th Place: Team Webb
9th Place: GP Racers (Car 2)
10th Place: Diplomatic Immunity

Well done to all the teams!!!

2011 Day 4 – Feldkirch to Ritten / Rennon

As the teams arose from a steady night in Feldkirch, today was the day we put the cars to the test, for the almighty Stelvio Pass. If you’ve visited our website or read last years blogs you know this needs no introduction. It is simply one of the greatest driving roads in Europe.

Today we were driving from Feldkirch to Ritten / Rennon in Italy which is around 220 miles. Luckily this year, the weather forecast was good and the sun was shining all the way. The teams met as usual in the morning (everyone on time today too!) for the challenges and our pep talk on taking on the Stelvio. This really puts the cars to the test, stick around to see which cars survived and which  didn’t!

It was an extremely eventful day, with some teams spending a good 4 hours going up and down the Stelvio numerous times, and even taking their cars on the train through the middle of the mountains! The Arthur Ant Hill Mob couldn’t get their taxi to the top, but they managed to hitch-hike up there with some friendly tourists! The Motoscape Team also bumped into the 27 Club Trippers on our way to the top, so they followed us up there for a great photo session.

We got so many amazing photos from all the teams, some great driving shots, spectacular scenic pics and some hilarious clicks that show what the Motoscape Banger Rally spirit is all about. We know there’s a lot to look at so we’ve included them all together at the very bottom of this blog.

Other stories from the day included, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles getting an Italian army officer to pose for a very comical photo, the Bat mobile making it all the way to the top, Wrong Gears creative balloon techniques, all the amazing pics in front of the Stelvio sign and just a great bunch of laughs and fantastic memories for everyone to enjoy.

On the challenge side of things, due to a bus getting stuck on the Stelvio we extended the deadline to 8.00pm so the majority of teams could get back. Congratulations to Tribu Dei Chiahuahua who won today’s daily challenge and the £100 cash prize!

And the car side of things, the Stelvio deemed too much for more beloved bangers. Gert Lush’s Capri had some trouble back in Austria that they hoped could be sorted but unfortunately was not to be. The car was their parents from new so needs to get home! For the minute they have an hire car to complete the rally in and they are going to arrange for the Capri to make it’s way home one way or another.

Alex and the boys from Three Idiots Abroad found the Vauxhall Calibra run into cambelt trouble right at the bottom of the Stelvio. After 24 hours of desperately trying to get the right part it was confirmed this morning as another unrepairable banger casualty, but luckily (like most people this year) they had breakdown cover and now get to complete the route in one of my personal fav cars, an Alfa Romeo Giulietta!

The final team with major car trouble for the day was GP Racers. The brakes were beyond repair (in Italy anyway) so they are jumping in with GP Racers Car 2 for the rest of the route while the car gets shipped home for repair to be ready for their charity auction.

The rest of the cars are still doing really well though so it’s not all bad news!

Onto the evening and we arrived, slightly later than planned, in the town of Rennon (also known as Ritten) which 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”.

Tomorrow we head to Bologna, which is the end of the trip for the teams on the 5 day route. They are all looking forward to the complimentary meal tonight and presentations tonight, followed by a night out in Bologna. Find out how we got on tomorrow!