Another early morning briefing was quite a struggle for some teams who stayed up partying in Feldkirch, but everyone made it to find out what was in store for the day ahead. Today was the day we put the cars to the test on the magnificent Stelvio Pass! If you’ve viewed our website and seen previous blogs and pics, you know this needs no introduction. It’s one of the greatest driving experiences you can encounter. It really puts the bangers to the test, stick around to see which cars survived and which didn’t!

Today we were driving from Feldkirch to Lake Iseo in Italy which is around 220 miles. Last year the sun was shining on top of the Stelvio, but this year there was snow! We hadn’t seen anything like this in September before, but the teams seemed to enjoy making snowmen! As you came down the Pass though the Italian sun was shining bright!

It was an extremely eventful day, with some teams spending ages having fun on the Stelvio and various other mountain passes around the area including the Mortirolo Pass also in Italy.

We got so many amazing photos from all the teams, spectacular scenic pics and some hilarious photos in front of the sign and with some special props that show what the Motoscape Banger Rally spirit is all about. There’s a lot of pics to look at so we’ve included them all together at the very bottom of this blog.

On to the challenges and it was a fantastic effort from the teams today. Congratulations to International Sheriffs Department (Prague) and Little Britain (Venice). Both teams took home the daily prizes of £75 each due to their excellent funny photos! Well done teams, a fantastic effort, we definitely enjoyed your pics!

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On the car side of things, the Stelvio deemed too much for some beloved bangers. Art of Cooking got half way up the Stelvio, but then their clutch pedal had come loose. Luckily it was fixed by a local mechanic and they could carry on.

Team Last Man Standing also had trouble getting all the way up, they didn’t quite make it all the way but they got the car going again and made it to the hotel in one piece, there’s always next year to have a go at it!

The Red Dragons had a gear stick problem and they drove all the way up the Stelvio in first gear! The car was looking in bad shape but they had a helping hand from team Shaken Not Stirred who had a boot full of parts and eventually sorted it out so they could get going again!

The final car problem of the day was from Team Stretton who’s VW Polo is now beyond repair and had to be towed away. They did manage to complete the Stelvio but that was the cars last breath. Luckily the Lightening Mcqueen Boys were on hand to give them a lift to the hotel, and they will get their hire car today.

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

Onto the evening and we arrived in the town of beautiful town of Lake Iseo. Many of the teams enjoyed a quieter night so that they could recharge after the first 3 days and the long day on the passes. Others headed into the town to sample the Italian Cuisine and local wine and beers or just to take in the scenic views of the amazing lake.

Tomorrow we head to Venice, which is the end of the trip for the teams on the 5 day route. They are all looking forward to the complimentary meal and presentations, followed by some celebratory drinks! Find out how we got on tomorrow!

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Next stop, Noventa di Piave (Italy) via Venice

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The morning after the night before, and plenty of teams were feeling the effects of a fantastic night at the wine festival! The morning briefing was a struggle for some teams, but after jumping in the shower and getting a bit of food everyone was raring to go and start the challenges along the wonderful River Rhine.

Today we were driving from Koblenz to Feldkirch in Austria which is approximately 325 miles, and it’s one of the longer drives on the rally, but it gives teams plenty of chances to visit some amazing places and see things you wouldn’t get the chance to see on a typical holiday!

Driving down the B9 along the River Rhine with the sun beaming down is a great way to start the day and it gives the teams chance to stop for a coffee in the traditional German villages. Most teams made time to visit some of the historic castles built into the mountain sides and some visited Baden Baden. Adam and Carlo from Funk Soul Dubbers spent 2 hours in a Spa recovering from the wine festival! Other teams visited the waterfall and cuckoo clock in Triberg. Steve and John from Art of Cooking confirmed it was a big cuckoo clock!

Stuart and Lee from Team Blown Diff decided to head straight for the Autobahn to be first at the hotel bar! They missed the traffic jams that a lot of the teams got stuck in too due to a vehicle catching fire, luckily it wasn’t one of our bangers!

Take a look at the scenic pictures (including some of our bangers!), you won’t be disappointed!

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Due to the traffic jam we extended the deadline for challenges until 8pm and most teams managed to get there in the end and get their challenges checked. Congratulations again to The New Recruits (Prague) who were daily prize winners for a second day running and Cake and Jelly (Venice). Both teams took home the daily prizes of £75 each! Well done teams, a great effort, we know the Motoscape challenges can be tricky!

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Banger breakdown wise the Triumph Stag (Team Old Un’s) is still awaiting repair and they are hoping to meet back up with the rally asap and we had another casualty yesterday. Metal Medics in the Neon broke down but couldn’t get a hire car out so they are going to get a train to Venice and meet back up with us there.

Overall though there are still plenty of teams in the running for the cash prizes!

Onto the evenings proceedings, and Motoscape organised a meal and disco in the hotel for all teams. It was a great way for people to relax and have a good time after a long days driving. The Austrian beer was flowing and the bar staff had never seen anything like it before. Andrew and Sion from the Red Dragons took over the DJ booth and got the “TUNES” blasting out. I don’t think we’ve seen so many Jager Bombs downed (and dropped on the floor) ever!

People ended staying up till 4.30am! Good job no organisers stayed up till that time though… cough… Paul… cough. A big thank you to all the staff at Hotel Lowen for their efforts in making the evening a great success.

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It was another great night, and all everyone could talk about was the forthcoming route for the next day, and getting themselves ready for the Stelvio Pass, one of the best driving roads in the world. Fingers crossed all the cars make it!!!

Next stop, Lake Iseo (Italy) via the Stelvio Pass

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After an exciting first day and superb night in St Omer, it was time to start the Motoscape challenges! Today’s drive from St Omer to Koblenz in Germany was just the ticket to make sure all the teams/cars are fully prepared for the week. The morning briefing, was packed with teams eager to receive today’s information packs which contained all the essential information for the trip to the world famous Nürburgring, bring it on!

The journey from St Omer to Koblenz is around 300 miles depending which route you take (choice between scenic route or the faster motorways) and the Nürburgring was the highlight of the day for most teams. The ring was busy with a fabulous array of luxury cars land our treasured bangers.

Where on earth can you see super cars lined up next to a bunch of crazy bangers, waiting to get on the Nürburgring? Only on the Motoscape Rally of course!

There was an great mix of Motoscape cars, rally cars and super cars, you could smell the adrenaline (or the petrol fumes might have just gone to our heads!) A lot of our teams took their pride and joys around the track (some numerous times) and had an unforgettable experience. Take a look at the action:

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Unfortunately the ring was closed later in the afternoon due to an accident (not involving any Motoscapers) so not all teams got to go round, but there’s always next year!!

There were some teams with car problems though, namely the mini (Proximity to Awesome) had a points / distributor problem but luckily this was fixed by a kind gentleman at the ring. Unfortunately not the same kind of luck for the Triumph Stag (Team Old Un’s) which had a gearbox fluid problem and has forced the car into a garage for a full health check before it can proceed…..more updates on this tomorrow.

Back to the challenges and between 5pm and 7pm the teams checked in at the hotel in Koblenz to see if they could strike an early lead in the competition. A fantastic effort by the teams who took on our tricky challenges, and congratulations to The New Recruits (Prague) and Rafa Duchenne (Venice) who scored the most points for the day and won the daily prizes of £75 each! Well done guys you certainly thought outside the box. Take a look at the latest standings on the challenges too!

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On to the evenings entertainment, every year we strongly recommend visiting the traditional German town of Winningen for the final night of the annual wine festival. The majority of the Motoscapers took our advice and were certainly not disapointed!

The wine festival is a fantastic mix of live bands, traditional German food and drink, night clubs and a true mix of high spirited Germans, who really know how to party! The freshly cooked bratwursts are tastiest sausages you can eat! It gave the teams a great chance to get to know each other, so thanks to all the teams for making it a great night.

The teams were getting into the spirit and dancing the night away in front of the live band, and showing the locals how it’s done UK style, we couldn’t keep Team Stretton off the dance floor! There were some strange dance moves from the entrants including, The Slug, The Row, The Mo and many more (see the pics), not sure which responsible organiser was encouraging this! But heres a clue M_ _K.

A special mention has to go to James from Blunderbirds for being the drunkest man in Germany last night, well done mate!

The evening is further enhanced by what can only be described as an absolutely spectacular firework display… everyone was blown away!

The teams that came to the wine festival may have woken with sore heads in the morning, but it was a night they won’t forget in a hurry. Check out the pics for an insight into party time German stlyle, not all Germans steal the sunbeds when you are on holiday!

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Day 2 was definitely an eventful one, and everyone seemed to have a great day and night!

Next stop, Feldkirch (Austria)

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Well what can we say, what an amazing start to the 2012 Motoscape Rally! With 72 teams taking part this is our busiest year yet, and it was great to see all the teams making such a fantastic effort with their cars and fancy dress outfits, we have certainly raised some eyebrows in St Omer! The sun was out and the teams were soaking up the atmosphere as everyone congregated in the car park to register, get their freebies, have a cheeky beer and admire the vast array of vehicles!

We’ll get to all the bangers shortly, but first of all the coveted title of Banger of the Year! This year we awarded prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd best decorated bangers and the winners were….

1st Place (Banger of the Year): Death Squad, BMW 7 Series
2nd Place: The New Recruits, Jaguar XJ6
3rd Place: Dark Knight, Ford Mondeo

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Now for the rest of the bangers, we’ll let the photos do the talking, so take a look at some of the teams

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There were some great fancy dress outfits this year so a big thank you to all the teams that made the extra special effort!

Usually we don’t start to see any problems with the cars until day 2, but we have already had one banger casualty! Rally veterans Mike & Mike’s (Banger Defenders) Ford Escort Cabriolet suffered from a hole in the gear box and a rather interesting set of grinding noises going on! It was beyond repair, luckily they had breakdown cover and for the second year running are going to have to complete the rest route in a hire car (last year Mike’s triumph broke down on day 2!).

Last night saw everyone go to the town square in St Omer for a bite to eat and gather in the Queen Vic and the Dickens for a few drinks (a few too many drinks for some teams!) It was a fantastic night with all the teams getting to know each other, making a brilliant start to what’s going to be an awesome rally! Mark even taught the teams a new way to drink a pint, it’s called the “Barnsley Arm”!

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Next stop, Koblenz (via the Nurburgring)

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We hope all your plans are going well!

Here at Motoscape HQ we are busy preparing the daily challenges along with ensuring all the Hotels are ready for you all.

Here are a few reminders regarding preparations for the rally…

1/ Test your car (particularly on steep hills) with regard to the brakes and the cooling system.

2/ Make sure you have all the legal stuff, valid driving licences for each driver, insurance to drive in all the countries we are visiting (including eastern Europe if you are going to Prague), MOT for the car and of course fuel and oil!

3/ A European sat nav (plus decent maps and a compass), quality digital camera / camera phone (a european roaming package for emailing challenge pics is handy too), some cash for the beer and the road tolls and don’t forget to bring your sense of humour!!

4/ REMEMBER registration is open Saturday 1st September between 12.00 midday and 7.00pm

Many teams are raising money for charity which is great to see, if those teams could let us know by email which charities they are raising money for we can feature these on the website. Just send us any links or newspaper articles.

If anyone has any questions or needs any advice just send us an email or give Paul a call on 07854 251890.

The Motoscape Team