the ultimate banger rally experience!
The sun shone all afternoon in St Omer as Motoscapers arrived throughout the afternoon ready for Motoscape Rally Venice and Prague 2018. 
Teams Dick Dastardly & Muttley and My European Romance arrived a day early to take advantage of some sight seeing and had a fabulous afternoon in Ostend.
Matt and Dudley from Team Scrumptious were one of the first cars to arrive in their out of this world post Apocalyptic car, causing many a jaw to drop in awe! Scotsmen Robert and Andrew from Anchorman had created a fabulous film crew themed car.
We have creative Motoscapers everywhere, as South Africans Arnold and Clayton from The Wolf Miners arrived with a magnificent Wolf head on the roof of their car. The head was made from fibre glass, papier-mâché, expanding foam and a pair of ladies tights and took Fabrication Engineer, Arnold, two weeks to make.
For the first time ever we have a team from the Isle of Man, couple Annabel and Diarmuid who are both into motorbikes as well as cars or anything with a motor and wheel.
We were pleased to welcome back a few second time Motoscapers:
Mark from M&M Asian Fusion
Dudley from Team Scrumptious
Sam & Nick from Motorsport Maniacs
Jill, Iain and young Lilli from Scooby Ecosse
Andy, Simon, Simon and Matt from Not Fast, Just Furious
We also have the following veterans (have been on Motoscape Rally 3 times or more):
Ian from The Clatters (he has returned this year with his wife, Faye)
Mark & David from The Good Ol Buoys (have returned with Mark’s partner Julie and friend Tom)
There are a few father and sons teams this year: The Dadsons, Wonda to Venice, V DubWa, Mad McKs3. Lots of fun and father son bonding to be had!
We also have a few Motoscapers here for the adventure to celebrate turning 50 this year. What a way to celebrate turning half a century, Happy Birthday to you guys, you know who you are!
Christmas arrived early this year when team Driving Home for Christmas turned up in their car complete with sleigh on top with The Grinch and Father Christmas waving to all passers by and the car driven by Elf and Woody Toy Soldier. The song Driving Home for Christmas was blasting from the car’s sound system and plenty of ho ho ho’s being joyfully proclaimed. To say they brought smiles to all Motoscapers faces is an understatement :-)
We have a couple of Scooby’s this year, one being Scooby from 3 Welshmen and their Dog (Scooby being the Englishman!). The other Scooby is young 10 year old Lilli with her parents and friends as part of team Scooby Ecosse. Lilli looked great in her Scooby outfit.
Unfortunately team Plough Optional were a no show as an unforeseen circumstance occurred back in the UK for them.
George from Plumley & Co phoned to say he would be arriving late as unfortunately his car radiator broke en-route in the UK so he found an MG specialist to fix a new one. He turned up at 11pm with his Aunt in their bird watching themed car complete with binoculars and duck hats!
The Beanz Mobeel also turned up late in the evening with their baked bean costumes and bean themed car.
Motoscapers changed in to their fancy dress costumes ready for the welcome briefing, a spectacle to behold! The Kings of Leon slipped in to their banana suits, Husband and wife team The Clatters transformed in to Willy Wonka and Oompa Loompa, Team Mid-life Crisis became a dashing Starsky & Hutch, International Rescue squeezed in to their Thunderbird 2 suits and performed their puppet moves, Mansells Mustdash brothers looked like twins wearing their Nigel Mansell moustaches, Goldmember looked very smart and certainly the part in their Austin Powers costumes complete with pimped up car, Grumpy Grandads on Tour donned their high heels and full makeup dressing up as the pink ladies and turned a few heads! The list of entertaining fancy dress goes on but we are naming just a few here for now.
The charity box coffers were counted by Sybil with Mo from Kings of Leon helping her, a total of £80 was raised by Motoscapers. When it was time to do the charity draw, we asked Dudley to do the honours of drawing a charity declaration form from the pile. You couldn’t make this up, Dudley not only managed to draw his own form (giving the £80 proceeds to Marie Curie Cancer Care), but in 2016 Dudley did exactly the same thing – drawing his own charity form!! Next time if Dudley comes again, we may have to find another volunteer or people may start to think it is rigged!
Following the welcome briefing, teams walked up to the pretty centre of St Omer for a meal and drinks, some still in fancy dress and receiving amused or appreciative waves from French locals.
Sunday morning and Motoscapers were greeted at the post breakfast briefing with yet another early Christmas surprise, when Father Christmas and his fellow team members from Driving Home for Christmas gifted every Motoscaper with a delicious Mince Pie. With the slight frosty chill in the air of the early morning, a Mince Pie felt quite festive. Thank you for your generosity team Driving Home for Christmas!
After the mince pie fest the announcements were made for the winners of Best Car and Best Fancy Dress for Motoscape 2018. They were as follows:
Best Car
1st place: Team Scrumptious
2nd place: Comic Interlude
3rd place: Anchorman
Best Fancy Dress
1st place: Driving Home for Christmas (including their car and fancy dress)
Runners up: The Good Ol Buoys, Scooby Ecosse, Jurassic Prague and Grumpy Grandads on Tour.
Following prize giving, all teams were ready to be up and away for their drive to Koblenz.
