Nurburgring

Day 2 – St Omer to Koblenz

Posted on by motoscape

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:

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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.

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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!

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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.

What can you expect at the Nurburgring, Germany?

Posted on by motoscape

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!