Day 7 – Bled to Prague

After a relaxing night in the beautiful town of Bled (Slovenia), the teams were up bright and early for the drive to Prague (Czech Republic). This was the last day of the 2010 Motoscape Rally, so all the teams were checking their cars and the routes to ensure there would be no delays getting to Prague for the presentation, meal and big night out in Prague.

The journey from Bled to Prague is around 400 miles, so most teams took the direct route, however the organisers took the time to visit 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!

As teams started rolling in to the exquisite 4* hotel in Prague, some had time to take a swim, sauna and visit the gym, while others got there in just enough time to go out on the town and meet up with the other teams for the final nights presentation.

The complimentary meal and presentation was held in a mediaeval style cellar restaurant in the centre of Prague, and was a great place for all the teams to get together for one last time to reminisce about their time on the rally, have a few cheeky “sherbets”, and plan their night out in the beautiful city of Prague. A big thank you also to the waiters and waitresses in the restaurant, it’s not easy to keep up with a restaurant full of hungry Motoscapers, and they pulled it off in style, we will see you again next year!

What a great night for everyone to get together, and well done to “Blue Waffle” for winning the Motoscape 2010 Push on to Prague Rally, and also the £100 daily prize from the challenges on Day 6 in Bled!

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 go and watch a show involving midgets (so the “Tommy Coupe” guys told us anyway!), you really can’t find a better place to end our European Road Trip!

The 2010 Prague Rally was the best Motoscape Rally yet, due mainly to the fantastic mix of people, vast array of decorated bangers, and not forgetting the amazing variety of “brewskies” sampled in all the different countries visited!

A massive thank you to everyone who took part, we hope you all had a fantastic time and we hope to see you again next year!

Cheers boys and girls

Paul, Peter and Mark!

Push on to Prague 2010 Winners

So the Motoscape 2010 Push on to Prague Rally 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… Blue Waffle! Squadies Matthew, Deano and Oz walk away with the £700 cash prize as well as the £300 they won through the daily challenges. So the guys have raised £1000 for their charities, Help for Heroes and ABF – The Soldiers Charity through not to mention all the other fundraising their team (and the Smoke my Bandit team of Stu, Anneliese, Mark and Wildey) did prior to the rally. They even managed to get their car donated, so they can sell it when they get back and give the proceeds to the charities too!

It just goes to show that you can do something different to raise money for charity and have an amazing experience at the same time. Well done Blue Waffle, a team name none of us will ever forget!

Final Results for the Prague – Top 3:

1st Place: Blue Waffle
2nd Place: Team Sick Pigeon
3rd Place: Drive Through Bandits

Well Done to all the teams!!!

Inspiration for your Banger

Sturggling to come up with a good idea for your banger? Well, if you are or you just need a little push in the right direction, we’ve compiled a short list of our favourite bangers over the last few years. Take a look below…… but no copying!

Banger Car

The good old fashioned grass look!

Danger Mouse Banger

DANGER MOUSE!!!!!

Banger 4x4

Now this was a beast, our first ever 4×4 banger!

banger

Hand painted, and crafted to banger perfection!

Dick Dastardlies Banger

Sure you’ve all seen this on the site, but can’t leave out the Dick Dastardlies!

Cool Banger

The Mello Yello, looked even better in real life!

Red Bull Banger

Red Bull gives you wings, or dodgy breaks in this case!

Bumble Bee Banger

The Bumble Bee, sadly this banger did not make it all the way, we even held a wake!

So there you have it, our 8 favourite cars from our previous banger rallies. So, can you design something better? Put in your best efforts, and try to make next years list!

Capri Ghia vs Stevlio Pass

Want to know what the Stelvio Pass is like from a teams perspective? Then check out our guest post from Craig from Team Avalanche! It’s a great little read taken from an article he wrote for his local car club’s newsletter:

Stelvio Pass!Team Avalanche was looking forward to today more than any other. This was the day of the Stelvio pass. What could we expect, could the Capri Ghia make it up and down without any mishaps. This was the challenge facing Steve, Andy and Me (Craig).

First though we had to decide which route to take. Should we head for the Munt La Schera tunnel and then take in the Foscagno pass before descending to Bormio at the start of the ‘big one’ or should we take the shorter route via the little used Umbrailpass. We opted for the former so that we could experience the full length of the pass.

As we reached the bottom of the pass we couldn’t believe how many cars and bikes there were. What’s more there were dozens of guys on pushbikes. Are they mad or what! Spotted someone doing it in a Reliant Regal Supervan 3. “Hate to admit it but I had one of those” exclaimed Steve. He did used to drive it on a motorbike license so we’ll let him off. “Let’s follow Dell Boy then” exclaimed Andy.

So we did we started following the three wheeled pig. It was 20 degrees when we set off and clear blue sky but we were about to find out how things can soon change. The pig seemed to be doing pretty well as we followed along in the Capri Ghia. Hairpin bend after hairpin bend, ‘oh look someone’s come off their bike’. Not surprised as bike after bike comes racing by. I think they have a death wish. ‘There’s another’, I’m sure they all think they’re Barry Sheen.

How many more are we going to see? Us old farts will just take it nice and steady, we’ve got a lot further to go before we reach Krakow. ‘Oh shit’ those were my exact words! I had insisted on driving! ‘The temperature gauge is as high as it can go’. So we had to stop and we weren’t even half way to the top. Bonnet up, fan on full, lets cool this baby down. Took a while but after about 15 minutes we decided to give it another go. The 3 wheeled pig was long gone, how can we get beaten by a plastic car fitted with a lawnmower engine. Anyway off we set, more hairpin bends and then ‘I can’t see anything, where’s the road gone’. It’s thick fog now, where did that come from and it’s also cold, wind those windows up. We found ourselves stopping again and waiting another 15 minutes for the engine to cool down. Had to don our fleeces, it’s certainly a lot colder now. Last push on to the top, could we make it without stopping again.

Yes we can! and we did. It was packed, all different nationalities, cars and bikes from all over Europe. But we couldn’t see a bloody thing as we looked down whence we had come. “Look at that guy there he’s older than us” I said pointing to a guy in shorts and ‘T’ shirt who had just cycled to the top. We looked down at our middle age spread thinking ‘who’s mad us or him’. Met this crazy Austrian guy selling hot dogs. Munch munch, come on there’s nothing to see let’s get back down the other side and get to where we are going. So off we set again and guess what, half a mile down the road and we’d got clear blue sky again. Wow! what a sight, as we stopped got out of the Capri Ghia and looked over the edge to see the road snaking it’s way down to the bottom.

stelvio2Picture time for sure. Click, click, click, ok let’s get off. The car should be ok now, it shouldn’t overheat going downhill. Andy had taken over the driving as we descended. More smashed bikes and a smashed car as well, then “shit the brakes aren’t working” Andy said in a pant wettingly funny, yet brickin’ it tone! “Why didn’t you use the gears to slow us down, you’ve gone and cooked the brakes” I said. We pulled in.

You could warm your hands up on the brakes there was that much heat coming from them. Guess we’ll have to stop again. Another 15 minutes, this is becoming a real challenge. Finally, we reached the bottom, 2748 metres and 60 hair pin bends out of the way. That was great, shall we do it again. Maybe next year. And off we head into the sun and onto our next destination.

How to set up a website for your team!

banger rally website designSo, you’ve registered on the rally, got your banger (or classic car), sorted your travel plans and done everything else on your checklist, but you want your friends family to be able to follow your progress building up to and while your on the rally, but don’t know what to do! Well fear not Motoscapians, our guide shows you what you need to do to get a website for your team online. Check it out below:

OPTION 1: The free method

The best way (in our opinion) to get some web presence for your team, without having to pay a penny is to use a free service to host a blog, such as blogger.com. It’s really easy to use, there’s videos and tutorials showing you what to do, and once you’ve signed up, you can give the web address to your friends and family, and they can view your process along the way!

Note: Another free alternative to blogger.com that we recommend is the wordpress.com. Check out the features the two have and see which is best for you! If you do a little google on, free website, you’ll see more alternatives too.

OPTIONS 2: The do it yourself method

If you now a bit about computers and web design, then why not build one yourself! What you will need to start with is the following, a domain name and web hosting. Then build your site to how you want it to look and get it uploaded. However if you’re not confident at building sites, but want your site to have it’s own domain name, we recommend the following. Install the wordpress blogging software on your hosting server (as used in this very blog) from wordpress.org (different to wordpress.com). Simply download, upload to your server,  install and your ready to go. There’s tons of free themes out there that can make your website / blog look really professional. The external hard drivers used this method for their website and it look great!

Resources: For cheap domains and reliable web hosting we recommend – www.heartinternet.co.uk

OPTION 3: Bring in the pros

If you want your website to look the bees knees, and you have a little of your budget left over, then why not get a pro company to design you a site for your team that will look immense! The Dick Dastardlies from our 2009 rally did this and there site received great interest, and even made it onto the homepage of the Motoscape website.

So there you have it, check back soon for our guide to getting your team on the social networking band wagon!