2007 Here we come!

TeamRado will be competing in the next Scally Rally, for our latest news please visit www.teamrado.blogspot.com

Captains Log, entry #6 Rust In Peace baby!

We awoke to the realization that Scally Rally 2006 was over! The last Job before we set off for the Airport and home, was to remove all the items of value from the Audi, the Amp, the horn, the various flashing lights. This took a fair while as we were all still feeling the effects of partying hard the night before. None of the various offers of people driving the car back or taking it on for a new life in Spain really materialized, so we took the tough decision that the old girl was going to Rust in Peace in a Spanish Scrap Yard. B770 CMC had completed her last trip….and what a trip it was, memories that will live with all of the team for a very long time.

It was decided that Brookesy would deliver the Audi to her death bed as it would be easier to get back from the scrap yard rather then the whole team. With only a few drops of fuel left in the tank she was nursed along the final leg of the 1800 mile journey. With paper work signed and death certificate in had Brookesy took the last photographic record of B770 CMC at the beginning of its new life of resting!

Rust in peace.



For more pics of the reating place, visit....
RIP

Captains log, entry #5...Day ??, what day is it again?Wana buy a car, Jose?

With the last leg calculated to take 6ish hours, the desicion was taken to explore Barcelona in the morning, then fly down to Madrid on the motorway.Winkle was first up to drive today and took the wheel feeling as "light headed" as the rest of us."right out of the hotel, then straight" was what the hotel guy had told us. We got to the junction and Winkle said "Left, then?" It was gonna be a long day...The traffic on the way to barca centre was the heaviest we'd seen. The Audis's fan was constatly on. This meant it was blowing an iffy oily smell into the car all the time... pewww! We were stuck in the traffic when Winkle said "Where's my watch?" Incredulous looks around the car pierced the silence. The hotel were called, and they confirmed that Winkle's £1200 Tag was sitting on the bed of room 411..."You can drop us off for lunch and go back for the watch, then! was Brookesy good idea.With Winkle's ability for map reading and the Left/Right incident out of the hotel car park, we were not confident this would happen. We agreed to continue to the centre and see what we'd do. Lunch near Barcelona's "unfinished" catherdral was a high point for everyone.

The Sporadics joined us in convoy and had a last phone conversation with their team manager. "It's running fine now, Dad..."We set off from lunch back to the hotel (We'd never see Winkle or the Audi again if we split up) to pick up the time piece. "What's the time, Winkle?" was the overused joke for the day. Barreling down the motorway toward Madrid we started todays task. A very long game of Eye Spy. We had to look out for Service station names and opening hours, as well as other road side information and place names. This task took most of the tedium out of motorway cruising. It also meant that our attention away from incredible red, craggy rock formations. With lush green trees lining the mountainous terrain, it was like driving through the wild west. Yee-Hah! Teamrado were on it and no sign passed us without being photographed! Weaving across all three empty lanes, and circling the Sporadics, was the only entertainment to fill portions of the drive. Rubber gloves (to stop oily hands when fixing the engine) were filled with water and lobbed at Team 5's BMW. We also discovered that Lemon Fanta sticks to BMW winscreens quite well...

After a "fun" drive we stopped in a service sattion called ARS!W e needed an ARS service. We winked at the ARS girls, serving us. Dabbed the corner of our mouths with ARS wipes. We went for a group pee in the ARS.We said it was the first time we'd done ARS to mouth, with a wipe...He he.

Sonic took over the next stint and wanted to get rid of the Captain Slow name forever.With the other members of Teamrado asleep, typing the diary or sorting the pics of signs, he "put the hammer down". Leaning forward (in his karting position) he pushed the 22 year old estate down a winding descent. With the poor road surface hammering the now dead rear shocks into the body the other members took notice. Crusing at 95-ish (edit from Sonic; Sorry Mum) down the pass he lifted in one tightening corner! Without sharing a look Brookesy said "Don't lift!" "I know, I know!" was Sonic's reply. The Sporadics, keeping up, even commented on the angle we reached on that corner...A growing smell of oil meant we pulled into another service station (our 4 millionth visit of the weekend) to check under the Audi's decorated hood. With oil drips appearing on the ground and the sickly smell of gear box oil in our throats we paused for breathe.In the middle of nowhere, surrounded by miles of baron red rock, Brooksey took the car apart to check oil levels.

With the level OK, but concerning, we set off again. This time we nursed the poor little motor the final 2 hours of the rally.Determined to make the finish we willed her on, Horn's blazing whenever we could!This GPS got us to within metres of our destination before we swapped over the tour paper maps. Then we REALLY got lost. We turned a corner to see the rest of the Scally-ers and the horns went crazy! We'd finished! The Audi had done it's job and we could relax, happy that we could get a beer in!The tough job was finding a parking spot!

We strolled into the hotel, past scally-ers that had arrived earlier in the day (they didn't loose their watches, Winkle!!).Dumping our bags, and final swapping of Eye Spy answers with the Sporadics we went to the bar for the wrap party...
Awards and speeches later, we'd won nothing (apart from the respect of us and other Audi lovers and Brookesy's mention in the speech as the Forum whore!) we set about getting as "relaxed" as we could!! It was time to let our hair down and figure out how to get the Audi home!Our promised ride from the Irish guys had fallen thru, but, we had offers from others to drive her back, but with us covering the costs...A tired and emotional (for tired and emotional, see drunk) team conflab led us all to the point that we'd LOVE to see the Audi resurrected on the South coast, but if we had to send her to the Audi scrapyard in the sky we could!Beers were raised and bottom lips quivered as we toasted the old girl!Never had a 22 year old brought so much fun to 4 men over a weekend!!!

Through the hazy night we saw someone eyeing the Audi and thought we should approach and try the hard sell! If we could sell her tonight, we thought, we wouldn't have any problems tomorrow.At first sight he looked like a Spanish Mick Hucknall (with brown hair!). His pink shirt gaped to show his curly chest!"Ola" we ventured."This car is a CLASSIC" he retorted with a Spanish drawl.The Avant Quattro aspect of Teamrado's chariot pumped his nads as much as it did ours...Jose turned out to be the most entertaining gent we'd met on our travels. He was a "man of leisure" that lived across the street from the hotel. And had spent most of the evening in the bar, we sumised...Jose told us that he could take the car from us, as long as he could park it somewhere (!) And any other cars we could find and drive down to him he could sell for a large fee!?Not only might we move on the Audi, but, we could start a import/export relationship!!The evening rolled on with every other passer-by saying that they would LOVE to take the Audi off our hands, but, were flying home/had a car/had a meeting in Kettering on Tuesday.We did explain that the only reason we were selling it was becaused we'd measured it and it didn't fit in our hand luggage...Being some of the later attendees, apart fromt the ukelalle-based group, we sloped off to bed for some well earned (and required) sleep.The Rally was over, the Audi had covered 1787 miles from Calais to get us here, we'd seen some fantastic scenery along the way and met some great people.This was NOT our last of these experiences... Roll on 2007!!!

For more pics of the last day, visit....
Barca by day
Barca to Madrid
Rap Party

Captains log, entry #4...I preferred pig's dick, said Master Bates...

Day 3 started with a FANTASTIC view of the marina in Menton with Monaco just down down the coast. We rolled down to breakfast at 9 (late compared to many keen, more sober Scallyers) looking forward to our daily dose of Etap coffee, our Scally fuel.

Sonic had the first leg as we found out about our task for the day. Take a photo of the most expensive car we can find with bonus points for getting our car and team in as well. Monte Carlo's rich and famous were the perfect subject matter. Digital SLR in hand we set off!Petemate's endless hours on Gran Tourismo 4 (PS2) were at last proved to be well spent as we cruised the streets of the rich and famous looking for the circuit. A couple of wrong turns halfway tho (Petemate!!) meant we started the course a few times prior to it finally clicking! Busy streets and no armco were the excuses used by Petemate (whatever!) We finally got where we went wrong and crossed the start/finish line with the camera rolling to record Sonic's "best lap". Turning right (up the hill) we spotted our task subjects. Three new Ferraris pulled up on the side of the road in a line! "Quick stop! Pull up in front of them!" With no traffic coming down the hill Sonic deftly guided the 22 year old Audi to a rest, nose to nose with a red 360... A meeting of beautiful cars...The drivers were sorting a GPS problem as we set the camera up the hill so it could see all 3 prancing horses and the 4 ringed beaut. With the timer set Teamrado ran down the hill to get in view too! The shutter went as they pulled off in convoy sounding what could only be described as three ferraris pulling off down a hill in Monte Carlo with echos rebounding from surrounding buildings!!! Nice.

We jumped back in the car to continue the lap, patting ourselves on the back... Up the hill we went with Petemate saying "keep right and thru the square". The laughing stopped as a local police officer caught our attention and directed us to a stop just in front of him. Silence hit the car as he motioned to Sonic to turn the key and stop the engine. "You did something wrong" was his opening line. A stern, grey moustachioed face looked at us with an officious tone."erm, er, what?" came Sonic's stuttered reply. "You went over the white line". The solid white line in the middle of road is forcefully enforced, and should not be crossed in Monaco."Oh!" Sonic was feeling the heat of the officers eyes boaring into his. "You did it twice"."Did we?" Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Is it wrong to disagree with a police officer in Monaco? "That's TWO fines". He's almost shouting now." Erm, oh, uh!". Sonic starts to glance around the car for support, moral or physical. "We crossed over and came back" was Petemate's useful addition to the situation. "Do you admit it?" The officer's tone was as booming as it was accusing. "well..." Sonic is looking round the car again."Admit it!" he replied. This time louder and more pointed."Yes!" Sonic was beaten into submission. Winkle was reaching for his pocket as the officers face cracked and said "I'll take it next time I see you! Are you english, my wife is English".Realisation hit us and suddenly he was our best friend! Much chatting about the village near Oxford where she was born and our roots in Southampton later and we were waved on our way... There were four very releived men in that stripey Audi at that moment as we pulled away, careful to observe every law we could think of!!



So, thru the square we went. Past Casino Royale and the cafe de Paris we swept. Pointing at the Bentley's and the orange women. A quick right and down the hill we go... "It's all coming back to me", repeats Petemate. Round to the right we hit the famous hairpin. Much cooing fills the air as we come out of it and catch some curb on the way to the tunnel. The echoing in the of the air horns was something to behold! Out of the tunnel we come and the F1 chicane is missing... "Aaaw!" was the cry. We turn left into the pool complex (that is staging the Monte Carlo boat show, not a patch on Southampton) and round the swimming pool. We navigate the last turn onto the start finish and boot it. Until we hit a traffic jam and crawl over the grid positions to the start/finish line again ;)) Stop the clock!!!



In need of refreshment we park up near the square, avoiding the white lines, to go to Cafe de Paris for an esspresso.The coffee arrives and Sonic nudges us to say, "Ken Bates is over there". the former Chelsea Chairman is sitting across from us quoffing coffee and reading his copy of an english paper. Petemate bets Sonic a pound to go over and ask him how Spurs got on yesterday. He wanders up to the now-Leeds chairman and pretends not to know him, but, forgets he's deaf and has to repeat the request. The Richard Attenborough look-a-like informs Sonic of the nears newsagent and tells him to purchase a copy of his own... He did'nt get where he was today...



We leave the cafe past Casino Royale and pass a superb old Alfa, piloted by a British couple. Brooksey offers to take a photo for them and email it to them. It turns out that he works for the same company that a good friend of Teamrado, Daz T Waz, works for. Coincedence number 5, is it now? We eventually leave the rich city, vowing to return and buy that little apartment, to start a long boring days motorway driving to Barcelona (what a beautiful horizon?).



We cruise the motorway stopping at many tolls, and spot a Corrado! Our first of the trip!The Audi hits it's highest speeds of the trip to catch the VR6 motor. And we did. We pull along side, did-a-ling the horn, and pointing out our 'rado silhouette logo to a very confused French man. He eventually understood and powered past smiling. We circled each other for a couple of miles with him and his wife read the car and us "did-a-ling" back.

A long motorway trip was broken breifly by an encounter with a coach full of Spanish school girls waving to us. We replied with some horn. The next service stop beckoned after some sterling, if just above the limit, driving from Winkle. We slowed for the service stop, but somehow missed it. We were initially dissappointed, until we saw 6 Spanish police motorcycles and a speed camera. they pointed at us, and appeared to be mounting there rides, they sped toward us, blues and twos going. Winkle readied to stop until they rode straight past us toward a BMW and a van that past us. If it weren't for slowing for and missing that turning...A beautiful sunset over the mountains greeted us into Barcelona.

As well as a traffic jam. We decided to test the GPS, who by now had morphed into an Australian bloke, and leave the motorway in search of clearer roads.these led us to the hotel 15 miles outside Barca centre.We proudly showed our 3-up ferarri pic to be told that is was cheap! £110 grand at most. Nowhere near the cost of the Maybach that was seen or the rare Mercedes SLR that some teams saw! We were happy with our pic as it reminded us of Sonic's telling off. 30 mins later and we'd showered, unpacked (a bit) and called the appropriate halves. We were on our way to the train station with the Sporadic Nomads (Sam & Dan) to see what Barcelona had to offer us. Petemate was feeling slighlty more off colour than the rest of the group as they emerged from the station to see some fabulous Gaudi buildings.

A good meal and a little wine was all we needed to pep us up! To The AMAZEMENT of everyone Winkle remembered a cool place from a trip some years ago. AND he found it! When at the table Sonic said, "I feel a little dizzy". As soon as he said this Sam admitted the same. Petemate replied with "I have been for about an hour". Once again blaming his "inner-ear condition". Immediately after a little food and a drop of wine, we all felt much better. Still sleep deprived and a little hysterical, tho. Our starters arive and lasted approx. a minute. Winkle's LOOKED like baby puke, but tasted superb. Yum! Roll on course number 2.We all cooed and salivated over our mains, apart from Dan who'd been ambitious and ordered the "Boned Pig's Feet with Chorizo".Three mouthfuls in and he started wretching! There was a lack of sympathy as we assumed a melodramatic overreaction to some new "foreign" food. Until Sam said, "I like all food... apart from this! "Winkle, keen to try new foods, offered his plate despite an offer that stated, "Try some of this, it's disgusting". Never an offer easily accepted.Sam moved a fork-full onto Winkle's plate. What slipped off the fork was a sheet of hairy, tepid skin in sauce. Winkle caught a nose full of it's aroma and vowed never to let it pass his lips! It lasted 2 mins on his plate before he insisted it found it's way back into Sam's bowl at arms length. He even wiped his plate free from the sauce with his napkin."I've never had pig's feet before, but is it supposed to smell like rancid, maggot ridden flesh? "The waiter showed no sign of being surprised that another Pig's-Feet-Diner wanted a different dish three mouthfuls in, so we assumed that the aquired taste was a real one. There were various comments like:"It was just rancid skin" followed with "'cos feet are reknown for there meat content, they're not just skin and tendon, are they?"AND"It tastes rancid and rotten" followed with "What do pigs normally stand in all day?" A burger and chips swiftly replaced the now infamous bowl, and the conversation returned to the days motoring...Until, that is, when Sonic asked "what are these on my plate?" He pointed at chipolata-sized battered object that he said "tasted funny"."Looks like Pig dick" was the swift reply from Petemate. Brookesy nearly spat Veal accross the table and started to laugh like a choir-boy.Everyone else descended into wine and Scally Rally induced hysterical laughter...

More pig feet chat led us around the beautiful centre of Barcelona. A Stunning city full of Gaudi architecture and Spanish women!! We liked Barca! We wandered down La Ramblas, a bohemian area full of market stalls, bars and tourists! Oddly, every few yards there was guys selling warm beers on the street. Yards away from the bars, and presumably out-of-date, we couldn't see the point. Also, who is this "Charlie" guy the men in hooded jumpers wanted?? With Brookesy wanting to go clubbing, the rest of the group collapsed in another bar. At 2am, after 12 hrs on the road, we decided a taxi was a better option than the bus. Brookesy had to show the taxi driver in the first cab how to get to the hotel, without him speaking spanish or the driver knowing ANY english! The Sporadics had by this point were doing their Sleeping beauty impressions. Not visually we'd like to add. Petemate had a conversation with the lady driver of the second cab that consisted of pigeon english, a smattering of French (she was just learning) and some Spanish. Shouts of "what's Friday, again?" to Winkle and Sonic in the back amongst others led winkle to "babelfish" them on his phone. We finished off by saying "Arrivi-derci"!! Bloody english abroad! Our evening in Barcelona was concluded by fellow Scally-ers leaning out of their hotel windows shouting "They're are people trying to sleep in here! "Some where taking the event more seriously that Teamrado, it seemed...

For more pics of the day, visit....
Menton
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo to Barca
Barca by night

Captains log, entry #3...Banging heads…

With slightly tender heads we arose in the familiar surroundings of our Etap hotel rooms. Brookesy’ and Sonic’s room was definitely bigger. The late night had taken it’s toll on the team, but we swore to soldier on!! With no Swiss francs left (thanks to Jock’s steaks and wine) we couldn’t afford breakfast in the hotel, so we went to the start line of today’s trek in a hotel down the road. We got the task for the day; post a postcard to yourselves in Madrid! Easy, we thought and went off to buy and post 10!!

We met Sam and Dan from team 5 (another coincidence for all you ex-Tandberg-ers reading) Sporadic Nomadics and decided to find some breakfast and a post office before setting off! Much meandering around Geneva, and spotting some GREAT classic cars at another rally, lead us to a lovely little bar whose idea of breakfast was very different to ours… We got coffee(s) tho so we were happy. 10 postcards (and stamps) later we set off (using team 5’s GPS) to find a post office. With the cards posted and the time, a lazy, 10.30 we were ready for the trip to the 10 mile long tunnel under Mount Blanc.

With road signs contradicting the GPS we took a couple of wrong turns. After deciding to trust the nice lady in the Tom Tom we followed her intructions. It took us to the EXACT point where we left the post office 10 mins earlier. Not bad!?! With a combination of the nice lady, some advice from the Scally organizers and Sporadic’s GPS we were on the motorway by 11.30!!! And we narrowly avoided a big smash with little French Nova. A late start for the most demanding day.

A winding trip up the mountain led us (with team 5 in convoy) onto the first of the serious snakey roads. The Audi gripped like a one armed girl to the roads that turned back onto themselves! Once the terrain opened up we came across a lovely little restaurant in the middle of nowhere. To the amazement of everone there was an Audi Quattro owners club meeting. A swift stop and the sounding of the horn brought out a few owners to take some pictures of Teamrado Audi while we took photos of theirs! Check out the photo section for some pics. The highlights were some short wheelbase Audi Sport's, lots of UR Quattros and some 100 Avants.



We set off up the mountain again. More twists and turns until we bumped into a large group of other Scally-ers who'd stopped to look at a particularily nice view over the valley down into Val D'Isierre! (see photo section)We popped into Val for lunch to find that out of season all there is in this hot bed of ski and boarding fun is builders and decorators!! Moving off tired and hungry we vowed to find somewhere to eat, and quick. Winkle was feeling it most, but we all tucked into the chocs that came in our goodie bag. With our route leading us higher into the mountains altitude sickness became a worry... For us and the cars! Sporadic Nomadics Bee-mer started to wheeze as the Audi's oil light started to make more regular appearances.We hit the snow line and decided that we shouldn't REALLY be wearing shorts and sandles.Two hours of harsh turns and descending led us into a tiny restaurant for some well earned scran!


The first domestic of the trip started with Winkle and Petemate "discussing" the GPS. With food and some rest this tiny dust up was forgotten... Or that's what they said... Whatever! Winkle took the wheel and the Audi started to now show the oil light after some nifty overtaking... Some concern now took the edge of the fun as we were hours away from Monaco, in the middle of nowhere with two limping scally motors...Thankfully the Scally fairies fixed the Bee-mers wheeze and seemed to have stolen the Audi's LED from the binacle! A great descent ensued thru some wonderful scenery until we got stuck behind 7 1/2 ton lorry. He must have been local as he hardly held us up. A frustrated day and miles to go, forced Dan to appear out of the top of the 530's sunroof shouting "MOVE OVER!" Heard over the five pot thrum and the thumping tunes.Now in Italy we re-fueled, re-calculated the GPS and did some Italian driving of our own...The miles and the sun disappeared and tolls racked up.


Now pitch black we went thru another tunnel and to reappear at the top of an exciting and very dark descent into Monaco. Determined to get to our destination before midnight Brookesy got his PROPER rally head on! Winkle, now co-driver, was using the display on the GPS to predict the oncoming turns... Calls of "Right four" and "Left SEVEN" meant that the quattro came into it's own! The five pot was grunting and the oil light was no more. Hardly touching the brakes, using the FULL range of revs and road we sped down the hill. We were also impressed that Sporadics were keeping touch! A local in an SLK was let past (to our annoyance) before we started the "curve-calling".A Berlingo and a smart car meant that we caught and followed this SLK for some time. Suddenly an ambulance appeared from nowhere. Teamrado pulled over to let him passed until someone said "use it!" Brookesy dropped a cog and sped after the blue lights and followed it thru beyond the SLK. Very satifying as he flashed us immediately.The smart and Berlingo pulled off eventually to leave open road for the emergency vehicle to exploit. So there we were, crawling all over the back of an amblance who was speeding at "riduculous" speed with Brookesy shouting "He's holding me up!!" There was much enjoyment, so much so we hardly noticed the speed camera going off!! We'll have to watch the post for that... Naughty boys ;)The rest of the journey went fairly smoothly... The first squealing of the tyres for the entire weekend was heard tho! Mind you, we were doing 50 round a right 6 whilst changing gear! Not bad for a 22 year old motor!!



We went straight to the Utopia bar (in Menton 2 miles up the road from Monaco and much cheaper) just to check in with the other Scally-ers. 3 hours and many beers later we regretted not getting any food! Predictably Sonic and Brooksey got the best room (view this time) and some well earned zzz's were caught! the end of a demanding Saturday!! Roll on Monte Carlo!

For more Pictures of Day 2 Visit....
Geneva
Mont Blanc
Audi Quattro's
Pass Through Val D'lsere
AutoStrada
Menton

Captains log, entry #2...Scrotal pubic entanglement.

Hotel found nice and easily just outside the tunnel entrance, loads of Scally Rally motors in the carpark. Managed to find a bar in the accor hotel for a nice bottle of leffe each before the bar closed. Cruised the carpark to see what the competition was like for the weekend. Its amazing what you can get for one hundred English pounds!! Cars varied from an FSO pickup with loads of ticker tapes pop riveted to the body work to a Volvo saloon limo (!) class!

After a good nights sleep (7hrs) we set off to the start line at City Europa car park to register. Sonic’s first drive “on the wrong side” was punctuated with an “Oooh” every time a car came the wrong way round the roundabouts at him. Now you wouldn’t imagine how difficult it is to find a massive shop like City Europa… At least that’s what we’re saying.



With 100 cars, of all sizes, shapes and models and all their drivers it was a sight to behold! The start was very loud with the Audi’s air horns leading the way! Yello’s “the race” was adding to the excited atmos in the car as we picked up our info pack and goodie bag. The motley crew of motors streamed on to the motorway to Geneva and Teamrado’s members read the info pack to find out about today’s task Scally Bingo!! We had to take a photo and record the number plate of the cars on our bingo card. All day, all we heard was “do we need 56?” We spotted (chased out of the services) a crew car for lots of points that set us up nicely for the day! A long day of motorway driving ensued (edit, Petemate: boring!) with many very nice French coffees and jambon baguettes.

When we reached the mountain stretch we took a wrong turn in a little village (f**kin GPS) we stopped to check the engine bay (again). Oil was on the inside of the bonnet!!! We tracked this down to a perished rubber seal on the oil filler cap! A true “Scally” fix was underway with the aid of a leatherman and a pair of rubber gloves! When we finished we saw a very old nun in a 2CV! Odd, but very French!



It was Sonic’s turn to take the helm as we hit some proper twisty roads for the first time… He proceeded to shake off his “Captain Slow” moniker with some “energetic” driving to get us closer to Geneva! He was ‘Avin it! Screams of “Tractor!” slowed him occasionally, but he was undeterred. Along the way Brookesy saw a van that belonged to the guy that works at his local garage in Verwood (better known as “The Village”) with the guy in it!! The final leg into Geneva was down an extremely windy, narrow and by this time misty (!) road. There was a swiss driver behind who was trying to become the 5th member of teamrado thru the boot! With the worst of the road behind us Brookesy said “someone’s brakes are cooking”, and then shouted “they’re ours!” A quick stop showed some VERY smoky pads on the rear offside (UK) wheel. The caliper was binding on. A ten minute break and some worried poking and prodding meant we were free to continue at caution. We also confirmed that the rubber glove fix was holding its own.



As we swept into Geneva we were cursing the paper map and wrong turns that it was showing us. A reboot of the GPS showed us we were 15 miles up the coast of Lake Geneva from our destination. It gave us a great chance to see some stunning scenery and some very des’ res’s…We arrived at the hotel at 8pm (11 hours!) to drop the bags and get our bingo cards marked. With 15mins to spare to the deadline we dropped our bingo card off and took a look at the bar queue. With 100 other teams in a tiny bar we decided to wander off rather than spit feathers! A very friendly little biker bar took our eye (it was the first) and asked us if we wanted beer… We liked Geneva. A couple of beers and a few spurious claims to fame (Sonic’s mum used to cut the hair of Radio 1’s Scott Mill’s granny, ya know!) we toddled off for a VERY late and slightly sozzled dinner. A friendly Scottish (!) waiter (christened Jock Mc Tock) brought us a MASSIVE platter of calamari and the nicest steak and mushrooms we’ve ever had!!! At the restaurant we met two guys whose car had blown up on the way down to Calais. That meant they were camping in someone else’s car and needed a car to get home! Cue an idea for the Audi’s return!! It turned out that not only were they up for doing this, but they’re car was in a garage in Dorking, 5 miles from Brookesy’s Mum and Dad’s place. Too many coincidences!!! As we left the restaurant there was much shaking of hands!! The wander back to the hotel, slightly side to side, coined the phrase that titles this entry…



For more pics of day 1, visit....
The Start Line
On the Road in France
The Road to Geneva
Evening in Geneva

Captains log, entry #1...

The inaugural trip in the Scally Audi was a good one! After dropping Winkle's monster truck (!) at Ma & Pa Brookes', we were off! 10 mins on the open road and we ground to a halt on the M25!! Frivolity ensued. Much use of the horn (with Petemate laughing with EVERY blast) enticed reactions from our fellow traffic jammers.The simple wearing of an Ali G mask was all it took for a nice lady in a BMW to show us her bra! We all thought this was rather rude, but, showed promise for the rest of the trip!

A chance meeting with Petemate's gorgeous new girlie (at junction 7 of the M20!) meant a brief stop in the services and a coffee for 3 of Teamrado. Where did Petemate disappear to?? Upon arrival at the Chunnel, Teamrado encountered it's first sighting of another Scally motor! A BMW with a VERY crinkly vinyl job! Team 5!! Finding the drivers was easy... head for the Burger King queue!!

The trip to passport control led to a slightly nervous 5 mins. Our passports were taken from us and we were asked to park up... We don't think it was anything to do with Brooksey's assault on the French language! Au revoir is Goodbye, Brookesy! Fearing "examinations" there was a very quiet time in the Audi! Then the nice French officer handed our passports back to us and we sped off, quietly and respectfully. RAMP!

As we write this we are heading onto French soil for the first. *Sniff* Is that garlic? No, it's Sonic's arse!! Now, where is that hotel...

A quick aside…We’ve had some laptop battery issues. That explains the tardy diary additions… There’s a lot to do on these rallies, too, you know!

For more pics visit....
To France and Beyond!

Have you seen us out on the road??

If you have seen us out and about, please leave a comment of where and when.

09-06-09 Forest Pics

Drove home through the new forest as the traffic was rubbish on the A31. Stopped on a gravel track to take a couple of pics of the Audi, very rally!!! Pics are taken on my phone, not to bad!

08-09-06 Pics of the Audi ready to roll.

Took a few pics of the Audi now it is nearly 100% ready, just need to sort a bit of wiring, top up the oil and water and she is ready to hit the road in 1 weeks time.