Checkpoint 1 day 2

That place where hitler did his speeches in nurburg. We are now heading for the czech border

Dammit its raining!

Cruising through germany towards nurnburg with 4 other cars. The bug is sick will xplain later

Nurenburg and prague here we come

Highlights from day 1

Ok so as I groggily stir from my jaeger induced slumber and come to the realisation we have to do it all again today I thought id give you a few highlights from yesterdays events

1. Satnav deciding europe doesnt exist anymore and only being able to find shopping malls and flower shops meaning a day of using maps and hoping we can find someone near the destination to stalk...

2. We so far have kept to our rule of if the car is moving the roof stays down including freezing heavy fog, several rain showers and of course the sun that has crispened me up a treat

3. David falling asleep in the passenger seat bolt upright while doing 110mph (you need to hear the car at that speed and experience the top down to realise how ridiculous this is...imagine falling asleep inside a jet engine...

4. I lovely tour of the  champagne region with its lovely country side and nice smooth roads

5. Driving around central reins looking for veuve cliqouts building and scraping on pretty much everything we drove over

6. Number plate flying off at high speed only to be gaffered back on...of course.

7. The amount of times ive used gaffer tape in one day...i reckon I hold some kind of world record...

8. The kareoke...less said the better...dont worry its all on video

So that will do...plenty more but my all day breakfast in a can is calling me...

Roll on scumrun day 2!

I got a bit sunburnt / knackered today

Our camp at strausburg

Where we ended up at day 1

Checkpoint one actual correct place

Sorry for rubbish photo our satnav wasnt working so rushing about

Checkpoint one in reins the veuve cliqout building except this was the wrong one but dont worry we found the right one to

Route card day 1 2 check points

We were too low to go to the top deck so had to go downstairs

Waiting at the services with a tank up the rear

Gav...

You would be proud of a dash like this...

Do we have the coolest number or what

The names splat... Bug splat...

Here she is with all the other nutters...

David is all smiles as we arrive at brands hatch

Hes not driven it yet...

Team bugsplat arrive at the launch

So here we are in our getup...

We're off! - follow us round with this link...

2011 scumrun tracker site

http://www.scumrun.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=97&Name=Value

click the button then choose 'team bugsplat' from the drop down to see where we are!

Captain slow arrives avec very 80s sleeping bag

Just about there...

Ok after many many weeks of faff I think we are there all prep done apart from packing the car but we will do that in the morning!

Introducing percy

Percy is a bug. He is a bugs bug the sort of bug to hang out with the lads and watch tentacleball down the local. He is coming with us tomorrow. Thought id introduce you. Cars pretty much there now will update you a little later on

Tracker fitted at scumrun hq

Well its only a couple of days to go so tonight I headed down the a3 to scumrun hq to meet heir scumrun as I had the honour of being chosen for one of the official trackers

It was a beautiful evening for roof down action and a chance to really open her up

Having got there a jolly ed looked at my in situ wiring

But after some fiddling he got it working

Gave me a chance to oggle a couple of the scumrun beemers too

Rock on thursday!

Tent test...

David on the last rally spent an hour in the pouring rain trying to assemble his tent...well we do call him captain slow.  Having learnt his lesson he has invested in a popup tent like mine. Look how proud he is...

Team BugSplat's fame spreads...

We made it into this here industry news letter...

My favourite line... "Unbelievably, Joe also drives this car to work" 

Team bugsplat goes mobile

Just sorted out my mobile blogging. Well that is if this works. Should be able to keep you up to date on the actual event now. Not long now!

Plastic splitters and little critters...

So as I write this the countdown clock says 10 days... thats 10 days I have to find enough funds for petrol, 10 days to finish the long list of seemingly unimportant but now somewhat critical jobs I should have done by now and haven't. 10 days in which to clean the car to at least make it look somewhere near as good as the photos do. But most importantly of all, 10 days of ensuring I don't stack it in over-excitement!

This week, I've been mostly fussing and sorting camping gear but I did just find time to refit the front splitters that graced the bug for the nurburgring last september.

Only difference this time being that I had some expert help from my son...

Who knew that an mx5 with the top down made a good nursery

So here she is as at 10 days to go...

Still a few more jobs to get done but getting there slowly...

Roll on ScumRun!!!

Before and After...

Well its only 2 and a bit weeks until the rally now, and realistically not much more visually will change apart from a few more stickers for the event... I'd still love a new roof but just don't think I have the time or money... So here we are with a before and after... Clear cut evidence as to why you should never leave a car in my hands for 3 years!

BEFORE...

AFTER...

The sun comes out...and so do the spray cans...

Well hello BugSplat fans!

Hope you all enjoyed the weather this weekend, 'twas very lovely and sunny. This gave me the chance to do a couple of jobs on the car. The rally is fast approaching now (as you can see from the countdown) so been trying to get serious with ticking things off the list!

Yesterday we had a gathering where lots of family visited, which included various guided tours of the car, which is achieving a level of fame (within my family) that is on a par with the level of eccentricity they badge me with.

David (Cap'ain slow) was amongst these, he took the opportunity to explain the inner workings of a bonnet hinge and other such exciting mechanical trinkets

This was the first time, he had seen it with the roof down avec paintwork, and also the new steering wheel, so he took the opportunity to feel the 'gokartness' in all its glory.  If you see this sight in your rear view mirror.......

...you've likely just overtaken us

Once they had gone, I got busy... Ive been planning since the graffiti job was done to make the wheels black. Wanted that real 'mad max' feel to the wheels. So today I armed myself with some Hammerite BBQ paint (well why not do it properly ;0) and sprayed the wheels Matt Black.

Personally I think it looks 'bad ass', feel free to disagree.

What I also love about it is the way it seems to look even lower now!

Roll on ScumRun!!!

Joe - Bugsplat