Scumrun 2013
08 May 2013, 02:38 PM
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Scumrun 2013
Dear All
Last Thursday I started on this year’s Scumrun. Scumrun is the UK’s longest running banger rally across Europe and now in its 7th Year. The rules were simple, the car must cost no more than £500 (Purchase price) After the car is purchased any amount of money can be spent.
One of the interesting elements to this event is that the destinations for each day are unknown until each morning when route cards are handed out.
Here is a quick summary of our trip:
Day 1
Head to Dover at 5:30 am for the launch and registration. We arrived in Dover at 8:30am and got registered. All teams had to arrive early enough as we all had a ferry to catch to Calais at 2pm.
Once on the ferry we were given route cards for this day and our destination for the end of the day. We all were surprised as we thought the days destination would be within an hour or so from Calais. Our destination turned out to be Koln (Cologne) – Germany and we had a checkpoint to reach also.
The checkpoint was to get a photo of us outside the gates of either 1 of 2 UNESCO castles in the Bruhle region near Koln, or a photo outside the Koln theme park Phantasialand. We chose to do the theme park check point. Getting to Koln involved leaving the Ferry in Calais and heading north up towards Brugge then across to Brussels and across to Cologne. We arrived at around 8pm that evening and set up our tent for the evening. So day 1 saw us go through France, Belgium, little bit of Holland and Germany.
Day 2
The morning started out quite eventful as the Police had turned up before we had our route cards given to us. It turns out the correct paper work had not been filled in and that we had to wait for some town officials to turn up. In the end there was 5 Police cars, 5 Police motor bikes and also the Police Helicopter. The Police for one reason or another thought that our event was a race which it wasn’t ( kind of wasn’t
)
Once all the paperwork was done and the police were happy to let us go (We basically had a police helicopter escort out of the city) we headed off once we received our route cards. To say I was over the moon with the checkpoint would have been an understatement. The checkpoint was to get a photo of us in a town called Hamelin. I grew up here as a child and took the opportunity to see if my house still existed from over 30 years ago. To my surprise it was still there and it brought back great memories.
With the checkpoint done and dusted it was onto our final destination of the day - Berlin. We arrived at around 8pm again and got the tent up in good time and we head off into Berlin for a night out organised by the event team.
Day 3
This day of the trip it turned out to be the most eventful. With the day’s events and lack of sleep friction started to show in the team. We received our route cards on time this morning and we had to head to Prague – Czech republic. We had 3 checkpoints in and around Berlin of which we failed. The event team had given us gps co-ordinates (On purpose) to the wrong location of one of the checkpoints (Brandenburg Gate) which send us 70 miles out of the way.
We and about 5 other cars gave up on the checkpoints and decided to head straight to Prague. Between Prague and Dresden we had a tyre blow out. We fitted the thin spare space saver tyre and spent the next hour trying to find a tyre shop to get the tyre changed. It turns out German auto repair places shut on Saturday afternoon and do not open again until Monday. We had no choice but to continue onto Prague for the next 160 miles at 50 mph (restriction of the spare wheel) We did manage to make it to Prague and the weather was not at all favourable when we arrived. We pitched the tent in thunder and lightning and got a tad bit wet. We got the organised coach into Prague and visited a few bars before heading back for a well-deserved sleep.
Day 4
Still running on a spare wheel and now a Sunday our thoughts were slim on getting a tyre changed. Our route cards told us to head to Strasbourg for the destination of this day. Our plan was to go straight to Strasbourg and not bother with the checkpoint and try to source a new tyre the following day (Monday) Fortune was on our side as we received a message from one of the other teams that they had found a tyre place open near the checkpoint. We took the risk and the risk paid off. It was a little one man outfit and the translation between us was limited to say the least. He had a tyre that would do us but he said that he would only sell in pairs. We somehow managed to negotiated a deal on 2 used tyres for a fantastic price of £5 each. Yes £5 each!!!! The tyres where a slightly higher profile which meant that they rubbed slightly on the back wheel arches. This would not do so we pulled in at the next petrol stated and swapped the rear and front tyres over. With our confidence back up we left Czech Republic and headed up and across to Strasbourg. Strasbourg saw us have a nice early night and not the best end to the evening for one of the other teams. Too much alcohol was consumed and one of the fellow competitors fell?? Over a hedge and down an embankment and banged his head on concrete. An ambulance arrived and took him away, he has been kept in for a few days just to monitor him but from what we understand everything is ok.
Day 5
This day was easy, get to Calais in time for the ferry. We only had a single checkpoint this day and that was to get to the Champagne region near Riems and get a photo of a specific Champagne family house. At this checkpoint we could see that some of the cars were on their last legs with bits hanging off, bits missing etc… We managed to make it to Calais but a few of them did not. One of the vehicles engines blew up so it was abandoned and the tem got flights home. The Rolls Royce broke down 216 miles from Calais due to a snapped fan belt. Fortune was also on their side as the breakdown that arrived knew of another Rolls Royce with spare parts in the local area. Once all on board then the prizes where announced. It came as a great surprise when they read out our team name as the third highest fundraisers (Out of 100 teams). We arrived back in Dover at around 9pm and Dover certainly knew we had arrived due to the air horns, siren etc.. being sounded from all the cars..
If you asked me if I would do it again………..Yes I certainly would. Not only is it a great experience but we managed to raise over £70,000 for a very good charity.
Last Thursday I started on this year’s Scumrun. Scumrun is the UK’s longest running banger rally across Europe and now in its 7th Year. The rules were simple, the car must cost no more than £500 (Purchase price) After the car is purchased any amount of money can be spent.
One of the interesting elements to this event is that the destinations for each day are unknown until each morning when route cards are handed out.
Here is a quick summary of our trip:
Day 1
Head to Dover at 5:30 am for the launch and registration. We arrived in Dover at 8:30am and got registered. All teams had to arrive early enough as we all had a ferry to catch to Calais at 2pm.
Once on the ferry we were given route cards for this day and our destination for the end of the day. We all were surprised as we thought the days destination would be within an hour or so from Calais. Our destination turned out to be Koln (Cologne) – Germany and we had a checkpoint to reach also.
The checkpoint was to get a photo of us outside the gates of either 1 of 2 UNESCO castles in the Bruhle region near Koln, or a photo outside the Koln theme park Phantasialand. We chose to do the theme park check point. Getting to Koln involved leaving the Ferry in Calais and heading north up towards Brugge then across to Brussels and across to Cologne. We arrived at around 8pm that evening and set up our tent for the evening. So day 1 saw us go through France, Belgium, little bit of Holland and Germany.
Day 2
The morning started out quite eventful as the Police had turned up before we had our route cards given to us. It turns out the correct paper work had not been filled in and that we had to wait for some town officials to turn up. In the end there was 5 Police cars, 5 Police motor bikes and also the Police Helicopter. The Police for one reason or another thought that our event was a race which it wasn’t ( kind of wasn’t
)Once all the paperwork was done and the police were happy to let us go (We basically had a police helicopter escort out of the city) we headed off once we received our route cards. To say I was over the moon with the checkpoint would have been an understatement. The checkpoint was to get a photo of us in a town called Hamelin. I grew up here as a child and took the opportunity to see if my house still existed from over 30 years ago. To my surprise it was still there and it brought back great memories.
With the checkpoint done and dusted it was onto our final destination of the day - Berlin. We arrived at around 8pm again and got the tent up in good time and we head off into Berlin for a night out organised by the event team.
Day 3
This day of the trip it turned out to be the most eventful. With the day’s events and lack of sleep friction started to show in the team. We received our route cards on time this morning and we had to head to Prague – Czech republic. We had 3 checkpoints in and around Berlin of which we failed. The event team had given us gps co-ordinates (On purpose) to the wrong location of one of the checkpoints (Brandenburg Gate) which send us 70 miles out of the way.
We and about 5 other cars gave up on the checkpoints and decided to head straight to Prague. Between Prague and Dresden we had a tyre blow out. We fitted the thin spare space saver tyre and spent the next hour trying to find a tyre shop to get the tyre changed. It turns out German auto repair places shut on Saturday afternoon and do not open again until Monday. We had no choice but to continue onto Prague for the next 160 miles at 50 mph (restriction of the spare wheel) We did manage to make it to Prague and the weather was not at all favourable when we arrived. We pitched the tent in thunder and lightning and got a tad bit wet. We got the organised coach into Prague and visited a few bars before heading back for a well-deserved sleep.
Day 4
Still running on a spare wheel and now a Sunday our thoughts were slim on getting a tyre changed. Our route cards told us to head to Strasbourg for the destination of this day. Our plan was to go straight to Strasbourg and not bother with the checkpoint and try to source a new tyre the following day (Monday) Fortune was on our side as we received a message from one of the other teams that they had found a tyre place open near the checkpoint. We took the risk and the risk paid off. It was a little one man outfit and the translation between us was limited to say the least. He had a tyre that would do us but he said that he would only sell in pairs. We somehow managed to negotiated a deal on 2 used tyres for a fantastic price of £5 each. Yes £5 each!!!! The tyres where a slightly higher profile which meant that they rubbed slightly on the back wheel arches. This would not do so we pulled in at the next petrol stated and swapped the rear and front tyres over. With our confidence back up we left Czech Republic and headed up and across to Strasbourg. Strasbourg saw us have a nice early night and not the best end to the evening for one of the other teams. Too much alcohol was consumed and one of the fellow competitors fell?? Over a hedge and down an embankment and banged his head on concrete. An ambulance arrived and took him away, he has been kept in for a few days just to monitor him but from what we understand everything is ok.
Day 5
This day was easy, get to Calais in time for the ferry. We only had a single checkpoint this day and that was to get to the Champagne region near Riems and get a photo of a specific Champagne family house. At this checkpoint we could see that some of the cars were on their last legs with bits hanging off, bits missing etc… We managed to make it to Calais but a few of them did not. One of the vehicles engines blew up so it was abandoned and the tem got flights home. The Rolls Royce broke down 216 miles from Calais due to a snapped fan belt. Fortune was also on their side as the breakdown that arrived knew of another Rolls Royce with spare parts in the local area. Once all on board then the prizes where announced. It came as a great surprise when they read out our team name as the third highest fundraisers (Out of 100 teams). We arrived back in Dover at around 9pm and Dover certainly knew we had arrived due to the air horns, siren etc.. being sounded from all the cars..
If you asked me if I would do it again………..Yes I certainly would. Not only is it a great experience but we managed to raise over £70,000 for a very good charity.
That is superb fella's well done.
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