Update - Sep 19th:It all seems so long ago now! The rally ended in Prague on the 4th and Team Insaner spent a few more days sightseeing before we headed our separate ways. I headed off with friends from one of the other teams to Italy for a few days of doing almost completely nothing apart from relaxing.
Our rally photos are now online at
http://www.lazerbrain.com/crx and I'll hopefully get a chance to update the blog too (we didn't have a chance during the rally.)
A quick summary: Veronica made it up Stelvio with a few odd noises from the CV joints and a little bit of overheating. She lapped up the miles across the continent until we got to the Czech border where the border guards refused us entry on the grounds that we'd faked the VIN stamp and documents.
Although Czech TV news crews were filming they turned a number of cars round (fearful that they would be dumped in Prague we think, though the rally rules stipulated that anyone doing this would be in serious trouble) inluding the organiser's Rover 827. We then scrapped Veronica in Austria and grabbed a lift with the organiser who hired a minibus to transport 3 rally crews to Prague. We managed to sneak one of Veronica's registration plates into the capital for a quick photo!
Thanks to everyone who has sponsored us. Although we're still collecting money in from people who sponsored us via our paper forms, we are confident that we've cleared the £1000 barrier. This website will be closing in a couple of days, but you can always contact us via our website if you still wish to donate.
Update - Aug 30th:24 hours to go! We're in tonight's Reading Evening Post on page 3 (wahoo!) and there's a chance that Meridian TV will be filming some of the teams tomorrow on their way to Dover.
We've got over £700 of sponsorship so far (I haven't added the latest offline stuff up) so a big thanks to everyone who has donated.
Anyway, time to get packing... Look for more updates soon - and wish us luck!
Update - Aug 17th:A big thank you to all our sponsors, both online & those that have filled in our paper sponsorship forms. Apart from friends and family, we've received donations and pledges from Ceroc dancers in Swindon, Lotus 7 club members from across the world and glider pilots from Lasham :-)
Our total raised is now around £380 which also means that we are entitled to £250 from our company matching scheme (though this won't happen until we can send them the receipt from LRF.)
The car is now in the process of being decorated (there's only a few more stickers to go on!) in the theme of a Bond/spy car. There may be a couple of gadgets too! If you want to see some pictures then add a comment on our team website (see below for links) as we want to keep the car as a surprise for the other teams when we get to Calais!
Team Insaner and CzechWrecks 2006It started off as a casual lunchtime discussion a couple of months ago... It's now only a month away and we're just starting to realise that we really will have to drive our 18 year old Rover 825i all the way to Prague via some interesting scenery - and some even more interesting roads (including the famous Stelvio Pass!)
The official rally website is
http://www.czechwrecks.com which contains details of the route we have to take, along with details of the 50 odd (and some are very odd!) teams that are taking part. A key part of this rally is that the car must cost less than £100 and be at least M-reg or older. A number of old Fords, Vauxhalls, Volvos, Rovers and Nissans will be making the continental trek.
For more details of Team Insaner's preparations, please see our website:
http://www.lazerbrain.com/crx Latest news: Andy Blackwood has joined us, so there's now 3 in Team Insaner.
We've chosen to support the Leukaemia Research Fund. I've been made more aware of them through my membership of the Lotus 7 Club which has regular "Nuke The Leuk" related events.
If you'd rather sponsor us offline, then please get in touch via the team website.
Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Leukaemia Research Fund will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.
So please sponsor us now!
Many thanks for your support.
Darren Prior
John Radley
Andy Blackwood