Press release following the 2007 Scumball Rally.
I was asked to write a little account of the trip for JAM Fund and as a thank you letter for all those generous people and businesses that helped us raise over £1000 last year.
September, 2007-- Back in Wales
Well we made it back from the Scumball Rally in one piece. But, as in all good adventures it was not that straight forward.
The trusty Golf hadn’t missed a beat in over a year's commuting, a previous trip to the Nurburgring and two track-days. But on the way to start the Rally at Donington the thermostat stuck; we boiled over and arrived in plume of steam. Frantic filling of milk bottles and any other container we could find eventually cooled the VW down but we were still overheating and had to get it fixed.
A local garage dropped everything (big thanks to Joe at M&J Autos) to sort out the problem and patch us back up for the epic 500 mile that lay ahead to Germany. We made straight for Dover and were the last car on the ferry.
The camaraderie was superb. 50 cars all raising money for charities which ranged from Lions Clubs to the RNLI; Cancer Charities to Air Ambulances. A record £4000 was raised by one team for the Friends of Chernobyl’s Children and the event claims that over £50,000 was raised in total for good causes.
Our 14 year old Golf VR6 was actually quite a tame choice of Scumball chariot. Braver competitors included a London Taxi cab, a Hearse with Nitrous Oxide injection and an American Stretched Limo. All purchased for less than £1000, mostly on Ebay without even seeing them first hand.
However, we wanted some sport taking on the Nurburgring and put in some good laps compared to most cars. But, an ominous red light on the dash told us all was not well. We were still boiling up and losing a litre of coolant per lap. A split top hose was the culprit and a replacement had to be (expensively) couriered into Nurburg VW the next morning so we could nurse our Scumball Golf back to Blighty.
Some other cars were not so lucky. Three teams ended up scrapping their cars in Germany after dramatic engine failures on the track, including an ex-police Volvo T5, Ford Capri and BMW 7 Series. An MR2 and Omega V6 both remodelled the track’s armco and an Audi Quattro was stretchered off at great expense. My brother’s battered GTi also broke down twice on the way to the track!
A brief stop in Paris before our Ferry back to Dover marked the end of an 1100 mile road trip. The team spirit was fantastic over the five days. 100 petrol heads all agreed to meet up for next years Scumball Rally in more extravagant (and probably unreliable) vehicles that cost less than a set of tyres for the usual super-cars taking on the Ring.
Both my Dad and I are glad that we could help raise money for the Jamie Adamson Memorial Fund by competing in this motoring rally. We shall be back for 2008 and already have grander plans afoot involving a vintage Porsche 924 found on Ebay, a lot of duct tape and several air fresheners.
A big thanks goes to Elite Signs and Arachnid Creative Design for all the car decals. Grateful thanks go to our key sponsors including Bridgend Lions Club, LDS Motor Factors, RIM Motors, Cardiff Volkswagen, Welsh VW Specialists, British Thornton and JMC Motorsport of Barry. Many thanks also goes to the Matthew Prewitt trust's sponsorship and DogCamSport for the loan of their excellent in-car camera.