CzechWrecks 2010 Wrap Article
CzechWrecks is StreetSafari's fourth Banger Rally of the year, and when you write the wrap article you have to ask yourself, where do you start? Thunderbird 4 probably, but we'll get to that in a moment.
This event was promoted in the Daily Telegraph back in 2009 when a charity team had a Telegraph journalist along as a team mate. Our event received some excellent coverage a few weeks later with front page and inside front cover of the Motoring Telegraph section. Talk about lucking out!
So it would be fair to say that CzechWrecks had a slightly more conservative field. But as we will show you later, older and more conservative does not mean slow and boring far from it. Especially if you are driving a diesel 205. More on the 205 later.
The Telegraph readers drove harder and faster than most of the other teams. I wouldn't say they were out to win, but they were out to have a good time, even if that meant grabbing it by the tail and wrestling the good time to the ground.
What you get out of a banger rally is what you put into it. Put nothing into the experience and you will get nothing out of it. Put a bucket load of weird into the event, and you will get a bucket load of fun out the other end, plus a bit of interest on the deal.
So it was interesting to see our new teams putting in as much effort as some of the veteran teams.
Day 1
Home2Rome 2010 was the first event with nuns and waterpistols, and ever since we've upset God. We may not be practicing Christians, but we are still God fearing. So since Home2Rome's nun water pistol battle we'd been having some quite rubbish weather on the banger rallies this year. Torrential rain for the most part.
So it wasn't much of a surprise that the start line in Calais was overcast. Grey was the colour of the morning. And cold was also the temperature of the morning.
There are two teams who instantly stuck out on CzechWrecks 2010. One is Mr Ducks on his 5th CzechWrecks with his Duck, the Citreon 1CV. He is a one man driving machine, who not only builds his car, but repairs it daily on the route. The other team is Maestro Masters (who have never brought a Maestro) but had a Renault van converted into Thunderbird 4.
Thunderbird 4 was absolutely brilliant. They were even decked out in Thunderbird uniform (although I hadn't the heart to tell them that Europe never had Thunderbirds on tv, so most people don't get the theme). But we all got the theme which was good, even if Europe just thought they were gay. (Not our observation, but the observation of Team Lucky Day from CRX2009 in the same costume with a Mercedes based Thunderbird 2).
There are some teams who win the award for a category on the start line and although Best Theme is not always given in the events, here was our theme winner, and deservedly so. If there was ever a car for the StreetSafari museum, then this is it. (Along with about 20 other cars from years gone by). If we could afford to we really would keep the occasional car.
This particular team also had a most excellent fake Italian Politzei car last year on Home2Rome, which was so good it fooled the Rome police and they nearly got arrested. Maestro Masters do excellent themes and we can't wait to see next year's theme.
Another noble car on the start line was the Triumph Herald, only just missing out on the oldest car on a European StreetSafari event. BABE Rally in the US holds the record with the 1955 Plymouth Belvedere (4 Guys do 1 BABE 2007/8). Home2Rome 2006 with the 1964 Triumph 2000 is the oldest we've seen in Europe, but still a 1965 Triumph Herald is pretty awesome none the less.
We love the really old cars on the events. We love the optimism, we love the extra weight they carry from the tools they'll need, and we love the fact they managed to get European Breakdown Recovery on such an old car. We just love teams who have the old cars because they are just plain bonkers. And totally -- totally -- get the spirit of the event.
Continued...
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