Quick update for you...

Another quick update for you as I feel I should put some effort into writing this.

I'm not too sure how the others are getting on, so I'll let them tell you, but heres my highlights since the last updates...

Juliette has been having some issues in the past with ride height issues (way too low for practical use) so thats left 3 options; a) Use a different car, b) coilover suspension or c) change the springs.

Option a is simply a big fat no-no, and option b is a potential for when work picks up but is a bit pricey at the moment so option c has come into play.

Everybodies favourite shop (eBay) has yielded a couple of bargains for me this week. I've been thinking whethera 60mm drop is the way forward and whilst looking for guidance from the big chavvy cab in the sky, I found a set of 30mm lowering bendy bits at 99p, no reserve smiling at me with a couple of days left on them.

I watched these, refreshing the page as if daring the price to rise, but it sat there at 99p. It appeared no-one wanted to show these springs love and as the end time came closer, I decided it would be the sensible grown up thing to do to buy them.

The auction ended at a whopping 99 pence. That was Thursday, it's now Monday and the seller hasn't yet got back to me to let me know when I can collect them. I'm hoping he's not gonna be stroppy about them going for so little and gets back to me.

I'm thinking about a set of 17" multispokes to fill the hole left by the car raising up so much, just need to pray to the eBay fairies for another bargain to reveal itself although one of my neighbours has a spare set he's considering parting with.

That leaves only 3 real issues (plus a few niggles) with the car before it is battle ready... The rear shocks, the fusebox and the MOT.

I have a feeling that the MOT isn't going to be an issue, it seems fine, the last MOT had advisories about brakes (now replaced with RS ones on each corner), shocks (get to that in a minute) and something else which I can't remember but know it was something Ash addressed / swapped when we put the new engine in. May have a slight issue with emissions, but should be ok.

After months of headscratching and cleaning earths around the car it's come back to the decisin the fuse box is knackered. In the last 6 months, the poor thing has gone through 3 and the current one is a little bit of a bodge. It works, but it drains the battery, so if the car isn't taken for a run it needs jumping.

The rear shocks issue is now solved courtesy of eBay again. Jamex Rear shock and springs should be on their way to me shortly so thats cool. I don't need the springs so they'll go back on eBay and being brand new, hopefully, they'll get something back against the cost of the shocks.

At the current rate, Ash is buying an RS2K ever week for weird projects/donors so hoping to steal one of his fuseboxes when he's not looking (although he may guess who the culprit is when I hand it to him and ask him to fit it to mine).



The route is nearly set, the days are nearly in place, Juliette is on her way to being ready and the world is a shiny happy place? Sort of.



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Foot note - just checked my emails and the chap has got back to me about the springs - I'm going to go collect them (couple hours round trip) soon ish. Yay.

Here's Holcsy...

A rite guys and girls! i is Holcsy, one of the newest additions to the Rouge Run crew! So this will be a little insite into me!

General, 27, from the country! hgv2 driver, simples!


luckly enough im co-driving with Richy! christ we go bk, know richy since we were 10!

2 main things you need to know about me!


1, ford fan! all i eva had is ford, mainly escorts! which comes to my little toy! 1987 s2 Escort Rst!

Mr Savage is gona be dissapointed but i wont be taken her! i doubt she'd do 300 let alone 3000 miles! lol!


2nd thing is that i am a mighty Gooner! i generally live and die in an Arsenal shirt! as you will see coz i will be wearing a different one every day of the trip! and if there is a game on while we away, mite ave to fake a little break down near a pub! even if i ave to listen to it in gobble de gook! but lets keep that our little secret!


Rich and i have not got a car yet but will post as soon as and keep you updated to wat we are doing to it!


THIS TRIP IS GOING TO BE EPIC

Words from Mr Ridgeway...

So... at the polite request of Mr Savage, I thought I would scribble a few things down as a brief introduction of Kelly and I. Although people may look at me and think quite sensible, that’s only during the day job, the rest of the time I’m still a kid at heart (like most men) and am only truly happy when doing something stupid!

As for Kelly, when she isn’t trying to train her IT minions to do her bidding, she can normally be found shamelessly promoting her magazine or perfecting her cage fighting techniques. You know the phrase ‘good things come in small packages?’ well this small package bites!

As Chris said, we met early this year as part of a charity event where we had decided to thrash cheap old cars around Europe in an event designed to raise as much money for charity as possible, although to be honest, the grim reality is I spent far more on my car than I ever raised for the charity!

To contradict my previous description as ‘sensible’ I ended up buying a 2.5 turbo Volvo, partly because it was different to the fleet of BMW’s that take part in these events, partly because it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing but mainly because I was getting desperate to find a car!! Having said that, it was a monster... more than once I found myself with a big grin on my face while overtaking new expensive cars with both my wheels spinning!

I got rid of it after the run because it had developed an unnatural thirst for oil and sounded like it would blow up at any moment, so after selling it to some Essex wide boy... Kelly and I flew up to Edinburgh and parted with a fist full of cash to buy a van. Not as sporty as a Volvo, but comfortable enough for big miles and enough capacity to carry BBQ’s and beer all the way around Europe! Now, having tagged ourselves as the unofficial tour bus for the Roguerun, Kelly and I are working on the van in a pimp my ride stylee... watch this space...

The route is set.

Well, it was a busy bit of planning, but we have set a route. In 5 days, we are intending to cover just under 3,000 miles split between 10 Euro countries.

The country list is as follows:

England (obviously)

France (we have to hit Europe somewhere)

Monaco (has to be done)

Italy (Maranello means pretty red cars)

Slovenia (it's almost on route between Italy and never been there)

Austria (Lovely roads and Scwarzennegger museum. Also home to a really cool town name)

Germany (Hitlers retreat and some derestricted roads)

Holland (Some windmill spotting is called for)

Luxembourg (cheap beer and fags)

Brugge (Chocolate, and see the resting place of the FTO)

Then home again for a proper cup of tea and proper cuisine...

A couple of things...

Well, it appears that progress is being made. The dates are still on the to be confirmed list, but pretty sure we have them nailed down now.

The route is also still to be plotted out, but looks like:

Port grimaud, eze, Monaco, St tropez, cote d'azure area as our first proper location.

Second is the Ferrari tour.

Third is the schwarzenneger museum

Fourth is the eagles nest, hitlers retreat which the Brits captured.

Fifth is buchenwald, nazi concentration camp

Nearby is six, the national park, features a camp site which I believe Marc has hand picked as it's next to a nudist beach / park type thing.

Then quick stop off at Brugge before heading back.

If we have some spare time (we should have) then a swift stop at the Lambo and Porsche factories and maybe a sneaky coffee in Amsterdam.

So there's our plan.

I had a couple of comments from Westy and Kelly that I didn't actually know what they did for a living, so to make up for it (these are real but out of context)...

Westy describes his employment as "The whole Deliverance shebang" and Kelly spends time under her desk. I assume she spends time under other peoples desks as well and that makes me think of Police Academy.

Charlie has confirmed her love of tea and Jammie dodgers but is a little surprised I selected "that" pic from those available. Well, no-one actually got a flattering shot, indeed mine looks like a home made porn shot with my ex.

After a little discussion we decided that someone needed to be in charge to field potential problems and issues. Not that we're expecting any, but if they crop up, Duma Savage, is to take full and open responsibility.

This week, we got our certificates and thanks through from our last charity run so now seems a good time to mention we are going to try and raise a little cash for a charity that means a lot to Marc. The Jennifer Trust is a foundation that helps sufferers of Spinal Muscular Atrophy and receives very little funding.

Alongside out and out donations, we're gonna be doing the usual fund raising things, bake sale, fete's, pin the tail on the gimp, that sort of thing, but we're also looking for any companies that want to donate things so we can raffle them off as well. So far we have a couple of companies helping out with goods and services being offered, so be on the lookout for details.

I think that covers most things, but on a final note, Happy Birthday Holc, 21.

Cheers



Savage.

It's cold and I'm bored...

It's early on a miserable Friday morning. It's cold outside and I'm thinking of a spot of sun, somewhere on the southern point of Europe would be nice.

A few days in from the last post and not a lot to tell you. No closer to a defined route, and due to waiting time off confirmation, still don't have a precise set of dates.

What we do have is 2 more folk joining us. It appears Westy may have some other more important stuff to do, so Richy has lined up another co-pilot in the form of Holc Holcombe...

All I know about Double H is he knows Richy and that he owns a series 2 escort RST. They may be coming in Richys new camper or another Escort cabriolet, but Richy is also trying to buy a rapid MK2 Golf GTi. I say bring the RS...

We also have a new lady joining the run as a passsenger / co-driver with 5 and Purty mouth. Charlie Spencer works with them and has been wanting to be taken by the boys since this trip was suggested.

As you can see, she seems a little odd so should blend right in.

What else is going on? To be fair, very little. We've spoken to a few companies to see if they want to help out with some cool stickers for the cars (my Juliette looks very naked without sticky stickies).

The car line up so far is looking a bit like this, but due to change when decisions finally get made.


Myself and Gruff...

Jon and Kelly...

Marc, James & Charlie...

Richy, Westy & Holc...

Ash +1... (although he has no shortage of choices)

Matt & Dave... (Or could be a Citroen AX?!?!?!?)

Now I've run through that lot, time for a coffee...

Feel free to leave comments etc as usual, or floppythrottle@live.co.uk



Chris.

The opening post...

First off, let me explain who I am, and why I'm blogging. Then let me explain who the other guys are. Then what we're up to, followed by why we're doing it. Once we've got that out of the way, we can move to slightly more interesting bits. Hopefully this will eventually become a blog collaboration, with several contributors on the same page.

My name is Chris and I am in no means the leader of this band of idiots, simply the first to post a blog post for this. I have another blog ( www.floppythrottle.blogspot.com )detailing my last European road trip . I want to keep a log and detail whats going on over the next few months as I enjoyed the writing the other one.

I'm 33, I work (occasionally) for myself from home. I have 3 children who drain my life day by day and a wife who's not overly keen on me doing anything with cars. So I do things with cars.

Also going to feature in this blog (no particular order) are Gareth "Gruff" Davies,
Jon "Handbrake" Ridgeway,
Kelly "That Gap's big enough" Foxhall,
Marc "5" Feld-Bolan,
James "Purty Mouth" Curly,
Richy "Hill" Hurle,
Westy "Billy" Westington
Ash "AWM Auto Services" Wallace-Merrett
Matt "Feeble" Moon
David "Jump-Pack" Ganney

I had Gruff as a co-driver in 2011 Scumrun, but have known him for quite a few years, indeed at one point a few years back we set up a courier firm delivering parcels and boxes at short notice from the south coast to North London. Due to some git owing us thousands and not paying, the company died.

Gruff is a full time long distance lorry driver and although spending his life limited to 56 (like Eddie Stobart and Steve Jobs), he likes nothing more than to get in a fast car in his spare time and hit 60 mph. Any more than that apparantly is a waste of fuel. You'll come to love him as much as the rest of us. Nice guy but a miserable oik at times.

Jon Ridgeway is a pleasant enough chap, the sort of guy you look at and think sensible, grown up, has a pension scheme, probably has a secret love of Volvo's and 18th centruy tables. In reality, He's just sold his Volvo estate, is quite sensible, has a government pension scheme but I'm not too sure about the woodwork issue.

I met Jon, along with most of the others mentioned here on a charity car rally this year and we sort of hit it off. He had a blog running wich I followed so that set the grounds for a friendship / stalking.

Kelly Foxhall is Jon's missus. Or, as I like to imagine things in my warped world, Jon is Kelly's missus. Kelly has this amazing interdimensional super power that alters space and compounds to fit a bloody great estate car into a small gap in moving traffic on an autobahn at speed. Hat's off, she didnt crash but my god it was close. Kelly seems to be an editor for an online magazine (Lotus Magma Off The Cuff), IT support, web person and judging from her facebook updates, her pet hates are people.

Marc & James work together. I can't give you their job titles as they don't want you to know. All I can tell you is that Marc rummages though bins and crashes cars, and James' job seems to be falling asleep at inapropriate moments, and scaring pensioners. Both love fast cars and Bikes and last year rebuilt a Mitsubishi FTO from the ground up for the rally. Unfortunately, a wheel fell off in Brugges city center causing traffic chaos. Very entertaining pairing.

Richy and Westy, or Hill and Billy are awesome. Hill works in a death factory and is also a superb artist and tattooist, and Westy is the quintessential Hick. Both have a love for old cars, and veedubs. They are wonderful. If you can picture a 1.0 VW polo bouncing through Europe with no technology and 2 happy hairy hippies, then you're imagining Hill 'n' Bill.

Ash AWM Wallace-Merrett is a legend in his own right. An incredibly competent mechanic known for his love of old fords, RS powered escort van, stripped out RS2K Escort and his tantrums. If something doesn't move, whack it. If something moves and it shouldn't, whack it til it stops moving. Ash is based in Colchester direction (a 300 mile round trip for me, but I still use him for car stuff), and he is the chap that rebuilt my car into an RS2Kabriolet. I have a bromance with him.

Matt Moon. Matt is a Ford fanatic that I have met and know through various Ford Owners groups. Entertaining, funny, charming and now seems to have developed a love for a camel named Clarrissa as he spends most of his time in Saudi. He drives a Citroen.

Dave Ganney I have only met a few times in person but seems to be the other half of Matt Moon in the way Robin is to Batman. Dave came with us to be childish in the Hindhead tunnel with his old skool BMW E36. Looked good, sounded good, but as soon as he stopped for a chat, the jump pack was needed to restart him.

By now, this just seems like a swift who are we and you'd be right. Why am I blogging this...? Well, simple:

We're having a Euro road trip in 2012. We had all intended to go back to the charity rally next year, but we're all skint and can't afford the entry fees.

I use the phrase Euro road trip. I can't be more precise as we cant agree on a route. Also, 2012 as we cant agree dates. I can see things getting tricky very quickly if we cant agree on the simple things.