Run2Rally

Run2Europe2020 4th-11th July

2020-02-09T11:21:00.001+00:00

Join us at Reims at the start of our 10Year Celebration of Run2.

This year as its special we are making this a 7 day event and as per usual the route is TOP SECRET!

Think of a cross between the Gumball and The Grand Tour and you'll get it. Great roads and fantastic destinations all for the price of £30 plus your hotel costs (approx. £100 per night per team of 2).

This is not a race but a motoring tour of Europe with like minded people.

If you are up for an adventure of a lifetime contact myself with the title Run2 to davidlong3546@yahoo.co.uk

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A few pics from Day1 and 2 of Run2Europe2019

Run2Europe2019 Day4 part2

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Run2Europe...Day4 part1

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Run2Europe2019. ...Day3 Vienna to Trieste via Slovenia

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Run2Europe2019....Day2 Munich to Vienna

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Run2Europe2019....Day1Ashford to Munich

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Last Years Youtube vids...

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Run2Europe2019 26th to 31st August

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See Europe the scenic way...in your own pride and joy!

This year will be back to the Grand Tour format, secret route across Europe. As its our tenth year (and Brexit doubts...) the entrance fee is a mere £40 per team!!!! But you will have to pay for your hotels on each day (approx. £100 per team per night).

It is a 5 night trip and approx. 2000miles round trip Calais to Calais (unless you are joining us from the continent).

Make new friends from across Europe on this adventure looking for the best driving roads on the continent and stopping in places you might not have travelled to by package holidays.

The dates for this event are Monday 26th August to Saturday 31st August.

If you hate air travel this is the trip for you !

If interested contact myself via email davidlong3546@yahoo.co.uk

Run2Europe17pt2

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Run2europe2017videopart1

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Trento, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany

2017-02-05T16:32:00.000+00:00

Day4

Today was going to be fun!!! We were heading for the Alps and this time on purpose!

As we were leaving the Grand Hotel, Trento the staff thanked us for bringing our eclectic mix of sports cars....felt like a rock star!

Leaving Trento

Our first task was finding fuel in Italy on a Sunday morning....not easy especially if you need 'super'.

Finally found a petrol station....no super unleaded though

We headed for the Swiss border where for the first time we found border patrols, they took one look at our 2 seaters and just waved us on....not the people smugglers vehicle of choice!

Switzerland

Taking a break!

F Type, M3, RS3 and 370Z

We was enjoying ourselves so much we drove straight through Switzerland and in to Liechtenstein, we only realised when we saw the unfamiliar number plates!

We passed through Liechtenstein back into Switzerland then into the German Black forest and onto our hotel.A good day!

Bavaria to Trento via Austria!

2017-02-05T12:07:00.000+00:00

Day3

Morning brought the first views of where we were as we'd arrived after dark.....

After breakfast it was time to move off across the border and into Austria

Leaving Kochel

Still in Bavaria

First sight of the Alps

Austria

Bavaria is beautiful, Austria is breath-taking! However we started well but via various traffic websites we were getting reports of major delays along our route due to some cycle race heading along the same roads.....so again we split into smaller groups switched the sat nav to 'Run2 mode' which probably mean't a much more rustic scenic route! Also mean't another long day on our shortest leg....the best made plans etc!!!!

Run2Mode Sat Nav

Still found traffic jams

So we headed up!

Austria blew us away but we then found ourselves in the Italian part of the Tyrol where the only difference were the road signs as most still speak German. We stopped at the bottom of one of the valleys and crashed a Hen party where the non drivers were offered schnapps.

For the second day in a row we arrived at our hotel after dark....The Grand Hotel Trento!

Losheim to Kochel am See

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Day 2

This was mainly autobahn for some of us (one group did go via the Black Forrest), this day we joined the 'Vikings' Jacques and Angela and 'Men in Black' Roy and Ed.

Again the weather was fantastic, high 20's plus nice roof down weather as the 3 roadsters were out together it would be rude not to!

On route we stopped at a little place for lunch.....

Frankenstein

Castle Frankenstein

Jacques in Frankenstein

Lunch Time in Frankenstein!

Found a nice little restaurant with many gargoyles and statues of crows? As it was very hot by this time we elected to dine inside but being as it was Frankenstein there was a wake going on inside so we ate in the garden instead!

Apart from our lunch break today was really just about getting to Bavaria our next overnight stop. Thanks to a series of accidents on the autobahns around Munich we arrived in Kochel am See in the dark.

We were the last to arrive and found that the other teams had found a great place to eat up the road from the hotel. The Kochler Stuben!!!!!!

We also made some new German friend.....

Apparently the 4 lads were on their holiday looking for somewhere to drink and heard us (making some noise!). Hopefully made their holiday for them!

Run2Europe2016 Dunkirk to Losheim, Germany

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First task the teams faced involved finding a car dealership and complete a few tasks there,Team Bravo headed to Bruges, Belgium and found a BMW dealership who were willing to play along. Steve from team Bravo found himself in a brand new M3 and revving the bejesus out of it (a similar fate befell a Mercedes in a German dealership.

BMW technicians came out to see the circus

Smart T Shirts (outside BMW Bruges)

The route to the first hotel took the teams through Luxembourg via the capital on through to Germany.

The first Hotel The Hochwalder Wohlfuhlhtel was a welcome place to unwind after the first days travelling, set next to a large lake and a popular place for day trippers....like us...sort of.
Rooms were great and food and beer excellent!!!
Maybe spent too much time unwinding (see pics below).

Run2Europe2016 pics and review..... Ashford to Dover

2016-11-05T19:03:00.000+00:00

This was a biggie! 11 cars, 8 countries and 1700 miles.
As per usual for a European trip we started the night before in Ashford for a BBQ (thanks Paul and Sarah) but an early night ready for an early start at our first rendezvous at Dover Castle.

RS3 and 350Z early start at hotel

Ford Pooooma and F Type, Dover

The 700bhp(?) Twin Turbo Ford Puma at the start...will it be at the finish?

RS3 with Dover Castle in the background

Supercharged 370Z with 350Z Roadster

Squeezing onto the DFDS ferry

Squeezing onto the DFDS ferry to Dunkirk

Run2Spain

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Run2Europe2015 Day2

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Early stat today, on the road for before 9am. The plan was to travel down in convoy down the E17 then A26 towards Dijon then onto Lyon.

Route 1 (group 2)

This seemed a good plan only my SAT NAV thought different and instantly (it seems) the convoy split. The front group consisted of Andy/Amalle (370Z), Neil/Teeny (370Z) and Sian and myself (350Z) whilst the rest were in group 2 but on the preferred route (which was about 10 to 20 miles shorter).

Our route meant going east towards Paris then head south down the A71. The teams would converge just outside Montpellier on the A9,who would get there first.....?

Route 2 (group 1)

In group 2 our main concern was not to get caught up in the Paris commuter traffic so a quick con flab on the radios we went with Andy's better tech in the form of "Waze" which constantly updates the route via monitoring the live traffic picture. "Andy you have control".

In group 2 their first task was to become 1 full group so a stop at the services to wait for the other half was required. Now their group even though they had a slightly shorter route had many different types of cars with different fuel ranges.....would this come into play later?

Andy/Amaille

Neil/Teeny

Myself and Sian

Having successfully avoided Paris the next question was how far behind were we? A few text messages to Sarah in group 2 found we were around 15 miles behind and our estimated time of arrival (eta) about 15minutes later. OK then don't want to be nicked for speeding but do want to make up time.

Seb/Sarah

Stu/Stephanie

Paul/Sarah

Grez/James

Roy/Ed

Jacques/Angela

Group2 fuel stop

Group2

As can be seen from the group2 pics, the bigger group meant more stops, either for fuel, food or er calls of nature...!

Group 1 if we played this right could catch up, all of a sudden we became a team on same fuel strategy. Andy came on the radio asking fuel range on our cars, all pretty much the same as all Z's (the 350Z roadster was a little thirstier). So the plan was to eek out as much range from the tanks as possible.

Good idea! nearly went wrong though as we missed a fuel stop on the A75 (looked like a turning onto a mountain pass....for goats!!) so now there was a little bit of a panic on now.

We pulled off the auto route and found a little town called Saint Beauzely just north of Millau. I stopped at the petrol station with 26miles left in the tank.....PHEW!!!

Driving into Saint Beauzely

Where's the petrol station!!!!!

and relax...

That diversion has put us 7miles in front of group 2 but with enough fuel to get to Barcelona, group 2 will have to stop again mainly down to the short legged Evo.

Still close!!!!

We (in group 1) pulled back onto the A75 but something was not quite right with my car, after changing down to climb a steep incline I found the clutch pedal needed assistance to return!!!!! After a few miles this settled down. Found out the reason is the clutch fluid tends to boil in the 350Z but usually on a race track. I think the outside temperature and stopping for fuel the heat sink from the engine had made things a bit warm.

The views outside were now turning very southern Europe now, the vegetation was starting to thin out where the Mediterranean sun and done its best. But as we came round a long sweeping bend we found something man made which dominated the vistas....

Millau Viaduct

Some of the tunnels didn't look (or sound) bad either....

James Bond baddie entrance or French tunnel?

Here we go...

Its a tunnel

Just as the two groups are close to converging at Montpellier disaster, Nigel's Passat is down on power!!!. Group 2 pull into the first service they come across to look at the stricken VW.
What this means for us in group 1 is that we don't need to scan our six o clock for a bright blue Jag bearing down on us.
It appears the Passat has no turbo (later when back home Nigel found the wires to the waste gate had melted and shorted out).

E17 heading toward Spanish border

Heading in the right direction...well done Andy

We soon find ourselves crossing into Spain and near our overnight stop at Barcelona.

Yes we're in Spain now....

Out skirts of Barcelona

I think that's famous?

The first thing we noticed as we entered the out skirts of Barcelona was the smell of 2 stroke....yep in the med now :-)

We found our digs for the night, the Hotel Astoria. Parked up , checked in showered and in the bar by 8pm. Happy now!!!

First Drinks

Next task find somewhere to eat, just so happens there's a tapas bar around the corner. Happy again!!!

We tuck in whilst waiting for group 2 to arrive, only an 90mins later not bad considering their delay.

Group 2 have arrived

Where tomorrow....?

Run2Europe2015, Birmingham to Reims

2015-09-22T19:56:00.001+01:00

Clean cars, early ish start

This years Run2 was advertised as BIG!!! so we started it a day earlier....Thursday 27th August.
Starting from the Midlands bang on 7.57am.... heading down to Kent and the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel Le Ferne, here we would meet the rest of the "Run2ers".

Quick stop for fuel at Ashford Sainsbury's

350Z, 370Z, 370Z Audi A4

Sunny weather.....not!

370Z, Jaaaag XFR S, Mitsubishi Evo

Via Whatsapp the bulk of the group met up in Ashford first to top up the tanks and grab a bite to eat before moving onto Capel Le Ferne, weather doesn't look too good so far.

We then form our first of many convoys to our meeting point.

Capel Le Ferne, Hurricane

Spitfire

and 2 more 370Z's

At around 1.32pm we head for Dover and to Europe.....

Waiting to join ferry

Thunderturd 2 (separate rally)

At around 2.40pm we drive onto the ferry where the fun begins....

About 15minutes before we enter Calais the first challenge is handed out in the form of a crossword which has a hidden anagram of our destination for day 2.

Before I even left the bar area on the ferry the destination was text to me....!
Tomorrow it would be Reims to Barcelona.

The journey from Calais apart from being very wet was uneventful, tomorrow would be different......

Run2Europe2015 (Aug27 to Sept1)

2015-05-02T22:35:00.001+01:00

The Biggest Run2 yet

10 teams signed up so far......

For those on the Run here is some homework

Study the video

Scotland 2014 part2

2014-12-30T13:46:00.001+00:00

Super cars.....
Remember from part 1 we wondered where the super cars had gone from Tyndrum....well it was the Scottish super car club and they were only in the same hotel as us.

Scottish Super cars

At the hotel after checking in and getting changed we had one more challenge for the day,"Casino Royale". This would be very important with the final scores......

Oh yes and 2 of the Sarah's completed the ice bucket challenge....looked cold!

Next morning the car park at The Ben Nevis Hotel was starting to the sound of many super cars (including a few from our own group).

Many Aston Martins

"Our" Jag XKR S's

"Our" Vectra Sri, Jag XFR S, Cupra

First place to visit on our Road Trip was the Commando Memorial just outside Spean Bridge. We had been very lucky with the weather so far as the last rain we had seen was at Callander the day before. The views around the memorial were truly breath taking.

We set off again on our mini tour of Scotland heading for Aviemore which should have been the next stop...

On arriving at Aviemore we came across a problem....about ten thousand Harley Davidsons!!!! Now I don't mind bikes but hordes of middle aged bank managers pretending to be Marlon Brando in "The Wild One" (note! Marlon Brando's own bike used in this film and was a Triumph Thunderbird) was pretty annoying but the fact we couldn't park meant we couldn't take in the wonders of this town.

We drove on....eventually!

Traffic in Aviemore

Still never mind so we carried on to Grantown-on-Spey where we grabbed a bite to eat in a cafe which was totally unable to cope with groups any bigger than 4, so our group of 22 delayed our sandwiches for over an hour...?

We now took on some more excellent "uppy downy" roads.

Map check in Grantown-on -Spey

Convoy leaving Grantown-on-Spey

On our way towards the Glenshee Ski area we found a nice spot to park up.....

Convoy continues

The Car Park....

Run2 Assemble!

It was decided to then get organised into a car group photo on top of a mountain.

Group pic (cars)

Group pic (humans)

Grez and MX5 (arty pic)

So far by now none of us had come across one of the Highlands most well known inhabitants. They had been very elusive and we were glad but at Glenshee Ski Area they were there and in numbers.....MIDGES!!!!

We didn't stop long but the midges had scored several hits on our convoy.

It was now time to head for Perth and our final destination The Huntingtower Hotel. Here we would tot up the scores and announce the winners of this years Run2.

Perth

The Huntingtower, Perth

The Winners!!!

Team Honey Monster (Paul and sarah)

Winners of the Casino Royale Award Horne Star (Chris and Jennie)

Drinks in the Tartan Room!

See you next year @Run2Europre2014

Scotland 2014 part 1

2014-12-28T16:38:00.000+00:00

Friday Before Run somewhere south of Edinburgh

Run2 Scotland began with our mini convoy to Scotland on the Friday (22nd Aug). The plan was to meet up at Keele Services on the M6. Our convoy initially consisted of teams Sleazy Jet, Bio Hazard, Honey Monster, M.I.D.G.E.T, Back Seat Bosses and ourselves (the organisers).
Can't say the first part of our weekend was much fun, raining on the M6 on a bank holiday.....Oh Joy!

However once past Manchester (many ours later) we joined up with Team Horne Star and continued into Scotland on our way to our first hotel about 15miles from Edinburgh.

Pre Run digs Barony Hotel, Eddleston.

Here we joined up with 4 more Teams, The Black Watch, Viking,Team Grez and the Chillies. Here we unveiled the New Trophy....
The Jayne Burbage Trophy dedicated to a founder member of our group who sadly passed away this year after her battle with cancer, we thought would be a fitting tribute as she would in this way continue on our road trips across the UK and Europe.
Thanks to Stu Woolridge for his work on this.

Jayne Burbage Trophy

Next morning we set off to meet with the last of our Teams, JeffW.

Start point, Edinburgh Ski Centre

So in the pouring rain (it is Scotland) we set off for our first destination.....Callander the gateway to the Trossachs.

Here we started off the challenges with a Treasure Hunt, this involved answering questions about the town, collecting fudge, getting Waylade (it's a beer) and getting your photo taken with the local celebrity (George Johnson, antiques dealer and star of Dave's "Storage Hunters UK"), must say he was a good sport.

Seb outside Fudge Shop

Nige and Tom looking for "things"

Stu, George and Danny (Lady Kentmores)

After a short break in Callander we had another rendevous with a couple from the Nissansportz who had just finished their holiday in Scotland. So the convoy formed up again heading for Tyndrum.

Convoy filling up lay by on way to Tyndum

Jeff W's mascot for weekend

JeffW with Tom (Nissansportz)

Wee Danny and myself

It was here (at Tyndrum) we had a quick check of the map and look at possible routs to our overnight stop in Fort William. The coastal path looked like a good option until that is Sian and myself bumped into a local "Zen" like character in the pub (more of a Rab C Nesbit to be fair). He insisted we should take the road through to Glencoe on the way to our hotel (can't repeat what he said about Fort William mind you....).

What can we say, the man was right.....

Sian

We said goodbye to Tom and his wife at probably Scotland's best burger van spot then continued onto Fort William and the Ben Nevis Hotel.

Whilst talking to Tom he did mention a convoy of super cars had passed through Tyndrum around half an hour before we had arrived, I wonder where they were off to....?

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August 23, 24, 25

Yes we are off to Scotland this year! Following the success of last years European tour we are now going in the opposite direction for our next adventure....North.

Price for this event is £300 per team (which includes hotels).

For further details email Dave on davidlong3546@yahoo.co.uk

This is not a pic of Dave by the way!

Day 4.....The morning after!

2013-10-08T21:23:00.001+01:00

We wake surprisingly fresh considereing we have spent the previous night at a micro brewery in Germany!
Everyone has made it for our traditional German breakfast (with plenty of cold meat and cheese), our host from the previous night Albert is also up making sure everything is OK (thanks Albert).

We check out after breakfast after a few more pics in front of the stills.....

and train....?

and finally one outside

We did like this place (some wanted to move in permantly).

We then fire up the motors and head for our first destination of the day....Malmedy, Belgium.

USAFE Spangdahlem

A10 Thunderbolt

As it's still Germany we hit the autobahn for one last time.......

.........on this trip

What the other teams don't know at this point is Malmedy is only a delay whilst the surprise is getting in position further on.....Once out of the valley we were stopping in the phone comes to life.

We enter Malmedy park up and set the teams an easy task of simply find anything with the towns flag on it, how hard can it be? First back for max points

This is the winner, Angela showing to us the education system is in good hands with this improvisation.

Sarah with a Malmedy pin badge

Malmedy Square

We now head for Verviers for the next challenge, it's in honour of the 1981 war time film "Escape to Victory".

We pull into the car park at the football pitch hand out the challenge which is each team will take penalties (5 points for each goal) etc only to find we have forgot the bloody ball (best Michael Caine accent for that one).

Fortunately there is a local Belgium fellow kicking a football into the net. So without hesitation I tell the teams the first to ask to use of one of his balls (he had two), will gain an extra 10 points.

Straight away go the French speakers of the group with the none speakers holding back....but there was no need!

Seb gets there first to the strange looking man with long hair, wooly hat kicking two footballs into a net 3 feet away. He gets a bit of a surprise.

Bonjour Nige!

Yep that was the surprise, Nige and Jayne who couldn't make the full Run2Europe but could make the last day.

Anyway back to the challenge...

Escape to Victory

Not only did we have a football we also had a goalie.....Nige!

It started off as teams competing against each other but soon turned into a girls vs boys with the inevitable victory for the ........girls!

During the challenge we were joined by one of the locals who found us quite amusing.

Team photo also included second from the left our Belgium coach who after came with us into the centre of Verviers to show us the best place to eat.

As mentioned above we headed for Verviers centre for food however whilst parking up we had an incident.....

Verviers

Whilst stuck in traffic a girl in a Mini backed into a stationary Viking causing the damage below.

This poor Belgium girl was instantly surrounded by 18 Brits, oh well should of looked where she was going.

After lunch it was time to head for the last hotel as by now all scores had been entered.

Leaving Verviers

We were now heading for the Van der Valk hotel, Oostkamp but first had to experience Belgium traffic and their fantastic driving.....

After several games of phone text Eye Spy we get to our final hotel.

Once checked in and showered it's time to tot up the scoring.

Nige with his best Goalie award

This years trophy, a Steiner bought in Bad Sacklingen from a shop next to the bridge.

Who had won this year...?

6th place with 60 points Back Seat Bosses (Stephanie and Caitlin)

5th place with 62 points Shocking Blue (Rob Roy)

4th place with 88 points Honey Monster (Paul and Sarah)

3rd place with 91 points M.I.D.G.E.T. (Stu and Danny)

2nd place with 108 points Viking (Jaques and Angela)

1st Place with 110 points

Sleazy Jet (Seb and Sarah)

and finally, what happened to the emergency beer?

The Run2Europe 2013 was now over, just the journey home left.

Stu and Danny Show

2013-09-30T04:50:00.001+01:00