Cannonball Run Europe 2011

SUNDAY 9TH JULY
Weybridge to Jochberg (Kitzbuhel, Austria, via Bad Aussee – 825 miles

Many of the Cannonballers arrived yesterday, amongst them our teams from Norway, USA, The Netherlands and Switzerland. The Norwegians travelled 28 hours to make it to the start!

The weather was kind to us and the sun shone on the collection of beautiful machinery lined up in the grounds of the Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge, Surrey.

Today was also the day of the British Grand Prix and following a BBQ on the lawn, many of the drivers enjoyed watching the race on a giant screen. This was immediately followed by the Drivers' Briefing. This is when it dawned on many what lay in store for them in the days ahead.

At 3pm the chequered flag was raised and the cars were handed their first mission pack and set off heading for the port in Dover. At this stage they did not know where their final destination would be; all they knew was that they were to arrive at a sub-checkpoint in Bad Aussee (Austria) for breakfast, a 719 mile drive which took us through France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany.

At 6.30 the cars were starting to arrive for their breakfast stop in Bad Aussee to find out that their final destination was Jochberg, just outside Kitzbuhel in Austria, just over 100 miles away.

At 9.20 the first cars (the two Norwegian Porsches) pulled up at the Royal Spa Kitzbuhel hotel (www.kitzbuehelroyalspa.com) and by 2.20 all the cars had arrived safely. The sun was out and the pool and a few cold beers were beckoning.


Andy and Chris (Aston Martin Vantage) decided to detour via the local farmyards and some say that chickens, geese and goats could be seen fleeing their car upon arrival! With all the amazing scenery offered to us by the Tirol, Andy seemed to be the most impressed by the fact that there weren't any drive on lawn mowers and the potential new business opportunity!

Sally & John in their Sweeney Granada were the last to arrive, with their exhaust making an incredible noise and they seemed amazed that it was still attached to the car! The Cannonball spirit kicked in and an hour (and several cable ties!) later, John (Porsche 911) and Daniel (Ferrari 360) had fixed it.

The afternoon was spent soaking up the sun, sleeping, chilling in the spa, downing cold beers, making new friends and telling stories of their first adventure of the Cannonball Run.

In the evening we headed into Kitzbuhel town for some typical Austrian food and entertainment.
The stage leaders were announced at dinner and the rosettes were awarded to Clayton & Darek in the Jaguar XK.

 

DAY 2
Jochberg to Zagreb (via the Gardena Pass) – 425 miles

Checkpoint opened at 8.30 this morning and by 9.00 all the cars were on the road starting their 136 mile drive to the sub-checkpoint in Selva di Val Gardena, Italy. The cars arrived at the Chalet Gerard with the incredible backdrop of the Dolomites. The views were breathtaking, as were the roads, and the Cannonballers took time out to grab an expresso and do a quick photo shoot before collecting their next mission pack revealing they were now en route to Zagreb, Croatia, a 290 mile trip.taking them back through Austria and along the perfect Slovenian motorways (why can't we have roads like that in the UK?) before crossing the border into Croatia.

The cars started to arrive in Zagreb at 4.30 and checked into the spectacular Regent Esplanade Hotel (former Orient Express hotel) www.regenthotels.com.

All cars were in by 7.30 and enjoying cocktails on the terrace, except John & Sally, who didn't seem to think that today's stage was long enough and decided to visit nearly every town in Italy on the way! They did make it by 10.30 and were welcomed by a huge round of applause from the other Cannonballers. Stage 2 leaders were Vaughn & Deborah in the Jaguar XKR.



At dinner tonight Jan announced that tomorrow was track day and excitement and speculation was high. Would it be the Hungaroring? Brno? Salzburgring?..... At 8.30 tomorrow all will be revealed.

So a quick overview of day 2, breakfast in Austria, lunch in Italy, dinner in Croatia; a typical day in the life of a Cannonballer!

DAY 3
Zagreb to Salzburg (via the Redbull Ring) – 320 miles

So, today is track day. Anticipation is in the air as the excited 'ballers gather at the checkpoint. Mission packs are handed out and they discover they are off on a 160 mile drive to the RedBull Ring. This was formally known as the Osterreichring and then the A1 Ring and was home to the Austrian Grand Prix for 7 years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCUtB8jMdpI&feature=youtu.be

After lunch in the amazing facilities of our hosts for the day came the drivers briefing. Everyone listened intently as Andy talked them through the history of the track and the do's & don't to get the most out of their track day. We then all headed down to the pitlanes and engines were started. The first lap was a parade lap, led by the film crew who wanted to ensure they got some great footage of all the cars. Open pit lane ensued and the Cannonballers felt like racing drivers for the day and they put in the laps around the track. The RedBull Ring was a clear winner with everyone; some claiming that it was "even better than Monza"! Temperatures rose to 35 degrees and the air was filled with the smell of burning rubber and overheated brakes.

After a very successful and incident free afternoon at the track mission packs were handed out for the next destination; a 160 mile drive to the home of Mozart and the Sound of Music - Salzburg.

As we arrived at The Sheraton (www.sheratonsalzburg.com) the heavens opened and greeted us with the most amazing thunder storm, leaving us counting our blessings that the storm hadn't broken whilst at the track.

Dinner tonight was at the M32, the most exclusive restaurant in Salzburg,located at the top of the Museum of Modern Art with incredible views of Salzburg castle and the old town. Prosecco flowed freely as the 'ballers shared their experiences of the day and reflected on what a truly amazing, adrenaline filled day it had been.

No stage leaders were announced tonight as no timings are taken on track day.

The evening ended at the Take 5 nightclub where some danced the night away and others simply propped up the bar.

DAY 4
Salzburg to Brussels – 575 miles

As every morning, Sam & Colin our Blow Me (alcohol testing) were at the checkpoint breath testing all drivers to ensure that they were safe to drive. Once given the all clear the drivers are handed their mission packs. Luckily last night's storm had cleared and we had a nice day to help us on our way. Today was going to take us through Germany and Luxembourg before arriving in the Belgian capital. Unfortunately the weather didn't last and we arrived in Brussels in the rain.

Home for the night was to be Le Meridien (www.lemeridienbrussels.com/)

Today saw our first victims of the week and sadly Roberto & Massimo encountered some serious mechanical problems which meant getting their Aston Martin flat-bedded back to Switzerland. They were great Cannonballers and will certainly be missed. The days other victim was the Porsche Carrera of Andy and Mike. Their nil desperadum attitude kicked in and once they had made arrangements to get their poorly car back to the UK, returned home themselves to grab another car so they could meet us off the ferry in Dover and drive the last leg with their fellow Cannonballers.

Our private bar stocked with Belgian speciality beers was set up for us in the lobby of the hotel and was the perfect meeting spot for the Cannonballers to catch up with one another after a long day on the road.

Dinner tonight was at the Sky Kameleon restaurant overlooking the Brussels skyline. As is customary, after dinner the stage leaders were announced: Craig & Preston in the Aston Martin DBS were stage 4 leaders.

After dinner many headed downstairs to try their luck at the plush casino while other decided that they hadn't sampled enough Belgian beers and headed to the bars around the beautiful Grand Place.

Day 5
Brussels to Dunkirk – 110 miles

Cannonballers left the hotel this morning for the final leg of the Cannonball Run. The final checkpoint was at the Dunkirk Ferry Port. All the cars arrived safely and before long were all boarding the ferry back to the UK. A 100 mile journey to The Grove (www.thegrove.co.uk) followed with several of the drivers stating that with all the driving they had done across Europe over the past 5 days the most challenging and difficult part of it was negotiating the M25!

As the final touches were being made for the final night celebrations Cannonballers headed to their rooms to spruce themselves up for the black tie awards ceremony. The evening kicked off with the Cannonballers watching a 15 minute DVD showing highlights of the week away. A huge thank you to Craig & Jim (http://www.bluejuice.co.uk) who did an amazing job at getting this quick edit together, to the delight of all in the room. Everyone loved re-living the memories and could not believe that Craig had edited such an exceptional film whilst in the back seat of a staff car!

After a lovely meal and with the champagne and wine still flowing the awards ceremony was ready to commence. In addition to the winners trophies and the Spirit of the Cannonball trophy, there were two special trophies this year; the first was awarded to Jamie Chapman; Cannonball Legend. Jamie has been on the past six Runs and epitomises what the Cannonball Run is all about. Well done Jamie! The second trophie was handed out to the lovely Becky, for her five years ofdevoted checkpoint duty; well done Becky, you're a star!

Now came to the serious part of the evening and you could hear a pin drop in the room as Jan announced the winners. In third place was Craig & Preston in the Aston Martin DBS, in second place was Simon and Liam in the BMW M5 and the 2011 Cannonball Run Europe winners were Debbie & Vaughn in their Jaguar XKR.

The formal part of the evening was now drawing to a close but the most prestigious award, The Spirit of the Cannonball, still to be announced. All the Cannonballers were asked to vote for whoever they believed were most deserving to this coveted award. As the votes were counted, it was impossible to choose just one winner; in fact the vast majority of people voted placed two votes each. First to be called up to receive this award was George the Great. George came all the way from the USA to join us on this adventure and shipped over his 20 year old Chevrolet Cavalier, which already had 275,000 miles on the clock! We can safely say that this is George's "baby" and he has carefully nurtured it from birth and is his pride and joy! A standing ovation greeted George onto the stage to collect his award. An incredible man, with an amazing sense of humour who drove the entire week alone and who never complained or stopped partying. Well done George!

The second recipients of this award were John & Sally Oakden, who kept up with us around Europe in their Ford Granada (a la Sweeney). They were the most amazing and inspiration people. John was left paralysed after breaking his neck playing Rugby at the age of 16 and was told that he would never walk again, and here he was with his amazing wife Sally completing the Cannonball Run. Aided by the generosity of this year's Cannonballers they raised huge amounts of money for their charity; The RFU Injured Players Foundation and Spinal Research. Incredibly well deserving winners all of them. The evening ended in true Cannonball style, dancing the night away in our VIP Suite of the Oceana night club, and the only sound that could be heard above the music was the popping of champagne corks and laughter of some very happy Cannonballers. Roll on 2012!