7:38 am, November 11, 2009
SABOTAGE, a lost dog, an RTA and some pretty mad swimming – it could only be day two of Bangers4BEN.
After a damp two hour slog from Inverness to John O’Groats, our 25 intrepid travellers pulled into the John O’Groats ‘picturesque’ viewing point to a chorus of air horns and, er, horns.
It was all going well while snapper Neill Watson got the pics in the bag for the magazine – a massive group shot which saw our cars take over the car park with some rather dodgy parking, and some group shots.
But then, as the mag’s commercial manager Dunc went to move our car for our pictures, disaster struck.
From across the car park I hard the almighty bang as our Peugeot 406’s front left tyre exploded. Why? Because one of our fellow competitors had piled up some plastic chocks under the wheel.
The scumbags. We don’t know who it was – but have our suspicions! Still, in true Bangers style, one of the Marshall teams stepped in to assist. Fortunately one was a tyre bay manager so our alloy was changed in a matter of minutes.
Drama over (we thought), as we started the 300-odd mile journey back to Berwick-upon-Tweed.
But just half an hour later on a deserted part of the A99 we stopped behind a Rover in the middle of the road with its hazards on.
The lady driver’s trying to catch a little dog that’s lost. Being dog lovers ourselves we had to help out and snapper Neill scooped up the little terrier and carried it to the local farm.
There was no one in so we door knocked a few more houses before an old Army major said he’d take our friend off our hands so we could get on our way. Shame really as I quite liked the little fellow.
But that wasn’t the end of the drama for the day. About 10 miles later we spotted the Big Ben Banger car – BEN’s entry into the rally – at the side of the road, bumper crushed and empty.
We stopped to investigate but couldn’t find the drivers. With no phone signal we couldn’t check everyone was OK, so a few minutes’ worry ensued.
Read our earlier blog on the RTA here…
But the real moment of the day came not long after everyone had left JOG – as two of the Honda drivers, Gareth and Dean, announced they were going for a swim.
Seriously.
A quick Superman change in the back of the Accord and they were ready – swim shorts, crash helmets and fake moustaches and all.
For proof of their dip in water which smelled like a fish market on a hot summer’s day, see this video…
Other dramas spotted on Twitter included Team Bluecycle being first on the scene of another RTA.
They phoned the police and helped a seriously shaken 71-year-old woman out of her written off car.
And Team Used Car Expert have had to make the long drive all the way back home to London today, instead of tomorrow, because of an office emergency.
AUCTION NEWS
We’ve also received news today from BCA on the auction for the cars. It will take place next Wednesday around 1.30pm and with any luck we’ll be broadcasting it live on our site with a little help from Zype.co.uk.
More news on that as we get it sorted.
Tomorrow our teams head to the finish line at Mercedes Benz World where the winners of the Top Twit (the best Twitterer) and the Best Decorated Car are announced.
For all the latest news on the rally follow the teams’ Tweets here or log on to our dedicated bangers section here.
More tomorrow…
James
