New Prize donated,watch this space F1 fans !

Just a quicky (as the actress said to the bishop !),to let you all know that yesterday,whilst chatting to my cousin who works for the Renualt F1 team, the subject of our little charity bash came up (strange how it always seems to !) and he has pledged to get us a couple of tickets for the British F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone in July.Not only that, but these are the all singing types with hospitality thrown in for good measure (that,for the uninitiated,means lots of grub,free tea and coffee, a grandstand seat and lots of free goodies to boot...nice !).I will keep you posted as to the exact deatails as i recieve them, but it is going to be an excellent prize for someone :-).

Update 2/4/2008

It now looks like the prize will be in the form of a pair of tickets to attend the Qualifications at Silverstone on the Saturday,along with Breakfast,drinks and lunch included.A view of the action from the Renault team grandstand area and then later on in the day a guided tour of the Renault F1 HQ in Oxfordshire...how good is that ?

We will be posting details of how to enter the competition to win this awesome prize in the next few days, so keep an eye on this blog !. *****DETAILS ARE NOW POSTED*****

The joys of fundraising :-)

So today (Saturday 22nd) it has been a typical British March day.So far we've had sunshine,rain,wind,blue skies and to cap it all...snow !.I took the kids out to participate in a local Easter egg hunt in Sleaford, we completed the course around the nature reserve in about 25 mins, braving the affore mentioned adverse conditions...i don't know about an Easter egg prize at the end, they should have got an SAS survival award :-).

Over the last couple of days myself and Glen have been trying to secure the collection of a car identical to our Scirocco 2 Morocco vehicle that has been offered to us free of charge by a guy in London.Unfortunately neither of us has access to a trailer, the car is not in a running state and the fella wants it gone by the end of the bank holiday !.Its a real shame that we can't get her up here, or even across to Glens pad as she would be a great source of spares for our project, oh well, you can't always sort everything i suppose.

"Scarlet" the S2M car is now being given some proper TLC at AW's in Sleaford, and along side her in the workshop is our "Half Roc" trailer (As yet unnamed).I spoke to Andy Walsh on Thursday night and he is aiming to get the car back to me by the 29th, and the trailer sometime a week or two later.

On Friday I phoned Lee (Custom Vinyl Graphics) to have a chat about plans for the production of our logo's, some T-Shirts and some car stickers, and discovered that moment he was in Sleaford with his family, and on the way to an indoor play area (for the benefit of his 2 boys, not himself...well thats what he told me !-).After finding this out I decided to pop down there with my 4 year old and have engage with Lee in an impromptue "business meeting" in the middle of a large room full of very loud screaming noise....like most meeting that i attend come to think of it !.

Changing Tack slightly can I just say a big thank you to a mate of mine at the hospital called Sean (the mate, not the hospital !).Sean has very kindly offered to loan me one of his cars for a week or so until I get the Scirocco back on the road.Cheers mate ! ;-).

Sponsorship wise trying to get any "big names" on board is proving a little more difficult than I first expected.So far we have had replies in the negative (or no reply at all !) with names such as ....no, i will spare their blushes :-).Anyway all respond with similar explanations along the lines of having "designated charities" or the likes, and whilst i appreciate this may be relevant if i was asking a small local business, i don't really think that the request for a single mobile phone, a few gallons of liquid gold or a few quid to stick some logo's on the side of the car is going to break the backs of global "Blue chip" companies...do you ?

We are really hoping to take the car and trailer on their first fundraising outing at GTI Spring festival on the 19th April, and it is to this end that we really have to get things sorted asap.Once the car leaves the paintshop we will be driving her up to Lee to get the graphics fitted, then the towbar needs to be attatched and wired, the engine tuned and a good valet just for good measure.Looks like the next few weeks are going to be quite busy.......for a change !.

Oh, nearly forgot, if anyone knows of any worthy causes based in North Africa that would benefit from the deliver of items via our trailer (we hope to have a little spare space we can utilise for cargo), please get in touch and lets make an effort to try and use this trip to not only help people in the UK, but also those over in Morocco who have hardships that we will never understand, and lets try in some small way to make life a little easier for them :-).

You can call me on my mobile if you are able to help our event in any way, or if you have an idea for helping an North African based charity.Mobile: 07974935611.Andy

Read the book,seen the film,got the..............

Last Saturday I had a very useful and interesting conversation with a chap called Chris who was introduced to me a few weeks ago as "the fella who has been to Morocco...and beyond "!.

Chris and his wife travelled to Africa in an old VW Passat in 2006, and judging by the enthusiasm Chris displayed whilst chatting in the pub, they had a hell of a good time....or was it just the beer ?................. (just joking !).

It's a strange thing, but even in the modern age travelling to a foreign country outside of the EU is still a very rare thing to to, probably because the majority of us Europeans don't really like "roughing it" when away on our hols, and consider a walk of 100 yards down to the beach as being a "bit of a hike" !.

Meeting Chris was a godsend in the simple fact that having himself driven to our intended destination, and using a similar method of transportation he had an awful lot of info that Glen and I are going to find immensly useful in our challenge...especially interesting was the story of a hurridly carried out repair to a collapsed shock absorber utilising such random items as a short legth of scaffold pole and a couple of wire coathangers :-).

Entering Morocco appears to be the most intense experience that is set to confront us when we first alight from the ferry, the process of getting into the country with your car involves lots of documents,some money a lot patience and plenty of handfulls of boiled sweets to keep the local youngsters (minders !) happy.He advised us to carry duplicates of everything important.Driving licences,passports,green cards,insurance documents etc as they quite often form the basis (by their non return after examination) of negotiations with the local officials and how much they squeeze out of you for passage to your next destination, Chris refered to these "payments" as gratuities or tips, the sort that you would give to a waiter...except that a waiter would not have the power (or inclination) to stick our sorry ass*s in jail if he so decided !.

One thing that struck me during our chat was the sheer size of the continent we are visiting, and this was further demonstrated when Chris produced a fold out map and extended it to it's full size,suddenly I realised what a small part of Africa we will get to see !, even driving over 100 miles into the country we are only just touching its periphery...the analagy of iceberg tips seems very apt as a metaphore :-)

I am still reading the very useful manual that Chris was given by the organisers of the rally he went on, and the information it contains therein will, i am sure, be just as relevant and useful to myself and Glen when we make our run down to "The dark Continent".When we first started planning this trip some 3 months ago it seemed that perhaps we were getting carried away and there was no reason to start so early on in the year, but to be quite honest I am glad that we did, because there are an awful lot of bases to cover, and now in March with less than 6 months to go before the off there are still emails to send,calls to make and routes to plan...oh, and we had better sort out some sponsorship at some point too !, after all, that is what all this preparation is for isn't it.

So much happening,better do an update !

Ok, so where do I start ? I won't try to recall the exact dates that events occured, but will instead just try to include all relevant details that I think are worth mentioning...so here goes !....

The Car's refurbishment is now well under way at AW's Accident Repair Centre in Sleaford after a slight delay , and owner Andy Walsh will be documenting the progress of Scarlet from ugly duckling to Swan by photographing her over the next fortnight (Thanks Andy !).I will post more details of scarlets refurb when I get some pictures to accompany it.

The Trailer (or "half Roc" as we call it !) was progressed this week after Paul B took it on himself to try out his newly acquired compressor and saw on his old GT2 Scirocco, and after shedding a few drops of blood in the process (nothing serious...who needs to count to 10 on their fingers anyway !), he trailered the rear end of the car from Derby to Mansfield arriving at the premises of our metalwork experts (and greatly appreciated sponsors) ASMech (Mansfield) mid day Tuesday.It took 5 or six of us to get the bum of the Scirocco off of the trailer, but after a brief struggle we managed to get her unloaded and into the workshop were work started in earnest on it's transformation from scrap back end, to eye catching trailer.Many thanks to Richard Toon and his crew for this priceless help, it will make the whole process of getting the "rig"ready in time for the start of the VW show season a lot easier :-).

A big thanks you to Bob over in Nottighamshire who,after letting me have a towbar for the Scirocco for the huge sum of £3.00 ! then went on (after I yapped on for some time about our trip...sorry Bob !)to donate a pair of rear lights for the trailer (the old clusters had gone).Top Fella :-)

Lee, my trusty Graphics/Vinyl man has agreed to do the logo's for the trip again, and we may also be producing T-Shirts with the logo that we will be selling @ approx £10 each to raise even more funds for our charities.

Alistair from Waddington is going to produce a 1/18 Scale Die Cast model of the car and it's trailer (complete with log's), then pop it in a display case and we will have that with us at the shows.Eventually we will be holding a draw to win this unique prize.Thanks Alistair.

On Saturday last week I received an Email from Kaz and Pete, some people up the road that I had met originally through "FreeCycle", an Internet recycling organisation that has groups around the UK.They had heard about the trip that was being planned (probably from me because I tell anyone.....well anyone who hangs around long enough to listen !) and had decided between them to help our efforts by donating a SatNav System to us....how good is that ?.
Now the reason that Kaz and Pete decided to help us is not just down to them being thoroughly nice people, but because both of them have lost siblings to Cancer.Kaz lost her sister to Leukaemia 3 years ago at the age of only 35, she had 5 children and did not even know she had the disease.
Pete lost his brother only six months ago to Myelodyplasia which,although not cancer,can develop into leukaemia. and the symptoms of which are often very similar to those caused by cancer.
In my experience of fundraising (which is only really about 9 months or so !) I have found that it is the ordinary people that I meet that are the most likely to help you out,sometimes because they know someone who has the disease, maybe they have an illness themselves,or perhaps sadly they have lost a loved one through cancer of some sort.These are the bread and butter of campaigns such as this on that myself and Glen are undertaking, they are proof if proof was needed, that out there in this big wide world of ours there are still good,generous people who care about more than just the material things in life, and have in some cases been touched by events that have resulted in perhaps the loss of someone very close and very dear to them.
You know during the preparations for this event I have sent out hundreds of emails,made dozens of phone calls,dropped in to many companies and spoken to many individuals about our challenge, often asking for help and support in our quest....and do you know one thing that I have learned in all of this ? It's not the big companies, the multinational corporations worth hundreds of millions of pounds, and are always telling us how much they care for our custom,for our well being and for our best interests that are the first to offer help,often I get no response to emails,letters and answerphone messages...not even a simple "NO"!
Its the small companies, the local companies, individuals and local groups that are the ones we should be proud of.
I want everyone who reads this blog to take a good look at the left hand column headed "S2M Sponsors", and also the list of private individuals that I will soon be posting, and I want you to give these people a "virtual" pat on the back !.Well done and thank you to all, for you,every one of you,are our inspiration.Andy and Glen.

P.S anyone who I have forgotten to mention in this "dispatch", please forgive me, but I am currently typing this in between nursing 2 poorly children and tidying my house !.Until next time,take care :-)

S2M @ Waddington Air Show July 2008

I spoke to one of the organisers of the RAF Waddington International Air Show today, and we have been given the green light to attend this fantastic event on the weekend of the 5th and 6th July this year :-).

In years gone by the number of people attending what is probably now the UK's leading Air Show has frequently topped 400,000 over the 2 days it is staged, and therefore it goes without saying that a stand there will hopefully help us to swell the coffers for our 3 nominated charities as well as enabling us to highten the profile of the event amongst the general public....and that will be a great help in securing sponsorship of our challenge.

I have been an avid attendee (is that a real word ?) of the Waddington air show for around 8 or 9 years now, and always find it an excellent day out for all members of the family having not only a shed load of aeroplanes both flying and static, but also a wide veriety of stalls, funfairs and exhibitions that will keep you occupied for many hours.

Apparently we are to be allocated a pitch within the "Vintage vehicle" area (!), and Glen and I will be asking people to donate towards any of our charities, but especially the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance as the helicopter itself is actually stationed at RAF Waddington.

We will also be holding a prize draw to win the fantastic Simulator prize mentioned in an earlier post that was donated by Real Simulation based in Yorkshire.This prize is for a 1 hour flight in either an F4 Phantom or a Boeing 737 airliner and it's worth £279 !

For more info about the event just click on the link that is under the S2M Sponsors heading.

Old Vs New......the facts.

The number of people commenting on the reasons for our choice of vehicle that we have chosen to use for this challenge is growing,so I will now endevour to explain that there is indeed method behind our madness...honest !.

Just for a moment then would you take time to ponder this Jeremy Clarkson style question.....

In aerial combat which of these machines would win a dogfight, the cutting edge of technology Eurofighter (AKA the Typhoon) which we love loads, but for(an earth bound comparison) will put in the same league as...oh I don't know...erm....how about a Bugatti Veyron supercar. OR.....the world renowned icon of British aviation genius......the Supermarine Spitfire, which again for the purpose of comparison we will align with an older style of motor car...such as...erm.....how about a 1987 VW Scirocco Scala ?

Now of course many of the purists out there will immediately point out to me the fact that if i am drawing a comparison between an old (German)VW and an aeroplane, then surely it should be a Messerschmitt BF109 and not a Spitfire.......so to those of you who have indeed let these thoughts cross your minds let me just say one thing ..............."I don't care !"...ok, that was three words and a smattering of punctuation, but as Neil, the long haired hippy character from that wonderfull 80's comedy "The young ones" famously said..."Alright, so most metaphors don't bear close examination".........so there !....anyway......the evidence for the comparison now follows:

A) The Spitfire (Scirocco)has proved it's worth in real combat,being able to take immense punishment and still come back for more (Roc Around the Clock charity drive,24 hours,672 miles,35 hospitals).....The Eurofighter (AKA Veyron) has not.

B) The spitfire (Scirocco) was (in the nicest possible sense) simple, and due to that fact if the jockey (pilot) found himself stranded in the middle of a field having been "bagged" during some aerial combat sometime after lunch, but perilously close to tea, there was an outside chance that with a little basic mechanical knowledge (such a rudimentary bicycle repair) he would be able to fashion a repair to the stricken craft and arrive back to the airfield just as the main course was about to be served !...the Eurofighter (Veyron)would be emedded in the field and it's unfortunate pilot would not be home in time for lunch ever again...unless he had time to bang out (eject) , in which case his spine will have shrunk by several inches resulting in a short stay in the local hospital and a terrble ringing in his lug holes which are both classic symptoms of having been shot out of a moving aeroplane atop a seat shaped firework !....and he would be far to late to even catch an after dinner mint !

C)Fuel....As we are all so painfully aware this is in rather short supply, and having to carry lots of the stuff has a relative effect on your aeroplanes performance.Let me explain:

The Spitfire carried 85-90 gallons of liquid gold and had a range of approx 1135 miles

The Eurofighter has a fuel capacity of 880 Gallons of Avtur and a range of 750-800 miles

Result ? Well you would not get any were near as far with a full tank of GoGo juice in a Typhoon as you would in a Spitfire which would be still turning cartwheels whilst the Typhoon heads for the nearest service station.............although the upside to this of course is that the Typhoon pilot would earn a shed load of points on his Tesco club card and be able to keep his Sqn mates in biscuits for many years :-).

I suppose the key point that I am trying to make in this rant is pretty straight forward really.............newer is not always better, and that, in a nutshell is why we are taking a 21 year old Volkswagen Scirocco and not a Bugatti Veyron.......well that and the fact that no one would let us get our hands on one, never mind drive it to Africa !

Is it me or is it getting hot in here ?

I had a taste of what to expect when we go to Morocco in September this week after i managed to not only break off, but then loose the heater control lever !.As luck would have it the lever is not so much broken as detatched, and so once i manage to find the ruddy thing (it's gone missing...looked everywhere and nowt !) i will be able to turn the heater off...because at the mo it's like driving a sauna to work once the engine is warmed up :-).

On a slightly cooler note Leukaemia Research have managed to get details and web links on their site, so hopefully the traffic (it's net slang for viewers !) to this blog will increase a little.

Can I please ask people who read these blogs to make a comment on them if possible ? I don't really care if they are good,bad or indifferent...just let me know that you are out there...please !.

Changing tack (yet again!) I took Scarlet to the Sleaford branch of AW body repairs this morning and had a chat with Mike down there.He took some piccies and we had a good old chat as to the merits...and pitfalls of attempting to drive a 21 year old car with no air conditioning,sunroof or opening rear windows to North Africa, but agreed on one major point and that it is all for a good cause, and (to paraphrase)as John F Kennedy,the then president of the USA said about the NASA Apollo space programme “We choose to go...not because [driving to Morocco] easy, but because [driving to Morocco] is hard, because that goal will serve to measure and organize the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win......and possibly pick up a few duty free's on the way !”.......oh,and to raise lots of money for the charities that we are helping !

One more thing.If by any miracle/act of God/total breakdown of reality I win the Euro Lottery this evening (£95 Million !) please take this post as notice that i intend to keep just a measly £5 Mill, and donate the rest to friends,family and Charity.......I don't care if i do regret saying that, cos i will have £5 million reasons to be happy anyway :-).Don't forget to leave your comments !.

Jeremy Beadle Dies aged 59

I heard last night that Jeremy Beadle had died....and i felt strangely sad because since his first outing into the public eye on the show "Game for a Laugh" in 1981, he has, up until quite recently been one of the "bread and butter" entertainers of my generation.His shows are known to millions, and he was sometimes cruely lampooned although i haven't found out why this is for myself...and most people who used to greet his name with a wry look can't either !.
Then i found out something that made me feel even more sad, the fact that the fella had been diagnosed with Leukaemia and Kidney cancer in 2004/5, but had (unknown to me ) been heavily engaged in raising money for childrens cancer charities for many years,even throughout his own battle with the disease.
You know it's a also sad fact that those who quitely go about doing good,worthwhile work for others and don't seek publicity for their actions, are the ones that we appreciate least...and, worst of all,are able to thank least for their contribution.It's easy to be a pop star and appear on "comic relief" or the likes simply to promote your latest single....that's using charity as a vehicle to ultimately line your own pocket by keeping your face in the public domain.Jeremy was not really creditied with the part he played in helping hundreds and possibly thousands of youngsters to fight cancer, but in the end when the truth is out and all those people who had a good old pop at Jezza discover just what a great fella he was, it will be them that feel ashamed, and Jeremy ?...well i guess he gets "the last laugh" !

Scirocco...now with build in swimming pool !

I noticed recently that the floor of the car appeared to be...erm...rather moist !.Have made a few enquiries and come to the conclusion that it is being caused by the windscreen seal leaking.....somewhere !.I suppose that with it being a 21 year old car (well it will be on the 31st March) i should expect these sort of "glitches".
It was about this time that i started to read my latest Jezza Clarkson book titled "I Know You Got Soul".I have read most of his others,"On Cars","The World According to" and "Motorworld", and apart from the blasphamy in one of these where he refers to the Roc as "A Ford Scirocco" ! i find his babblings quite entertaining.
Anyway...getting back to my latest read, in which Jeremy makes quite a poingniant and true statement relating to the significance of faults in machines.......such as my leaky window... In the introductionj to the book he says...
"But some machines do have soul.Sometimes,as is the case with Concorde and the AK47,it's because they possess that most of human qualities,a flaw".
Maybe then it's no accident that the Scirocco model was given the type number "53" when it was first being developed....what's significant about 53 i hear you ask !, to which I will refer you to the worlds most famous Volkswagen...Herbie...remember the bonnet number ? And you know what fun and games the drivers of that particular car had don't we :-).

S2M talks to John Holmes on BBC Radio Nottingham

So Glen and myself made our radio debut today a@ 3.15 on the John Holmes show at BBC Radio Nottingham. The nice thing about John is that he is so easy to chat too !, and lets you just "get on with it"!. Having had a rather good hot chocolate in the foyer of the building we were ushered in and then sat just outside the studio for a few minutes before John appeared and at once began to make us feel at home, we then bimbled into the studio, took a seat and after a brief round of Rod Stewart (Maggie May!) we were into the interview!

Real Simulation supply "Sky high" prize

Many thanks are also due to Kevin and Adrian at Real Simulation for supplying us with an absolutely superb prize to be won in our planned prizedraw.

Just to elaborate, real Simulation are based at a place called Arkendale in Yorkshire, and are a company that specialises in offering flight simulations for anyone who wants to experience the feeling of flying without ever leaving the ground !.

They have 2 simulators in use, an airliner simulator of the Boeing 737 , and for those of you who have always fancied a go at being "Maverick" (Top Gun !) there is an awesome F-4 Phantom simulator also.

I have had the experience of the Phantom, and believe me it is just like being in the real thing,all the controls are there, the unit moves around in relation to your flying input, and you really do have to keep reminding yourself that at no point are you ever more than 15ft from the floor..:-).

We will be sorting out the details of the draw later, but don't miss the chance to win this prize (worth £279 !)of an hours flight in the "virtual" aeroplanes of your dreams....

AW Accident Repair Group to help S2M

Got some excellent news this morning when i recieved a phone call from Andrew Walsh, the owner of the AW Accident Repair Group.He has very kindly offered to not only paint our "work in progress" half a Scirocco trailer for us, but also to give "Scarlet" a bit of a makeover also ! and as we all know a car that looks good also drives much better :-).

This news is of great significance to our project, and I would like to just take this oppertunity to thank Andrew for his tremendous support with our challenge although it is not the first time Andrew's company has helped one of my projects out, he also helped a few years ago when the Cranwell Aviation Centre Jet Provost aeroplane needed some TLC and he very kindly sorted out a part respray for the JP which left her looking a thousand times better !.

Just got to get the trailer built now......anyone handy with an angle grinder and a mig welder ?:-)

S2M is VR on 2L !....Second Life !

S2M is Now VR on 2L !...What ?.Well ok,Scirocco 2 Morocco is now "virtually" advertised on a site called Second Life....it's a "virtual" world on the web.Anyway, i had a go at producing an object on the site and it turned out to be...erm...welll a large box really...with the S2M logo on it !.

Took a few snaps of the Challenge logo advert box and of my virtual "Avatar"....a virtual me !...but 20 years younger and a lot slimmer !

If you have a go on Second Life (It's Free !), see if you can find either my Avatar or one of my expertly (!) made logo boxes...then let me know where or take a snap :-)

Listen mum...we're on the Radio !

Ok,so the cars back on the road and being used as a daily driver due to the fact that i firmly believe that a use car will fair better than one thats laid up for months on end and is then expected to perform 100%...the reality is that a car that is laid up has a better chance of suffering a failure of some sort as soon as you ask it to perform at all !.....so I decided to keep her rollin' and if anything does need to be sorted then at least it will give us time to complete any nescessary work before we set off on our "little trip" !.

I've started to gather together a few items that i think would come in useful on the run like a fire extingusher,300W inverter (to power and charge all the "gadgets" that we are going to have on board),oh, and a mini fridge ! with just enough room for 4 large cans of beer....luvvly !

The team have been invited to the BBC Radio Nottingham studio's next Thursday to appear (is that correct in radio terms ?)on the John Holmes show.I have met John once before when i did a short stint on his show to talk about my last Scirocco themed charity drive "Roc Around the Clock", and i found the experience an excellent one as John is the sort of fella that you feel you have known for years and who has that ability to make you feel completely at ease almost as though you are chatting to him down at the local pub....but obviously the BBC don't serve you best mild whilst your on air !

If anyone gets the chance to tune in via terrestrial radio or via a web feed then the deatils are: The John holmes show,BBC Radio Nottingham,23rd January 2008,3.15PM (GMT).

Ode to the Morocco Scirocco !

Ode to the Roc !

I decided to write an ode to Scirocco, but all that would rhyme was the place called Morocco !.so faced with a case of poetic block, i decided to call it "the ode to the Roc" !

Twas back in the 70's when that great man Giugiaro took hold of blank paper a ruler and Biro ...then shouted ......"eureka" ! "i have an idea"...before pottering off for a fresh glass of beer !.

For weeks he did toil, like a man that's possessed , and when he was finished said "i think it's my best !".
gazing down at the drawing he stood and he grinned " such a sleek shape I've drawn it should go like the wind !"

So he called it Scirocco, and the legend was born, and many a driveway this car would adorn, all over the world from Antwerp to Bangkok folks fell in love with the lines of the Roc.

Then in '92 production did cease and Volkswagen laid the Rocco to rest in peace, but 2008 See's the phoenix reborn and the IROC begins a windy new dawn !

Andy W