Day 1 Monday 15th May - Dover to Calais

A bit of an early start as we all met for briefing at a hotel in Ashford at 07:45 with two thirds of the cars staying over on the Sunday. Sunday itself was not hiccup- free with Gerry being locked out of her TVR Tuscan S, Pete and Chris Worthy locking their keys in the Boxster S (S must mean Self locking) and Matt in the 996 turbo ploughing into a kerb.

Matt however, used his initiative and spent most of the night on E-bay, finally tracking down a new set of wheels around 6 a.m - the wonders of modern technology!

So we were all at the briefing (except Matt frantically having his wheels changed forty miles away), and Matt and Chas who were very secretive about their purposely-bought ride - they stayed in a hotel round the corner so as not to spoil the surprise.

We got the call around 8 a.m. to say they were "just round the corner". Seconds later came the roar, shortly followed by the car itself - a full 6.7 litres of 1979 Trans Am in full-on Smokey and the Bandit style!

Briefing over and it was a testosterone-induced start (meant to be a mellow convoy) down to Dover. On route the rabbit spliced off at Folkestone to dive on the Euro star to give itself a few 'hops' advantage.

We arrived at Dover and the Trans Am was already over heating, not a great sign when we had 2000 miles to cover over the next five days. The boys let it cool down, topped up the water and boarded the ferry. A now stressed but also relieved Matt and Edd turned up and boarded with minutes to spare. So we where all aboard except Greg and Max in the Audi A4 Quattro (2005 champs) as when they attempted to pass passport control Greg realised he had left his passport at the Hotel in Ashford (on the 2005 event the 2004 champ Fish forgot his, so a bit of a pattern forming). So it was back to Ashford, collect the passport and on the channel crossing via Euro star.

Day 1 Monday 15th May - Leg 1 - Calais to Kerpen 240 Miles

As we all disembarked, Rabbit Run 2006 was GO GO GO, with most of us getting asked a few questions at Customs. (In future even our very discreet liveries will be gone, 100% stealth is required!)

The walkie talkies worked well, were great fun and very busy as people were trying to establish thier early positions and after the traffic cleared we enjoyed some great roads. Steven and Andy had a great car (if I say so myself) an M3 cab only ten days old and just about run-in with a strategy of “in it to win it”. The first stop was Kerpen where Brian and Michael arrived first (just behind the Rabbit) in the CL55AMG, so nobody on this stage had beaten the Rabbit.

Kerpen is home to Michael Schumacher's Karting Circuit. The circuit did not disappoint and great fun was had by all........well nearly all, Chris and Paul in the RS Focus did not make the karting as instead of travelling East from Calais they travelled West for around 150 miles.....OOPS! And Matt and Chas in the Trans Am who had to do some road side repairs as the exhaust had now fallen off.

Day 1 Monday 15th May - Leg 2 - Kerpen to Frankfurt 110 Miles

From the karting circuits car park it was a chequered flag air horn induced start, we all nailed it out of the industrial park and onto the motorway. The roads were amazing and within fifty miles we were altogether on de-restricted Autobahns, it was great fun and it was interesting to see how the cars compared (sorry Brett but my M3 has the edge on your gorgeous AMV8 for pace). This was territory for the big hitters, Dave and Mark stretching the legs of the special XK8, Vin in the RS4 won the snail last year in a S4 so let’s see if the R can make a difference. David in the Mustang proving the point that American cars can do bends at decent speeds granted he knows how to drive it but it is a very capable car and that V8 sounds great and could out-drag at least half of the other cars.

It was soon becoming apparent that John and Jon in the DB9 had the bit between their teeth and really wanted to win. John also took part in 2004 and 2005 in a SL55 AMG and finished mid-field, but the new car and co-driver had John focused that much that the DB9 was first to arrive at the HUGE hotel on the outskirts of Frankfurt in the National park. The top nine cars beat the rabbit.

We all had a great dinner and were ready to settle in the bar as the RS boys turned up travelling 350 miles more than any body else that day!

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