Friday 20th April 2007

Rabbit Run 2007 had finally arrived and Friday 20th April drew participants from all across the UK to travel down to Surrey, the staring point for 2007's event.

As most of the cars arrived they were washed (thanks Keith!) and as the weather was great most participants hung around outside sizing up the competition, and admiring the amazing array of metal that took up the entire hotel car park!

As the sun fell on the Friday evening and everybody gathered for a beer or two (or ten in Matt’s case) in the bar, many of the entrants lived locally so did not need to stay over, but popped in for a drink and to meet and greet their fellow participants.

The first twist soon arrived. Ten beers Matt' and his co-driver James were meant to be in Matt’s Porsche 996 Turbo, but a cock up at a service centre put paid to this, meaning they had to arrive in James’ tooth enamel displacing track prepared Lotus Elise.............just as well James is a dentist!!

The next set back occurred with Darryl and Ian in the Audi RS4. Darryl’s car had recently gone into the workshop to have a couple of bits and bobs sorted out. Whist the car was up on a jack with its wheel off, the car was accidentally dropped causing the hub to smash! With no replacement part in stock they were in the hands of Audi’s best in getting a part for early the next morning AND getting an engineer to fix it for them! Luckily the car was in Kent, so geographically this wasn't a problem. If the car was not ready then it would be plan B, to go in Ian’s Jaguar Diesel. From previous experiences with diesels this could mean bad news for the rest of us. If you want to win or gain a serious advantage in an event like this then you could easily do it in for example, a car like the BMW 535d, quick enough but more importantly a big range on the fuel tank. Although, that's not what the event is all about.

Darryl also commented on how young Ian looked on his passport picture, too young as it happened..........his picture was taken fourteen years ago making his passport four years out of date, a few challenges ahead for that team!

John and John the defending champs (2006 in an Aston Martin DB9), were this year in a Bentley GT Mulliner. These boys nearly didn’t make it as a couple of days before, John, whilst sleepwalking fell down a flight of stairs, and was now nursing a few issues with his back. Luckily for him, the Bentley for want of a more detailed description is a 'lounge on wheels'. I asked John what he thought of the competition ahead of him (both new and old), but he dismissed them with the comment “bunch of rookies”!

It was also great to see Paul and Sarah make it for the Friday night, as they were struggling with a babysitter for their five, yes five kids! It was good to meet a couple that were also great mates.

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