Im taking part in the Student Gumball Rally!

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Teabag RallyWebsite​

Yesterday i received a call from one of my best mates and we chatted a bit but the most noticable part of the conversation was few words he muttered mid-conversation....."were doing the gumball rally next year". As you can imagine i was a bit apprehensive as i know how much it costs to enter that event but then he gave me the details. Its a special version of the gumball rally called the teabagrally. Its an event which takes place in europe and sees you driving through many countries doing a manner of different tasks on your way to the next check point. The last one was from Dover(england) to Croatia and went through France, Germany, Austria Bulgaria and a couple of others.

As im sure many of you know THE Gumball Rally is notorious for its super cars but thats where this version is different, your not allowed super cars and only students are allowed to enter(non students can enter but you have to have 2 students in the team). Each car you enter is vetted by the organizers and will then we will be told if that car is eligible. The whole point is to raise money for charity, the teenage cancer fund, and for a ton of like minded people to have a great time and share some experiences im sure every participant will remember for ever. Last year thousands of £'s were raised and hopefully the next one will raise even more and be just as successful.

The next event (which we have entered) is in September next year so we have ample time to save a ton of cash, buy a car and get a few plans put into place should we crash, break down, kill the car or loose our licenses. You never know whats going to happen so its better to be safe than sorry!

This brings us to the next problem, what car do we do it in? My friend has a beat up rover 214 which he uses as a winter car and has kindly donated that but the rest of us don't want to use it because .....well basically because its a piece of junk. We have set a budget of £500 to find our valiant steed and have narrowed it down to a short list which is as follows (were not looking for pristine cars just something which is a little classy or different)

BMW 635 CSI - Now its a good car and we have found them for as little as £300.

BMW 635 CSI

Mercedes 560SEL - There is a beauty on ebay for little money, 135,000 miles on the clock.........its just worn in!

Mercedes 560SEL

now were getting into the real nice cars!

Austin Princess Vanden Plas - A shoddy looking car i much admit but its got character an we will certainly be the only people driving one although there is probably a good reason for that!

Austin Princess Vanden Plas

Austin Allegro - Another rubbish car but again it would be so funny driving that and if memory serves me well its the only car designed which is more aerodynamic in reverse than it is going forwards

Austin Allegro

We do have a couple of other cars such as an old beat up jaguar mk10 that my boss knows is for sale and the idea about doing it in a hearse is not completely out the picture.

Like i said though we have plenty of time to organize this and ourselves a gem of a car to use and i cant see this being an incredibly fast moving thread but i thought i should let you all know about it.


As you can imagine we are really looking forward to this and i will certainly keep you guys posted as and when we move forwards or get any more information.

Spec....
 
Sounds great, Dunc's not the only one betting you'll have a blast at that.
 
DQ
I bet you'll have a blast!
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He will if he goes for the Allegro... poor thing would probably explode if it went over 20 miles :p

Great selection of motors to choose from there - I'd say I'd go for the Beemer if there was only a couple of you, but the Merc is maybe a better choice if there's more of you - plus it's probably going to be more comfy and more reliable (well, who knows?!) than the Vanden Plas or the Allegro...

My Dad used to own an Allegro - it was a nice rust colour - except for the bits where the blue paint was still visible... :dopey:
 
My friends got a Rover 75 which would be cool to use. He also has a Golf Mk4 and shares his brothers Audi A3. God knows how he gets all the money to afford insurance and all that:sly:, he's only 19!
 
Looks like a great time Spec. Too bad I'm a few thousand miles away. :sly:
 
Is there any kind of link to a website?

Sound very nice, especially when the money goes to a good goal 👍
 
If you need a driver, shout me.

And £500? Go Japanese. Doesn't matter what. You can probably get a V6 MX-3 (1991) for that... :D
 
Famine
If you need a driver, shout me.

And £500? Go Japanese. Doesn't matter what. You can probably get a V6 MX-3 (1991) for that... :D
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Fantastic, one of our team might not be able to make it as it goes due to his year in industry starting in august so you might be in with a chance. In the next month or two we should have alot of info and a plan of action in place so we can really get things moving.

You offering to sell your car then? Minus half the front bumper you left in newark obviously.

Spec...
 
Sounds like fun Ben 👍

I'd go for the Merc myself. I know a bloke who did a similar event last year, it followed the Paris Dakar route, they used a Merc 500SEL. It's got plenty of room, mechanically totally bomb proof and very comfy. The BMW would be nice, but for £500 you'd be lucky to get out of the UK without it braking down. You don't want to be stuck in some east european country having to fork out a small fortune on a engine rebuild :(
 
Specialized
Yea we thought about that but it would be hard work getting 4 into it and travelling a few thousand miles!
Spec....
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All the more fun!

But yeah, I think a Merc would be better, and if it is an estate all the more practical.

Have you considered a 2CV?
 
My incredibly reliable although somewhat beaten up Mondeo saloon is going onto eBay in a couple of weeks.
It's a 99p start with no reserve and a lot of car for the stupidly low price it's going to finish at! It has a 12" sub and a big fat amp to keep you in music plus a recent cambelt and lots of other plus points.

Bear it in mind ;)
 
So these "students" are college kids, right? Does the same stuff that happens on the Gumball happen on this Student Rally? Like going really fast, gettign drunk and getting laid?
 
Damn, sounds fun. I'd get the 635, I'm very fond of those 6 series.
 
If you wanted something really original, a 4x4 Mondeo saloon would do the trick :lol:

Not blatantly obvious and outlandish, but noticable to those who look closer... Actually extremely rare :dopey: Pretty quick too, but it'd probably lose out to the 635! Reliable and comfortable, though. Unfortunately, I'm not yet willing to let it go for the sub-£500 price I got it for ;)
Almost exactly half the mileage of the Beemer as well :sly:

It's a shame the BMW has climbed out of your price bracket, at that's what I'd probably have gone for out of the ones you mentioned int eh first post.

DE
 
Again thanks to everybody for the comments and potential car choices. After a meeting in the pub last night we have narrowed it down to 2 cars, The Austin Princess Vanden Plas & The Mercedes 560SEL (although a 500SEL would be acceptable too)

Its a split choice at the moment with 2 people wanting one car and the other 2 wanting another car. Hopefully me and the team-mate who want the Mercedes should have the upper hand as we have somewhere to store the car untill the event and it will probably be us two who buy the car and then get the others to repay us.

Another good idea we came up with is sponsorship, were going to try and get as many companies to sponsor us so that they either contribute to our getting to the destination or they donate some funds to the charity. We are also going to have every entrant sign the roof of our car and one the event is over give the car to the charity so they can either auction it off or sell it privately. We would only get about £50 each back for it so if they can get a little more to help the charity than were all for that idea.

Were still thinking of a team name too, Team Ben doesn't really have a ring to it and we are allowed to change it before the official team list is produced and finalized.

Ill keep you all updated with the details as i get them

Spec....
 
Great!

I would still suggest going Japanese, but go for the Merc if you have to. Then again, I don't know anything at all about how good cars are at that age... You don't want to do a "Top Gear", where their £500 cars couldn't even go 10 miles :lol: (yes, they were Porsches, but you know what I mean). I'm sure it'll add to the fun, though!
 
G.T
Great!

I would still suggest going Japanese, but go for the Merc if you have to. Then again, I don't know anything at all about how good cars are at that age... You don't want to do a "Top Gear", where their £500 cars couldn't even go 10 miles :lol: (yes, they were Porsches, but you know what I mean). I'm sure it'll add to the fun, though!
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Yea i know what you mean, were looking to get the car around February time so we can actually run the car for a bit too and do some servicing, changing the spark plugs, oil, HT leads etc just to be on the safe side. Funny you should mention Japanese along with Famine as the Toyota Delica nearly ended up as a hot alternative but thankfully that stupid idea was forgotten rapidly. Part of the reason for wanting the Mercedes is the comfort it offers and ease of driving. The cruise control and air con will be great assets and the size of the panels is advantageous too. We have been told that sponsorship is strongly urged to be sought after so the more panel space we have the more sponsorships we can fit on. The main idea of the rally is to raise a few £ for charity so were going to do everything we can and is also the reason we are going to give the car to the charity after the even. Agreed were not exactly famous people or anything but whatever they can get for it is going to be more money for the cause.

Spec....
 
Thank god you're not going in a Delica. Those things look like they'll roll over any second, even when stationery.
 
This is something I would love to take part in. How long would it take to go around Europe and then back on a good run?

I would also suggest buying a 1982 SUZUKI ALTO FX 4dr 796cc. There cheap to insure, look funky and you could go rounfd Europe on one tank of fuel.

Or you could could for a Toyota spacecruiser if there is a few of you.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1989-TOYOTA-S...2QQihZ019QQcategoryZ18290QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
Why don't you use either a Golf GTi Mk1 or an old Mini Cooper?
 
I know of nice tidy Mondeo Diesel going cheep at £0.00. It's a good runner but has no tax or MOT. It will need 200-300 quids worth of repairs to pass it's MOT though.
 
TVR&Ferrari_Fan
Why don't you use either a Golf GTi Mk1 or an old Mini Cooper?
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Because we want something unique and original. We are going to embark on a massive journey so we are going to make the most of it by either using a incredibly stupid car or a big luxury car like the Mercedes. The golf GTI will probably be the most popular car in the rally and we want something that stands out from the rest! As for the mini having been in lots of old minis i know that we will all need chiropractors by the time we get to dover!

Spec....
 
You should name your team "Team Specialized" or "Team Spec...." (yes, with the dots.)
 

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