We made it!

We've just come out of the tunnel into the UK sunshine, with 1,476
miles completed since 11am thursday using 2.5 tanks of diesel.

Here's hoping she copes with an august bank holiday M25 on our final
leg back to oxfordshire!

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Tunnel Update

we'd been told that no trains are running until 1800 so we were out
sunning ourselves on the tarmac, then all of a sudden without warning
the queue disappeared so we bundled in and were off! Que a mad panic
from danny as mike had the keys to their car and was nowhere to be
seen!

So we're now sat in Coach 3 waiting foir the train to fill up, the
support car is in Coach 25 1/2 a mile away!

The next blog post should be from blighty!

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Train stopped in tunnel

We've sucessfully navigated over 1300 miles of european roads only to
be tharwted by a french train stuck in the channel tunnel. We"re now
sat in a queue for the platform having passed border control. You
should be able to see us on the gps page...

Current temporature inside the espace is 33 degrees.

We'll keep you posted!

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Sunday

Tim here. Thought I better write something, considering we should be
home tomorrow.
Yesterday was in fact a trip that was approximately twice as long as
it should have been. We managed to find every major traffic jam in
western europe. Althhough it gave the natives plenty of time to soak
up the genius of the Espace.
We encountered many things more than jams though. Interference on the
radio meant we could wind up some local girl, probably burning no more
than 15 candles (CB speak). Seemingly endless tunnels that appeared to
be boring through to the centre of the planet.
Then we stopped at a rest stop which was epicly spectacular:

The Espace appears to be holding up reasonably well. The clutch is
doing weird stuff. Pulling away from a standing start is fine as long
as you don't use any throttle. This would indicate something's not
right obviously, but not entirely sure what...
And the final word of this post must go to Zurich. The people are
alright, and the kebabs are amazing, but Zurich is, 'ow you say, a
shithole. There may be some bits that are nice, but the place looks
post-apocalyptic. Roadworks everywhere. Definitely not a patch on
Frankfurt, which very quickly became one of my most favourite places,
behind Rome and London (I realise that last part was mostly
conjecture).
OK, onwards to Luxembourg. Speak to you in a bit internetica...

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Welcome back to france

Its 0948 and we're back in france for the 2nd of our three visits on
the rally. 222 miles to the hotel, now heading for strasbourg...

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Day Three

The homeward bound legs have begun! We left the hotel 0800 heading for
basel and strasbourg, stopping to take on fuel and breakfast at the
first services we found.

We averaged 42mpg on our first tank, which got us to austria! Austrian
petrol is the cheapest so far, liechtenstein the most expensive and
even the swiss is approx 1p cheaper than uk!

TomTom is saying 259miles to our hotel in luxembourg, ETA (without
stops and traffic!) Is 1300. Ross is driving first, then Katy, Tim and
finally brad.

Clutch is still 'sensitive' when pulling away, but doesn't appear to
be getting worse from what we can tell.

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ZZZZZurich

Well we're in Zurich. The traffic makes Oxford look clear. 1 hour to do less than half a mile. Let's hope for more luck tomorrow!

Checkpoint Charlie

Turns out we needed a vignette for austria as well as switzerland, and
forgot to pay the toll! We passed one polizia who didn't blink an
eyelid but thought we'd better get the vignette anyway and get the
swiss one too. So we stopped at a shell petrol station and got both
for 36.40 euros.

Then one minute later we ran into a roadblock! They took our passports
to run a check for five minutes, the other cars got waved through!
Thank god we'd got the vignette on the window as its a 500 euro on the
spot fine!

I'm writing this from austria, 1 mile from the leichtenstein border!

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Back on the move

We've just cleared the jam and are back underway, nearly at the
austrian border. On the plus side tim's perfected the technique for
using 1st gear without it slipping.

Hopefully the next post will be from another country...

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Panic stations

We've hit a massive traffic jam where it goes down to one lane. Just
our luck its on an incline so we've got loads of hill starts to do!
Coolant temperature still low though.

We've sent mike off to investitage with his high vis vest on...

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Almost in austria

We've just got back on the road following another driver swap and a
bit of lunch which seemed to be crisps and stuff smuggled out of
breakfast...

So timmy is now at the wheel, TomTom is saying straight ahead for 64
miles (the record so far is 135 miles without a turn after we left
frankfurt) so austria here we come!

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Day two update

We're just about to make the 3rd driver change, katy's about to hand
over to ross. We're approx 100-120m from the austrian border.

No mechanical issues to report besides the the clutch starting to slip
in first, if u keep the revs down its ok. Coolant temp working as
expected.

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Day two begins

Well everyone is down for breakfast by 0740 (except Tim) so we should be on for another prompt start. Mike has already been out and found George the nearest McDonalds at the main train station just round the corner. (24 hrs in and george has only eaten McDonalds or Burger King)

In our first hotel review, i can report that IBIS is worth the extra (or less in our case) compared to the ETAP (they are both owned by Accor - Ross has commited to securing a sponsorship deal for next years rally). We can cancel tonights ETAP upto 1900 free of charge so if we get their early enough we'll recce both and choose the best, which will prob be the IBIS at only 10CHF more per room.

The coolant, oil and tyres has been checked and all is ok. Only slight problem is another car has parked so close that access is only via the passenger side!

Driving rota for day is (approx 1hr each) Brad > Katy > Ross > Tim > Katy > *Brad

*30 mins if timings going to plan

Day One

Well day one is almost over and we made it to frankfurt 1hr ahead of
schedule. The day started well and we were underway by 8.30am,
clocking up four countries before lunch and ross hadn't had a go
behind the wheel! Belgium looked much like france, holland was a blur
of 28 minutes of motorway and we were into germany.

Our nerves were tested when ross got behind the wheel for his first
taste of an autobahn and the coolant temperature flirted with the red
zone, queue a nice stint in the slow lane to let her cool off! We'd
been pretty lucky with traffic and did the 375miles in good time, the
only real problem was the rush hour traffic in frankfurt, and the
espace's clutch wasn't happy pulling away in 1st. Hopefully that was
just the heat and the effects of a long days drive.

The journey to calais went well and we all managed to get on an
earlier eurotunnel shuttle and were in calais an hour early. We
promptly checked it and then walked across to find a bar at cite
europe. After some quick price comparisons we settled on 8 pint jugs
of lager to quench our thirst!

So back to today... We've had a bit of a result, turns out there's a
sailing, beer and music festival on the banks of the river which is
right outside our hotel so we're all now enjoying a half litre of
german lager watching the sun go down...

Let's hope tomorrow goes just as well.

Driving Log for the day (1hr each) Tim > Katy > Brad > Ross > Tim

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Day One Complete!

We have successfully arrived in Frankfurt! More to follow...

Blast Off!

The big day is finally upon us! Wish us luck, we may need it!

GPS Live Tracking

You have to admit Google are good! They launched latitude a few months ago which allowed you to share your location with friends. Last night i noticed they’ve opened it up so that you can share it with anyone (provided you accept the world of privacy disclaimers!) so i thought why not use it for the rally allowing people back hope to follow our progress ~ or lack of it ;)

It works by installing the latest version of Google Maps on a mobile (in this case Ross’s blackberry) which then uses either the cell location (accurate to within 0.25 to 5 miles depending on how many transmitters are nearby) or in our case GPS (accurate to within 3 meters)

I’ve added five maps at varying zoom levels to a new page on the boomerang rally site which you can find here. Enjoy!

Below is our current location (see link above for more detailed maps)

Ready for Plan-B

 

 

Having been let down by technology in the past i thought it a good idea to invest in something a little more old fashioned as a backup, so thanks to amazon a nice big 2009 European Road Atlas is on its way.

However because I'm an idiot and left it so long to order it i missed out on the free super saver delivery option, otherwise its bound to have arrived at home when we were in Calais!

Hopefully TomTom will stand the test of our adventure but you never know…

Balance in The Force

Having been a little concerned by the significant uneven tyre wear after 1000 miles or so we decided that professional wheel alignment was required if we wanted our front tyres to make the trip. We have a fair few gadgets between us, but not laser wheel alignment sensors and a hydraulic ramp!

We took her in on Saturday morning and things started off very well. The first guy we saw turned out to be one of Tim's neighbours and he and his colleague were both really interested in Boomerang so we told them all about it while they sorted the wheels out.

When it was all done I was asked how I was paying, of course I said the magic word cash! I was told the job usually costs £35, but he would do it for £20. When I discovered I only had £15 on me our discount increased even further! So front wheels professionally aligned for less than half price, woohoo!

Shiny new number plate

Anyone who’s seen her will agree that the eSpace’s beauty really is something to behold, however since the paint job there’s been one thing stopping her from looking her best – the rear number plate.

In fact it was so bad we got an MOT advisory notice for it!

Ross and myself were in Halfords on Sunday and armed with the V5 and a Debit Card acting as ID we decided to splash out on a new one (£13.89). Also it means we don’t need an unsightly GB sticker for other EU countries ~ annoying we still do for Switzerland :(

Before:

After:

And for those who want a close up…

Overdue update

After looking round for European breakdown cover on the 1st of August we found that most places cover cars up to 15 years old. Brad said that was us screwed 'cos the Espace is 18. "No it isn't" I said, "my Golf is 18 and is J reg. She must be about 14". So I went to get the V5 and discovered I had lost it. Half an hour of frantic searching later I found it again. So then we were both proven wrong. The Espace was first registered on the 2nd of August 1994 making her 14 years and 364 days at the time of looking. Doh!!

I decided to have another look online just in case and managed to find cover for £21.50 for vehicles up to and including 15 years old. Result!

We were then able to turn our attention to getting up at 3.30am the following morning to deliver my family to Gatwick in the Espace then carry on to give her a proper endurance test run. As it had also turned out to be her birthday as the day progressed we decided to celebrate it in style.

We got to Gatwick no problem at all. Katy was entrusted with taking the helm for the first leg of our maiden long voyage. We actually thought that the interior heating system was broken as we got no warm air at all.... until we'd driven about 30 miles! Then she started to warm up. The radio reported that the M25 was a mess so we abandoned the earlier plan of circumnavigating it. Instead we decided to drop in on my mum just outside Folkestone for breakfast. We arrived there at 7am with croissants, bread, jam, juice and a Sunday Times to a very warm reception.

Brad then had the idea of driving into central London and seeing some sights. Mum quickly made a birthday cake and gave us a card and off we went.

All was going well until we discovered there was a triathalon going on and half of the roads in east London were closed. That was hardly going to stop us now was it: -

Not long to go now

5 weeks to go.  The Espace had a decent test run at the weekend lugging a full load to Cornbury festival and back.

Brad and I were pretty much the first people in so we parked her right by the entrance meaning several thousand people had the pleasure of seeing her in the flesh as the walked in and out.

Next up is the M25 endurance run...

The Cam Belt

A hot Saturday in June, a generous mate of Brad's who knows his way round an engine, a load of tools and blind faith.  The end result?  A fresh cam belt installed and the Espace still working.

I'll be straight up from the start, Tim and Tone did all the hard work.  I was mostly getting my freshly shaven head sunburnt and rooting around in the toolbox for a left handed screwdriver(thanks Tim :-p).  We started off following the Haynes manual, but before long when Tone had finished another job he came over and gave a running commentary on what everything was and critically what to undo and when!

On to the pics: -

Stand by

Much to report folks.

Stand by for a biiig post tomorrow.

We have a fresh cam belt ;-)

Breaker, breaker, Come in.

As donated by a dude at work, we are now CB'ed up!
It's late, and after finishing another chapter of my novel today, I'm tired and all typed out. A picture says a thousand words. Here's a pic (ed. Maybe next time include a valid URL to so the image works!):

Update: A 5ft aerial, 5m patch cable and a roof mount are on order!

All hail the genius of cable ties!

Ever since we’ve had the eSpace we’ve never been able to open the rear doors from the inside. At first we thought perhaps the child-lock was stuck in the ‘on’ position, but on closer inspection the fault was in fact down to very shoddy French design.

Upon removing the door trim a complex and impressive array of mechanical rods and pulleys are revealed, which are connected to each of the door handles (there’s the main one plus one near the top of the door for passengers in the boot area). However no one seems to have the told the French designers the old adage, ‘you’re only as strong as your weakest link’ because despite deciding to use metal for 99% of the mechanism, they’ve elected to use weak plastic for the remaining 1%, the bit responsible for joining the bars to the handles. And guess what, amazingly in the intervening 15 years since it left the factory the plastic bits on all four handles has snapped! Who’d have thought it…

Spurred on by fixing the electric windows (see earlier post) set about ‘extending’ the metal rods using a series of cable ties (widely revered as the strongest material ever made!) so that you can operate the door latch from inside. I hope to get some pictures to help explain, but essentially you pull down on a the end of cable tie which is protruding into the cabin from below the door handles, while at the same time leaning on the door. Something which you do instinctively when using a handle but is surprising difficult when pulling on a cable tie, rather like trying to rub you stomach and pat your head at the same time!

Goodbye Sauna

For the past few weeks (conveniently coinciding with the warm weather we’ve been having) the eSpace’s electric windows had stopped working so Tim’s been enjoying a free sauna whenever he’s been out and about. He’d performed a quick check of the relays and fuses (in fact managing to check and replace the wrong ones!) but they still didn’t work.

Having had to drive it myself on Sunday in the soaring temperatures with only the passenger side rear window operational (as the rear drivers side is a sheet of perspex (ed. We really need to get to a scrap yard and get a new bit of glass!) i decided enough was enough.

After spending a while trying to decipher the circuit diagrams in the Haynes manual and checking every relay and fuse in the thing, including two incredibly annoyingly located fuse boxes under the bonnet Tim turned his attention back to the glove box. While fiddling about with it he noticed a rattle, and too both of our amazement a connector was swinging in the wind! Bingo, reconnected and the windows are back in action. How simple was that…

I believe that Tim unplugged it during the infamous ‘controlled emergency breakdown simulation’ and due to the excitement forgot all about it! At least only he’s been effected by his own stupidity for the past four weeks!

Git yer spoiler on sucka!

Best weekend of the year so far weather-wise (worst blog intro ever - totally irrelevant - Ed).
Decided to get the spoiler on properly. Results are thus:





Also road tested to make sure it wasn't going to fly and kill some cows, and it passed with flying colours! The Espace tops out at a radical warp speed of *ahem*5 miles per hour, and i returned home, grinning, and happy.
Also, very aware that in the hot light of a warm day, it resembles a sauna within the cabin. Need to fix the electric windows effing quick, and/or install a freon unit for aircon... presumably the former is going to be easier to manage... (again, totally fatuous procrastination, stop it - Ed)