I thought I'd kick this off so that at least one part of the plan is ready to go

Hopefully a few forumers will be keeping you all posted as they decipher texts from us, still not sorted out ways to get any sort of images back without costing the earth... I've e-mailed my temporary mobile number to those who may need it / want it but the phone only just makes phone calls, never mind taking photos

Anyway, the boat leaves 9am Saturday, and the car is:


Situation normal then

All being well (ha ha) sometime Saturday afternoon (and again on the way home, about the 11th I think) you'll be able to see us arrive in Leo's back garden via the magic of his webcam, as you will probably see Benny & Leo's car is already done, test-driven, polished and neatly parked to a 0.01mm accuracy. It's actually got a snorkel this year and is running Nige's old MegaJolt unit with EDIS-4 so hopefully the beach race will be easier going The Terrano is (I think) the support car carrying the female contingent of the Dutch operation.

Cool

Pity you can't install a web cam on Mouse

But surely that would be a "Mousecam"....


Neil

There was talk from Dave, he's the kind of chap who knows how to do that sort of thing. Suspect it would have to wait till next year though. I have a video camera this year, they don't survive in cars Jez drives but hoping to get some footage from stage & camp.

@Fridge: R you guys taking the boat from Dover to Calais?

H.

Hi Hendrik,

Harwich to Hook of Holland




Zuz

Nice to see the priorities are right - barbecue already set up

Edited to add: spooky - someone is hoovering the garden...

next year, im hopefully coming to watch ladoga, ive already started to make plans.

fridge you better take lots and lots of footage so we can almost feel asif we were there

a live webcam from mouse is very possible aswell, but im afraid it would cost quite a lot, like.. almost as much as mouse cost to build.


Edit, i just saw two people on webcam! they talked... and then walked off, it was amazing!!

oh my god theyre back with a lawnmower!!

i was just looking at this tour site, and then i saw a picture of jez at the bottom

atleast i think its jez, have a look!

clicky

thats me, and we made it there and back despite the efforts of Rob Pritchard of world 4x4 waste of time Ltd, I have nothing to do with the guy, and definately wont have in future..

Instead of a web-cam, what about one of these:

It is an Oregon Scientific ATC2k. They are waterproof, shock proof, provide very good quality video on to an SD card (1 hour on a 2Gb card in 640x480, 30fps with audio) - and you can get one for about £70 inc.

2xAA Batteries last about 2 hours recording - but they are cheap enough, as are 2Gb cards. Sadly, it doesn't talk to anything bigger than 2Gb.

I have one which we are going to use at 7S to film Nick & James on the Howling Wolf via a nice Quick-fist cage-mount.

OK, you would have to wait until you get home to put a video together - but at least you would have it!

Si

already got one Si, despite being used as a hammer - it was the only thing that survived last year

great bit of kit

Departure date has now been changed as ussuall .....

We are now leaving on Sunday morning at 09.00 instead of Saturday - this gives the boys bit more time to do stuff in the pleasant environment of the Lab

Welcome respite I am sure!

But did Fridge's truck pass the MOT.....?

Duely noted , see you then




Steveb

Hi
Anybody...help how do I get to se anything on that webcam ??? I cant get it to work.

Regards

Ole.

Not much to say, that hasn't been said already except

Good Luck, and bring back a trophy

^^^

Yep

that...... and try to avoid 'Tongueing' the competition like you did last year

Nige

Well it was a 4am finish last night, home for a few hours kip. I've now packed more stuff than I knew I had into the back of the 109 and am off to the lab.

Wiring is finished bar a few bits and bobs to be attached such as CB, laptop, HIDs etc. (big up thanks to TSD for all his help)
Hydrualics are in and working (the winch is ) complete with an additional little black button
After much deliberation the centre silencer was very reluctantly removed to make way for the belly pan.
It runs, it drives, it starts, it stops, it steers but there's still about 30 jobs to do, a lot of which we have to get done today.

I'm off - next update from us will probably be from Leo's back garden, ferry leaves Harwich at 9am tomorrow and arrives in Holland, err, some time later

Thanks to all who've helped, let's hope this all works!

Wow, good luck guys

Hi Folks

Well done, hope Mouse will live up to all expectations and good luck to you all hope you have a good time and do well.

Kind regards

Ole.

Best of luck and most importantly ENJOY,

Just to add best of luck from us slackers who won't be out there this year. Enjoy the event, hope you and the team have a great time.

Hopefully you are on the ferry now and on your way with the list nearly complete.. (Or did it all get done with the extra hours in the lab?)

No feed from Leo's webcam for the last 24 hours.. (Is he changing something in secret ?)

Looking forward to the updates and sure do hope you return with a very large trophy !


All the very best to you all... Go for it...

Neil

camera is back on now, nothing happening though

All the best boys (and suz of course!), The timescale of it all has been madness!

Daan

They have missed the ferry they had booked, so no bbq tonight in Holland and a straight drive to Rostock to get there on time for the ferry to Finland...

Good luck guys!

H.

Good luck

Yep, good luck - I know time's been against you so I really hope you make it!!!!

...Well Harwich just after dawn is most pleasant...however it was a bit quiet , I was hoping to be listening to Mouse's Dawn chorus, but the final bits of finishing off meant the team missed the 0900 ship. Jez texted me later to say they had got to Harwich and were waiting for the next one at 2330.
So we popped back down with extra Hob-nobs and coffee for a chat . It was great to see Zuz, John and Jez again and crawl all over Mouse . Here are a few pic's at the port, now the centre silencer has gone -wieght and space saving only of course, the sound is even lovelier

Have a great time everyone

Just to wanted to add the laying down of the ectoplasm all looked very trick, and the new improved tunnel in Fridges 109 is great..good stuff Mike.

Steveb

Some more.....

The very best of luck with Mouse.

What a beast!

Must visit the "lab"!

good luck team

Oh Mouse just looks so fine, I really love the detail with the Spanner

Even the missus who dont give a damm about cars commented positively about Mouse so it must be right

Regards

Ole.

Yep Ole,

Lovely subtle little details, I meant to get a pic of the exhaust flapper which has a laser cut HOFS mond logo tigged to it , must have got distracted chatting. Oh yeah and the ali fab work .....I don't think anyone noticed the airbox... . The new front winch is rather nice too....it has it's own boost button....

....if biscuit manufacturers made proto-racers it would look like this

Cheers


Steveb

fridge here, we're on the fish ferry at Rostock with beer

All is going swimmingly - the clutch release bearing on the 109 has died and all our bank cards have been cancelled for "security" reasons (and of course all the banks are on bank holiday ), but at least we made it here and Mouse is still in one piece with only lots of jobs to do when we get to Finland.

Not much else going on today really - lots of driving! And I couldn't resist this:

Apolgies for the size

We bought some high quality secret diagnostics equipment on the ferry to Holland, we may reveal the awesome power in photographs later, but for now we don't want to give away too many secrets.

Not sure if the interweb is going to work once we set sail, if it does then expect bored ramblings from us at regular intervals as there's not much else to do apart from eat fish and shop in the shop (open 12-12.01 daily).

Best of luck!!!!!

Beat the Russians and bring back a trophy!

good luck boy's with this very NICE build !!

Hi Fridge & Co.

Lovely to hear from you, splendid that you soon will be back on the continent

Hope thats the end off Mouse that the competitors will see most off, (not on a trailer though)........

Looking forward to see what kind off powerfull diagnostics eqquipment one can get on ferry


God speed to all off you on the move....

Regards

Ole.

Good luck guys

for Eddie.

Best of luck!

Looking forward to seeing more pics of Mouse.

Anyone looking for a relaxing holiday? one of our friends in Proto Class has a broken navigator and needs a new one, enjoy stunning scenery while it tries to eat you, realise sleep is a luxury none of us can afford, provide pinpoint direction to a psychotic driver at speeds that make you feel sick while operating a laptop and reading alien country, add in the spice of knowing if you get it wrong then bad things are going to happen - free tent supplied.

must add its Roope. in which case you must either be clinically insane or tr3/proto experienced. ability to get to Russia with a visa in the next few days is essential

You make it sound so tempting Jez!!!

must resist temptation

This is seriously exciting to follow and i've had nothing to do with it!

Hugely impressive effort so far, lets hope nobody tries to die near you this year and hold things up

Best of luck

Will

Bad luck Fridge, hope you can get it sorted.

Hope everything else goes swimmingly. You can tell Zuz I spotted her in one of the photos so there's no getting out of the video now

HI Jez

I am so tempted.....having just checked... flight is 300£ return visa is 100£ can get it in 8hours but I am 20 years tooooo old for that kind off stuff

When and if you get to use some off the silicaband remember to put on two layers and secure well with the stainless wire also supplied, I do not know if you have taken it with you but I guess it was one off the things with les importence when it was at it most hectic times before departure.

Hope for the best

Kind regards

Ole.

Well, Urvo has been tracked down in Estonia and is currently doing the 400km round trip to get a passport followed by another trip to the Russian embassy to sort out a visa for his shiny new passport - good luck fella, find a way and it would be great to bang doors with you and Roope on stage

the last few days have been nothing short of lunacy, pretty much lost all track of time, I know Sunday started on Friday but most of the week before had been like that so nothin particularly remarkable in that.

Manny popped round on Saturday and asked for something to do, Vince asked him how long he was allowed out to play for and Manny replied as a joke "Im free till tomorrow morning"......... he was still there to help load Mouse on the trailer at 6 o'clock the next day, as was Si (looking like death) and the irrepressible AFKA Moonbeam, the workload has been relentless and no matter how folorn the whole thing looked the fight continued - forget the carslberg adverts, Mouse has seen the value of friendship so many times over its incredible. To all those that have helped - this car is yours.

so far nothing has been tested, I should be nervous taking something so shiny into the mincer but oddly I feel quite calm about it, theres a lot of experimental stuff in the build (in fact the whole build is a new path for us), who knows - Mouse might autodismantle in the first day, but theres a few dead certs; it will sound great doing it, we will do everything humanly possible to keep it in the game and fighting and we will learn to build a better and more effective car from the exprience we will gain... and as usual - we will be the only fish out there doing it

for reference we have a twin motor front winch - except with a 2 amp current draw


Steve turning up with life giving coffee at Harwich was a godsend - thanks mate

Ole - its with us and will get used, just a little short of time to get it installed before leaving

John on the forage for leccy stuff


Manny and Vince at 2am


still a "few little jobs to tuck away"


just before 6am......


bit of airbox porn for Steve


here be monsters........ proper sized nasty ones


Harwich.. really digging the blue roundabout


mouse lurking in the rear window


Rostock - its like Harwich but without a blue roundabout

All we've done so far is catch two ferries, mind you that is a bigger acheivement than many I guess

As for the 109's clutch, I'm feeling like a right gareth why does stuff decide to start making horrible noises the day before the ferry leaves? When we land in Helsinki I'm being whisked off to Offivaruste to get sorted thanks to Koo-Pee, hopefully it won't be too much hassle as I have a new release bearing with me. Fingers crossed

It's kinda frustrating being sat on the ferry for two days not allowed to get the spanners out. Instead we're sat here eating minstrels and listening to the Finnish equivalent of Murph and the Magictones at least we have internets, even if it's kinda slow.

Best of Luck!
Mike