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The time of our lives

The heroes are back and here is the final résumé of our drivers.

  How’d it go?

Kristina: To say it in one word: megasupergigantocool

Aleks: Yeah, it was great. The team spirit especially made it a very special and unforgettable trip.

Timm: And don’t forget: I fell in love. Of course the ŠKODA and me had some difficult moments, but retrospectively this binds us together even more.

  What do you personally take with you from the trip?

Aleks: I’ve learned a lot. For example, you always have to improvise even if you are prepared very well.

Kristina: Camping isn’t that bad. But to be honest I still prefer a real bed ...

Markus: A very muscularly gas foot.

  What was the toughest moment?

Timm: The second breakdown of the drive shaft. As the wrecker took our Ost-Porsche the second time, I could have cried.

Kristina: Pure hopelessness.

Aleks: But we never gave up – thats another thing we’ve learned on the rallye.

  Could you tell us about your personal highlight?

Markus: The crazy Finnish guys who saved our ass. At the beginning they seemed to be very unmotivated but one and a half days later we had a new old drive shaft which brought us back to the main pack  – and to Berlin finally.

Aleks: True. And the northern coast of Norway is the killer. Just awesome.

Kristina: The people. Besides our great team the other crazy rallye people were fun too.

Timm: Don't forget the salmon with honey mustard sauce Aleks made for us with a camp cooker.

Markus: Did I mention we’ve taken the 22 place? Not bad if you consider our technical problems.

  Final question: Where will you be next year if the rallye takes place?

Timm: Come on? Are you kidding?

Aleks: What rallye?

  Finally we want to thank our sponsors SinnerSchrader, Haasenstein, Mackevision, Gass Medienservice, Chromjuwelen, Bazic Vodka, RidersRoom, skopart.de, Willy Tiedtke, LUV Interior, Heimplanet and Pantaenius for their financial and material support. And we want to say thank you to the people allover the world who encouraged und motivated us – it has been a pleasure.

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Good to be back.

Here we are. Finally. What a trip. We still can not believe that we’ve made it.

We are at the foot of Tropical Island. It’s a huge hall where once airships should be have been built and where now people escape from the grey summer. Tropical Island would probably be more successful if more people drove thousands of kilometers for it like we did.

Maybe we'll go right in. For relaxation. The only thing we want to do is sleep. And sleep. And sleep.

But first we want to say thank you.

Many, many thanks to the

great people who have helped us during the trip,

the great teams that we have come to know,

our sponsors,

the organizers,

and last no least of course our support from home.

More when we are awake again.

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Berlin Calling

We are on a roll. If the whole rallye had gone that smoothly we would have saved some nerves indeed but it would have been close to boring.

But as we rush through the baltic states we have to concentrate on the road anyway. With all its potholes it is more a mogul field than a road.

Now it’s just one day to the finish line. Berlin is in sight. Probably we will arrive on the 29th between 4 and 6 pm – come and welcome us. It’s time to party.

  Join at: Tropical Wings Tropical-Island-Allee 30 15910 Krausnick-Groß Wasserburg (40 km south of Berlin)

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Ferry-Tale

Ahoi. We‘ve made it through Finland on our own four wheels. And you now what: It‘s much more fun spending time in the car than under it. From Helsinki to Tallinn we took the ferry, the M/S Superstar. After checking that Schettino wasn‘t our captain, we enjoyed being carried by a vehicle that‘s not a wrecker.

In Tallinn we caught up with the main pack. Had a beer or two and some nice chats about technical problems. Seems like everyone turned into an expert on this topic in the last week.

After a short nap, we‘re back on the road. Driving, driving, driving. It‘s only 1500 Kilometers left to the finish line in Berlin. And if we spend enough time in the car, we‘ll make it in time. See you there.

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In response...

... to the extensive monitoring programs of the U.S. and UK, the Finnish authorities decided to encrypt its road signs.

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Guess who's back!

There's life in the old dog yet. We and our ŠKODA are back on track. YEAH! 

48 hours full of anxiety, hope and despair, but also an incredible amount of encouragement and support lies behind us. Outstanding experiences that are enough for several rallies and rallye blogs. The lovely people of the Finnish village Sodankylä charged their karmic account for years. We're still touched by this. Thank you!

When we‘ve stranded here our ŠKODA was de facto dead: broken drive shaft. Little hope for parts. But fate smiled on us: it sent three manic mechanics and a car – a forgotten, rusted ŠKODA. You can see all four on the pictures. This quartet has saved us. Three tireless surgeons and a now drive-shaft-less orange organ donor. Thus, our ŠKODA got implanted a new drive shaft.

In the meanwhile we were offered help from countless people, here in Finnland and Europe. A special thanks to Frank Heinze of Skopart.de for his technical know-how and advice or the amazing Thomas Küster for sending a complete drive train from Sweden.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Our goal for today: At least 1000km to catch up with the rest of the rallye.

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Finland the beautiful

We're still waiting for replacement parts. Time for some sightseeing! We've heard rumors that the ghost of Erich Honecker keeps haunting this place. What do you think?

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Car-Putt

A rallye is like life: up one minute – down the next.

Yesterday we fixed our famous Ost-Porsche with some indefinable replacement parts, improvisation skills and a lot of love. We were ready to roll up the field from behind.

Back on the track our ŠKODA seemed to be indestructible – for almost one hour. Once again the drive shaft is broken. Nothing works anymore. Now we are waiting in the middle of nowhere – Sodankylä, Finland, to be more precise. Waiting for a miracle – and suitable replacement parts again.

Are we car-putt or will we carry on?

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We have a screw loose

That sucks! The drive shaft is broken, it’s raining and there are thousands of monster mosquitos – aggressive like Mike Tyson if he has an appetite. One of our drivers ear would win an Evander Holyfield look-alike contest.

But – there is a silver lining on the horizon. We are quite lucky under the circumstances. Just the drive shaft is broken, no bones, no hearts. We are still optimistic. Someone tows our Ost-Porsche to Ivalo, the biggest small town in northern lapland.

Now all depends on finding a suitable replacement part. If we get it, we can fix the car fast and easily. Theoretical.

To make a long story short: I still would bet on us.

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North Cape of Hope

On top of the world, down in the dumps.  Our day actually began with the preliminary highlight of the rallye. The legendary North Cape - the northernmost outpost of civilization. According to Wikipedia, the neighbouring island of Knivskjellodden is a little more northern. But we didn’t care nor do the hundreds of thousands of tourists who get to the North Cape every year. A photo with the globe is mandatory! Look how the ŠKODA and the globe blend in well. 

It could possible be one of the last happy moments. 60 km south of the North Cape, our reliable ŠKODA suddenly stalled. The first diagnosis: broken drive shaft - in the middle of the finnish nowhere. A disaster. The end? We don’t give up - yet. We'll keep you posted.

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One night in Norway

"Hei!“ from the Lofoten, a Norwegian archipelago far, far north on the Atlantic coast. The higher the latitude, the better the parties. Hundreds of kilometers above the polar circle, we have spent a crazy night with elves, trolls and wild rallye people. A party somewhere between the Burning Man Festival and a Hells Angels wedding. The mad rallye family knows how to party. Smuggling alcohol through almost entire Scandinavia paid off very well. 

Now we are where we belong. Back on the road. The ŠKODA - up and running. Half time is in sight. North Cape, here we come!

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Smells like Surströrming

Todays task was to travel 200 kilometers with Surströrming on board. What's that? It's a fish. And it's in a can for a good reason. Open it and you'll smell why. Dare.

People actually eat Surströrming. In Sweden it's served with Aquavit, beer or milk. Well, we like Aquavit but we'll never ever open a can of that fish again. No dare.

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Message in an Anderson.

After spending a comfy night in the cave, we faced the next task: Send a message in a bottle. Easier said, than done. First you need an empty bottle. So we became good friends with Mr. Anderson. It's an aquavit, which basically means water of life. And it's the best water we ever had. Inspired by the water we had no problem with the message. We wrote it to our boss. Telling him that everything here went terribly wrong and that we need more money.

The message is on its way and so are we. Mr. Moustache took over the wheel and is challenging the Ost-Porsche to its limits.

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Legendary get-together.

Unbelievable. But true. We've met the editorial team of the swedish Classic-Car Magazine on our way around the Baltic Sea. Fascinated by our story they asked us for an interview. As we arrived, they presented us an absolute beauty: a ŠKODA 110 R. One in perfect shape. (It's the green one). And what happened next sounds like a fairy tale.

Having heard about our new construction they had a look in their spare parts depot and provided us with a new braking cylinder and a new windshield. Yes, somewhere in Sweden we found new friends and new parts for the Ost-Porsche. That still feels unbelievable. Thanks again.

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Something old, something new, something used.

Bad news for the the eleven sceptics that voted on our Breakdown Bet that we won't make it. We are back on the data highway, back on track and the brakes do a pretty good job again.

We spend the whole morning and afternoon fixing the braking cylinder. By combining old, new and used parts we finally created something that works. Not sure so, if the TÜV agrees.

Now we're facing the next challenge: Task 2. We have to pick up something from IKEA. For we didn't have any breakfast, we'll probably have a Hot Dog or two. It's typically Swedish, isn't it?

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Pin up Girl.

Put a viking on the engine hood: That was the first task of the roadtrip. Many more to come. We took this picture in Haitabu. It was quite easy. Everyone in Haitabu looks like this.

Back on the road we changed into 5th gear. It feels like Warp 4 or Super Pursuit Mode when the 52 horses roar. No, we didn't get a speed ticket. But we keep trying.

Stay tuned.

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Gears n Tears.

We've hit the road. But there's no need for tears. You can follow us on our microsite. Stay tuned.