Industry stalwart, charity fundraiser and national sales manager for Kramer Electronics Andrew Smith completed his marathon pan European car rally and limped his battered Peugeot 306 into Croatia last week to claim 12
th place in the 2012 Ramshackle Rally.
Andrew and his team mate ‘big Nick’ drove some 1,675 miles across 8 countries in under 4 days dealing with a leaking cylinder head, a cracked front wheel bearing, multiple electrical problems, a burnt out clutch, brake failure and an appalling hotel in Bern as they journeyed from London to Split via France, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Austria, Italy, the Stelvio Pass, Slovenia and finally Croatia.
Commenting on the trip, Andrew said "we were leading at the end of day one and things were going really well until we reached the Italian Alps and started to drive up the Stelvio Pass. That’s when the car started to go wrong and we failed to complete 3 of the Top Gear style challenges due to the snow which effectively meant we couldn’t win the Rally. Then the left front wheel bearing failed 120 miles from the end and we had to drive along the motorway at 40mph for 3 hours in case the wheel came off."
Despite all the trials, tribulations and long hours spent driving, InAVate is reliably informed that Andrew and the rest of the teams ‘partied hard’ in the bars and restaurants along the route and made a substantial contribution to the profits of the major European breweries during his road trip.
Andrew is still a fair way short of his fundraising target so if anyone would like to sponsor him then he has set up a Just Giving page at
https://www.justgiving.com/Andrew-Smith65Asked if he would do it again, Andrew commented "There’s a Ramshackle Rally to Valencia in 2013 so maybe I’ll pull together an AV industry team for that one……………."
The car was given its last rites at a scrap yard just outside of Split.