Ok gang the iron is still hot, so I'm striking it.
Firstly and most importantly, a few people need to be thanked. And If I am forgetting anyone, I truly apologise, I'm absolutely shattered! So in no particular order.....
Mycroft/Andy for supplying (and using!) the 2-way radios, invaluable for keeping an eye on the posse, and may have saved a few from penalty points between Gort and Loughrea....
Dent Doc/Derek, Edel(Black mk2 GTI), William F, Jamie(ratty red mk2 GTI....my one
) , again for acting as radio cars and trying to keep everyone together and safe.
Tara. Oh my holy Jesus. The Cake!!! the fc.uking cake!!!!!!! and the buns!!!!!!!!!! The detail!!!
And this lovely young lassie took it upon herself, on her own time and expense, to provide these delicacies, without anyone asking or suggesting. Outstandingly kind and generous gesture IMHO.
Good ol' HashTag Ro-maniser. For being himself. Oh and printing the Roadbooks, and generally being an all-round good guy, keeping the karting payments on track, and general event management.
Likewise Djnr8/Nick, helped me a lot behind the scenes, including editing the promo video. Owe you one, cuz.
Also Ted (the other one!) who helped me plot the route originally.
Blas cafe in Portumna for reserving the whole place for us for brunch. I know it was a wee bit tight, and the girls were under pressure but I think it's fair to say it was a nice informal sitdown with lovely grub.
https://www.facebook.com/Blas.Portumna/?fref=ts any of ye Face-bookers might give them an aul Like.
Likewise Pallas Karting, in fairness they were very easy to deal with.
https://www.facebook.com/pallaskartinggalway/?fref=tsEoghan Roe O'Donnell, and his most excellent sidekick and future Mrs EROD, Sarah. Again, giving up time they really don't have to spare with the design/media/stickers/merchandising side of things, and remember folks, they're doing this from the far side of the planet!
Egle (SashOxx's OH), for once again bringing her camera gear, And Derek similarly for the Drone/quadcopter. Can't wait to see the pics!
The Autostadt mod team. For giving us/me a platform on which to actually organise, run and attend these types of events. Thanks guys, and a nod too for all the advice and suggestions along the way.
And lastly, and maybe most importantly, You lot. Yeah you. You who got up early and appeared in Loughrea on a damp and foggy Sunday morning, when it would have been so easy stay in bed. I'm not gonna lie, leading such of a bunch of impressive machinery out of the Plaza this morning.... well it made me proud. Looking back at ye as we went around that first roundabout... well, it was a sight to behold. Some serious metal in the ranks today.
Now, that that's typed up, (and I'll probably think of someone else deserving a mention once I click "enter"), where can we improve?
Anything else you'd like? Or things that you felt just didn't work?
From a personal view, I know I should have gotten the google-maps link out earlier. Apologies.
I may have come across a bit of a pest when shouting at ye to "mount up", I'm sorry, I was VERY conscious of the timetable we needed to keep to. The Cafe and the Karting, we hadn't a lot of space to play with for the slots booked. And I didn't want to forgo either.
Constructive criticism welcomed... who's first up?