I can think of infinately more reliable motors to drive to Bratislava in. ©Aprilstravels.

We have all heard of the Bangers4Ben rally, in which a team from Car Dealer magazine spend weeks driving round Europe in a Volvo done up like HMS Ark Royal. We have also heard of ARC Bratislava, the race team which are currently running in the Blancpain Endurance Series. What do you get when you take both of those things, mix in a bunch of students and a dodgy old FIAT?

We don't do this very often on Racing-Report.com, but this is different. Because when one of my mates said one night that he was driving from Canterbury to Bratislava in an R-Reg FIAT Brava, I first questioned his sanity, then asked what I could do to help.

The run is organised for students who want things to do in their copious free time during the summer. The company behind it is Student Adventures, if any other students are crazy enough to try it.

The team all come from the University of Birmingham, James who is my mate studies Chemistry along with Mark and Bex. April is the odd one out, she studies Chemical Engineering. All are much more clever than I am!

The team sent in this information about the guys:

Mark lives near Southampton, is ginger, and was born and spent the first few years of his life in Hong Kong. He is one of the drivers.

Bex is from London, enjoys sports such as rowing, and responsible for a lot of reading up on laws and safety, as well as putting together the road safety kits we need by law in the various countries we pass through.

April is doing a lot of the navigation, including working out what attractions are on the way. She's also the main blog updater. She is born and bred in Cardiff, does archery in her spare time and says she is small but "good for fuel consumption because of it". She also was part of the Rag committee of Birmingham University for the past academic year, organising charity hitchhikes.

James is from Bedfordshire, and is the second driver. He plays in brass bands, (he is a rather good Tenor Horn player -ed) and has an interest in Medieval history, so is thrilled that there are rather a lot of castles on the way. He is also not allowed near any flammable materials after an incident with a toaster just over a year ago that burnt his entire kitchen down.

Together, this rag-tag bickering group of students attempt to make it to Bratislava without getting lost or breaking their car. It's going to be a bumpy ride...

Take a couple of pots of paint, one little sister and what have you got? ©Aprilstravels.

The programme for the week long trip from Canterbury to Bratislava goes like this:

Day 1 (Canterbury to Saint-Omar)
Canterbury
Dover - Calais
Saint-Omar

Day 2 (Saint-Omar to Luxembourg)
Saint-Omar
Lille
Mons
Luxembourg

Day 3 (Luxembourg to Zurich)
Luxembourg
Metz
Strasbourg
Nancy
Worms
Stuttgart
Basel
Zurich

Day 4 (Zurich to Lake Garda)
Zurich
Those mountain roads
Milan
Lake Garda

Day 5 (Lake Garda to Spittal an der Drau)
Lake Garda
Verona
Venice
Italian Coast
Trieste
Spittal an der Drau

Day 6 (Spittal an der Drau to Bratislava)
Spittal an der Drau
Vienna
Bratislava

The accommodation on the first night is care of a mate with a house in Canterbury. After that it will be a combination of camping and the occasional hotel. At the end of the trip, James told me, (a while a go when I didn't have my recorder, I hope this is still right,) that half the team are getting a plane back to the UK while others are continuing on around Europe to see other sights.

If you think they are as crazy as I do, and really want to help out, you can go to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/jambdoesbratislavaorbust. Regular updates, care of April, can be found on their tumblr.com page, http://bratislavaorbust.tumblr.com/.

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