Memorial Run Update #2 — The Car Broke, the Ring Was Closed, We Made the Ferry
The final two days on the continent had pretty much everything.
The Ring was closed. The BMW refused to start. I somehow fixed it without really knowing what I had fixed. And, eventually, we made it all the way to the ferry.
The morning the BMW said no
We woke up in Nürburg surrounded by cars and with one job: get moving. The E46 had other ideas.
It would not start, which is not ideal when you are hundreds of kilometres from the ferry in a heavily modified BMW you built specifically for this trip. After a lot of checking, head-scratching and the kind of mechanical confidence that comes from absolutely no certainty whatsoever, it fired.
So naturally, I drove it.
Nürburg, even without the lap
The Ring itself was closed, so the lap we had imagined was not happening. That did not ruin the day. We drove the roads around Nürburg, got the shots we had come for and let the car have its moment beneath the Nürburgring sign.
For a car that had been a bare, unfinished project not long ago, seeing it there was enough.
The long run back
From Nürburg we headed for Amiens, then the next morning started the final run to Cherbourg. By this stage the trip had become a running conversation with the BMW. I even promised it a Nürburgring sticker if it just got us to the ferry.
There was one final stop on the French coast for photos, a piece to camera and, because apparently a normal ending was not enough, a run into the sea in my boxers while shouting thank you.
A deal is a deal
The BMW got us to Cherbourg. So before we closed out the continental leg, it got the Nürburgring sticker I had promised it.
We are now on the ferry home, tired, very relieved and incredibly grateful.
Thank you
The fundraiser has passed €5,000 for St Francis Hospice Raheny, more than double the original €2,500 target.
Thank you to every person who donated, shared, sent a message or followed the trip. And thank you to everyone who helped make the car and the journey possible, including Carzone, Abbey Autoline, Restore Garage, Moonshine Window Tinting, Tyreland, Blackline and Mondello Park.
This trip was for Kieran. The fact that so many people came along for it — physically, online and through donations — made it something I will never forget.
Drive cars. Make friends. Be OK.