Furball Run

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Furball_Run 2019 sticker, created by Red Baron.

The Furball Run, founded by AK and Jasper Foxx,[1] is a non-profit two-way road trip from Maidstone services on the M20 in the UK via the Eurotunnel to Eurofurence in Germany, and has been held annually since 2008. Participants are known as "Furballers", and each driver choses a number for their vehicle (sometimes with a mysterious significance known only to them). Organisation of the event was handled by Jasper Foxx until 2012, when Ravell took over as organiser.[2]

The outward and return journeys are both spread over two days with overnight stops. For the first two years of the run, when Eurofurence was held in Suhl, the return journey also included a trip to the Nürburgring, where the drivers involved could test out the speed of their vehicles on the track.

As of 2018, The Furball Run title and rights were handed to Motorfurs UK

Furball Run Sticker Design[edit]

All Furball Run members are given a handbook, and can purchase a set of stickers that can be placed on their vehicle for the journey or kept as a memento. The design changes each year to make every Furball Run unique and memorable, and are sometimes designed to correspond to the Eurofurence theme.

Furball Run 2010 Safari Designs, created by Shadster.
Furball Run 2011 Oriental Express Designs, created by Shadster.

Most of the artwork for the Furball Run has been designed and created by the co-founders and the artist Shadster. The main sticker design is based on the Gumball3000 design, in tribute to the famous motor sport event. Since 2009, there has been a secondary vehicle sticker. For 2009, the shape was based on a baseball flag, designed by AK. Even though the stickers proved tricky to place on the vehicles, they were favoured by many of the Furballers who participated.

For 2010, the Furball Run made its way to Eurofurence 16 at its new location, the Maritim Hotel Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, where the convention's theme was 'Serengeti'. A corresponding theme of 'Safari' was chosen for the Furball Run design, with each driver being given a sticker customised with their own choice of vehicle number.

Iterations[edit]

Convention No. of cars No. of participants Theme Overnight stops Additional destinations
2008 Eurofurence 14 7 22[3] none Ghent, Belgium[3] Nürburgring
2009 Eurofurence 15 14 27 (*)[4] none Liege, Belgium (outbound)
Koblenz, Germany (return)[5] 		Nürburgring
2010 Eurofurence 16 13 32 (*)[6] 'Safari' Antwerp, Belgium (outbound)
Duisburg, Germany (return)[6] 		none
2011 Eurofurence 17 15 40 'Oriental Express' Essen, Germany[7] none
2012 Eurofurence 18 10 (*) ? (*) none Bochum, Germany (outbound)
Antwerp, Belgium (return)[2] 		none
2013 Eurofurence 19 n/a n/a none Eindhoven, Netherlands (outbound)
Oberhausen, Germany (return)[8] 		none

(*) Subject to confirmation by the organisers

Video[edit]

In June 2011, Mustan released a video of the Furball 2010 run.[9]

Proposed 2012 Time Trial[edit]

Because of the multiple driving styles and types of cars involved, the "convoy" had often ended up with individual cars racing on ahead, then having to wait at various stops along the way for the slower vehicles. In an attempt to keep the cars together and make it more of a group event, a "Time Trial" system was proposed for 2012. An average time travelling at 60mph was calculated for each section of the route. Each car would have been given a GPS data logger to record how long it took to complete each section, with "points" being gained or lost depending on how close the vehicle's time was to the calculated average.[10] However, due to vocal opposition, this idea was later dropped. [2]

2020 Revival[edit]

In 2018 the ownership of the Furball rally was passed to Motorfurs UK. There are plans underway for a 2020 revival with details to be announced in the near future. It is being organised by Mauzer [11]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Initial proposal on UKFur
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Furball Run 2012 - New Management thread on UKFur, dated July 19, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2013
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Furball Run 2008 thread on UKFur
  4. ↑ Furball Run 2009 details on LiveJournal
  5. ↑ Furball Run 2009 thread on UKFur, dated August 19, 2009
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Furball Run 2010 thread on UKFur
  7. ↑ Furball Run 2011 thread on UKFur, dated February 18, 2011
  8. ↑ Route on Furball Run website. Retrieved March 12, 2013
  9. ↑ The Furball Run 2010 Film on UKFur, dated June 13, 2011. Retrieved June 13, 2011
  10. ↑ Furball Run 2012 thread on UKFur. Retrieved March 31, 2012
  11. ↑ Furball Run Twitter

External Links[edit]

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