Day 6, 11.32pm, Wednesday 9 June, Best Western Mark Hotel, Lahnstein, Germany

There are plenty of smiles in the camp tonight.

We're staying in a brilliant hotel at the top of a nature park which looks over the Rhine valley.

But the thing is, we got here before sundown and people are enjoying a drink and the respite from what has been an unbelievably gruelling last few days.

I've got to admit that I did wake up a little worse for wear this morning after a good time in Prague last night after we rolled in past midnight.

Quite a few of us ended up in the Bombay Bar, just off the Old Square, until the early hours.

I was talking with the Indian bar staff about the Prague cricket scene. I know how to have a good time…

Today turned out to be another race against time.

We got going at 10am, with the rest of the cars, with our destination the Nurbringring which we had to be at by 4.45pm.

A long drive across Germany beckoned which was not helped by the fact that Germany's motorway system is like a giant spaghetti junction.

Anyway, myself and Manno rocked up at 7.45pm at the famous circuit.

It had closed at 7.30pm.

Nevermind. I hadn't fancied taking our MX5 around it any way.

We've now christened it 'Bouncer'.

Not after Joe Mangle's dog in Neighbours from way back when but because whenever we go above 80mph, due to the incredibly soft rear suspension (which might have something to do with my crash on the hill climb), it bounces around like a pogo-stick-riding clown on a bouncy castle.

It also doesn't like corners.

Any way, tomorrow looks like it's going to be another tight one.

We've got to make our way to the Abbeville Car Stadium, which is 80 miles south of Calais, for the Bubblegum Bangers Grand Prix' for a 1pm start.

It's a five-hour drive so we've got to be on the road by 7am.

Here we go again…

OK.

There have been comments about a lack of news about the other teams.

I apologise about this but because we've been driving for so long each day and arriving at our accommodation so late in the day, it's been near on impossible to catch up with everyone.

But tonight I've had a chance to try to do this…

However, the following is to the best of my knowledge and shouldn't be taken as gospel as no one is keeping an official record.

It appears that only three cars have broken down with their teams no longer in the rally. This is frankly amazing considering six or so cars broke down on the first day in the rally two years ago.

The Eurotrash Team of Bart and Meriel Stratford-Hall are out. The brother and sisters' Mercedes' engine blew up outside St Malo on the first day on Saturday.

The Knight Shift is also no more. Paul Smith and Tony Horscroft's old Ford Probe, which was done up as K.I.T.T. complete with flashing red lights on the bonnet, had been struggling with oil problems and finally gave way in Innsbruck, Austria yesterday. However, they are now driving the Pixie Dust Volvo after the team that were driving it pulled out of the rally for personal reasons.

And it appears the Jersey Dumb and Dumber team's Lancia Beta Spider finally gave way as well today.

The Famous DC Monster team of Tim Davey, James Oliver and Josh Gallienne just rolled up having left Prague after mid-day today. The fan in their Golf died so they went to an office stationary store and bought a desk top fan and mounted this in front of the engine with cable ties and connected it up to the battery.

Bit like Macgyver.

While Team 52 of Kevin Duquemin and Chris McAuley had such a good night in Prague last night by all accounts, they've decided to stay an extra night.

The Guernsey Ghostbusters team of 'Stoke', Dave Newman, Kimberley Newman and Brandon De Chlara, have also amazingly made it tonight. Their Daimler Hearse had broken down in the Italian Alps on Tuesday night and was abandoned on a mountain pass.

After getting a lift to the campsite, they couldn't remember where they had left it but a garage owner from the little village of Bolmio, went up and down the windy mountain roads until he found it. He fixed the overheating and the transmission problems and knocked half of the bill off in return for the team putting up one of his garage stickers on their car.

Now ready to go, the car then broke down again at the bottom of the Stelvio Pass. This time a group of German motorcyclists came to the rescue and organised another local mechanic to do the honours.

Dave said 'It's going to make it.'

Remarkably the Dumb and Dumber (Guernsey) team of Nik Le Page and Craig Alan are still going in their brilliant 'dog mobile' and dog outfits and so are the 'Monk de Wally de Honk' team of Matthew Lesbirel and Adam Bachelet in their 1973 'Herbie' VW Beetle. This has seemed to be on its last legs from day one.

Mark 'Flash' Scott and Lisa Scott's 'Not so Pink' Volvo has been crushed after the engine blew up in the middle of Italy on Monday, they are now driving a hire car courtesy of the AA. Organiser Brin Harrison is back in the mix as well after he broke down in Italy as well and also couldn't make the over-night ferry to Croatia that evening.

There have been numerous breakdowns but against all the odds, people and cars are still going. Forest Road Garage's Dale Crowsley, who is the rally mechanic with John Dunne, is staggered.

'I can't believe how many cars are still going,' he said.

'They've obviously prepared the cars fantastically. Its been good.'

The ever-popular Scoones and Manno playlist:

Today we've been listening to:

Mumford & Sons – Blasted this out as we drove out of Prague. Loved it. So did the locals.

Hot 8 Brass Band's cover of Sexual Healing – Manno loved this. El Michel's Affair – jazz funk covers of Wu-Tang Clan classics. Sublime. Fun Lovin' Criminals. The Chemical Brothers. Glen Campbell.