Next month, TT’er, Craig and some friends are taking part in the Two Ball Banger Rally. This ‘budget’ Gumball style Euro hoon takes in nine countries over five days, totaling just over 2000 miles!
Apart from the fact it sounds like a right laugh, the main reason for doing the trip is to raise money for Yorkhill Children’s Charity. Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow treats 160,000 babies, children and young people each year and the Yorkhill Children’s Charity plays a key role in raising money to ensure that the young patients and their families receive the best possible care.
The route includes France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy & Monte Carlo. Taking in some epic sights on the way, including the famous Stelvio Pass and F1 principality of Monaco:
As the name suggests, this event is more about the rust than the bling! Although you are allowed to enter any car, the guys wanted to follow the rally ethos and set themselves a budget of just £300 to find a suitable ‘banger’.
Plans started well… after a successful eBay bid, they were the owners of a Mondeo ST24 which hadn’t moved for 10 years. Then, on hearing their plans for the car, the owner decided they could have it for free, top man! Unfortunately while working through the inevitable list of stuff that needed fixing, it was decided that the extensive rot meant it just wasn’t repairable in time for the rally.
Not to be downhearted, they quickly found a replacement (another ST24), and again the generous owner donated the car for free – result! Or so you would think. On closer inspection, this car was also too rotten to get through an MOT. The 2 Mondeo’s have now been swapped for a solid BMW 320i Touring, complete with MOT which should do the job just fine. Final preparations are now underway!
They have set themselves a target of raising a huge £10,000 for this fantastic charity, so please help with whatever donation you can via their JustGiving site. It’s for a great cause and very much appreciated. You can also follow their progress on facebook here.
As for helping them get round Europe in a car they got for free – good luck!
Many thanks,
Mike.
