Home 2 Rome Banger Rally
Discussion
Hi all.
Was wondering if anyone had taken part in this (or one of the other Street Safari banger rallies) in the past?
Me and the missus are seriously considering it for next summer, spend a week driving a £250 jalopy from Calais to Rome, hopefully have enough life in it to drive it back home again too.
Have scoured their website, and all of the cars from last year seem way more "valuable" than the price limit of £250!
All and any info would be brilliant!
Was wondering if anyone had taken part in this (or one of the other Street Safari banger rallies) in the past?
Me and the missus are seriously considering it for next summer, spend a week driving a £250 jalopy from Calais to Rome, hopefully have enough life in it to drive it back home again too.
Have scoured their website, and all of the cars from last year seem way more "valuable" than the price limit of £250!
All and any info would be brilliant!
I've done two. They're bloody brilliant fun.
Yes, you can "cheat" and pick something up for more than £250, but where's the fun in that?
Here's ours from H2R 2006 (also featured on the website):
And our S2N 2007 car:
The rules were £100 back in "the good old days", but that's when Twixes were under 40p a bar, so I suppose one has to account for inflation.
Sign up for the forum at www.streetsafari.co.uk, and get banger shopping: it will become an all-consuming passion for the year, culminating in some cracking fun next summer.
Yes, you can "cheat" and pick something up for more than £250, but where's the fun in that?
Here's ours from H2R 2006 (also featured on the website):
And our S2N 2007 car:
The rules were £100 back in "the good old days", but that's when Twixes were under 40p a bar, so I suppose one has to account for inflation.
Sign up for the forum at www.streetsafari.co.uk, and get banger shopping: it will become an all-consuming passion for the year, culminating in some cracking fun next summer.
Have a look at this, my mates did a similar thing but to Milan in £400 Alfas in September. they then came back via the 'ring.
Words here :
Cranc Blog
Some of the photos here :
Cranc Alfa Challenge
Words here :
Cranc Blog
Some of the photos here :
Cranc Alfa Challenge
I did this about 3 years ago, in a left hand drive 1987 Renault 21 Savanna estate, painted as a hearse. It had 350,000 km on it, cost £100 and got us all the way to Rome.
The brake lights failed on day 2, so every time you braked you had to switch on the rear fogs
En route we had to do all sorts of tasks - photograph different colour cars in particular order, carry the spare tyre through the streets of Venice for a photo in St Mark's Square, etc etc. We got to drive around Monaco, and also went around one of the rally stages up in the mountains.
Amazing fun, great bunch of people. I'd do it again in a shot.
Is Justin still arranging these?
The brake lights failed on day 2, so every time you braked you had to switch on the rear fogs
En route we had to do all sorts of tasks - photograph different colour cars in particular order, carry the spare tyre through the streets of Venice for a photo in St Mark's Square, etc etc. We got to drive around Monaco, and also went around one of the rally stages up in the mountains.
Amazing fun, great bunch of people. I'd do it again in a shot.
Is Justin still arranging these?
I've not done anything like this but driving in Rome has to be an experience. Being in the back of a taxi in Rome was one of the most adrenaline fueled moments of my life. Good luck but I wouldn't fancy that part of the journey. Its a good job its a banger rally as i swear 99% of the cars in Rome had big dents and scratches on them.
i did plymouth - banjul in 2005
yep, a £75 volvo with the structural roof lopped off (wanted to get a tan) crossed the sahara (ie properly, across the dunes) without (fatal) issue.
man up and do it properly
loads more pics here http://www.flickr.com/photos/5lab/sets/72157594523...
yep, a £75 volvo with the structural roof lopped off (wanted to get a tan) crossed the sahara (ie properly, across the dunes) without (fatal) issue.
man up and do it properly
loads more pics here http://www.flickr.com/photos/5lab/sets/72157594523...
Edited by 5lab on Wednesday 17th November 18:02
tomsugden said:
I did this about 3 years ago, in a left hand drive 1987 Renault 21 Savanna estate, painted as a hearse. It had 350,000 km on it, cost £100 and got us all the way to Rome.
The brake lights failed on day 2, so every time you braked you had to switch on the rear fogs
En route we had to do all sorts of tasks - photograph different colour cars in particular order, carry the spare tyre through the streets of Venice for a photo in St Mark's Square, etc etc. We got to drive around Monaco, and also went around one of the rally stages up in the mountains.
Amazing fun, great bunch of people. I'd do it again in a shot.
Is Justin still arranging these?
Yes he sure is.The brake lights failed on day 2, so every time you braked you had to switch on the rear fogs
En route we had to do all sorts of tasks - photograph different colour cars in particular order, carry the spare tyre through the streets of Venice for a photo in St Mark's Square, etc etc. We got to drive around Monaco, and also went around one of the rally stages up in the mountains.
Amazing fun, great bunch of people. I'd do it again in a shot.
Is Justin still arranging these?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVQ_mTYvmp4
Edit to add a video from one team.
Edited by Zebrano on Wednesday 17th November 19:00
Yup, still here!
We're announcing the new limit of £250 tomorrow (if someone can remind me lol). We've kinda been changing the price each year to reflect scrap values, so this year (2011) we'll be heading for £250. However, age rules still apply and I think we are staying at N reg. Take anything younger and you'll get penalised on points (if you are doing challenges).
Home2Rome is becoming our most popular event, and last year was an absolute scream.
Not sure if we've announced costume yet, but that will be announced next week if we haven't already. Nuns was a huge success, and we're following it up with something equally smutty. (I don't know how our teams did it this year, but they made nuns smutty).
Water pistol battles are back again, so choose a water pistol wisely (eg one that contains lots of water). An endearing moment from this year were the Nuns at the top of Stelvio in Home2Rome having a water pistol fight. The temperature was only 5 degrees, and everyone got soaked, including myself. Damn near froze to death as I lost my keys so couldn't get anywhere warm lol!
The event list this year is:
BABE Rally (USA)
Staples2Naples
Home2Rome
CzechWrecks
End2End
Alpine Run (not a banger rally - just messing around in the Alps and entirely female friendly as we know the wife/girlfriend don't show the same appreciation of the wrecks you guys drag home).
The new event for the year is Rat Rod Banger Rally which is heading out to Romania and the Transfaragasan Highway. Less Rod, More Rat. This one is proving popular with veterans.
More information is on the StreetSafari website, www.streetsafari.com.
Click on News & Views for more articles about previous years as we do full write ups on each event.
This is the group picture from Home2Rome 2010. Don't they look soggy? lol
We're announcing the new limit of £250 tomorrow (if someone can remind me lol). We've kinda been changing the price each year to reflect scrap values, so this year (2011) we'll be heading for £250. However, age rules still apply and I think we are staying at N reg. Take anything younger and you'll get penalised on points (if you are doing challenges).
Home2Rome is becoming our most popular event, and last year was an absolute scream.
Not sure if we've announced costume yet, but that will be announced next week if we haven't already. Nuns was a huge success, and we're following it up with something equally smutty. (I don't know how our teams did it this year, but they made nuns smutty).
Water pistol battles are back again, so choose a water pistol wisely (eg one that contains lots of water). An endearing moment from this year were the Nuns at the top of Stelvio in Home2Rome having a water pistol fight. The temperature was only 5 degrees, and everyone got soaked, including myself. Damn near froze to death as I lost my keys so couldn't get anywhere warm lol!
The event list this year is:
BABE Rally (USA)
Staples2Naples
Home2Rome
CzechWrecks
End2End
Alpine Run (not a banger rally - just messing around in the Alps and entirely female friendly as we know the wife/girlfriend don't show the same appreciation of the wrecks you guys drag home).
The new event for the year is Rat Rod Banger Rally which is heading out to Romania and the Transfaragasan Highway. Less Rod, More Rat. This one is proving popular with veterans.
More information is on the StreetSafari website, www.streetsafari.com.
Click on News & Views for more articles about previous years as we do full write ups on each event.
This is the group picture from Home2Rome 2010. Don't they look soggy? lol
james12345 said:
Have scoured their website, and all of the cars from last year seem way more "valuable" than the price limit of £250!
Yeah, the limit of £150 was exceeded by a few teams in 2010, but trouble was that scrap prices had moved over the year, so finding anything under £150 was getting difficult closer to the events. However, £250 should be more than enough to find something suitably horrible. And if it isn't horrible, make it horrible 
No offence to timan0 but I'd sooner do a rally where as much money as possible goes to charity rather than in the pockets of the organisers
Imagine enjoying a great rally with the end result that it's going to charity how much better you'd feel, let's be honest you can afford the time and money to do the rally or you wouldn't do it so why not let others benefit from your great experience and fun time
I put up the Banjul – http://www.dakarchallenge.co.uk/challenge/banjul+c... as it's the only one I know about because my mate done it one year, I'm sure there are others, it’s for charity as you get sponsored and give the car away at the end - and started in 2002 so predates tinman0’s commercial concern
Imagine enjoying a great rally with the end result that it's going to charity how much better you'd feel, let's be honest you can afford the time and money to do the rally or you wouldn't do it so why not let others benefit from your great experience and fun time
I put up the Banjul – http://www.dakarchallenge.co.uk/challenge/banjul+c... as it's the only one I know about because my mate done it one year, I'm sure there are others, it’s for charity as you get sponsored and give the car away at the end - and started in 2002 so predates tinman0’s commercial concern
Edited by SB - Nigel on Wednesday 17th November 20:06
PD is a totally different event, and Staples2Naples came out of the PD original mailing list with Julian's blessing iirc. Staples2Naples original motto was "the Banger Rally for Wage Slaves". PD took 3 weeks over Christmas, and S2N was a weekend having fun in Europe.
PD has also moved away from bangers, partly because of the requirements of LHD and because they have come under much greater scrutiny from the countries they travel through. I believe the amount of cash that a PD team has to put down now is actually quite high.
You are absolutely right that we have never been a "charity" banger rally. We were asked many years ago by our teams for a greater integration of the event, eg making them run more smoothly and organising more set pieces. That takes time and money, so at the end of the day I do have to make something for my time as I now run StreetSafari full time.
However, if you look at many of the "charity" rallies that are out there, you will discover that the cost of running the event also covers the salaries of those involved. The money is taken out of those events from website development, expense accounts, and all sorts of things, if it isn't taken out as straight forward salaries.
We are also one of the few banger rally companies who invest in our events, and that investment has to come from somewhere. We drive many of our routes and spend time in places trying to find the right locations to start and finish in. More importantly we drive the routes that our teams take on an event, and I am very proud to know a large part of Europe extremely well from our experience. That (under-rated) experience allows me to give individual teams custom routes for the day that take into account problems they may be having with their vehicles. I can draw a map from memory on an A4 piece of paper like you would not believe.
The other problem with "charity" rallies is who exactly you are raising money for. Everyone has their own favourite charity, whether its is Help for Heroes, or one of the leukemia charities, or a hospice, or an animal charity, whatever. Help for Heroes was a very popular charity for 2010.
We allow teams to raise money for whichever charity they want. We stipulated a chosen charity in 2007 (iirc) and teams were not happy in being diverted from their chosen charity. So we never did that again.
Teams are entirely free to choose who they raise money for, and that's fine by us. And that's if they want to raise money in the first place - some people just want to have a good time, and that is also fine by us.
The biggest total raised by a StreetSafari team was Team AWOL on BABE Rally 2009 who raised $180,000.
HTH
PD has also moved away from bangers, partly because of the requirements of LHD and because they have come under much greater scrutiny from the countries they travel through. I believe the amount of cash that a PD team has to put down now is actually quite high.
You are absolutely right that we have never been a "charity" banger rally. We were asked many years ago by our teams for a greater integration of the event, eg making them run more smoothly and organising more set pieces. That takes time and money, so at the end of the day I do have to make something for my time as I now run StreetSafari full time.
However, if you look at many of the "charity" rallies that are out there, you will discover that the cost of running the event also covers the salaries of those involved. The money is taken out of those events from website development, expense accounts, and all sorts of things, if it isn't taken out as straight forward salaries.
We are also one of the few banger rally companies who invest in our events, and that investment has to come from somewhere. We drive many of our routes and spend time in places trying to find the right locations to start and finish in. More importantly we drive the routes that our teams take on an event, and I am very proud to know a large part of Europe extremely well from our experience. That (under-rated) experience allows me to give individual teams custom routes for the day that take into account problems they may be having with their vehicles. I can draw a map from memory on an A4 piece of paper like you would not believe.
The other problem with "charity" rallies is who exactly you are raising money for. Everyone has their own favourite charity, whether its is Help for Heroes, or one of the leukemia charities, or a hospice, or an animal charity, whatever. Help for Heroes was a very popular charity for 2010.
We allow teams to raise money for whichever charity they want. We stipulated a chosen charity in 2007 (iirc) and teams were not happy in being diverted from their chosen charity. So we never did that again.
Teams are entirely free to choose who they raise money for, and that's fine by us. And that's if they want to raise money in the first place - some people just want to have a good time, and that is also fine by us.
The biggest total raised by a StreetSafari team was Team AWOL on BABE Rally 2009 who raised $180,000.
HTH
Fair enough about salaries elsewhere but I don't think many would begrudge the people of Gambia – some would of course, we do live in a democracy
I take your point, you’re attracting the more selfish people, pity you can’t say to even them any team prize is donated to their favourite charity instead of possibly by some but not all pi$$ing it up the wall
I’m sure you’re not trying to take credit for others using their initiative to raise small and large sums of money from doing your rallies and the “We allow teams to raise money for whichever charity they want” was just poor wording
You’re entitled to earn from your commercial enterprise and you’ve got your advert into a thread and I’ve had my say so we should both be happy (but I suspect neither of us are fully happy about it but let’s leave it at that)
I take your point, you’re attracting the more selfish people, pity you can’t say to even them any team prize is donated to their favourite charity instead of possibly by some but not all pi$$ing it up the wall
I’m sure you’re not trying to take credit for others using their initiative to raise small and large sums of money from doing your rallies and the “We allow teams to raise money for whichever charity they want” was just poor wording
You’re entitled to earn from your commercial enterprise and you’ve got your advert into a thread and I’ve had my say so we should both be happy (but I suspect neither of us are fully happy about it but let’s leave it at that)
Why are you trying to guilt people into raising money for charity? People can raise money for charity on our events or not, the choice is entirely their own.
We do have one rule about teams who raise money for charity, and it's a rule that many of our competitors do not agree with.
We simply ask that all monies our teams raise for charity go towards the charity and not their expenses.
We do have one rule about teams who raise money for charity, and it's a rule that many of our competitors do not agree with.
We simply ask that all monies our teams raise for charity go towards the charity and not their expenses.
SB - Nigel said:
Fair enough about salaries elsewhere but I don't think many would begrudge the people of Gambia – some would of course, we do live in a democracy
I take your point, you’re attracting the more selfish people, pity you can’t say to even them any team prize is donated to their favourite charity instead of possibly by some but not all pi$$ing it up the wall
I’m sure you’re not trying to take credit for others using their initiative to raise small and large sums of money from doing your rallies and the “We allow teams to raise money for whichever charity they want” was just poor wording
You’re entitled to earn from your commercial enterprise and you’ve got your advert into a thread and I’ve had my say so we should both be happy (but I suspect neither of us are fully happy about it but let’s leave it at that)
Why exactly does this have to be a charity rally? Have you posted on the various PH-Nirvana tour threads moaning at them for not giving to charity; given the cars they're driving they are probably better positioned to do this than the people looking for a £250 wreck!I take your point, you’re attracting the more selfish people, pity you can’t say to even them any team prize is donated to their favourite charity instead of possibly by some but not all pi$$ing it up the wall
I’m sure you’re not trying to take credit for others using their initiative to raise small and large sums of money from doing your rallies and the “We allow teams to raise money for whichever charity they want” was just poor wording
You’re entitled to earn from your commercial enterprise and you’ve got your advert into a thread and I’ve had my say so we should both be happy (but I suspect neither of us are fully happy about it but let’s leave it at that)
Do you give to charity every time you go away with the lads on holiday, or do you give a portion of your salary to the people of Gambia? I suspect not, so what gives you the right to judge others for not doing so?
As the organiser has said, it is a full-time job for him and I can't imagine anyone organising 5/6 rallies a year for no money, and if that was the case events like this wouldn't take place and as people quite often do use it as a platform for raising money it is a lot better than doing nothing at all; so perhaps hop on down from your moral high horse and stop being so bloody narrow minded!
Get your facts right and fully read my posts
This doesn’t have to be a charity rally, if/when it has a charity element I think it’s better
Correct, I’ve not posted on PhN, or PH, moaning about their tours - PhN do stuff for charity regularly and so do many PHers
Just because someone is looking for a £250 wreck doesn’t mean they are on a lower than average income and from what I know of the Banjul, which I only put up as an example as I know a bit of it, teams will spend a great deal more on their vehicles
As it happens I do usually give to charity when I go on holiday, sometimes more than others, and all the club tours I’ve been on even social ones have raised some money for children’s charities in the UK
I never suggest that everyone should always have to give to charity every time they go on holiday or any other time – I suggested it would be better on these adventure type rallies that it would good to, raise some money for charity, as some do, and I said that’s the type of rally I’d sooner do
I’ve never given a portion of my salary directly to charity and I’ve made no suggestion others should do so here
The reason 5/6 rallies a year are run is simple – it’s a commercial concern that makes money for tinman0 and good luck to him for that – whether he should be promoting it within a thread is another matter but as he’s suggested (his own) rallies why can’t I suggest an (example) alternative
I’m for choice – you can do a rally yourself, nothing wrong with that, as tinman0 has said do it “for charity” but only after taking out all your expenses i.e. asking others to subsidise your holiday or pay for yourself and raise a few bob for charity whilst enjoying yourself
It’s easy to be on what appears to the high ground when others want to keep so low
And you should have gone to Spec Savers
This doesn’t have to be a charity rally, if/when it has a charity element I think it’s better
Correct, I’ve not posted on PhN, or PH, moaning about their tours - PhN do stuff for charity regularly and so do many PHers
Just because someone is looking for a £250 wreck doesn’t mean they are on a lower than average income and from what I know of the Banjul, which I only put up as an example as I know a bit of it, teams will spend a great deal more on their vehicles
As it happens I do usually give to charity when I go on holiday, sometimes more than others, and all the club tours I’ve been on even social ones have raised some money for children’s charities in the UK
I never suggest that everyone should always have to give to charity every time they go on holiday or any other time – I suggested it would be better on these adventure type rallies that it would good to, raise some money for charity, as some do, and I said that’s the type of rally I’d sooner do
I’ve never given a portion of my salary directly to charity and I’ve made no suggestion others should do so here
The reason 5/6 rallies a year are run is simple – it’s a commercial concern that makes money for tinman0 and good luck to him for that – whether he should be promoting it within a thread is another matter but as he’s suggested (his own) rallies why can’t I suggest an (example) alternative
I’m for choice – you can do a rally yourself, nothing wrong with that, as tinman0 has said do it “for charity” but only after taking out all your expenses i.e. asking others to subsidise your holiday or pay for yourself and raise a few bob for charity whilst enjoying yourself
It’s easy to be on what appears to the high ground when others want to keep so low
And you should have gone to Spec Savers
Hi all.
Oh dear - this thread seems to have turned into a bit of a rant about doing a bit for charity when also enjoying yourself on a bit of a jaunt through Europe / USA! That certainly wan't my intention at all.
However, it does raise a very good point - we were looking to do the rally as a bit of fun, taking in some of Europe, have a short break afterwards in Rome, then drive slowly back home, car all being well! I hadn't realised that there was a charity element to the rallies (reminder to self - read more of the website) but I certainly intend to a bit if fundraising on the side.
And the comment is correct - just because it's a banger rally doesn't mean people taking part are poor!!!
So back on topic, almost - where would be recommended to look for a suitable car?? So far ebay, freeads and gumtree spring to mind, and I certainly seem to be spending a fair ammount of time on each checking for new cars being listed!
Would it be worth, now that hte scrappage scheme is over, talking to some local car dealers who may wish to shift along a PX? Or will anything that's likely to make it 1400+ miles be too good for them to shift for less than £250?
Oh dear - this thread seems to have turned into a bit of a rant about doing a bit for charity when also enjoying yourself on a bit of a jaunt through Europe / USA! That certainly wan't my intention at all.
However, it does raise a very good point - we were looking to do the rally as a bit of fun, taking in some of Europe, have a short break afterwards in Rome, then drive slowly back home, car all being well! I hadn't realised that there was a charity element to the rallies (reminder to self - read more of the website) but I certainly intend to a bit if fundraising on the side.
And the comment is correct - just because it's a banger rally doesn't mean people taking part are poor!!!
So back on topic, almost - where would be recommended to look for a suitable car?? So far ebay, freeads and gumtree spring to mind, and I certainly seem to be spending a fair ammount of time on each checking for new cars being listed!
Would it be worth, now that hte scrappage scheme is over, talking to some local car dealers who may wish to shift along a PX? Or will anything that's likely to make it 1400+ miles be too good for them to shift for less than £250?
james12345 said:
Would it be worth, now that hte scrappage scheme is over, talking to some local car dealers who may wish to shift along a PX? Or will anything that's likely to make it 1400+ miles be too good for them to shift for less than £250?
Yes sorry I took too much exception to the free advert and being even more selfish than the average person (not joking) I replied to above rather than letting it goBack on topic - yes go round the dealers let them know you're after a vehicle that could probably make the 1400 miles for less than £250 as sometimes they take in good cars that are worth less than zero to them as they wont make it to the auction
Keep looking in adverts but for deeply unpopular cars as they could be in pretty good condition but wont sell because of badge snobbery, fashion and heavy advertising by the big competitors
If you can still get them somethimg like a later Rover 600 can be surprisingly good (but as above that's just one example) and not valued
EFS
Edited by Nigel At on Thursday 18th November 16:06
james12345 said:
So back on topic, almost - where would be recommended to look for a suitable car?? So far ebay, freeads and gumtree spring to mind, and I certainly seem to be spending a fair ammount of time on each checking for new cars being listed!
Would it be worth, now that hte scrappage scheme is over, talking to some local car dealers who may wish to shift along a PX? Or will anything that's likely to make it 1400+ miles be too good for them to shift for less than £250?
Ebay is best place, and ask your mates to keep an ear out for you. There is always something out there that someone wants shot of.Would it be worth, now that hte scrappage scheme is over, talking to some local car dealers who may wish to shift along a PX? Or will anything that's likely to make it 1400+ miles be too good for them to shift for less than £250?
Most cars will make the 1400+home easily. The big issue is to get a car without any major problems in the first place. If you have a known problem to start with, it'll be a bigger problem later on. If you do have problems, the key thing is to address that problem soon on - eg if you are losing oil, just make sure you keep topping it up, and the car will go on forever.
The failures happen when people set off knowing that they have a problem that is likely to get worse.
Good cars to get hold of are old Rovers. They go on forever, and if you find a diesel, you'll be doing monster mileage as well.
Fords tend to be troublesome for some reason, but Volvo and Vauxhalls generally are quite reliable. Anything quirky stands a higher chance of dying. Quirky=expensive to maintain=previous owners corner cutting.
The highest failure rate of any of these cars is the trip home after you've collected them. The key is to look in the rear view as you drive away from the old owners house. If they are cheering on the lawn; it's a bad sign.
I think the worse story we had was one team that was on their 3rd car by the time they got to the start line. But then, if you are buying a 20 year old Citreon BX, what do you expect!
As for the charity thing, we don't have a section about charity. There are no rules, and charity is entirely your business. I think MrsT is adding a JustGiving link for the team admin sections, if you decide to use JustGiving. That way our site will pull information about your fund raising efforts automagically for when people look you up.
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