Following on from the success of last year, InAutomotive is once again going to be taking part in the charity event ‘Bangers4BEN’ which raises money for the BEN charity. BEN exists to provide care, support and advice to those in our industries who need our help in times of hardship or distress.
The event is a European rally which has it’s participants driving from Dover to a destination in the EU. All of which is carried out in a ‘banger’ (cheap old car) worth a maximum of £750. This year there are a total of 43 cars taking part with 2 recovery trucks following the ‘Bangers4BEN’ rally all the way down to Turin (just in case).
Last year saw two members of the InAutomotive team travel from Preston, Lancashire all the way to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany (via the Nurburgring, of course) in an old Honda CRX Del Sol which cost £500.
This years event takes a different route and will take the rally from Dover all the way to old Fiat factory in Turin, Italy. The theme for this years event is ‘The Italian Job’ so we’re expecting some brilliant fancy dress costumes.
Here’s a breakdown of what’s in store for Team InAutomotive when they’re out travelling in their 2004 Vauxhall Astra ‘Club’ Edition:
Friday 10th October 2014, Day One, 306 miles:
Preston, England > Dover, England
Day one consists of Team InAutomotive travelling down to Dover from sunny Preston. This, in our opinion the riskiest part of the journey as there will be no breakdown trucks following the Astra down the motorway during this 5 hour stint. Once they’ve arrived into Dover they will be winding down and preparing themselves mentally for the journey ahead. The main question they’ll be asking themselves being ‘will we make it to Turin?’.
Saturday 11th October 2014, Day Two, 518 miles:
Dover, England > Mulhouse, France
The first leg of the journey. The teams will meet for the first time in Dover and make their way across the channel on the ferry. Once the ferry has arrived and the Bangers are safe on French soil, the convoy will head towards Mulhouse, France which lies on the German/ Swiss border. Just over 800 miles in 2 days.
Sunday 12th October 2014, Day Three, 338 miles:
Mulhouse, France > Como, Italy
This morning will see Team InAutomotive travel to one of the greatest driving roads in the world, ‘Stelvio Pass’.
Once the 48 hair pin turns have been taken care of, the team will then travel on to Lake Como where they will rest their heads before the next leg of ‘Bangers4BEN’.
Monday 13th October 2014, Day Four, 401 miles:
Como, Italy > Turin, Italy > Mulhouse, France
Day four sees the team head from Lake Como, moving over to the old Fiat garage in Lingotto, Italy after they’ve passed through the beautiful city of Turin.
The old Fiat factory features in the original ‘Italian Job’ and has a test track on the roof, pretty cool!
The team will then be heading back to Mulhouse, France to try and get some sleep before the monster leg of the tour.
Tuesday 14th October 2014, Day Five, 819 miles:
Mulhouse, France > Preston, England
The final leg of the Bangers4BEN rally is an absolute monster! 819 miles in a day, or nearly 13 hours of driving to get themselves back to Preston.
The team will be blogging on the road so be sure to keep up with their adventures from the 11th October. We’ll be tweeting updates in the run up to the event, keep checking Twitter @InAutomotive. We’ve also set up a JustGiving page so please feel free to make any donations to this great cause. All donations go straight to BEN, plus you might just help the InAutomotive team win the lucrative ‘largest donation’ prize which is given out during the rally.
