reta chidlow

Monte-Carlo or Bust Banger Driving Challenge

Fundraising for Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance
£12,518
raised of £6,800 target
Donations cannot currently be made to this page
Monte-Carlo or Bust Banger Driving Challenge , 3 June 2017

Story

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Seemed like a good idea at the time...

Our story starts around a conversation I had (in a pub - I should have known better) with a friend 'Shaun the barber’ (yes, that is his real name and yes, that is what he does for a living).
The conversation was about one of my brother’s quite barmy road trips, basically you drive an old car that you have bought for barely more than its scrap value, across a continent or land mass on a pre-set and organised route. On this route you will have to complete set challenges (slightly concerned about these) and upon completion (assuming your car makes it) your beloved motor is sold for scrap and the funds raised donated to charity - apparently the scrapman drives you to the airport and you fly home. Very 'Top Gear' I hear you say, well yes it is - in reality, there are quite a few companies that organise these things...

I have to admit Shaun did seem quite ’taken' with the general idea but this isn’t particularly unusual with Shaun, he's always quite enthusiastic... The subject moved on and that was that as far as I was concerned...
Anyway next time I saw him, very shockingly, he said he’d bought a car for £170, and he and another mutual friend were all agreed and set to book themselves onto one of these challenges. He then went on to say, equally shockingly, "and you’re doing it with Paul, another mutual friend" - apparently he had witnesses to me saying "great let's do this!"... more beer landlord...

Unbelievably the concept has gone viral - Shaun's contagious enthusiasm has convinced another 12 victims to join the fun - that’s effectively 8 teams/cars in total, pretty much a convoy!

I have now ‘secured’ our team car, a 1999 Saab 9-3 convertible … (rough)
'Shaun the barber's' car is a Ford Focus 4-door saloon… (never very popular)
I know of another team who has acquired an Auto 3.0L S-type Jaguar
Rumour has it another team has a Jaguar X-type in their sights … (no reverse)
Someone has ‘apparently’ acquired a Roller, yes, an actual Rolls Royce… I can’t confirm what model at this point … (broken suspension)

Share this story

Help reta chidlow

Sharing this page with your friends could help raise up to 3x more in donations

You can also help by sharing this link on

About the charity

WNAA attend around 1000 missions a year - each costing around £1700. They provide the best possible pre-hospital care and rapid transport to specialist hospitals, to those suffering serious injury and illness. WNAA receive no Government funding, relying solely on donations.

Donation summary

Total raised
£12,517.88
+ £1,623.00 Gift Aid
Online donations
£10,620.88
Offline donations
£1,897.00

* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.