A banger rally is a rally in a scrap or low value car on public roads. The event is a non-racing variant of banger racing. A banger rally may also be a charity rally where the teams taking part in the event also raise money for charity.
Banger rallies chiefly appear to be a United Kingdom-based phenomenon and most involve driving through Europe to various destinations where the cars are environmentally scrapped, sold or auctioned for charity. Some events have a limit on how much a participant can spend on buying a car or the size of the engine[1]. Participants in the events often decorate their vehicles with the stickers of sponsors or customising to a theme from popular culture.
The banger rally first appeared when Julian Nowill took a group of sub £100 vehicles to Dakar over the Christmas and New Year of 2002/2003. The event was called the 'Plymouth Dakar' as a play on the name of the famous Paris Dakar rally. The event is now known as the Plymouth-Banjul Challenge.[2]
A variation of the Dakar appeared in 2003 in the form of Staples2Naples, Banger Rally for Wage Slaves. This event developed the much copied European Banger Rally style.