"The Banger Rally. For those of you still uninitiated, it’s essentially a stag do on wheels. But women are welcome, and drinking isn’t. At least for the driver. The basic premise is to obtain some kind of at-first-inappropriate "
‘Old Banger’ – a Love Story
Got to thinking the other day that most of the time on British roads it’s pointless having a ridiculously fast car.
Having hundreds of frisky ponies under the bonnet certainly gets you places with panache, resonance, and a certain sort of drama, but there’s always a little bit of frustration when you get behind the wheel of a truly fast car. Sure on a country lane you might drop that R26R into second, and enjoy twenty seconds of dramatic bump, point, squirt and shimmy: but sooner or later there’ll be the good citizen in the Micra, stoically sticking to the indicated speed limits to spoil your fun.
Similarly, when you can’t get track time and you’re blessed with the helm of an F430 Scuderia, the only thing to do is to get up in the early hours and hope that even the nation’s finest are still tucked up in their cosy beds. Lurking in the back of your mind then, is the sure and certain knowledge that the law never truly sleeps.
It was in the light of these self-evident truths that the workability of cars like my battered and bog standard twelve year old Civic were cast in a renewed, glowing light. You can chuck the thing at bends and it will skitter and chatter with enthusiasm. You can lob it over humps in country lanes; you can fling into impromptu three-pointers without worrying about the blackberry bushes scratching the paintwork; you can ferry bikes, football kit and all the other flotsam of a daily life into its ample guts without the concern of decreasing your return on investment.
Long live that old banger. But save me a speedy ride for the days of early morning devilment.
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I agree whole heartedly, Bangernomics as my friend Adam calls it is the only sensible way to go. Plus on this ever tightening Island of ours what is the point of a performance car or bike unless you use it on a track…
I’m enjoying a 558cc 53hp Gilera single at the moment more than my old Triumph Daytona 955i with 120hp
because on the whole I was incapable of getting near to its limits… whereas the Nordwest can be ridden on the stop nearly all the time without getting too near to license loosing speeds… same with cars 60mph in an old clunker is as exciting as 120 in a modern car… not to mention the green benefits of keeping a car going as long as possible, isnt two thirds of a cars energy usage during manufacture? Who needs top gear, any gear will do… Hilly
Sold the Nordwest 10 years ago as that was too fast, once I’d done a track day and got used to the feeling of bricks being thrown at my chest I wanted to do 100mph all the time. It’s a cammy engine for a big single and I used to love the tingle and then the rush as it came on song.
Went out and won a night rally championship driving a near standard Marina 1275 coupe, 83mph best ever seen on the speedo and if you got to 70 it felt like you’d won the lottery, but that felt like driving.
Got an old Range Rover 200tdi diesel and I can still maintain progress by straight lining all the islands and aiming through gaps where the Micra driver is worrying if there’s enough room. We’re not allowed to drive according to road conditions now, despite supposed improvements, so going retro or printing false driving licences is the only way I see to maintain interest while on the road.
driving a 12 year old mk2 Mondeo, and having never owned anything newer than a 98 model, i am fully aware of the benefits of having a “banger” although i will say that the only down fall “can be” and in my case is reliability issues!
next car? 1964 series 2 109″ land rover! what’s a speed bump again? haha
I’ve only recently got a “Newish” car and that is nearly 10 years old. My other weekender fun car is a 21 year old Saab 900 T8. A proper turbo Saab. It can sit and crawl in traffic, it can cover long trips in comfort, and it can kick up its skirts and hustle along when you get a little bit of clear road. Best of all, it cost £400 and £50 spending for the last MOT for a little age related tin worm. And you know, depending on the drive I’m doing, I actually sometimes prefer driving it to the Lexus.
Mike talks about the uses and driving pleasure of a banger here but the cost is an area where he could perhaps write more? The term ‘bangernomics’ has been mentioned in a earlier comment and it sums up the ownership of my 15 year Honda Civic perfectly. This ‘old banger’ in my case is anything but a banger and has all the reliability you come to expect from a Honda. Of course sometimes I wish I was driving something much nicer and newer but every time I come close to upgrading, I simply can’t bring myself do it. Banger economics – there’s more of us on it then you think…
Could not agree more, 3 years ago my wifes 98 A4 got hit so we had a courtesy car, it was a 55 plate A4 1.8t s line and I fell in love so tried to buy it off of the leasing company not once but 3 times, having been told by the man who dropped it off that they would soon be off loading it due to it coming up to 2 years old, I was offering 15k thinking that would be a good deal for me and better than their auction price, but they refused to sell to the public, thank god, today that car would be worth 6.5k, a saving of 8.5k for me and the 98 A4 is still going strong having lost about 1k in the same time.
not to mention your old bus can take most of the trolley dings at the supermarket without to much wallet damage