Staples 2 Naples 2006

Entry posted by andy October 24, 2015

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Almost ten years ago now, myself and Dougie (and Dan) took part in a banger rally. We bought a 130 for £100 (well those days are long gone!), and did it up over a couple of months. This trip really set the tone for storming across Europe on a mission, that in part led to us all going on our first EuroTrip as a formal club event in 2009.

To celebrate, what follows is a re-print of the Total Vauxhall we produced to mark the event with updated insight (random comments based on hazy recollections of the event..). Enjoy!

I shot photos and videos whilst still doing the lions share of the driving with dougie who was writing the whole way.

(dan.. well, we love you mate, but dan ate and slept, and did some of the driving..)

Here is the magnificent beast that ended up going to Ireland on a back load..

I wonder where it is today. It was a great car!

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Here you can see some of the challenges, views and the other MK2 we convoyed with.

At the end of one day (Naples) there was a planned ambush! We knew something was afoot tho,

and the SRI130's central locking didn't let us down!

Late night convoys through adn over mountains, with some interesting rest stops! (Also the starting point @staples!)

To those that donated to cancer research for us - I'm still seriously chuffed today that we raised a grand and had fun doing it.

I'm proud to know such a cool bunch of people.

Cancer research might be a 'mainstream' charity, but it's an evil, viscous condition of which my mother died.

In many ways, she's the reason I started this website - Cancer Research UK is our charity of choice.

It may be that S2N has gone the way of the dodo.

Regardless, here's a link to the site on the rally itself: Staples2Naples website.

Here's a link to it on the wayback machine that should still work: S2N on Wayback

You can pretty much stop reading here.. but if you really care, you can read the progress diary (cough) from the run up to the event below.

Andy, Oct 25th, 2015

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By means of a bonus. Here is the remnants of our project blog, although I'm unsure where some of the photos went. (I blame dougie for poor photobucket stills)

Project Blog

20th June - Dougies got the trackrod ends, now it just needs tracked before the tyres go bald. I can safely conclude that the car is riding much better now not only because we changed the driveshafts (dougie) but because the wheels feel more at one with the road (and society at large) now that we have fitted some new wheel centres that I'd found hiding in my garage!

Dan also cleaned up Dougies "spare" drivers seat for his red 130, the existing drivers seat had worn through to the wire frame and felt like you were sat on a bench. The new " brown " one not only compliments the rest of the grey blue interior perfectly, but its probably the best of the lot!

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14th June - Changing the track rod ends didnt go to plan as we were sent the wrong ones at the weekend! - still we changed the oil for what must have been the first time in years, sorted out 4 matching sets of wheel bolts removing the (VW ones in the process) and I found a set of centre caps I'd been saving in my garage that will fit her! I'll upload a pic for comparison soon!

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8th June - As Dan's Astra needs a clutch, and Dougies GSi has interesting isues Myle is still being driven to Bath and back each day.

The fact there is creaking and grinding noises from the front end doesn't seem to put you off when needs must! Hopefully the guys will succumb to my nagging about us getting some little jobs on it done, so I can load it up with 200kgs of bits for our stand at billing this year!

Anyways, I've decided that all teams on a banger rally where people usually paint their cars in horific ways needs a 'great' team logo.. here is why me and photoshop should never the two be paired..

from left to right:

Dan (I spent most time on), me (need to find better pic!) Dougie - (with hair!!!)

Finally, I've ordered the stickers for the rear window and bonnet, which are a modified version of the club keyring I designed. I hope Dougie & Dan can get some decent total vauxhall ones, as well as ones from other sponsors. Time to get the word out about our mission. No pristine low milage Cav GL for us, oh no! A Battered SRi130 is only way to travel!

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29th May - Fitted my mk3 cavs old wheels, got rid of the judder, had a good look round the car, plenty to get done!

Must add that these pics were taken at lockups, not my house, washing machine or pesky cat gaddamit!!