24th to 28th June 2007
It all began – as I believe almost all great plans begin – down the pub. Myself and two good friends were sampling a reasonable selection of particularly refreshing beverages, whilst discussing the possibility of a project we could engage ourselves in.
We immediately discovered a few obvious parallels in our approach to this, and they involved travel on the cheap, and an excuse to swan about in otherwise unjustifiably ostentatious car best seen outside a merchant banker’s garage sometime in 1985. It was at this moment that we decided we needed to attend a banger rally and thus team “Gin’ll Fix It” was born. The team consists of myself – Ben Fisher – and my two partners in grime, Chris Lingwood and Paul Arthur.
The Rally we chose is fully ‘organised’ by “Street Safari” and is one of many events they run each year. The routes cover many destinations throughout Europe, but we decided we wanted a bit more of a challenge, and the possibility to reach an entirely different continent. With this in mind we chose to join the 60 or so other teams taking part in the Calais to Casablanca rally, and therefore be able to say we drove to Africa (albeit the mere tip of Africa). The main stipulation is the car used must not be worth more than £100. This would prove to be one of the largest challenges of them all.
The event was not a race, and no prizes were earned for arriving anywhere first. Quite the reverse in fact, as points are awarded for categories such as: longest hitch hike, most impressive bodge, biggest pile of junk and various other challenges along the way. The majority of the cars taking part were not expected to survive the journey and so would be scrapped or auctioned, leaving the participants to return to the UK via a more reliable mode of transport.
We however decided to also make the return journey in the car we set out in. This would mean over two weeks of tortuous driving through France, Andorra, and Spain, then crossing the straits of Gibraltar to Morocco and onto Casablanca. After a brief stop, we would then turn the car around and make the same journey home, with a little trip over to sunny Portugal for good measure!
The car we chose was to be a 1985 BMW 7 series. Rescued from a puddle out the back of a garage near Bristol, and we hoped after several months or tuning and modifying, and help from some sponsors, ‘MINKY’ would finally be ready!
It soon became obvious that we had bitten off a bit more than we could chew. With all of us working full time, and having to travel across the UK to meet every weekend, we realised we required some motivation.
This came in the form of a charity event, and after the loss of a very dear friend Vicky Stockton last year we thought we could perhaps attempt to bring something positive from it and help people with a similar condition. This is the sort of thing Vicky strongly believed in, and if she were still here today then I’m sure she’d be the physical 4th member of “Gin’ll Fix It” as well as the spiritual member that she will always be anyway.
It was therefore with great satisfaction that not only did the car (MINKY) complete the 14-day, 5000 mile round trip with barely a complaint, but that we were also able to raise in excess of £3000 for Cardiac Risk in the Young.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all those whom donated with such generosity, as we clearly smashed our ambitious target of £2000, which is a testament to the great positive impact Vicky had made on all those that knew her.
Ben Fisher
