2025 03Nympton News Autumn final with bleed - Flipbook - Page 32
Road to Rome: A £500 Banger
Adventure By Tim O’Hara (Highridge)
Almost a year in the making, the idea was simple: take
a group of motoring-mad friends, and retrace a route
inspired by the legendary Italian Mille Miglia road
race.** The challenge? Buy a car for £500 or less,
spend as little as possible to get it roadworthy, and
see if it could survive the 3,000-plus mile round trip
from Brescia to Rome and back.
Along the way, the teams would raise money
for Race Against Dementia, Sir Jackie Stewart9s
charity. For my son Ryan and me, the road trip
carried a deeper meaning. Just four days before
departure, the family suffered the sudden loss of
Nick 4 my brother and Ryan9s uncle 4 to a heart
attack. Nick was a car enthusiast himself, with a classic MGB, and had
been excited to hear about the adventure. With the blessing of his wife
Mandy (who donated their MG
caps), we carried on in his memory,
with a sticker on the MG TF9s front
driver9s-side wing:
