Father and son awarded 'Best Banger' after taking on almost 2,000-mile European rally challenge in aid of Rowans Hospice

Geoff and Nick Kingstone, from Lee-on-the-Solent, set off on April 6 to take on the European Road Trip and Banger Rally from London to Lisbon to raise money for Rowans Hospice after their ‘excellent’ care for their daughter and sister, Emma.

The duo completed the challenge four days later on April 11, where they were ‘delighted’ to place second and even took home the award for ‘Best Banger’ car – named Cupid Stunts – which had a picture of their beloved Emma on the front.

The accolade was voted for by their fellow competitors and the organisers of the event.

The 1,850-mile competition saw competitors pass through Le Mans, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, through the Pyrenees, Burgos and Braga before finally reaching the Portugal coastline.

Each day saw hundreds of car enthusiasts take on a daily task including a quiz and a karaoke challenge.

Thanks to the support of friends and family through their fundraising page, the pair have raised £1300 for the hospice which provided end-of-life care to Emma after she was diagnosed with bone cancer.

Geoff said: ‘It was really emotional because we knew we were doing it for Emma. We had to do a daily task each day and one of the tasks was to bring your car back and make it look different in the same night.

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‘The best car is voted by all the other cars in the rally and the organisers who thought it was the best decorated car.

‘We found a Chinese shop that had Christmas stuff and my daughter loved Christmas so we wrapped tinsel all around the car.

‘It was fantastic. It's been absolutely brilliant. We worked really hard doing our daily tasks over the period of the four days.’

The defining rule of the challenge was that every competitor had to travel in a Ford KA and there was a limit of £400 that could be spent on each vehicle.

Geoff adds: ‘We came second in the quiz on the way through and we also won worst car karaoke. We travelled into Spain. There were no borders anywhere apart from getting from England into France.’