Lad takes on challenge to drive £200 banger on 1,300 mile journey across Europe

Nine countries. Four days. One £200, 25-year-old car. What could go wrong?

No, this isn't a new Top Gear challenge, though Niall Gray has admitted that he was inspired by the BBC car show when he decided to buy an old banger to film videos with.

As a fan of the series, Niall wanted to do a parody of some of its challenges, so he began scouring all of the reputable car sales sites - aka Facebook Marketplace - to find the car of his dreams.

A couple of years ago, he found it. A bright red, Toyota Starlet from 1998.

For reference, this car was built when Niall was about two years old.

He found it for £200, telling LADbible: "I'm gonna be honest, I don't really know a lot about cars, but it looks like a pretty dodgy one.

"Lots of people have sort of been been laughing at this car, and just can't believe I actually spent some money on it."

Though Niall was ridiculed at first, he found success with his little car, so much so that Top Gear itself caught wind of the videos he was making, and organised for The Stig himself to get behind the wheel.

Instagram/@niallgray

With that dream ticked off the list, Niall turned his attention to his next challenge - the ‘Two Ball Rally’.

The event involves driving across nine countries in four days, covering 1300 miles, and includes a road dubbed one of the world's 'most dangerous' - Italy's Stelvio Pass, which features 48 hairpin bends.

"We really just wanted to push the car to the limit," he explained. "I mean, it's a very cramped car, we sort of wanted it just to be a bit of a spectacle as well."

Niall doubled his expenses on the car just attempting to get it ready with an MOT, new tyres and a service - not to mention the 'Lightening McQueen' thunderbolts he stuck on the side.

But even with all of that, when he looked ahead to the event Niall knew his vehicle wasn't exactly the best of the bunch.

Supplied

"There's a few other bangers on the rally as well, but some of them - I mean, some some guy was driving around with a Bentley," he said.

"The guys who are organising it, they were just like, there's no way [your] car is gonna make it."

Unfortunately, Niall agreed.

"Every time I've driven this car in the UK, wherever I've had to take it before, it's only been like 10 miles down the road and I've thought, 'Oh, my God, this is not going to make it'.

"As soon as it on the motorway and get up to 70, the car starts shaking."

Knowing that he was taking on the challenge of driving 'about six hours a day across four days', Niall 'wasn't hopeful'.

He 'didn't think it was going to make it' - but he could still be hopeful.

Niall is set to share how the challenge went in a new video, so if you want to find out just how successful - or disastrous - his little Starlet was at taking on the challenge, watch this space.

Topics: Cars, Top Gear, UK News

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is the Community Desk Lead at LADbible Group. Emily first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route. She went on to graduate with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University before contributing to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems. She joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features, and now works as Community Desk Lead to commission and write human interest stories from across the globe.