StreetSafari is the leading organiser of multi-day European Banger Rally events. Our events include Staples2Naples, the Original European Banger Rally. Since 2003, we have developed and completed dozens of routes and taken thousands of people across continental Europe, Scandinavia, Northern Africa, the United Kingdom, and the Appalachian states of the USA.

Our services have broadened to offer driving tours, automotive graphics, and professional motor photography and photojournalism.

Tsk tsk tsk. Lose 100 points for not paying attention. See long, drawn-out explanation in the About section of this site.

The simple explanation, however, is that a banger is a crap car. A really crap car. The objective is to take the banger on a roadtrip over several days and many, many miles. Teams compete for points in daily challenges. Participation in challenges isn't mandatory, but that's part of the fun!

Rather than bore you with the technicalities of the name, just know that both are right and which is used depends on where and how it is used. Like any good puppy, however, we answer to either name.

That's an easy one. A current list of official StreetSafari events can always be found on this web site. Specifically, you can check here.

We didn't start out with a list of events and then tease the public until the events eventually gained enough steam to be scheduled. We have allowed the demand to dictate the number of events we run. This assures that while we have obvious quantity, we maintain quality as well. Generally, however, we have added one new event each year, as well as adding an inaugural American event in 2006. Each event has its own route and destination and several events are offered each year. As of this writing, StreetSafari has organised and executed over half a dozen multi-day routes and over three dozen individual events. Not all events are offered each season. Please check the list of current season events to confirm which events and dates are available.

Each event has its own web site with complete event details. A sign up page is prominently accessible from every page. Events are "re-launched" every year on a pre-announced date and registration closes when all available spaces are filled. Some events fill quicker than others. Newly established events typically fill slower than events that have taken place for several years.

See questions for signup-specific topics here.

It is hard to believe how many times we are asked this. While it seems like a simple enough thing to do, there have been those who took up a similar event, only to find out in the worst possible way just how draining and disappointing it can be, financially and otherwise. We have put many years and countless miles behind us to learn what works and what doesn't, what people do and do not expect from such an event.

Going into foreign cultures can be a difficult, even risky thing to do. Too often, we have seen people or organizations take shortcuts, literally chipping pieces off our own hard work and passing it off as theirs. After all, there are more places to start a rally than Calais, France, and there are other price points for cars besides £100, but some people would rather copy someone else's plan than adopt their own. After a while, it's tiresome to begin to see even your own web sites being duplicated. Quite simply, the answer to the question is no.

One service we do offer, however, is customised routes and events for groups of any size. We take as large or as small a part as you prefer, from consultation and route design to "private party" events run exactly like our public events, but exclusively for your group. See our services listing for more information.

This is a seemingly similar, but very different question to the one above. We are always in search of legitimate, worthy charities interested in working with us for our mutual benefit. The 2006 rally season saw the introduction of the Rally Charity Challenge, wherein teams were awarded their first set of challenge points based on money raised for charity. If you are decision making personnel, or would like to point decision making personnel from your own favorite charity to us, please feel free to contact us for more information.

Journalists and videographers are nothing new to StreetSafari events. Every event seems to pick up at least one team from the press or creative media. Likewise, we are approached by press all along our routes. This is not a boast, it's a documented truth. We've always thought it was all a little weird. Which probably also explains the interest. The only thing that seems to explain it is that eccentricity and unusual ventures strike the popular fancy. By all means, feel free to contact us. We are more than happy to assist.

Of course you can. Simply subscribe to the StreetSafari mailing list.. All the latest news and updates, as well as useful discussion and feedback, show up on our forums.

Teams who have signed up and received confirmations receive all necessary news and updates for their specific event and do not need to sign up for separate updates. Those email addresses are already included in our general updates as well as their registered event.

We also encourage you to visit the Forums regularly. All the latest news and updates, as well as useful discussion and feedback, show up on our forums. It's also a great place to get to know the people you'll meet at the Start Line.

We are so glad you asked. You wouldn't be the first trans-Atlantic adoptee to successfully make it into a "foreign" rally. With the beginning of the 2007 rally season, we coined the phrases "Adopt a Limey" and "Adopt a Yank". Simply visit our forum and make yourself known in the "Adoption Program" thread and it never fails that someone steps up to help with the details from their side of the pond.

For American events, this question has absolutely no right answer. This is totally dependent on your spending nature, as no stopover is very far from a center of commerce. For Americans the lure of Wal-Mart or Lowe's is a hard thing to resist. Americans also have this way of sniffing out a bargain, or have a favourite hotel/motel with whom they accumulate perks and discounts.

For the European events, however, it's a bit more structured, as hotels and restaurants are limited and for the most part, pre-arranged or recommended. The cost of your vehicle's up-keep, repairs, fuel, parking and tolls are the bare minimum of your expenses. Hotels and meals for each night, along with meals during the day, incidental purchases or entertainment outside the event are also expenses that you may incur. If you plan to turn your car over to a scrapper at the event's end, expect a fee. In Italy, for example, the scrapper does not pay for your car, you pay him to take it.

The cost of your transportation back home, regardless of whether you drive or fly, needs to also be taken into consideration. These are your own out-of-pocket expenses and you should make arrangments among your team for their coverage.

No. You can sign up and then take as many drunken weekends as you need to convince your friends that driving a horrible wreck of a car across ancient, twisting, turning roadways is a good idea. We don't even need to know anything about your car until immediately before the event. In fact, the S2N2004 winners flew into England from the United States, picked up a car at the last minute, and made it to Naples with the winning score. There is no special recipe, it seems.

This depends on the event. New events are much more likely to offer deferred payment. In fact, you can sign up for whatever you want, but no space is confirmed until payment is received. Likewise, an event is considered full and registration is closed when all available places have been paid for. For example, you can signup for a 50-team event and not pay, but as soon as 50 teams have paid their fees, unless you are one of the teams paid up, you do not have a confirmed place on the event. If the event's limit is firm, as most European events are, then the event is closed and your team is removed from the roster completely.

Fees vary depending on several factors, including which event it is, how many people are on your team, and what extra options your team adds to its registration. Some events have greater expenses and because each and every participant receives one or more items as part of the event, it may be necessary to assess a charge per member over a pre-determined limit. This isn't arbitrary, this is often necessary because it costs more to outfit a team of four than of two and additional charges are the most equitable way of equipping each team.

In addition to prizes and materials given out before and during the event, registration fees pay for the organisation and administrative overhead of running the event. A great deal of time and expense that is never seen goes into the development and performance of each event, regardless of how many times the event has previously taken place. The most basic answer, however, is inclusion. A rally is more than a simple drive from Point A to Point B. If that's all you want, then buy a map and book a weekend. StreetSafari events bring together groups of people and takes them to out-of-the way places to have out-of-the-ordinary experiences.

Refunds are only available within 14 days of payment. However, in the event you cannot make the event due to unforeseen problems in the future the entry fee can be carried forward to any other event.

Team spaces are non-transferrable. You can change team members within your team if a team member can't attend. You are able to do this through your team administration area on the event web site. You may not, however, replace all members of your team. This is a different team! Likewise, any places vacated by teams transfering (with pre-approval, conditions may apply) from one event to another are not refilled.

The reason for this is simple. We, ourselves, have been approached by teams offering outrageous prices so that we might add "just one more" team. It is not our intention to create an inflated resale market for our most popular events simply because the route can not accomodate an unlimited amount of teams. These events are not about who has the most means. There are other events for that, feel free to spend £££ or $$$ there. Don't get us wrong, we can't run these events out of the mere goodness of our hearts and there are more expenses involved than most people imagine. The foundation of these events, however, is "the banger rally for wage slaves", or as one journalist put it "the rally for the rest of us". We want to stay true to that foundation.

We understand that different places appeal to different people. One man's Naples is another man's Prague and vice versa. As more and more exotic destinations are announced, it is understandable that paid teams may wish to change their event. This is generally not a problem, so long as pre-announced cut-off dates (which vary by event) have not passed. Transfers must be approved by the Organisers in advance. Teams may be subject to additional fees depending on the fee structure of the event to which they are transferring. Any places vacated by transferring teams are not refilled.

The only guaranteed spaces on any StreetSafari event are those awarded to previous year's winners. Previously participating teams, however, regardless of event, are definitely more likely to find a place on a following year's event. Registration opens in phases, first to teams returning from that particular event, then to teams returning from any StreetSafari event, then to the public in general. Time limits apply to each different class of team. For teams serious about getting a space on a particular event, it is not a bad idea to participate in one of the other events to begin with, then -- almost literally -- move up the ladder.

Encyclopedias are good. We especially like Wiki, but the all-time winner has got to be Google. However, for questions about StreetSafari or StreetSafari events, you can always read the complete FAQ. If you still don't find your answer, you can contact us or better yet, visit our Rally Forum. The sheer volume of forum denizens and rally mavens assures that your question will be answered in the quickest time possible. And the answer may even be close to correct! At the very least, you will meet some interesting people and get a special insight into what StreetSafari is really all about.

Registration (signup) for events is a two step process.

1. StreetSafari Rally Circuit Registration ("pre-registration")
2. Signup for your chosen event(s)

Think of it as having a member account, and then using that member account to make purchases. After creating your member account in the Rally Circuit, you will use that login for all future individual event signups.

Rally Circuit membership is free and without obligation. Fees apply only when you sign up for an event. Circuit memberships do not time out. Teams have signed up for the Rally Circuit and come back several seasons later to actually participate in an event.

... go directly to the event signup area of your chosen event. Enter your login and password to begin.

... you may do so now or you may create both accounts at the time of event registration.

... click here to have your details sent to you.

Teams are strongly advised to pre-register with a Rally Circuit membership. Many events fill quickly and once an event's registration limit is filled, that event will close. Registration for S2N2006 filled and closed in less than 5 minutes!

Don't be left out!

There are several types of free award entry. This includes High Mileage Awards, First Place Winners, and any confirmed deferrals from the year immediately previous. Simply put, if you have earned a free entry, you'll know it, as we tell you this directly at the time you have earned it, usually at the event's Finish Line.

Free entrants go through the same signup process as always, but do not continue to the payment screen (which is PayPal as of this writing, subject to change). You must then contact us to say that you are applying your free entry. Please do not assume that we know your entry is free and will automatically process your team out. We will not. You must contact us after you have signed up for the event.

Keep in mind that qualifiable deferrals are all previously confirmed. You may be required to produce your deferral confirmation email if requested. Deferrals are not the same as teams who didn't make the start line. If you aren't sure whether or not you have a qualifiable deferral, then you probably do not. Deferrals carry forward to the immediately following year only; they do not carry forward indefinately.

Award and deferral entries, like any other entry, are not transferable and may be applied only once. Once applied, an award entry may not be retracted or deferred to the next year.

All awards and deferrals, excluding High Mileage award entries, must follow the same signup schedule as paid entries, including cut off dates. Only High Mileage entries may be claimed at any time, on any event.

For the 2012 season, we have announced the following policy (BABE Rally teams excluded): All outstanding free entries must be used toward Staples2Naples 10th Anniversary. Teams and individuals will continue to earn free award entries for future events, but anyone holding a free entry as of November 1, 2011 will have that entry applied toward Staples2Naples 2012. We figure that 10 years is plenty of time to claim an award and a good time to clear the slate and start fresh. BABE Rally teams are excluded from this policy.

Visit the Forums regularly and subscribe to the StreetSafari mailing list.. All the latest news and updates, as well as useful discussion and feedback, show up on our forums.

Teams who have signed up and received confirmations receive all necessary news and updates for their specific event and do not need to sign up for separate updates. Those email addresses are already included in our general updates as well as their registered event.

There are several key pieces of information that teams will need to help prepare for the event. These items vary by event, of course, but some general types of information apply to most events. These may or may not include, but not be limited to:

• Timeline and schedule for the locations involed along your route
• Stopover locations and dates, with hotel, meeting place, and route information
• Notices with regard to any special requirements for which preparations should be made, such as Fancy Dress Day (if applicable to your event)
• Updates, changes, and other modifications to any information you may have previously received

Details and preparatory information about your specific event will be provided between the time that you receive your email confirmation and the start date for the event. The type of information varies by event. The distribution schedule and method also vary by event but there is a rough guideline as to what you may expect and when. Remember that this is for general, comparative purposes only. Keeping an eye on the StreetSafari Forum is the best way of keeping up with the very latest happenings for all StreetSafari events.

Most information is suitable for email distribution. Most news and update items that go to teams will also be listed as topics on the StreetSafari Forum so that they may be discussed and explained in further detail as necessary.

The most comprehensive source of information is undoubtedly the Rally Handbook. The handbook becomes available approximately 30-14 days before the event and is a downloadable document accessed from the Team Admin area.

Nope, never. Whatever information you supply to us does not get passed to any third parties unless we have your express permission.

The Team Admin area allows confirmed teams (those who have signed up for an event and paid all associated fees) to log in to their record to make updates and to provide various information required for your event.

Once a team has signed up for its chosen event and paid all associated fees, the Team Captain will receive an email confirmation that includes the necessary login and password credentials. Although the Team Captain can share this information and delegate to other team members, only the Team Captain contact information will be used to communicate with the team. If for some reason you need to change your Team Captain, you should contact us to make that change for you. This change can not be done through your Team Admin interface.