Plymouth-Banjul Challenge a car worth approximately £100. Participants in the challenge are on their own, meaning that no assistance is rendered to motorists in case of a car breakdown or even if they become stranded. Mechanical reliability is the main obstacle to completing the course given that such vehicles are ordinary road cars and are mostly at the end of their useful lifetimes. Many cars cope very well until they have to go through the desert and then almost all suffer a great deal due to high temperatures and dust. Once the cars make it to Banjul in Gambia they are auctioned
Banjul the mainland at the other side of the river. Banjul takes its name from the Mandé people who gathered specific fibres on the island, which were used in the manufacture of ropes. Bang julo is the Mandinka (Mande) word for rope fibre. The mispronunciation led to the word Banjul. In 1651 Banjul was leased by The Duke of Courland and Semigallia (German: "Herzog von Kurland und Semgallen") from the King of Kombo, as part of the Couronian colonization. On 23 April 1816, the King of Kombo ceded Banjul Island to Alexander Grant, the British commandant. Grant founded Banjul as a