AS eighteenth birthday presents go it is right up there but Dan Rose’s Ford Granada Mark Two is unlikely to be cherished for too long.

The Suffolk New College student will be ragging it around Foxhall Stadium on Saturday night, having become the youngest racer from Ipswich to have ever qualified for the National Banger World Final (5pm).

It will be Rose’s it will be his first taste of the very biggest stage having qualified for the event as a result of the points he accrued from the Speedworth Series this season.

He will be joined by more than 50 other hopefuls intent on securing top spot. While winning the title would be the ultimate birthday gift for the lad who turned 18 on Tuesday, he is just delighted to be a part of the showpiece.

“I would really like to finish in the top 10, that would be fantastic as it is my first year in the world final and you tend to get better the more experience you get,” said Rose, who is studying to be a plumber at college.

“I would love to win the World Championship in the future, that is my aim as it is the biggest and most recognisable championship there is.

“The sport is all I have ever known, it is all my dad, Peter has ever known. I am the fourth generation in my family to compete in banger racing and I love it.”

As well as his father, Rose’s late uncle, Robert, was also a talented banger driver as was his grandad and his great uncle.

Rose will be looking to continue his family’s legacy as he competes for the Essex-based team, Creamteam.

“They asked me to join them at the start of the season after some good early results,” said the teen, a former Northgate School pupil who lives in Tuddenham.

“Or main rivals are the teams, Aftermath and Gladiators and one of their racers will be in the world final so I will have to be wary if him.”

Rose is under no illusions that his car could get well and truly mashed up if not in the world final, then definitely in the closing race of the night, the Demolition Derby.

“You can take your rivals out rather than overtake them but as the racers have had such long seasons to get to this point, I think most people will want to have good clean races,” said Rose, whose car is sponsored by fellow racer Billy Cunningham.

“I am definitely a racer rather than a banger but my car will probably get smashed up in the Demolition Derby at the end of the meeting.

“It is a novelty for people. Obviously crashing out on the roads is frowned upon but I think people want to see it on the track and that is why the sport is so popular.

“I got the Granada Mark two for my birthday and there has been a lot of time spent on it by the mechanics and sign-writer but it probably won’t last more than one meeting. I have got through over 40 cars this year!

Rose will be driving the Granada with a 2.9 litre engine, a model considered by many in banger racing to be the ultimate ‘over 2 litre’ car.