On 1st May, three Mini Cooper S cars and six drivers will be leaving Cannock to embark on their 5000 mile long journey to Hisaronu in Fethiye, Turkey… and back again!
The team are completing the journey to raise money for two charities; one based in the UK, and one based in Turkey.
The project was the brainchild of one of the drivers Dave Cassidy, who following six months of chemotherapy endured by his father-in-law Peter at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, wanted to do something to raise money for Ward 621 where Pete received treatment. Thanks to the staff and doctors on Ward 621, Peter’s experience was made to be a positive one, which makes all the difference when faced with such a devastating disease. On average Ward 621 treats 90 people per day.
The Turkey based charity is Race for Life Turkey, the inspiration for which to support arose when Dave and his wife were visiting their villa in Turkey near to where the event takes place.
The Villa is their destination, and they will be spending four days recovering from the estimated 37 hours driving they will have done from Cannock to Ypres, to Berchtesgaden (which sits on the border between Germany and Austria), to Slavonski Brod in Croatia, through the Alps, and into Northern Turkey and down to Hisaronu.
After a short recovery they will be back on the road for another 30+ hours covering the distance from Hisaronu to Canakkale, to Igoumenitsa in Greece catching the overnight ferry to Ancona in Northern Italy. Following a stay over in Turin at the Fiat Factory hotel and (hopefully) a few laps of the race track where the Italian Job was filmed, then on to Saint-Quentin in France and back via the Calais Eurotunnel and back up to Cannock from Folkestone.
It has been a real labour of love for the team to prepare the Minis for the journey. The project has been completely self-funded by the drivers and so all donations will go straight to the charities.
The three minis – one blue, one red and one white; have been tweaked and branded up, and put through their paces with a test run to North Wales in early February stopping to take in the scenery at Lake Bala.
Briggs’ charity team has donated £250 to support the cause, and all three minis will be flying the Briggs’ flag with branded decals on it.
To support Briggs’ colleague Gareth Rose who is an Estimator for the North East region, and lead driver of the blue Mini on his journey you can donate to the cause via this their JustGiving page.
They have already raised £5,800 across the two charities and counting!
You can follow their journey on Facebook or track their journey via GPS using the link: www.racedrone.net/event/ward-621
