Ferrari Gives "V12 LAF" number plate to The Henry Surtee's Foundation, to auction to raise funds.

Perfect private plate for LaFerrari

Ferrari North Europe is pleased to announce a very special auction to benefit the Henry Surtees Foundation, with the unique personalised registration “V12 LAF” going to the highest sealed bid submitted before the end of November. 

The personalised registration is obviously the perfect number plate for a LaFerrari, the Prancing Horse’s ultimate hypercar with a 963hp hybrid drivetrain which includes an 800hp V12 engine and an additional 163hp KERS hybrid system.

The Henry Surtees Foundation was named in honour of the son of 1964 Ferrari F1 World Champion, John Surtees OBE. Inspired by Henry, his experience, and in celebration of his life, the Foundation’s primary aim is to assist people with brain or physical injuries caused by accident to return to community living by the provision of support for equipment and facilities.

“We are truly honoured that Ferrari has chosen to donate the proceeds of this auction  to the Henry Surtees Foundation. The work we are doing is absolutely critical to help save the lives and provide emergency support for those who sustain serious head injuries and I know that Henry would have been very proud to hear of Ferrari’s continued association with the Surtees family name, more than 50 years after I drove for Il Commendatore,” commented John Surtees OBE.

Interested parties should submit a sealed bid in an envelope marked as follows:

“HSF Charity Auction”

Ferrari North Europe

275 Leigh Road

Slough SL1 4HF

Closing date for bids is Monday 30 November 2015.

The Henry Surtees Foundation was named in honour of the son of 1964 Ferrari F1 World Champion, John Surtees OBE. Inspired by Henry, his experience, and in celebration of his life; HSF aims to:

• assist people with brain or physical injuries caused by accident to return to community living by the provision of support for equipment and facilities;
• provide education and training associated with motorsport-related programmes in technology,  engineering, and road safety instruction for two and four wheels;
• act as a resource for young people up to the age of 18 by providing advice and assistance and organising programmes of physical, educational and other activities in order to:- advance young people in life by helping them to develop their skills, capacities and capabilities so that they can participate in society as independent, mature and responsible individuals;
• advance their  education; and
• relieve unemployment.

Concours of Elegance 2015 to raise money for three charities, with over £600k raised previously

• Concours of Elegance 2015 to raise money for three charities: Walking With The Wounded, Action on Addiction and Springfield Motor Racing’s Club for Young People
• Concours of Elegance has already raised more than £600,000 over the course of its three previous events
• Walking With The Wounded will be funding a Scotland-specific project to retrain wounded soldiers at a facility in Glasgow

The Concours of Elegance has already raised more than £600,000 for charity over the course of its past three events, and this year’s event at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh is looking to build on that figure.

For 2015, Concours of Elegance will be working with Walking With The Wounded, Action on Addiction and Springfield Motor Racing’s Club for Young People.

Walking With The Wounded is a charity that aims to retrain service veterans with physical, mental or social injuries and provide them with the skills and qualifications necessary to gain employment outside of the military.

The charity also works on a Scotland-specific project called Home Straight – Scotland. In partnership with Scottish Veterans Residences, this project will assist veterans in finding a new career pathway, organise work placements and source funding for any required training.

Action on Addiction is the only charity that works across the whole addiction field; that includes research, prevention, treatment, professional education, campaigns and support for families and children.

The charity aims to act on ways of preventing addiction in the first place by developing and testing interventions to help protect society from substance misuse. It also aims to rehabilitate and educate people at its treatment centres throughout the UK.

Springfield Motor Racing’s Club for Young People is a charity based in Hackney, London, with Sir Jackie Stewart as its President. Springfield offers opportunities and inspiration to London-based youths by opening doors for them that they wouldn’t normally have access to.

Sir Jackie Stewart, President of Springfield Motor Racing’s Club for Young People, said: “It’s a fantastic place that really does a lot for the people that visit. 

Our members find it difficult to get out of London so we take them on summer breaks and we also run a really successful evening with guests like Geri Halliwell, Greg Rutherford, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.”

The last batch of tickets are available for this years BBC Children In Need Car Fest events.

• Remaining tickets on sale from 8am tomorrow morning
• Choice between weekend, camping, single day and VIP entry
• Boomtown Rats on Friday’s live music bill at both venues
• To date CarFest – inspired and hosted by DJ Chris Evans – has raised £3.5m for BBC Children in Need

The final tickets for CarFest – summer’s fast and furious fun-fuelled family festivals – have just gone on sale. Chris Evans, BBC Radio 2 DJ and the inspiration behind the two motoring and music-themed extravaganzas, has released the last batch at 8am yesterday (Thursday 30 April) morning during his award-winning Breakfast Show.

Evans again will be the perfect party host for both events – CarFest North (Oulton Park, Cheshire, 31 July-2 August) and CarFest South (Laverstoke Park Farm, Hampshire, 28-30 August) – with the promise of more magical music and motors… with lashings of mouth-watering festival food and eye-catching family fun thrown in for good measure.

Indeed, now entering its fourth season, the two spectacular shows are packed with even more features aimed at inspiring and amazing those of all ages. New additions include: goalfest, stunt school, the beach complete with deck chairs, a vintage village, mega land plus a lot more surprises still to be announced. 

The car content has been revved up, too. Track stars this year will include everything from Batmobiles and beach buggies to historic F1 racers and the very latest supercars. 

But to join the party, festival-goers will need to move quickly by logging onto the official www.CarFest.org website tomorrow morning. When the first tranche of tickets went on sale in November they sold out almost instantly. Demand for this final batch is likely to be even stronger.

Fans are also encouraged to consider individual day tickets – priced from £60 for adults – should they miss out on the limited number of remaining £142 weekend camping tickets.

As ever, CarFest will be raising money for BBC Children in Need with a minimum of 25 per cent of all ticket revenues going directly to the charity: now in its fourth year, CarFest has already donated more than £3.5 million to Children in Need.

Full details of both 2015 CarFests – including the bands performing which this year include The Boomtown Rats, Seasick Steve, Texas and Paloma Faith – can be found on the official website at www.carfest.org

CarFest is the brainchild of radio DJ and TV personality Chris Evans. Featuring a medley of fast cars, great food, live music and a rich mix of family entertainment, the inaugural weekend event was staged at Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire in August 2012 with a second show at Cholmondeley Castle in Cheshire in September 2012. Together, they raised almost £1 million for BBC Children in Need.

In 2013, CarFest North switched to Oulton Park in Cheshire while CarFest South returned to Laverstoke Park Farm, raising £1.1m for the charity – a figure that increased to £1.5m in 2014. A minimum of 25 per cent of the price of each ticket benefits BBC Children in Need with all further profits from the running of CarFest also donated to the charity.

BBC Children in Need

BBC Children in Need is a charity registered in England and Wales (802052) and Scotland (SC039557) whose aim is to make a positive change to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people across the UK. 

BBC Children in Need’s vision is that every child in the UK has a safe, happy and secure childhood and the chance to reach their potential. 

BBC Children in Need are currently supporting over 2,600 projects that are working with children facing a range of disadvantages for example, poverty and deprivation; children who have been the victims of abuse or neglect or disabled young people.

Mitsubishi dealer staff raise money for a local charitable Hospice care centre.

A team from Weston-super-Mare Mitsubishi raised nearly double their target for charity when they took part in the Weston Colour Run. Lyndsey Smith, Jayne Burnley and her daughter Shani Hedges raised £180 when they completed the 5km run along with thousands of others in aid of Weston Hospicecare.

The popular event took place on Uphill Beach for the second year, with participants dressed in white and getting showered with coloured powder paint as they went along the route. 

Group Marketing Co-ordinator Lyndsey said: ‘It was a great day and the atmosphere was fantastic. It was hard work running into the wind on the sand but we all enjoyed it and got absolutely covered in paint.’

Sales Administrator Jayne signed her colleague Lyndsey up for the event without her knowing and then sprang another surprise with the news that they would be wearing sombreros and stick-on moustaches as the duo, who work at the Aisecome Way showroom, took part under the name ‘The Three Amigals’.

Jayne, who also persuaded her 19-year-old student daughter Shani to take part, said: ‘We’re really pleased to have passed our target of raising £100 and there is still time if anyone wants to donate to this fantastic cause.’

Weston Hospicecare provides specialist free care to the 1 in 100 local people with life-limiting illnesses such as cancer, motor neurone disease and heart or lung failure. The charity relies on the generosity of the community to help raise £3m every year. The money raised from the Colour Run will help the hospice to carry out its work caring for terminally-ill patients in the community.

Hyundai is supporing CRISIS, the homless charity with 16 vehicles over the festive period.

• 16 Hyundai vehicles supplied to support Crisis’ festive period campaign
• Cars will move guests, medical teams, supplies and volunteers around London
• Campaign expected to help 4,000 homeless and vulnerably housed people

Hyundai is supporting Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people, by supplying vehicles for use by its dedicated team of volunteers in London over Christmas. The charity is taking delivery of 16 vehicles (a mix of Santa Fes, i800s and i30s) as it prepares for the festive period – its busiest time of year. The cars will carry supplies and transport individual guests and volunteers around London, supporting Crisis at Christmas which runs from 22 to 30 December (TBC).

Jon Sparkes, Crisis' Chief Executive, said: “Christmas should be a time for family and friends, for warmth and celebration, yet for homeless people it can be one of the hardest times of year – a cold, lonely time to be suffered rather than enjoyed.

“Crisis at Christmas is only possible due to the generosity of our volunteers and donors, such as Hyundai, who have come together to make Christmas happen for some of society’s most vulnerable people.”

Crisis at Christmas will see a dedicated team of more than 9,000 volunteers supporting 4,000 homeless people over the Christmas period, helping them to take their first steps out of homelessness. More than 6,000 people slept rough in London at some point last year, an increase of 77% since 2010.  

Rolls Royce gives Paddington Bear a makeover, all in the name of charity.

One of Britain’s best-loved children’s characters, Paddington Bear, has been given a Rolls-Royce Bespoke makeover as part of the Paddington Trail: an initiative that seeks to raise vital funds for the NSPCC ahead of the much anticipated UK release of the Paddington film on November 28.

Giles Taylor, Director of Design, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, created a design inspired by the marque’s founding forefather, famed racer and pioneer aviator the Hon. Charles Rolls. The Rolls-Royce Paddington cuts a sartorial dash in a brown leather duffel coat with cravat and hat ribbon in Rolls-Royce’s signature purple. Paddington’s outfit is complete with a pair of MK8 racing goggles that pay an elegant tribute to Rolls’ prowess as a gentleman racer.

50 statues of Paddington are set to be placed in landmarks across London from November 4, with visitors invited to observe them on a specially plotted Paddington Trail. Rolls-Royce’s Paddington will be placed in a most fitting location, opposite the marque’s landmark showroom in Mayfair’s Berkeley Square. He will stand on a plinth crafted to resemble the Pantheon grille that adorns every Rolls-Royce motor car and is finished in a specially created Bespoke mirror finish, echoing the marque’s emblematic Spirit of Ecstasy.

“It has given us great pleasure to support such a worthy cause by creating a Bespoke Paddington Bear,” said Giles Taylor, Director of Design, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. “Paddington is undoubtedly one of the nation’s best-loved characters; we were therefore honoured and delighted to be challenged with participating in the Paddington Trail. The Hon. Charles Rolls shared Paddington’s lust for adventure and exploration; he therefore proved the perfect inspiration for our interpretation of the world’s most famous bear.”

The statue was designed and crafted by the Bespoke craftspeople at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, England – with associates from all departments dedicating time in aid of the NSPCC to ensure Paddington is in perfect order to meet his public. 

Visitors will be able to see the 50 Paddingtons, created by some of the UK’s leading designers, celebrities and artists from Tuesday 4 November 2014. An auction at Christies and a specially curated online sale will follow the release of the new Paddington movie on Friday 28 November. The film from STUDIOCANAL and Heyday Films is written and directed by Paul King (Bunny and the Bull, The Mighty Boosh), produced by David Heyman (Gravity, Harry Potter) and boasts an all-star cast including Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Peter Capaldi, Jim Broadbent and Nicole Kidman with Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington. All proceeds are set to go to the NSPCC and ChildLine.

Rolls Royce owner to raise £200k for children charity through the Gumball 3000.

A Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé stopped off in Edinburgh on Sunday 8 June as part of an epic 3,000 mile journey from Miami to Ibiza that promises to raise a six-figure sum for charity.

Rolls-Royce owner, Garreth Wood, founder of the Edinburgh-based Speratus Group, his wife Nicola and school friend William Rhind are taking part in the Gumball 3000 Rally, a star-studded event that sees an array of the world’s most exotic, luxurious and often outlandishly decorated cars cover remarkable distances in just seven days.

Mr and Mrs Wood have taken the opportunity to raise vital funds and awareness for ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’, a charity that has granted the wishes of over 14,500 children suffering from life threatening illnesses since it was founded in 1990.

Throughout their journey they will perform 50 Random Acts of Kindness with Garreth’s company promising to donate £2,000 for every act, the Gumball Foundation will then match the money raised. Every penny of the £200,000 is committed to sending a group of children and their helpers on a journey to Lapland to meet Father Christmas.

In preparation for the rally, the couple have commissioned a specialist wrapping company to decorate the car in a red chrome and black velvet finish complete with a Scottish flag motif on the boot.

“It’s a great honour to support ‘When you wish upon a Star’. This trip to Lapland promises to create magical memories for children and families dealing with life threatening illnesses,” said Garreth Wood, owner of the ‘Velvet Phantom’. “This journey presents an incredible opportunity to raise vital funds for such a worthy cause. It’s also important to raise awareness; this is why we chose a temporary wrap for the car that is sure to wow the crowds wherever we go! We are incredibly grateful to the Gumball Foundation for agreeing to match our donation allowing us to double the number of children we can take to Lapland at the end of the year.”

BIKE TRAC supports solo round the world charity event.

Motorcycle tracking specialist, Bike Trac, is pleased to confirm support of Steph Jeavons as she embarks on a solo navigation of the globe on a motorcycle later this month.

The trip, dubbed as 'One Steph Beyond', raises funds for the Rally 4 Life charity and will see her travel through 42 countries, as she attempts to make it round the world on her Honda CRF250L, all tracked live by Bike Trac.

Steph commented, "It's something I've wanted to do for more years than I care to remember, and so after much deliberation I finally decided that this is the year. The support I've had from everyone has been amazing and while I'm no stranger to riding off-road or remotely, having been an off-road instructor for several years and travelled extensively overseas, it 's still a very daunting prospect given the extremities of the terrain and climates I'll be riding through."

Beginning her trip on March 23, Steph will leave from the famous Ace Cafe in London before heading across the Channel and beginning the foreign leg of her trip in Europe. With a plan to take in all seven continents, after Europe Steph plans to take her Honda through Turkey, Iran, UAE, India, Nepal, Thailand, Australia, South America, North America and Canada before heading across to Africa, eventually returning to Europe and home some time in 2015.

Bike Trac's Bill Taylor explained the support, "Steph's journey will be tracked live by Bike Trac and with one of our dedicated Event Eagle websites set-up too, supporters can follow Steph live throughout the journey. With standard functions like Bike Down included, if Steph does take a tumble, the system will text her emergency contacts to notify them that she may be in trouble. Of course, we wish her the very best of luck and look forward to following her on the trip live."

To follow Steph's progress log into her Event Eagle at - http://eventeagle.com/Map.aspx?EventName=OneStephBeyond

To see more details on Steph's challenge, visit her website at BIK