BP Ultimate Celebrity Karting Challenge And Racing 4 Charity Auctions Raise £45,000 At Autosport International

14 January 2009

David Brabham’s charity kart race, the BP Ultimate Celebrity Karting Challenge, together with the Racing 4 Charity auctions held on the F1 Racing display, succeeded in raising £45,000 at Autosport International. The 2009 event total takes the amount raised by Racing 4 Charity to a staggering £300,000 over the last 10 years and to £92,000 raised at Autosport International alone in the last two years.

The £45,000 raised will be donated to the Richard Burns Foundation, The Christie Cancer Hospital Manchester, and Emmaus Hampshire, while the funds generated through the Racing 4 Charity auctions on the F1 Racing display will be given to Nara (The Breathing Charity) and the Motorsport Foundation.

The 2009 BP Ultimate Celebrity Karting Challenge attracted a plethora of international motorsport stars, all giving up their time free of charge to raise money for the cause while 32 members of the public each donated £300 for the privilege of racing alongside their motorsport heroes.

Brabham was joined by Audi Sport legends Emanuele Pirro, Tom Kristensen and Frank Biela, in addition to Johnny Mowlem, Louise Goodman, Andrew Kirkaldy, Rob Bell, Adam Carroll, Niall Quinn, Danny Watts, Robbie Kerr, Gordon Sheddon, Oliver Turvey, Sam Bird, Bradley Ellis, Jon Lancaster, Duncan Tappy, Riki Christodoulou, Ben Hanley, Jack Harvey, Sarah Playfair, Tom Onslow-Cole and Tiffany Chittenden.

After a thrilling one hour and forty five minutes of wheel-to-wheel racing on the Karting4U indoor kart track at the Karting Show at Autosport International, it was Team 11, ‘The Good Mornins’ featuring Duncan Tappy, Ben Hanley, Paul Rees, PJ Rashidi and Riki Christodoulou, who finally took the spoils, with public drivers Ian Giles and Nick Lamb.

Team eight, ‘MSA Rally Elite’ with Adam Gould, Jason Pritchard, Jason Dredge, Barry Clark and James Wozencroft, came a close second and ‘Team GT’ of Robin Liddell, Robbie Kerr, Dillon Batistini and Tim Sugden finished third. Brabham’s ‘Team Modena All Stars’, featuring eight-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, Australian karting star Kip Foster, race organiser Bill Williams, Rik Bryan, Dennis Jehan and Mitch Macfarlane, finished fourth.

David Brabham commented: “I am delighted that the 2009 BP Ultimate Celebrity Karting Challenge event was so successful and raised so much for the worthy charities we are supporting. To raise £92,000 at Autosport International over the last two years is simply amazing.

“The event has once again proved extremely popular and this year saw a great level of support from really high profile drivers. I’d like to thank everyone for their contribution, including the public drivers, sponsors, Autosport International and event volunteers. The race just wouldn’t be possible without them. I hope everyone enjoyed it and that we can repeat the same level of success at next year’s event at Autosport International.”

Racing 4 Charity was formed by David Brabham and Bill Williams, who tirelessly organises the event on a voluntary basis outside his job as a police officer, over 10 years ago. This special partnership has raised £300,000 for numerous charities including Nara (The Breathing Charity) and Bliss (The Premature Baby Charity).

To mark a decade of joint working, Brabham presented Bill with one of the race helmets he used during his first Le Mans GT1 class victory with Aston Martin Racing in 2007 at Autosport International 2008. Bill returned Brabham’s moving gesture during the prize giving at Friday’s event by presenting him with the police helmet in which Bill famously arrested a woman in Andover a few years ago for parking rage for which he received national TV recognition.

Full team listings and race results for the BP Ultimate Celebrity Karting Challenge 2009 are available at www.celebritykarting.co.uk. If you would like to contribute to Racing 4 Charity’s efforts, please contact bill@racing4charity.com or call 07712 578263.

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