Nurburgring Trip: Trying To Raise £10,000 For The Prostate Cancer Charity!

[ringchallenge]

Three friends and I were chatting in the pub earlier this year and decided to drive to the Nurburgring. Unfortunately, at the time, none of us owned a car that was worthy of the trip. So we decided to buy and prep cars for a maximum of £500, drive them to, round and back and then flog them again.

Then we decided, since we were going to do it anyway, that we might as well try and raise some cash for charity at the same time, so we've decided to do it in aid of The Prostate Cancer Charity and are aiming to raise £10 per mile between us.

We're going on 8 September 2010, so we have a little over two months to raise £10,000. It's a massive challenge, but we've got support from a number of companies and magazines and feel that we can do it. We're planning several challenges in the UK before driving to and from the 'Ring, including rolling road days and track days. Hopefully the cars don't break down before we even leave!

If you want more info on the whole event, we've set up a website and a JustGiving page where it's ridiculously easy to donate and the cash goes straight to The Prostate Cancer Charity - if you do donate (thanks!), please remember to tick the Gift Aid box to maximise your money.

I know it's a bit of a cheek asking for money in my first post, and it isn't the sole reason for posting, but I can't pass up the opportunity to spread the word!

I'm posting to ask for your help in thinking of a car to buy. We are split into two teams, and we want two cars that are pretty evenly matched on paper. We've just purchased our first - a 1994 BMW 525i, for the grand total of £400:

For the second car, we'd like to get either a Ford (probably a Granada Cosworth or Mondeo ST200) or something Japanese (Honda Legend? Toyota Supra?) to appeal to the widest audience we can to secure coverage and please our sponsors!

Unfortunately, we're having difficulty finding a suitable Ford, which would be our first choice, so we're hoping we can use your collective genius to help us uncover one. Of course, if anyone happens to have a Granada Cosworth they'd like to sell off cheaply, please let us know!

If there's any other way you think you might be able to help us out, please email me.

Finally, massive thanks to Steve for letting us post this.

Website: http://www.ringchallenge.co.uk

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ringchallenge

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ringchallenge

JustGiving: http://www.justgiving.com/nurburgringchallenge

The Prostate Cancer Charity: http://www.prostate-cancer.org.uk

[ringchallenge]

Update time, in case anyone is interested!

Firstly, we're still looking for a Ford - can anyone help?

After picking up the 525i the other night, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it drives like a dream. A dented and very scratched dream, but a dream nonetheless.

There have been a few niggles with it, mainly that two of the fuel lines up in the NSR arch had gone very rotten and were being held together by a bracket. It was seeping out enough to give off a strong smell, and as soon as we touched the bracket it squirted fuel across the workshop.

We've cut out the rotten pipe and replaced it with some new fuel hose and some strong clamps and, so far, it seems fine.

The windscreen wipers were badly adjusted and, frankly, rubbish. We took them apart, adjusted them up and replaced the passenger side blade and that's now working perfectly. The drivers side is improved, but needs the blade replaced to get it spot on.

Oh, we've had some stickers made up too:

Finally, I managed to find a set of cheap E39 alloys with legal tyres in the local paper last night, so went and picked them up. The E34 is, at last, fully legal! The tyres aren't perfect, but they've got tread and will do until some kind soul donates a full set of semi-slicks...

We're just waiting for some more to come through from Performance BMW and Performance Direct before getting some proper photos taken.

We're also in talks with a few rolling roads, trying to organise something for BMW owners to come along and see if they can make more power than the almighty 525i. Hopefully, we'll have full details and a date set by the end of the week.

As always, thanks for all the support!

[cyb]

If I may I would like to ask a couple of question about this event?

What % of funds raised will be given to the charity?

Are you recovering monies spent on fuel, food, accommodation or other items from funds raised before handing over any final amount raised?

Will you be recovering monies already spent (car, stickers, advertising etc) from funds raised by this event?

Why should I sponsor you and not donate to the Prostrate Charity direct?

[ringchallenge]

Hi dude, thanks for the questions :)

100% of the funds raised are going direct to the charity. We're attempting to raise £10,000 for them and we'd like to do that through JustGiving (www.justgiving.com/nurburgringchallenge) as it's completely transparent and we don't have to touch the money directly, which obviously simplifies things for us!

We won a Non Standard Award from Performance Direct insurance for £2,500. That's covering half the costs. The other half we're funding out of our own pockets.

If you sponsor us, you effectively are donating directly to The Prostate Cancer Charity as any money donated via JustGiving is passed on to them at the end of each week. If any money is handed to us as a donation, we will be passing it onto The Prostate Cancer Charity via JustGiving ourselves. You are welcome to donate directly to the charity, as, at the end of the day, every donation they get is going to help them, whether raised directly by us or not. However, donating via us means you are helping us to achieve our £10,000 target - and the closer we get to that, the more coverage we are likely to get and the more awareness we are likely to raise for The Prostate Cancer Charity. It's not all about money, getting the charity's name out there and under the nose of the general public is also a major consideration!

If you have any more questions, please let me know - we're happy to answer anything you might be curious about and have nothing to hide.

[Bulldog]

I'm willing to donate, would you be setting up a paypal account as I beleive that with charity donations nothing gets taken off the donation as long as a charity number is given and proved. ;) ;)

Be nice if this is the case to have this as a sticky post so it doesnt move down the line in the forums.

BTW Good Luck with all your efforts and be careful. ;)

[jmurray01]

Good on you for doing it! My money situation just now means I will not be able to donate at this moment in time, but when I start working I will be donating to it along with a few other charities close to my heart. Including the Cats Protection League.

[ringchallenge]

Hey guys, thanks :)

We won't be starting a Paypal account as we'd like to handle all donations through JustGiving (www.justgiving.com/nurburgringchallenge). This enables us to keep track of how far away from the target we are and keeps it transparent for those donating. Also, none of us would really have time to keep on top of the donations if they were coming in directly to us.

We've also bought the second car. Sadly, we couldn't find a Ford within budget and so have gone for a Nissan Maxima 3.0 V6. It's a very close match to the BMW, on paper at least, so should provide some decent competition. It's a shame we couldn't find a Ford, but thanks for all your support and if you'd like me to keep this thread updated as we go along, I'll be happy to!

[Bulldog]

Hey guys, thanks :)

We won't be starting a Paypal account as we'd like to handle all donations through JustGiving (www.justgiving.com/nurburgringchallenge). This enables us to keep track of how far away from the target we are and keeps it transparent for those donating. Also, none of us would really have time to keep on top of the donations if they were coming in directly to us.

We've also bought the second car. Sadly, we couldn't find a Ford within budget and so have gone for a Nissan Maxima 3.0 V6. It's a very close match to the BMW, on paper at least, so should provide some decent competition. It's a shame we couldn't find a Ford, but thanks for all your support and if you'd like me to keep this thread updated as we go along, I'll be happy to!

You could of bought mine lol for a fair price ;)