David Brabham's Celebrity Karting Challenge summary

David Brabham's Celebrity Karting Challenge Lights Up Autosport International Live Action Arena

Birmingham, UK -- Sunday 17 January 2010: The first ever Celebrity Karting Challenge hosted in the Autosport International Live Action Arena within the NEC Birmingham, on Friday 15 January, saw the world's motorsport elite join together to raise an astonishing sum of GBP59,500, taking the total raised by David Brabham's Racing4Charity organisation in the last three years to over GBP151,000.

With the driver entry list, forming 26 teams, reading like a who's who across the motorsport spectrum, the 2010 Celebrity Karting Challenge gave 50 public drivers the chance to race with established and rising stars.

This year's kart race aimed to raise awareness and funds for Malaria No More UK, the charity supported by Brabham in his role as Special Ambassador, to help end malaria - a preventable disease which kills over one million people every year, the majority being children in Africa. Other charities benefitting from the event include Headway, in memory of Henry Surtees, Harley Slack, Emmaus, Bliss, Nara, and the Richard Burns Foundation.

The amazing celebrity line-up included racing legend Derek Bell as Race Director, Allan McNish, Anthony Davidson, Emanuele Pirro, Andy Priaulx, Marino Franchitti, Alex Wurz, Franck Montagny, Nicolas Minassian, Matt Neal and Robbie Head, to name a few. The full team listing is available at www.racing4charity.com.

The Loose Cannons took race victory with public drivers Dave Fry and Shaun Traynor from Winchester taking the top step of the podium alongside Riki Christodoulou, Paul Rees and Will Stevens. Teammate Duncan Tappy commented: "We returned to the Celebrity Karting Challenge as defending champions, so we are delighted to retain the title. We'll definitely be back in 2011, as there really isn't another event quite like this with such an impressive driver entry list. This year's was the best yet."

Team Harley Slack Racing (1), featuring Salvo Cachia, Adam Christodoulou, Ben Collins, Amanda Stretton, Stewart Hutchinson and Johnny Spencer, came second. The Mad Ferrets finished third, with Nigel Moore, Alex Mortimer, Gordon Shedden, Tim Sugden, Rene Robertson and John Taylor completing the 2010 podium.

Brabham, co-founder of Racing4Charity with Bill Williams, said: "I'm very happy with how this whole event has come together and to have achieved our ultimate goal of raising awareness for Malaria No More UK. I'd like to thank everyone for their amazing support, particularly the public drivers who donated to race alongside a fantastic line-up of celebrities, helping to make our first appearance in the Live Action Arena a success. I am honoured to have been joined by such an amazing group of the sport's best drivers, all giving up their free time to support Racing4Charity and my special thanks go to each and every one."

The 2010 Celebrity Karting Challenge presented the Racing4Charity team with its biggest challenge yet as it moved to the Autosport International Live Action Arena.

Over 100 top drivers joined forces for the race which could only take place after the sterling efforts of Haymarket Exhibitions and a team of volunteers who built the specially constructed kart circuit in under an hour, designed by Apex Circuit Design, with the barriers supplied by Oaklands Plastics.

In addition to the karting event, the Racing4Charity team were busy fundraising throughout the public visitor days at Autosport International where auctions of unique and valuable motorsport memorabilia held on the F1 Racing stand raised a further GBP6,500.

The top lot was a Jenson Button signed race suit worn in his victorious Australian and Malaysian 2009 Grand Prix. The auction efforts of Bill Williams and Brabham were bolstered by the FIA Formula One World Champion himself, who was attending Autosport International and helped the bidding efforts from the neighbouring Super One kart championship stand to the delight of the gathered crowds, raising GBP2,800 for the National Blind Children's Association.

One of the world's leading motorsport cartoonists, Jim Bamber created a special cartoon with his trademark amusing plain-faced characters in honour of the event, copies of which were also auctioned. The Bamber masterpiece is still available on bespoke order for those wishing for their name to feature in the cartoon and orders can be placed in exchange for a small donation by contacting bill@racing4charity.com

"Racing4Charity's strap line is 'driven to give children a better future' and its ethos of working with a wide variety of worthy UK and worldwide charities remains," Brabham continued. "If a charity asks for our help, we will willingly give it. In fact we help a range of charities through our Autosport International auctions.

"Each year we try to give some specific focus to a partner charity, offering them our unique event as an unrivalled opportunity to build awareness of their mission and fantastic work. In turn, this helps them to raise funds, not only through our activities at Autosport International but by helping their funding messages reach a global audience.

"With a three-year plan to take the Celebrity Karting Challenge to a whole new level in partnership with Autosport International, the first year of transition was a massive achievement. We couldn't have pulled this off without the help of our dedicated partners and it's only with their support that we can continue to grow. We've certainly gained valuable knowledge and expertise to help ensure this event just gets better and better."

The first UK broadcast of the Celebrity Karting Challenge will air on Sky Sports 3 at 19.00hrs on Thursday 28 January and will be repeated regularly in the UK, including on Motors TV. With worldwide screening commencing on Friday 19 February, TV coverage will reach an astonishing projected audience of 500 million.

The Autosport International crowd were also entertained with live commentary from the expert Radio Le Mans team of John Hindhaugh and Graham Goodwin, which was streamed live via www.radiolemans.com. Motorsport fans can listen back to the broadcast by downloading the podcast at www.radiolemans.com.

-source: hazel pr