Hi,

Now we've reached our limit of 500+ vehicles, we thought it was time we collected some of the facts together about Caring with Cars on Sunday 20th May.

The event is shaping up well, with the long list including delights such as a custom chopper, the latest McLaren MP4/12C, Marcos LM600, Jaguar XJ220, Tesla, Bugatti Type 35, TVR Typhon plus interesting classics and modern performance cars. This is in addition to the three drag cars and drag bike that will be making their presence heard on the day.

We are also pleased to announce that the Downs School's own Formula 24 electric racer will be shown by the pupils that built and race it.

Audi R8 GT Spyder

Our man at Audi has been busy pulling lots of strings behind the scenes and managed to secure the attendance of 1 of 33 RHD R8 GT Spyders. This is the lightened, high performance model of the R8 and, we believe, may be the only one in the UK at present.

SUNDAY 20TH MAY - FREE ENTRY - OPENS 10 AM - REGISTERED VEHICLES ONLY

The event remains completely free, thanks to amazing support again from both Bath Audi and Bristol Audi. Alongside the R8 GT Spyder will be a number of other pumped-up models to see.

New Raffle Prizes

The list has come on in leaps and bounds recently, with an emphasis on prizes suitable for petrolheads and families. You don't often see this wealth of great prizes so make sure you buy LOTS of tickets to increase your chances!

ALL of the money raised through raffle ticket sales and donations goes directly to the charity, so please give generously. We raised over £5400 last year and hope to raise much more in 2012.

The prizes at present are:

• Private tour of Lotus Renault F1 for 8 people
• New Audi A5 convertible for a weekend from Bath Audi
• Porsche driving experience at Silverstone on Porsche's own test track from Porsche Centre Bristol
• A Day with Red Victor Racing - UK's fastest street legal drag car
• Silverstone Classic hospitality and tickets with Roger Wills Racing and Masters
• Exclusive balloon flight for 2 people thanks to Fishtank.cc
• Britcar hospitality and tickets and pit tour with Topcats Racing
• Cessna flight over the Severn valley with aviation firm Exas.co.uk
• Full Goodwood track day with refreshments and tuition
• VMAX200 ticket for their private runway events
• £750 bodywork / paintwork voucher from Alsa Automotive
• Prescott Revival tickets and hill run
• Pair of Gatorz designer sunglasses
• Free lunch or dinner at the lovely Trouble House Inn, Tetbury
• Family ticket for Farmer Palmer's Family Farm Park near Poole
• Two signed Wurzels CDs - to inject a bit of Somerset into your day!

We are indebted to the generous people and companies who have donated to help this important charity.

How the Raffle works

Unlike many raffles, we pull winning tickets from the hat and ask the owner to come up and choose a prize from those remaining. So, if you have your eye on something specific and it's still available, it's yours.

Expert Talks

These are still planned, with Mike Cooper, Lotus Renault F1 and Alsa Automotive giving interesting talks in the Downs School's own purpose-built theatre. Alsa Automotive are bringing along a Ferrari 250 GTE and a Rolls Royce Corniche to show the standard of their work.

There will be a sign-up sheet for each talk at the raffle table gazebo on the day - each talk will be limited to around 60 people.

Food

We are bringing in good food at sensible prices. We have the popular catering van from 2011, and in addition will have both a caterer selling fish 'n' chips (etc) and Bristol's Tarrs Ice Cream who have won many awards for their delicious products.

Website

Full details of CwC, including raffle prizes, maps and pictures from 2011's event, can be found on the event website:

http://www.caringwithcars.com

Donations

If you wish to make a donation in advance, the Just Giving page is below. Online donations will go directly to the charity:

http://www.justgiving.com/cwc2012

Please ask your friends to donate

We would appreciate very much if you would send the Just Giving page to your friends and family to draw in more donations. The charity provides important care for over 1,000 seriously ill children in the south west, and also gives their families much needed support. You can read a moving story of how CHSW helped a PistonHeads member here.

Marshalling

If you would like to be a part of CwC on the day, we are looking for a few more marshals to help us. Please get in touch with me via PH profile.


Cheers,

The CwC Main Organisers - Graham, Sandy, Paul and Lisa

Glad I just got emailed as I had forgotten about this, and there doesn't seem to be a thread running in the south west section, which is my usual haunt. Looking forward to it, although I will be knackered after completing a corporate challenge on Dartmoor the day before

A group from south wales is meeting at magor services junction 23 M4 at 9.00am so anybody that wants to meet up put your name down in the south wales section of the forum or just be there before 9.00am. See you all there.

Swindon convoy planned here

As long as you arrive before the event closes there is no cut off point.

Road Closure Warning

Guys, if anyone is planning to cut through Bristol City Center to get to the event, be warned that the Bristol 10K is taking part on the same date so there will be road closures around the City Center, Harbourside, Swing Bridge & Portway areas.

We've just heard what Mike and Claire are bringing to Caring with Cars this year:


Bentley 3 4 1/2 'Mother Gun' by Dr Tim Houlding


Lagonda 'Le Mans'

Like last year, is there still a problem with me offering to do full VCDS scans / convenience module tweaks on V.A.G motors, in exchange for donations to the charity?

EXPERT TALK UPDATE

Unfortunately Alsa Automotive, due to unusual work pressures, have had to pull out from speaking at the event.

However, being the amazing people that they are, they have decided to raise the raffle prize they offered from £750 to an outstanding £1000 discount on bodywork/ paintwork at their premises. Seriously impressive and we'd like to thank them sincerely for their support even though they can't make it on the day.

Mike Cooper of Driver-Tuition.com, who is already lined up to give a talk, has stepped in and offered to fill the space and give two talks on the day.

Guys,

I've moved out of the area to Kent, so it's fairly unlikely I'll make the event. I'll remove myself from the list when I know for definite either which way.

On a personal note, well done on what you're doing - it commands a lot of respect - and it was nice to meet the members of the SW over the past 2 years.

Take care.