We might not always act like it but we're grown-ups here on PH and sometimes that means facing grown-up stuff. The word community gets bandied about pretty loosely sometimes but, at its best, that's exactly what PistonHeads is and for this award we celebrate those among our number who go the extra mile. Without wishing to sound glib, everyone's a winner in this category and take this opportunity to tip your hat to all the nominees.
Jim Cameron - Tankslider
Jim Cameron is a PHer through and through. Former day job as Tank Regiment Major driving Challengers and all sorts of other tracked stuff, as well as a positively unhealthy obsession with circulating the 'ring ticks those boxes. PHer of the year though? Well that's for his day job since leaving the army this year as the main bloke behind forces motorsport charity Mission Motorsport. MM's remit is to aid in the rehabilitation of conflict affected servicemen through motorsport, and he's very good at it. The stuff you've seen - like successfully campaigning Britcar24 with Nissan, or providing crew for Derek Bell at Classic Le Mans grabs the headlines. However behind the scenes MM are quietly doing much, much more. Jim's capacity for relentless badgering of the right people in the right places means that MM is helping dozens of blokes with life changing injuries to move on in ways you wouldn't imagine. He'll hate us for nominating him because he's the very definition of Quietly Getting Things Done. For that Jim, we salute you. (Stuart)
Mel Johnson
Not so long ago we told you about the Ali B memorial Blood Bike, a Hayabusa ridden by 139-month PH member Mel as he volunteers his time to deliver urgently required blood to hospitals that need it as part of a team called SERV. The 'busa was previously owned by PHer Ali B who tragically passed away at the age of 42 with stomach cancer, and his wife Jo donated the bike to SERV who immediately named the bike in Ali's memory. Thanks to the efforts of Mel, not only does Ali's memory live on, but countless lives are saved too. Without a penny of payment for their trouble. Mel and the SERV volunteer team deliver essential blood, plasma, platelets, samples, vaccines, donor breast milk and any other urgently required medical items to hospitals out of hours and free of charge to the NHS. Mel tirelessly campaigns to raise much-needed funds for SERV, and attends PH meets regularly to spread the word. PH applauds his efforts and he takes a rightful place in this selection of great PHers. (Paul)
Andy Frost
There are many reasons why Andy should be considered for this award. Firstly, he is an avid PHer who had added a lot to the forum community over the years, and his build thread within Readers Cars is worthy of an award in itself. But that's not why he's here - it's a mere part of it. Working hard to achieve his dream, 2012 saw Andy and the Red Victor 3 team reach their goal as RV3 ran the Santa Pod quarter-mile in an amazing 6.59 seconds and achieve a top speed of 220mph as it did it. That means the PH Smiley-wearing RV3 is now the world's quickest street legal car. Yep, that's right - the Vauxhall still has a tax disc and an MOT. Andy works hard to realise his dream without the big budgets that other teams enjoy. To see him reach his goal while still running his own business and still finding the time to attend meets and chat on a host of forums is an example to us all. (Paul)
PH awards 2012 categories: