Cheer some rally heroes

Mission Motorsport joins the London Rally For Heroes starting at Brooklands today

By Dan Trent / Friday, 19 April 2013 / Loading comments

If you're in the Brooklands area today you might want to stop by and say hi to friends of PH

Mission Motorsport

and wish them luck in the London Rally For Heroes, which has its ceremonial start from the circuit later on today.

Group N Cossie for the Mission Motorsport guys

Over 80 crews from around the UK and Europe will be taking part in the event, which will run along 50 miles of specially opened military roads on MoD land around Aldershot tomorrow. Spectators will be admitted to watch the action, which finishes at Brooklands after returning from Aldershot. Proceeds from the event will be going towards

Help For Heroes

Mission Motorsport figurehead PHer James Cameron, aka Tankslider, will be driving a Group N Ford Sierra Cosworth, the man on the maps beside him Sgt Nathan Cumberland. Cumberland lost both legs following injuries sustained in fighting in Helmand in 2009 and, with Mission Motorsport, has since rallied alongside Cameron in a number of events, including Wales Rally GB in 2011. The Sierra is a more potent weapon than any they've crewed before though - "a lot faster and a lot more fun. I've been looking forward to this for weeks," says Cumberland.

Army banter persists whether driving tanks or rally cars, Cameron saying "I get bossed about a lot in the car, so I've a habit of deliberately trying to put Nathan off. I don't think we'll have time for that on this very fast event. We'll be adjusting to the speed of the car in the first stages, but Nathan is an exceptional navigator, very composed despite the worst excesses of my driving!"

Cumberland (foreground) and the team

Ahead of them in an R2 Fiesta will be

Dakar Race2Recovery

driver Cpt Tony Harris, likely setting a fearsome pace. "One mistake and we'll have him!" says a confident Cumberland though.

The crews are scheduled to depart Brooklands from 1845h tonight in a ceremonial start, the action kicking off in earnest tomorrow. The event website offers a number of ways of keeping up with the action if you can't make it down yourself - see here for full details.