Wednesday 4th August 2010

Support The Red Arrows Scooter Challenge

RAF's finest flyers want PH cash for charity bash

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The flyers' official flyer

Having shamelessly roped the good name of the Red Arrows into a scurrilous and utterly unworthy dig at JLR's new design executive (Mrs V. Beckham) recently, we have inferred from subsequent 'informal communications' that perhaps 'it's time we did something bl**dy useful for a change', here at PH towers.

That the Red Arrows are better equipped for a scrap than your humble scribes is undeniable, but rest assured this plug for their latest venture is offered purely in the spirit of citizenship, and not from any fear of being flour-bombed from 600ft. (Although we wouldn't mind a fly-past!)

The venture in question is a charity scooter ride from Land End to John O'Groats on a collection of Vespa 125S Scooters in the full livery of the Red Arrows, ridden by pilots from the Royal Airforce Aerobatic Team, The Red Arrows, and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

The Red Arrows and liveried Vespa

The Red Arrows Scooter Challenge is being organised by Flight Lieutenant Mike Ling, who hit the headlines earlier in the year when he was forced to eject from his Red Arrows Hawk in a training incident over Crete. And in spite of what you may be thinking, the team isn't raising funds for a new aircraft (they must have fully comp. insurance), but is dedicating the mission to supporting five very worthy charities:

• Help For Heroes
• The Royal Airforces Association
• Fly2help
• Whizz-Kidz
• The Royal Airforce Benevolent Fund

MoD versus rockers... (Geddit?)

The journey would take around an hour in a Red Arrows Hawk, we're told, but the team aims to do it on Vespas in four days starting on September 30th.

You can find out more about the Scooter Challenge here, make a donation here, or simply text SCOOTER to 70099 to lob an easy £2 into the collecting tin. (We have already, honest!)

[infradig]

Four days??? Doesn't seem that much of a challenge. I think the Sports Relief celebs did it in 4 days on push bikes,in fact I'm sure people have cycled in half that time. I don't know how fast a 125 Vespa goes but with a team of highly trained pilots I would have thought they could do it in less than a day.

[morebeanz]

Lands End to J O'G is over 700 miles, and no 125 scooter could average 70 miles an hour with no breaks...(possibly with no brakes though )

[lucky b]

I hope the ejector seat on the Vespa works better than in the aircraft!

[ellisd82]

Cool - they come past my house on day 2 lol. I'll have to watch out for them and maybe ride party way with them.

[ellisd82]

infradig said:

Four days??? Doesn't seem that much of a challenge. I think the Sports Relief celebs did it in 4 days on push bikes,in fact I'm sure people have cycled in half that time. I don't know how fast a 125 Vespa goes but with a team of highly trained pilots I would have thought they could do it in less than a day.

I think it is more of an exhibition than a race. They will be stopping to meat people and so on and collect money. I have done a similar thing myself.

[Fer]

morebeanz said:

Lands End to J O'G is over 700 miles, and no 125 scooter could average 70 miles an hour with no breaks...(possibly with no brakes though )

But 700 divided by 24 hrs is less than 30 mph... you could do that on a 50cc! (In theory, although your mileage may vary, always read the lable and remember shares may go down as well as up.)