“Are you mad?” Was one of the first reactions I received when I proposed a circuit of the M25 as a route for the 2014 Pink Car Rally. Another was simply “Why?”
I have, personally, avoided driving on the M25 all of my life! So why was I now proposing it as a potential rally route? Well, I am very aware that there are lots of pink cars in London and the Home Counties, but I wasn’t keen to take the rally into London. What I really needed to do was to encourage the Londoners to come out of London! I know that the M25 has often been referred to as the world’s biggest car-park, by frustrated motorists, but in the 2012 John O’Groats to Land’s End Pink Car Rally, when we were stuck in traffic on the M5, neighbouring car drivers wound down their windows and asked what the rally was all about, so being caught in congestion was time well spent on promoting the charity. We even received a few donations!
This year’s rally will be on 6th & 7th September. Pink participants will gather in the car-park of Sainsbury’s Langley, Slough, at around 9am, for a 10am departure. Some will no doubt arrive early, to enjoy a cooked breakfast and to stock up on supplies for the road-trip.
There will be a comfort-stop at South Mimms service station at around 12 noon (traffic dependent) and we will move on from there at around 1pm, heading for intu Lakeside, where we hope to arrive at around 3pm. We have permission for a ‘coin collection’ here, so if you’re local, please pop along to support us. We will happily relieve you of your loose change! We will leave the shopping centre at 7pm, crossing the Dartford Bridge and making our way to our overnight accommodation.
Sunday 7th Sept will see the pink procession leaving Dartford at 9.30am, heading for Brands Hatch, Britain’s best-loved motor racing circuit, for a Pinkie brunch, before the ‘Official Start’ of day 2 of the rally at 11am. From Brands Hatch, the rally will head for a ‘special stop’, which has only just been announced… Epsom Hospital…. where we hope to bring a smile to the faces of lots of children. We aim to arrive there at 12.15 and leave at 1.30pm, heading back to Sainsbury’s at Langley, Slough, to complete our circuit, at around 4.30pm
Please note, timings are approximate! We have only allowed ourselves two days to complete the 118 mile circuit! You can follow our progress throughout the weekend via Twitter #OrbitingTheOrbital @pinkcarrally @saligray and via our Facebook page www.facebook.com/pinkcarrally
We did it! Without any hold-ups or delays!
If you can’t make the rally but would like to make a donation, you can do so via JustGiving – thank you.
Pink Car Rally Reporter 