9:30am Wednesday 10th March 2010
By Alexandra Womack
THREE friends from Yate are revving up for a road challenge worthy of a screening on Top Gear.
Tom Braybrooke, Sam Kenbin and Luke Miller are preparing for a four-day trek across Europe in nothing more than an old banger.
The trio, all aged 20, are taking part in Scum Run 2010, a road race where participants can only compete in cars worth less than £500. Each team is unaware of the route they will have to drive and will only be given a postcode to reach at the end of each day.
Tom, a porter at Southmead and Frenchay hospitals, said: "We have no idea which countries we are going to go through yet but I don’t think there is anywhere we don’t want to go.
"We think the route will take us down through France and Germany but we don’t really mind. We are all into cars and are really looking forward to it."
The team will be given the postcode of a camp to meet at each evening but otherwise will be left to travel the 3,000 miles alone.
"We will have to do about 700 miles a day," said Tom. "So we will each drive about 250 miles a day.
"I don’t think we will get bored and hopefully we won’t bite each other’s heads off. We all get on pretty well but we do have our moments."
Luke, who works for Bear Street Garage in Wotton-under-Edge, has wanted to take part in the popular race for several years but has never been able to afford it before. Each team has to buy a car and raise a minimum of £500 for the Scum Run’s chosen charity, Clic Sargent.
The garage donated the team a Nissan Sunny which is undergoing something of a transformation prior to the race between April 15 and 19. The suspension has been lowered, the wheels have been painted green and the entire car has been plastered in stickers.
"We want it to stand out," said Tom. "It depends on the route we take but hopefully the car will be okay. We do have to get home in it as well so it had better work."
The team is hoping to raise several thousands of pounds for charity. To sponsor them visit www.justgiving.co.uk/teamdukeboat
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