Jonny joins fellow racers to raise £50,000 | 15/01/09 Jonathan joined a star-studded line-up at the world's biggest motor racing show - Autosport International - at Birmingham's NEC, last Friday (9 January). He was appearing for the first time in the televised race that has become a highlight of the annual event, after being invited to join a team representing leading weekly motor racing newspaper, Motorsport News. The two-hour endurance race attracted 16 teams, consisting of established and up-and-coming drivers from motorsports various disciplines, members of the public - who had paid £300 each for the privilege of going wheel to wheel with their heroes - and a team of glamour models, appropriately named 'Bangers and Crash.' Despite starting from 13th on the grid, Jonny's team quickly began to move into contention. They were in 7th place when he took to the track for his stint - and he wasted little time in moving the team further up the order. The tight but flowing nature of the track offered few passing places and Jonathan had to demonstrate a somewhat 'robust' technique to overtake another kart - dive down his opponent's inside and then push them towards the barriers. This produced a feisty response as he attempted to pass the lead kart and some classic wheel-banging followed, which was only resolved when Jonny's rival pitted. After two hours of relentless action, his team finished in 6th place, but Jonathan was satisfied with the result, saying "6th wasn't too bad considering the quality of the field. And anyway, where we finished wasn't really the point - raising nearly £50,000 for the Richard Burns Foundation (the former world champion rally driver who succumbed to brain cancer in 2005), the Christie Cancer Hospital in Manchester and Emmaus Hampshire (which supports the homeless) was." He added, "I enjoyed myself - the race was a great laugh. It was a good opportunity to catch up with some of my old racing mates, meet some new people and raise money for great causes". Jonathan returns to action this weekend (17/18 January) in the 3rd round of the ABKC Winter Series at Shenington in Oxfordshire. He says, "The Autosport race really fired me up for getting back to what I'd call proper racing. What I raced last Friday was nothing like the kart I normally race (in the KF1 class, karting's equivalent of F1). It'll be just as frantic, mind." << back to news