Reverend pushes MGA around Bicester race track for charity

The Chaplain of Bicester Heritage, Reverend Adam Gompertz, will be supporting Mission Motorsport in its Race of Remembrance #YourRoR Challenge by pushing an MGA around the track at Bicester Heritage for three hours on Remembrance Sunday (8th November 2020).

Mission Motorsport’s annual Race of Remembrance (RoR) had been cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, so the Chaplain’s ‘REVS-Limiter’ team sprang into action to support the #YourRoR initiative which encourages supporters to fund raise in their own way.

Mission Motorsport is the Armed Forces’ Motorsport Charity and operates under the motto of “Race, Retrain, Recover.” The charity enables motor sport as a recovery activity, and is a Royal Foundation (the charitable trust of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex) Endeavour Fund initiative. It is funded by Help For Heroes and The Royal British Legion as well as by industry partners and independent fundraising.   

As part of the MoD’s Career Transition Partnership, the charity helps those leaving the military to find employment in the automotive industry. In its seven years of operations, Mission Motorsport has delivered more than 5,000 training days of sport for 1,500 wounded, injured or sick beneficiaries, leading to over 400 placements and over 150 jobs. The Charity’s veteran employment programs have paved the way for over 1,700 veterans into employment in the Automotive Industry.   

With the support of Bicester Heritage, the ‘REVS’ team comprising of Adam Gompertz, Charlotte Vowden, Jimmy de Ville, Matt Sanger, and Alex Goy, will be taking part in #YourRoR by lapping Frisky the MGA around the track at Bicester Heritage on the morning of Remembrance Sunday (November 8th). However, to make the challenge more interesting the team will be pushing, rather than driving, Frisky around the circuit. 

Aiming to cover as many laps as possible within a three-hour limit, the team’s challenge will finish in time for Adam, as Chaplin of the Bicester Heritage site, to fulfil his main role of the day and hold a socially distanced Remembrance service at the former RAF base.

Although not an obvious vehicle for a charity challenge, journalist Charlotte Vowden’s car ‘Frisky’ shares a bond with the day, as its previous custodian, Charlotte’s grandfather, saw service with the RAF during World War 2.  While not heavy by modern standards, it still weighs nearly a tonne and the small team will have its work cut out in maintaining a steady pace for the three hours of the trial.

If wish to donate to Mission Motorsport, you can do so via this handy link: www.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/YourRoR and you can watch all the action by searching for ‘REVS Limiter’ on Facebook.

Reverend Adam Gompertz, REVS-Limiter’s organiser, commented: “We want to support the community of Mission Motorsport beneficiaries, and thought it entirely appropriate to base our challenge here at the former RAF bomber base, Bicester Heritage. Of course, this is a significant day where we remember and give thanks for the sacrifices that so many service personnel have given over the years.” 

James Cameron, Mission Motorsport CEO, added: “Cancelling Race of Remembrance was a tough decision and its impact on our beneficiaries, our supporters and those who love the event is acute. We conceived of the #YourRoR campaign to keep the spirit of the race alive in these difficult times, and the classic car push captures that spirit absolutely. We’re also enormously grateful to Bicester Heritage who, yet again are demonstrating their unstinting support to the charity”.