BEN Mille Miglia Rally

On Thursday 30 July, several participants of the 2009 Mille Miglia Rally met up at Town Thorns, BEN’s residential centre near Rugby.

Everyone enjoyed looking at photos from the trip and reminiscing about the fun they had had on the way. Certificates were presented to everyone present, lovingly personalised by the BEN Events Team.

Those present tell us their favourite memories of the trip (click view info to see their comments):

After months and months of planning - we finally hit the road! Make sure you follow us on Twitter for regular tweets!

Sean Scott works for the AA. Most of his hobbies revolve around motorbikes. He belongs to the Burgess Hill Motorbike Club, West Sussex Advanced Riding Club, Serv Sussex, BMW Club and the AA Historic. AA Historic absorbs most of Sean’s time. He takes care of a 1981 AA patrol bike; a BMW R80RT and enjoyed working on and riding the bike so much that he even bought one for himself!

Serv Sussex is part of Serv Blood Runners. At least once a fortnight Sean volunteers to deliver blood or organs to hospitals, freeing up ambulances and keeping NHS costs down.

Sean will be riding this year’s Mille Miglia as part of the AA Historic team. He will be sharing in the riding of a Pan European ST1100 and a Harley Davidson.

Sean has not been abroad for 22 years and is a mite apprehensive about the trip. He is, however, really looking forward to the views and plans to take each day as it comes. He has supported BEN for many years and wants to raise as much as he can for the charity.

John MacDonald is a trainee solicitor working for Evershed’s. John is 28 and his favourite pastimes are riding motorcycles and playing golf. He will be riding a Honda CBF100 for the Mille Miglia which has been kindly donated by Honda.

John says;
“BEN is a really important charity and I am proud to support it at this tough time. Of course, it’s a terrible shame that I have to ride around Italy to do so!”

John’s team-mate is Christopher Morgan, Head of HR for Honda Europe. Like John, Christopher is 38 and enjoys golf as well as tennis when he has any time left over from work and his two young children! Christopher will be riding a Honda ST1300 which is ideal for this type of touring.

Honda are long-term supporters of BEN and Christopher feels that the Mille Miglia is a great way to fulfil his dream of riding around Italy while supporting his industry’s charity.

Christopher has already raised thousands for BEN, only missing out on sponsorship from John who wriggled out by requesting to join him.

‘DB4’ is a father and son team, Ian and Paul Mason. Ian is a life-long classic car enthusiast having joined Aston Martin as an apprentice in 1958. Ian was the Aston Martin Service Agent for London, owning and running London’s premier Aston Martin Service Workshop and Parts Department from 1970, until retiring last year.

Paul works in international banking, having recently returned to London from working in Australia.

Their 1960Aston Martin DB4 was bought by Ian in 1970. The car has featured throughout family life, from transporting the family to regular holidays to Cornwall (with, would you believe, two children and a dog on-board!) through to being successfully raced in England by Ian throughout the1970s.

The body of the DB4 was designed in Milan, so the trip will be something of a home coming for the car.

Paul and Ian have undertaken rallies through France before as Service Assistance to an Aston Martin DB4GT on the Tour Auto, but re-tracing the Mille Miglia will be a first and both are looking forward to enjoying the magnificent road route and scenery.

They are both delighted to have this opportunity to help, support and raise the profile of BEN and its fantastic work.

Should any one wish to show support for ‘Team DB4 ‘ and the BEN Mille Miglia Rally, donations can be made directly to BEN and would be most gratefully received.

You can send cheques to Judy Semadeni, Supporter Relations, BEN, Lynwood, Sunninghill, Ascot, SL5 0AJ.

If you fancy a real driving challenge you’ll have to move fast.

There are now only a few places remaining for this year’s Mille Miglia Rally.

If you want to be a part of this amazing event, don’t miss your chance!

Contact our Events Team on 01344 294720 for further information.

We’ll be heading off to complete our very own Mille Miglia Rally in just a few months time, along with those brave enough to take on the challenge…

It’s going to be a phenomenal 10-day event, and we plan to keep you updated every step of the way - so make sure you keep your eye on the blog!

In the meantime, take a look around the site to find out more about the event, its history, why we’re doing it and how you can take part.