Salvo races to help of Pudsey and pals

ACELEBRITY racing event, featuring drivers from Top Gear and the Grand Tour, raised over £3,000 as part of Children in Need.

Held at Team Karting, on Queensway, the night was organised by Salvo Cachia, from Littleborough, who has been heavily involved in stunt driving and fundraising for many years.

The kart race, on Friday, November 15, allowed him to combine two of his passions and helped bring in £3,196 for the BBC charity cause.

Salvo, 60, said: “I was asked by the BBC to come up with an idea for Children in Need so I said we would do what we do best - we race.

“I have been involved with lots of charity work and racing over the years. So I thought I would approach a couple of tracks to see what we could come up with.

“We came up with a celebrity race with one on each team.”

●●Some of the teams which took part in the Children in Need celebrity racing event at Team Karting on Queensway in Rochdale organised by Salvo Cachia (inset)

The evening saw ten teams from various motorsport series take to the track, including Abbie Eaton, test driver on Amazon’s The Grand Tour, British racing drivers Adam Christodoulou and Max Coates, and many more.

The event was a sell-out within five days of being made public, with Team Cataclean taking the chequered flag following a hard-fought race. Organisers are already thinking ahead to next year.

“All of the celebs turned up and they are all gunning for doing it again next year,” Salvo said.

“They’re looking for me to do it on a much bigger scale, either the O2 Arena or somewhere in Birmingham.

“Everybody had a cracking time. In fact the owner of the track said it was the best one they had of the year.”

Salvo was able to use his experience with these events to help generate even more money for the charity, particularly knowing how competitive the drivers would get.

A black flag, typically used in racing when someone has done something wrong, instead allowed teams to donate up to hundreds of pounds at a time to leapfrog ahead.

It helped the evening be a lot more fun for those taking part and ultimately, raised more money for the cause.

“It’s benefitting kids who probably never do things like that,” Salvo added.

“We had a kids team in and they have benefitted from Children in Need funding before, and those kids raced with a celebrity.

“Abbie Eaton raced with them - the kids were showing her around, rather than the other way around!”