RSS Share 17/11/2005
Renaultsport owner raises money for charity

After saving £25,000 to buy your dream car, could you be persuaded to deface your pride and joy? Even in the name of a good cause?

Mike Easley was and after proposing to plaster his Clio Renaultsport V6 255 with stickers in return for pledges to Children in Need the 46-year-old soon had more than £600 in donations from renaultsport.co.uk community members.

"Raising money for Children in Need is something we do at work every year," said Mike, from Telford. "I know it would hurt most owners to deface their car but it won't me. Although it's my pride and joy I'm old enough to take the joke. Some people would rather die but that's what it takes to raise the money - you have to do something a bit daft."

Mike came up with the idea after seeing a photo of a liveried car. "I just thought what kind of nut case would do that to a nice Clio?" he said. "That's where the idea came from and I posted it on the forum. I didn't know how it would turn out and was prepared to throw the money in myself if nobody came forward but they more than came up with a reasonable amount of money. I was surprised. A couple of people in particular pledged £100 as soon as I posted the notice."

Mike will keep the stickers on his car until next year, when he will attend a Renaultsport trackday, supplied by Renault UK, to present the modified car to his peers. He then plans to restore his pride and glory to its former elegance.

"When I've seen people driving around with stickers like that on the first thing that springs to mind is 'boy racer'," said the computer technician. "I drive the car every day and have to use it for work so it's going to cause a few raised eyebrows."

Mike joined the forum in June 2004 and has been a regular ever since. "A lot of us have met on more than one occasion on the trackdays and on the ClioSport forum," he said. "We get together socially. It's a good place to meet like-minded people."

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