Motor Sport and Planting Trees – 5,700 Miles, 1.74 Tonnes of CO2, £100 for the planting of Trees
On Sunday 22nd May, the locally based Hants & Berks Motor Club, who celebrated their seventy fifth anniversary last year, ran their annual Early Bird Classic Car Tour, an 85-mile scenic tour starting at Woodford Park in Berkshire as guests of Woodley Town Council and taking the event participants via a pre-arranged road route to the Amberley Museum in West Sussex.
The thirty-six cars were flagged away from the start by Woodley Town Mayor, Councillor Janet Sartorel.
This was the first ‘green’ event organised by the motor club since the recent updating of its Environmental and Sustainability Policy. The club is not new to the world of reducing carbons, it organised the UK’s version of the annual Mobil Economy Run back in the 1950 – 1970s, which was all about gaining the maximum mileage from a tank of petrol, hypermiling. Each year, the 1000 mile road routes were designed to test the ability of drivers to minimise their cars petrol consumption over the most challenging roads with plenty of hills to climb in England, Wales and Scotland.
The event involved an estimated total of 5,700 miles including participants travelling to Woodley, the event and the miles returning home. It also included the miles travelled by the event marshals and organisers. The fuel used was equivalent to about 1.7 tonnes of CO2. To balance this the Club has donated the costs of tree planting to one of the leading conservation groups in the UK, Forest Carbon who are planting millions of trees aimed at increasing the UK’s ability to capture carbon and balance the generation of CO2.
This is in line with its motor sports governing body Motorsport UK’s policy, who are actively encouraging member clubs to each do their bit towards slowing down the rate of global warming, enabling the club to continue with its sport and at the same time balance its production of carbons that enter the atmosphere.
Club Secretary and the events organiser, Woodley resident Bill Bonney, said: “We are delighted to be adopting this policy and proud to be one of the first local motor clubs to be involved with the carbon capture initiative and although our contribution is small it demonstrates the willingness to move forward in a positive direction.”
