*Total to date for COVID, Hospitality Action, StarterMotor, Apprentices and SMA, £60,000

Having supported the apprentices in the historic motoring industry through StarterMotor and Hospitality Action, the medical world continues to receive support via the SMA Charity, ACE. Following the HERO-ERA initial fund raising for the emergency NHS COVID through ingenious ‘table top’ and ‘real time’ virtual rallies, ACE (Awareness Cure and Exercise) was then the next natural medical choice for support. This was all under the blanket scheme at the time labelled HERO2HELP.

The latest initiative this July, the ACE in Motion Tour, witnessed an eclectic mix of 38 cars from 1904 to 2016 to take a 100 mile Oxfordshire tour to raise funds for ACE-SMA clinical trials, for children suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a motor-neurone disease that is the second most common genetic cause of death in children.

The ACE in Motion Tour took in a visit to the Williams Heritage Experience and the Bicester airfield track, all to raise funds for vital ACE-SMA clinical trials. There was great joy when supporters realised the amount they had raised by the end of the day, £30,000.

Sophie and Mike Howes, founders ACE charity

Mike; “It was a brilliant day, it was a lot of fun. Everyone seemed to have a really fun time, a nice relaxed day, but some great people supported us, yes it was brilliant.”

Sophie; “Raising £30,000 pounds is incredible. We are so overwhelmed and blown away by everyone’s generosity, and it was great to have Professor Servais with us to explain what the money is going towards. So it was a fantastic day all round for the awareness and also to raise money for the clinical trials.”

Hero and StarterMotor joined forces to form an ‘Apprentice Lifeline’ to help the future lifeblood of historic motoring, the apprentices.

“They are the future lifeblood of the industry; we needed to help them during the difficult times and onwards into the future” – Patrick Burke M.D. Hero Events

“Our objective is straight forward- to put young people in old cars, whether they are apprentices or simply enjoying driving them. If we don’t succeed our whole community will begin to disappear” – David Withers, Chief Executive StarterMotor

HERO-ERA joined forces with charity partner StarterMotor to highlight the plight of young apprentices in the historic motoring world who had lost placements with engineering companies or events in the lock down. HERO-ERA and StarterMotor aim to continue canvassing motoring community support and help to ease the path for apprentices with further contributions, some of which have just been made. “The industry as a whole can only benefit from this,” said HERO-ERA Chairman Tomas de Vargas Machuca.

A Creative path was conceived by the HERO-ERA Competition Department with the first ever ‘Stay Home Real-Time’ Rally which proved to be a winner, raising more funding for the NHS as the game developed.

It was a bold move to take competitors one step closer to real rally action in lockdown. HERO-ERA successfully executed the ‘live’ rally challenge where 50 crews entered their cars, scrutineered them, phoned marshals to get their time at a control, and even went through secret route checks, just as in reality.

A team of 21 officials and marshals went through a dry run ‘live’ event seven days prior to the actual ‘Stay Home Rally’ to iron out any bugs and ensure all went smoothly on the day. This followed as a natural progression to the ‘Table top’ rally series which crowned champions after the seven rounds, but most importantly raised vital funds for the Emergency NHS COVID fund.

Help will also continue for the struggling hospitality industry who have been under pressure for survival but are now thankfully starting to climb back. Due to the help of competitors and officials, HERO-ERA made a five thousand pound donation to charity partners Hospitality Action raised from VTTC and general contributions. All profit from the initiatives has gone direct to the charities.

HERO-ERA run historic motoring and rally events throughout the world, as such they are a rally family of organisers, competitors, partners, marshals and medics, who rely on the international hospitality industry to look after them in all their different roles in the UK and beyond.

It has been another natural partnership for HERO-ERA to link with top charity Hospitality Action.

From the largest hotel groups to a timing point at the smallest café, the hospitality industry has suffered huge losses with major effects on staff. Many businesses haven’t recovered yet Hospitality Action is making a difference in the UK with links to major international hospitality groups.