Supported Charity

Santa Pod & The MS Trust at: The FIA Main Event 28th-31st May 2010 The FIA European Finals 9th-12th September 2010

This latest Santa Pod adventure started in 2009 when I (Kaz Aston) and Gordon Northway decided to raise some money for The MS Trust (www.mstrust.org.uk) as I have been diagnosed with MS for over 15 years.
 
I only discovered the world of drag racing at the 2009 Easter Thunder ball where I quickly spotted the Pod’s 2-seater dragster! Wanting to make a difference for the MS Trust, with a bit of fundraising for this invaluable UK charity, Darren Prentice (Santa Pod’s Race Director) kindly arranged a Thrill ride in Santa Pod’s exclusive 2 Seater Dragster.

Nigel & Jules, presenters from Nitro FM, Santa Pod’s official event radio station, quickly interviewed me at the Summer Nationals event to glean a bit more info to share with spectators and see how they could help for the future. I’d been blown away by the sport and being able do the thrill ride even with MS completed the whole fantastic Santa Pod experience.

Nigel quickly shared his expert thoughts and together with Jules and Caroline (Santa Pod Marketing Manager) we came up with a terrific plan to help me to raise awareness about MS (Multiple Sclerosis) & The MS Trust at Santa Pod (see: www.kazaston.com for info).

The MS Trust has existing relationships with several UK Drag Racing Teams that support the charity, so to further this at Santa Pod, we pulled together the following amazing ideas that you may have seen or heard about on Nitro FM at the 2009 FIA European Finals & National Finals events:

• Gary Page with The Mongoose Exhausts/Pennzoil Team displayed MS Trust Banners in their pits while collecting donations, Gary did a live Nitro FM interview with me to help people learn about what MS actually is and the support that The MS Trust gives.
• Les Harris with The Super Twins bike class displayed MS Trust Banners in their pits at the National Finals, collected donations and also highlighted it further during Les’ Nitro FM sessions.
• Together Nigel, Jules, Black Cat Productions and I produced an educational MS Trust radio advert that featured at both the 2009 FIA European & National Finals.
• A Nitro FM Shirt was autographed by Top Racing Drivers & key people within the sport ready to auction live on air. Watch out for this one at the 2010 FIA Main Event.
• Nigel Holland continued his outstanding photographic support to capture precise images you may have seen already in the Press/Media Coverage, associated web sites, The MS Trust UK Official Website and now here on Santa Pod’s website.
• Many other kind offers of support from teams & individuals also arrived at Nitro FM, which were just so kind. Here are just a few we hope will help in some capacity in 2010: Freddy’s Revenge, Shock Wave, The Wild Bunch & Paul Venners.

With so much wonderful encouragement arising from Santa Pod & the sport, Gordon Northway decided to combine his passion to support both the MS Trust and his love of drag racing and set up his own race team “Team Edge” (www.racing4multiplesclerosis.com).

Gordon will begin his racing his car “The Edge”, this year that displays The MS Trust branding & has also offered me (!) an opportunity to race another vehicle “Enigma” under the same team banner for 2010.

With both vehicles currently being transformed to enhance performance, the team is really excited about their first Santa Pod Track, Test & Tune Day organised by Webster Race Engineering. Owner, Jon Webster, along with Steve Good, (Team Edge Crew chief) and Adrenaline Race & Performance will support Gordon and I with the driving to advance the vehicles’ performance and for me a novice to the sport, enhance my drag racing driving skills!

Also, due to my new passion about this incredible sport and charity, I am excited to share that I will be working closely with Trans World Sport TV/Radio, so I’ll keep you all posted on this one. I hope you may have already seen that The MS Trust will be the lead charity at the 2010 Main Event so please look out for all the info on the Santa pod website. So lots planned for 2010 at Santa Pod in support of The MS Trust that I hope you will be able to enjoy when you next visit or listen to live coverage from Nitro FM.