The 2015 Audi Red Boot Rally is over for another year. This is the third annual running of this event with a combined organizing effort from Audi Australia, Frizelle’s Automotive Group and Ronald McDonald House Charities. The whole point of the Rally is to raise money that goes directly towards building Ronald McDonald Housing facilities aimed at families with sick children who live remotely from the hospitals where their children are being treated. Visiting these hospitals and facilities on the first day of the Rally in Brisbane really highlights the great work and incredible effort the Ronald McDonald Group have achieved and talking to some of the families emphasized how much being able to utilize the Ronald McDonald Housing really has made their lives easier in difficult circumstances.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised over the three years by this Rally with the latest tally going towards an 84 room, 13 level building in the Brisbane hospital precinct. It’s so rewarding to know that everyone on the Rally has had a hand in making this project come true.
The format of the Rally is that teams “purchase” cars for the three day event which they can then on-sell as sponsorship similar to what we do on the race car. Some major corporate companies are now getting behind this and we saw some real name-brand Australian companies getting involved.
This year I teamed up with World Travel Professionals CEO’s Michael and Lisa to form the “Travel Enforcer’s” Team. Tasks and challenges were given to the teams throughout the three days “Top Gear Style” in a white envelope at each stage of the rally. The Tasks had to be completed for team points with one of the more unusual challenges set of having to go into the main street of Byron Bay and busking for donations after coming up with our own little entertaining acts to perform on the street. As weird as it sounds, it was actually quite fun and the generosity from the public was fantastic. During this one task alone, we even raised over $2,000 in half an hour between the teams, all of which was more dollars to add to the RMHC fund.
The night activities were fantastic as usual with some great entertainment including local singers, dancers and funny man Vince Sorrenti having everyone in hysterics. The Rally’s home base this year was at The Byron at Byron, where the facilities and accommodation were first class.
I can safely say that every team involved had a great time and driving around South East Queensland in some of Audi’s most expensive and high performance vehicles made the event even more special. All the teams that competed should be commended on their efforts and team fund raising that is imperative in making this event a success. If there is anyone considering entering this event next year, my recommendation is definitely do it. It supports an incredible charity and is one of the best organized events that I have ever been on so have a look on the RMHSEQ website and see the details from previous years as well as this one.
Finally, I’d like to thank all of the sponsors involved with our entry and congratulate them for their generosity and support during the 2015 Audi Red Boot Rally.
See you next year.
Castrol Australia
Autobarn
Virgin Australia
V8 Supercars Australia
World Travel Professionals
Virtuoso
Aussie Travel Cover
Holland America
Avis Rent a Car
Shangri La Hotels
and for help with our daily outfits from
Racer Industries
Flight Store (www.flightstore.com.au)
