A Birmingham businessman has set himself a driving challenge – motoring the
length of Great Britain in the hours of darkness on one tank of fuel!
And Jonathan Heeley,41, is going the 875-mile distance from Land’s End to John
O’Groats in support of our Happy house family.
Jonathan, driving instructor and
corporate driver trainer and MD of SMART
Driving Solutions, said: “The challenge is to take a company car from
Land’s End to John O’Groats overnight on one tank of fuel on December 21 - the
longest night.
“This year it also falls on a
Saturday, which means we will be able to avoid any rush hour traffic, which
gives us a better chance of making it. My aim is to demonstrate that you can
get the published MPG figures from your car. The company trains drivers of
company vehicles to be safer and more fuel efficient. This can help companies
cut costs and reduce their carbon footprint .
“I’ll be driving a 2011 Alfa Romeo
Giulietta 1.6D. It’s maybe not the most obvious choice for such a challenge,
but it is fairly typical and average car. We aim to prove that the quoted MPG
figures are achievable, and that it is down to the way that a car is driven
that has the biggest impact on fuel consumptions”
Jonathan added: “The biggest potential
hurdle will be the weather. We are travelling from a remote area to a very
remote area at a time of year when snow won’t be out of the question. Driving
at night is more tiring. The human body is designed to go to sleep when it goes
dark. The hardest time will be between 12.00 and 06.00, but the worst time to
try and stay awake will be between 03.00 and 05.00. For this reason I will be
taking a 15 minute break every two hours, handing over to a co-driver, as we
recommend people do when they receive our training.
Jonathan is delighted to be helping
the Happy House,
“I heard about Happy House through a
friend. He dedicated his 10 minute presentation at our local business
networking group, BNI Elite, Sutton Coldfield, to promoting your charity. He showed a very moving video.I had
just asked for a charity to support in my 60 second presentation for this run,
so it just fell into place like that.
“I would like to raise £1,000. I am hoping people to sponsor me 1p per mile
that we manage to cover before dawn, so that’s £8.38, plus a bonus of £1.62 if
we make it. Which makes a nice round tenner and they can do it online at Justgiving:
http://www.justgiving.com/End-2-End-in-the-Dark
