The Plymouth to Dakar Challenge 2005
Inksters sponsored the Arbroath Smokey and the Bandit and, of course, their car: Beauty.
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The challenge was to drive from Plymouth in the UK to Dakar in west Africa across 4,000 miles and along some of the worst roads in the world in a car that cost just £100. Andrew Todd and Gavin McGinty (a one time law student employee of Inksters and now a lawyer with Google), also known as Arbroath Smokey and the Bandit, grasped the challenge with both hands. They set off on 17 December 2004, looking forward to a 3 week adventure through Europe and Africa, to raise money for their chosen charity - the Association of Children's Hospices. It was a dream they had held for over a year, and spent day and night preparing for over the previous 6 months.
The dream however ended on a miserable wet dark night, on the side of a French motorway. Despite all their preparations, all of their mechanical expertise, there was one thing they knew they could never guard against - the automatic gearbox failing on their car. And it went. In a big puff of boiling transmission fluid.
Although their journey was somewhat curtailed the Arbroath Smokey and the Bandit raised the very healthy sum of £4,789.87 for the Association of Children's Hospices.
Children's Hospices UK is the charity that gives voice and support to all children’s hospice services. There is an estimated 20,000 children in the UK who are not expected to reach adulthood. The vision of Children’s Hospices UK is for all these children - and their families - to have awareness of, and access to, the highest standards of hospice care and support in the location of their choosing. Children's Hospices UK is the working name of the Association of Children's Hospices which is a charity registered in England (1103795).