Fancy racing against the stars?

At risk of sounding like a chugger, please let me tell you about a charity karting race taking place on Thursday 20 October at Buckmore Park in Kent.

The Henry Surtees Trophy is open to anyone who holds a race licence and, as its name suggests, will raise cash for the Henry Surtees Foundation.

Buckmore is a great circuit and the two-stroke karts, as identical on pace as they can make them, are being provided by Club 100.

Entry is £500, which is not cheap, but it’s a decent cause and you’d get to race against some quality drivers. Already signed up are GP2 frontrunner Sam Bird, McLaren F1 test driver Oliver Turvey and recently-crowned British Formula Ford champion Scott Malvern.

The MSA intends to send four Elite drivers, Johnny Herbert is expected to race and I wouldn’t rule out a few other bell-ringing names cropping up between now and the 20th, too. That’s what sucked me in; in the same way that I’d love to play snooker against Steve Davis despite knowing I’d get a proper kicking, it was too good an oppo to pass up.

But there are also some excellent prizes, including a Formula Renault test drive, tests in an F2 car, a trip to Ferrari’s HQ (including drives on the Fiorano test track), a Mercedes GP factory visit, F1 tickets and, well, lots of other stuff.

There are sufficient quantity of prizes that if you’re fast, lucky, or a bit of both, there’s a decent chance of nabbing something. The Trophy is open to over 16s with an MSA race licence, ACU bike racing licence, or to Buckmore Park or Club 100 members.