Games industry charity SpecialEffect and Solving Kids Cancer UK have announced a new event, British Racing Greats, featuring appearances from some of the UK’s biggest racing game studios.
SpecialEffect is a charity that specialises in helping people with disabilities to access and play games, by innovating on new controller peripherals and other solutions. Solving Kids Cancer UK is a charity that specialises in helping raise awareness of and fight Neuroblastoma, a rare type of cancer that arises from the remnants of nerve cells left behind after a baby’s development in the womb, called Neuroblasts. It comprises 6% of all childhood cancer diagnoses each year.
The British Racing Greats event will feature representatives from a variety of studios and companies, such as Electronic Arts, Sega and Sumo Group and mobile developers such as NaturalMotion and Hutch. The event will be held at Donington Park Circuit, one of the most famous motor-racing courses in Britain, and will have real-life F1 cars, racing, famous replicas such as the Batmobile and more. It will also feature a prominent gaming element.
“Each of the pit-lane garages will be adorned with memorabilia, merchandise and real world cars from the greatest games of our generation, including Need for Speed, Forza, Sega Rally, OutRun, Colin McRae Rally, Sonic Racing, CSR Racing, Rebel Racing ,Top Drives, and Formula 1," say the team.
The SpecialEffect effect
With appearances from both racing celebrities, gaming companies and more, the event is set to raise much-needed funds for both charities. It’s not the first charity event to feature representatives from the gaming industry, something SpecialEffect has promoted constantly to help raise money for charity.
Solving Kids’ Cancer UK CEO, Gail Jackson, commented, “We’ve been overwhelmed by the support of the games industry in the last 12 months and, after being introduced by our new patron Carl Cavers of Sumo Group to SpecialEffect, several of our children currently receiving treatment for cancer are being helped to stay engaged with school and their friends through the BubbleBusters project. We can’t wait to attend this amazing event with some of our families and deeply appreciate the opportunity to raise awareness of our work within the industry.”
Racing for the good of all
The association between video-games, racing and Donington Park Circuit itself is a strong one, as event organiser and key sponsor from Sumo Games, Darren Mills affirmed. "We’ve chosen Donington Park Circuit and 2023 as the place and date for the inaugural British Racing Greats as a nod to Sega’s sponsorship of the first and only European Formula 1 Grand Prix to be hosted in the UK. An event made even more iconic when Ayrton Senna received the winner’s trophy, in the design of Sonic the Hedgehog.”
