Our newest contributor Shawn made his was to Aston Martin of New England to meet some of the drivers in this years Yuppie Rally.
The 2nd Annual Yuppie Rally began at 5pm on June 5, 2012. The event, held once a year by Yuppie Racing, will cover more than 2000 miles and raise nearly $5000 for the Franciscan Hospital for Children and Guardian Angel Motorsports.
What is Yuppie Racing? Well, according to organizer Peter Ladas, “Yuppieracing is an automotive lifestyle website (yuppieracing.net). The name is a bit tongue in cheek as very few are “yuppies” and other than track days we don’t really race. We do host several automotive events throughout the year though… Yuppie Rally being one of them.”
In 2011 the first Yuppie Rally took drivers up to the historic Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia, Canada.
“I’d wanted to drive that road for years,” said Ladas regarding the Cabot Trail, “but the stars never seemed to come into alignment for it to happen. Chris Benvie (a friend who runs all the Yuppie Racing events with me) and I started the planning over dinner one night and the rest is history.”
The 20 or so participants in this year’s Yuppie Rally will be embarking on a trip that will take them all the way to Tennessee for a spin on the famed “Tail of the Dragon.” This 11-mile stretch of US Route 129 is a treacherous, 2-lane highway beginning in Nantahala National Forrest on the Tennessee-North Carolina border. The Route twists and turns its way through 318 curves before coming to an end at Tabcat Bridge in Tennessee. The cars making the run to the Dragon are a diversified group and a who’s who in the sports car world: BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche, Lotus, Nissan and a couple of Mustangs to fill out the list.
More important than the cars are the charities which are benefiting from the event. The Franciscan Hospital for Children located in Brookline, MA, is one of the largest pediatric rehabilitation hospitals in the United States. And Guardian Angel Motorsports, which helps kids in need by raising awareness and money through motorsports. To date Guardian Angel Motorsports has raised and donated nearly $250,000 to 14 children’s charities.
“We had 24 cars register, but 3 cars dropped out with some unexpected issues,” said Ladas. “We were hoping to have more cars coming with us for the event with a goal of $5,000 raised but with less cars than we’d hoped coming we were a little bit short. But, we did get a great last minute donation from Team O’Neil rally school that once we raffle it off should make up the difference.”
Other than the trip down to “The Dragon” the rally will include stops in Philadelphia and Atlantic City before returning to New England Aston Martin on June 10.
Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2012 Next Post:
Larz Anderson Corvette Day