The road trip has a venerable, if not exactly respected place in the student experience – but by this November, James Tattersfield may have done a fair bit to rehabilitate the institution.
Mr Tattersfield, 19, will be driving 2000 km across India in a 1950s car for charity, as part of the Karma Enduro Rally. The journey will take the first-year University of Edinburgh Economic History & Business Studies student from Windsor, Berkshire roughly two weeks to complete.
“There was an advert in the paper calling for participants, and it just grabbed me,” Mr Tattersfield told The Journal.
The Karma Enduro Rally is run annually in aid of UNICEF HIV/AIDS awareness projects in the subcontinent, and the Rainbow Trust, a charity which runs respite homes in the UK for families affected by terminal illness in children. The initiative is set to raise £150,000 with this year’s edition.
“I just didn’t want to pass this up – I’ve always wanted to travel to India, and I’m interested in cars and driving, so this seemed like the perfect combination.
“It’s a great opportunity to have an incredible experience and meet some amazing people,” he said.
Mr Tattersfield is currently fundraising to meet a total of £6,000, and is looking to sell ad space on his car – a sixty-year old model boasting just 37 horsepower which organisers admit “handles like a drunken badger.”
50 cars will take part in the rally between Goa and Cochin in southern India; while some cars will have a driver and a co-pilot, Mr Tattersfield is undertaking the challenge alone.
“There isn’t that much required in terms of training or preparation, although there is a briefing weekend before we set off. I get the impression that a lot of people are doing this ‘blind’.
“That said, the rally is going to be followed by a team of mechanics,” Mr Tattersfield added.
Karma Enduro, and its sister event for motorcycles, Enduro India, have increased their profile significantly in recent years, with the director of UNICEF UK taking part in this year’s event as an entrant.
“I’m really looking forward to getting out of my comfort zone,” Mr Tattersfield told The Journal; “It seems like people over here spend most of their life living without any worries.
“We’re going to be passing through some severely poverty-stricken areas, heavily affected by malaria, where people more or less have to fend for themselves.”
As well as accepting any and all donations, Mr Tattersfield will be keeping his supporters informed of his progress via a blog, which can be accessed using the address below.