Amputee to drive nearly 3000 miles from Glasgow to Nice

Dr Cor Hutton MBE, founder of Scotland’s only nationwide amputee charity Finding Your Feet, is setting off on the challenge this month, driving an old Audi TT from Glasgow to Nice and back.

A quadruple amputee with two prosthetic legs and two transplanted hands, Cor is also living with the effects of losing a third of a lung and recently received a kidney transplant.

Cor, who lost her hands and feet to sepsis in 2013, founded Finding Your Feet after realising the support she needed as an amputee was not available.

The charity now provides peer support, counselling, wellbeing services, and inclusive clubs and activities for amputees and their families across Scotland.

Although she has previously climbed Kilimanjaro and Ben Nevis and trekked the Inca Trail, her current mobility means she’s opted for a different kind of adventure.

Cor's 19-year-old Audi TT has clocked up more than 120,000 miles already, but Cor said the journey will be about more than just reaching the finish line.

A nearly 3000-mile drive is no small feat – especially through the Alps via the Stelvio Pass, which climbs to 2757 metres and includes 48 hairpin bends.

The route also takes in Monaco’s Formula 1 circuit before crossing the Cote d’Azur to the rally’s official finish in Nice.

Cor said: "I'm equally nervous and excited for this challenge.

"I'm concerned my wee beloved convertible is 19 years old, has 120k miles on the clock and might not get me home, and that would break my heart.

"The reality of driving 8 to 10 hours every day will no doubt be backache, grumps, tiredness, and that's without considering not being able to have legs-off days, and blisters.

"Then there's potential car troubles.

"What if we can't get home, stuck up in the Alps?

"We've paid it all ourselves, but costs could rocket, and on top of that, will we raise enough to secure our support for amputees for another year?

"If not, what would our Troopers do without Finding Your Feet?

"For many, we're the only support they have.

"There's the motivation, right there."

Travelling with Cor is her son Rory, a mechanic apprentice at Arnold Clark Kia Linwood, and her friend Evie Jackson.

Rory will serve as the convoy’s unofficial mechanic.

Evie’s son Indie will also be making the full journey, which wraps up on the final day of the official rally, which falls on Rory’s 18th birthday.

Also joining Cor on the rally route is Trooper Babs Poole, from Dundee, a double above-knee amputee and peer support volunteer.

Babs is supported by nurses from Ninewells Hospital and is taking part in the rally to show what amputees can achieve with the right help.

Babs said: "Because of the amazing vascular team at Ninewells Hospital, I have a much better quality of life, which is why I am doing the banger rally. To prove to myself and other vascular amputees that we will not be defined as amputees in chairs! I will push every boundary and live life to the full. With the help of the fantastic charity, Finding Your Feet!!"

Long-time supporters Norma and Alistair Matheson of Matheson Damp Services will also join the drive.

The convoy will depart at 9am on August 11 from Malcolm Group Head Office in Linwood, with the public invited to attend.

A drive-by will follow at Rory’s workplace, Arnold Clark Kia Linwood, before a stop at the Finding Your Feet Charity Hub in Paisley.

The official Two Ball Banger Rally runs August 13 to 17, ending with a celebration in Nice.

The cars are expected to arrive back in Glasgow on August 21.

Finding Your Feet has thanked its sponsors for making the journey possible, including the Moulsdale Foundation, Optical Express, Arnold Clark, the Malcolm Group, the Reo Stakis Charitable Foundation, and M8 Recovery.

Donations can be made at findingyourfeet.net/cors-banger-rally-donate.