Help these students complete 900 miles with a very slow classic for charity

THERE are lots of things you could do to try out your newly restored pride and joy.

You could, for instance, take it on a run out to the seaside. You could impress your mates down the pub with the results of all your hard work. You could even, if you're feeling ambitious, take it to a show and earn yourself lots of approving comments from petrolheads who've put themselves through the same task to restore something they hold close to their hearts.

Or you could drive it between John 'o' Groats and Land's End and raise a couple of quid for charity. Easier said than done if the classic in question isn't even a car. You could try driving from one end of the country to the other in a freshly-restored 1963 Massey Ferguson.

Which is a tractor.

That's what a trio of mechanically-minded students from Myerscough College are attempting, having set off from the top of Scotland last Saturday (March 25). They are on course to pass through Lancashire tomorrow (March 28).

A spokesperson for the college said this week:

"Three brave Myerscough College students who are attempting to drive 900 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End …on a tractor! They are raising money for Help for Heroes and the Air Ambulance Service.

"Having restored the 1963 Massey Ferguson tractor to its former glory, the three intrepid students will attempt to cover the 900 mile journey in just 8 days. Completing an average of 120 miles per day, the students will be on the road for anywhere between 8 and 12 hours every day."

The three students - Byron Ratcliffe, Richard Unsworth and Mark France - are aiming to raise £10,000 and have already raised over £1,500 to help the charities, but in order to help them reach their target they're looking for a little extra support.

I've done the Land's End - John 'o' Groats challenge before (admittedly by public transport) and am painfully aware of just how long a journey it is. Fair play to the three of them for taking on the 900 mile journey on a 49-year-old tractor - I doubt whether my younger, faster MGB would last the same distance without breaking down!

To give the trio's epic tractor adventure a bit of a boost, visit their JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/teams/charitytractor

You wait ages for a new Lotus and then five come at once

IT'S the Paris Motorshow and every right-minded petrolhead is pondering the same question; why launch one new model when you can launch five?

I always imagined the chaps at Lotus would get quite offended if you called them a conventional car maker, so it's somehow appropriate that just months after returning to the world's racetracks with a semi-official F1 effort they've launched a quintet of new cars.

Not only have the Elise, Esprit, Elite and Elan models been revisted with a selection of sports cars in different shapes and sizes, the Norfolk company's also gunning for the likes of Porsche's Panamera with its four-door Eterne, making it the first Lotus saloon since the slightly loopy Lotus Carlton of the early 1990s.

Is the company's PR coup five times better than just launching a single model, which on its own would have been enough to steal the show, like the Evora managed to at London's motorshow two years ago? I'm not so sure.

The new Esprit is the most immediately exotic and exciting - it's a real Ferrari-chaser, and the first we've had from Lotus since the original Esprit died off several years ago - and the Eterne is a bold venture into uncharted waters, but the others stray from Lotus heartlands a little too quickly.

The £35,000 Elise, for instance, is getting worryingly close to Porsche Boxster territory for what's meant to be a small, lightweight little sports car, but it's the Elan which is almost unrecognisable from its illustrious predecessors. Lotus reckons Elan drivers demand more but the last two were a success because they gave less - as in less weight, which made them a favourite with keen drivers.

And the Elite? As a £115,000 Lotus it makes little sense, but I love it already. Clearly nobody actually needs one, but that's exactly why I'd have one.

I have until 2014 to save up.

Life On Lawnmowers

I KNOW this blog’s called Life On Cars and therefore should only cover cars, but this week I’ll make an exception, mainly so I can post this gloriously cheesy picture.

As part of a new Champion series called Movers and Shakers I’ve met up with Brian Radam, the man behind the National Lawnmower Museum, based in Southport (no, really).

Among the seemingly millions of mowers proudly on display in Brian’s collection is one of Chaz and Di’s wedding presents, the latest robotic lawn monsters, and some speedy racing mowers, like this 300cc beast I took a liking to.

It turns out that we used to lead the world when it came to lawnmowers, with such illustrious names as Rolls-Royce, Velocette and, er, Wilkinson-Sword making machines your gardener could be proud of.

Shame that Britain’s lawnmower industry went the same way as the car makers, although the idea of them all joining forces to create a grass-cutting conglomerate – probably called British Leylawn – would probably have been a step too far.

We could have ended up with a world-class mower with razor-sharp blades, motorbike handling, and the engineering quality of a Rolls Royce. Or the Austin Allegro.

Anyway for mower information keep an eye out in The Champion for my piece on Mr Radam, or check out the museum’s website.