AN adventurous philanthropist is heading on a wacky-races-style continental rally in aid of charity.

David Rivers, of Sadberge, near Darlington, will be travelling more than 1,200 miles with three friends in their 18-year-old PT cruiser Black Beauty.

The journey is in aid of Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline, a charity which helps children from Belarus and Ukraine continuing to be affected by the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

The international trip is part of ‘The Two Ball Banger Rally’, which will see Mr Rivers' team, ‘The Beach Boys’, compete against 140 other competitors, in 60 cars, at various events as they take in nine countries in just four days.

The team’s choice of charity was an obvious one. Along with his wife Gillian, he has hosted ten child victims of the Chernobyl disaster, many without parents and facing a multitude of health issues.

He said: “In many ways the charity chose us. Some friends of ours were hosting people supported by the charity, when another couple dropped out of the scheme. So, we stepped up, and have now hosted children five times. Once you have seen the difference you can make, you want to do it for life.

“The reward is immediate, by spending a month here the children lose 85 per cent of their contamination and we can encourage them to eventually become professionals and create a better life for their children outside of the contamination zone.”

Also joining the team, and final member of the Beach Boys, is mannequin Mike Love (namesake of the Beach Boys member). Mike included, all team members will be wearing mandatory fancy dress of floral shorts and sunglasses.

Along the journey the team can look forward to taking in the Black Forest, lake Como and Monaco’s Formula One circuit; as well as driving the second highest paved road in Europe, the Stelvio Pass. The 48-hairpin route was once labelled by the Top Gear team as the "greatest driving road in the world."

The team are hoping their £440 car survives so that they can sell it on their return, with plans to use the money to buy next years’ car – an ice cream van.

So far, he has raised £1,700 which he hopes will rise to over £2,000 ahead of the tour on August 17 and £2,500 post-rally, enough to sponsor five children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

You can support David and ‘The Beach Boys’ at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/david-rivers2