The Pizza Company Racing team is involved in several charity events each year.

Choosing a specific Charity to put our main focus on is difficult especially in Thailand where so many people need help of some sort. In 2011 there was a big flooding in Thailand, and many people arranged events to help gather food, clothing, boats and money for the people affected by the floods. We were also tempted to arrange an event to help the flooding but then thought about the daily life once the flood waters recede.

We therefore looked around for other possible charities and found AIP (Asia Injury Prevention). They have a charity called “Helmets for kids” and when we read about this, we felt this was the right charity for us to support.

“Helmets for kids” is a project that was started originally in Vietnam by AIP and developed and tested in Vietnam, and once it worked well in Vietnam they also started the project in Thailand.

“Helmets for kids” is a non-profitable project where AIP collects donations to help produce helmets for small kids. In Asia, and especially in Vietnam and Thailand, the Motorbike is a means of transport for the whole family. Generally you will see 3-4 and at times 5 or 6 persons on 1 motorbike. Generally when its 3-4 it’s the whole family and when its gets to be 5 or 6 its generally one adult that brings 4-5 small kids to or from school on a motorbike.

AIP made a survey to see why the kids were not wearing helmets, when in many cases the adults actually were wearing one, and it turned out that most of them mentioned that they either could not afford all the helmets. The ones that said they could afford them, was not able to find helmets that was small enough for the kids to wear. Another big group of the people said, that they did not see a need for it, as the police was not giving them any problems for not wearing the helmets, as long as the driver was wearing one. When asked, these people agreed it would be safer with a helmet, but that finances were not available, so other “more needed items, was where the money was used, instead of getting the kids a helmet”. When asked if they were given a helmet for free, most agreed they would wear it for safety.

AIP therefore contacted a factory in Vietnam, and later on one in Thailand, who agreed to help produce Helmets for kids in small sizes as per the design of AIP and that they would help produce them at cost, which would be their contribution to helping the people to start wearing more helmets and be safer on the roads.

We decided that we would try and help to collect money for the charity, but that we wanted to do it in a different and fun way. We therefore in 2011 contacted Bira International race Circuit in Pattaya, and asked if we could be allowed to use the track for ½ a day for a Charity event and explained them about the project, and they were very happy to lend us the track for free.

We then contacted a lot of drivers, and asked if they would be willing to bring their race and super sports cars to the track for the event. When the full projects was ready to roll, we contacted the local Media in Pattaya and got them to promote the event on both Radio, TV and in News papers.

The idea we had was that we would install a extra race seat in the race cars, and give people a ride of their life, so they would get a felling of what it feels like to drive around a race track in a race car with a professional race driver, which is normally not possible. The other thing they could try was to drive as a passenger in one of the Super Sports cars which people normally on see in magazines and TV and dream about driving in.

We set different rates for the cars, and people then paid between 500,- baht and 3.000,- baht to drive 3 laps around the race circuit with a car and driver of their choice.

This was the first such event we had ever arranged and we were lucky to also get our own sponsors and some local companies to support the event.

• Liqui Moly provided the Lubricants for the cars for free
• Yokohama Tires provided the tires for the event for free
• Lenso Wheels provided the wheels for the cars for free
• CEA provided staff to help with selling tickets and setting up the event, plus help to fit the people with helmets and get them strapped into the race cars.
• DSL (Deborah Services) provided a cash check of 20.000,- baht for the Charity
• The Pizza Company said they would double any amount we collected during the day, and give this to the charity.

At the end of the event we had collected a total of 58.500,- baht, which was doubled by The Pizza Company to be 117.000,- baht and then the 20.000,- baht from DSL made it a total of 137.000,- baht we were able to collect for the charity.

AIP then had 249 helmets produced, and spend some money on marketing for the Charity in the hopes that others would follow suit and give more money for the Charity.

In 2012 in June we went to Ayutthaya where the biggest injury numbers for small kids have been recorded in Thailand and handed out 249 helmets to the school kids there and spend the day talking with them and their parents about road safety and why Helmets should be worn.

We plan to try and make a similar event in 2013, but this time bigger and better.