Matthew Fleming-Duffy, mortgage and finance broker from Cherry Finance, is taking part in the Monte Carlo or Bust Banger Rally Adventure alongside brother Dave Duffy and secondary school mate Adam Duckenfield.
He will start at Namur in Belgium on Thursday, head through Luxembourg to reach Freiburg in Germany on Friday; he will then move on to Lake Como in Switzerland on Saturday before hopefully finishing at Monte Carlo in France on the Sunday.
Fleming-Duffy, who admitted he can’t stand heights and alpine roads, said: “I think the idea is to get there without dying. I’m up for the not dying bit.”
The competition has a £300 vehicle limit, but Fleming-Duffy purchased his old banger for just £75 from a carpenter. The car has now been decorated with the Spiderman theme.
Fleming-Duffy said: “A carpenter I know has been using it as his van. It’s old and knackered but it’s reliable; it drives.” But he added: “I shouldn’t say that, I’m almost tempting fate by saying that.”
Fleming-Duffy will dress as Spiderman and his brother Dave will go as mafia crimelord character Kingpin. He claimed: “If Spiderman was real I wouldn’t be a million miles away from his shape.
“My brother is an ex-rugby player and I bought him an XXL Spiderman outfit from America. He put it on and it immediately went ping and broke.
“He’s going to be going as Kingpin now as he can’t be Spiderman.”
The trio have launched a Just Giving campaign with a funding target of £1500.
Julia’s House runs a children's hospice in Dorset, and soon Wiltshire. Last month actor Robert Downey Junior helped raise £1.38m for the charity to build the second hospice.
Fleming-Duffy said: “There’s a serious side to what we’re doing. When you start talking to people who are dealing with end of life care for an eight year old it’s hard to comprehend.
“The hospice, which is not far from where I live, is like a nursery. And then you’ve got a mermaid suite where the children go to die.
“Julia’s House need £3.5m a year.
“I’m a father, I’ve got three boys, it’s heart-breaking what families have got to go through.”
