Memorabilia auction for cancer charity

Supercars Head of Motorsport Adrian Burgess will take part in next month’s Tour de Cure cycling marathon, raising money for cancer research.

The Tour de Cure is an annual charity bike ride, this year taking place over 1,400km from Newcastle to Noosa between March 26th and April 3rd.

In addition to direct donations which can be made through his Tour de Cure page here, Burgess has launched a memorabilia auction to raise further funds.

Click here to visit the auction page

Drivers and teams have donated an array of rare items including helmets, race suits and panels to the auction, which is now live and will run until March 11th.

Unique items include the left-front wheel from Scott McLaughlin's crash at last year's Gold Coast 600 and a side skirt from Craig Lowndes' final full-time race in 2018.

Cancer research is a cause close to Burgess’ heart, having lost his mother to the disease when he was 20 years old, and more recently his ex-wife Jean last August.

“Last year was certainly a tough year for me and our daughter Darcy,” explained Burgess.

“Jean had a four-month battle with lung cancer and when she died Darcy and myself pledged to do what we could to raise awareness and funds for cancer research.

“Darcy is planning to run a marathon, but for me, I’ve always been a keen cyclist, so the Tour de Cure is a nice charity for me to get behind.

“Cancer is a disease that’s touched everyone in some way and the Tour de Cure has done an amazing job to raise funds and awareness over the years.”

The Tour de Cure is a major fundraising event

Burgess has stepped up his cycling regiment in recent months to prepare for the gruelling ride, which has meant plenty of early starts to fit around his busy Supercars role.

“It’s certainly going to be a physical challenge, but the bit I can’t prepare for is going to be the emotional challenge,” he said.

The Englishman, who worked for a variety of Supercars teams across 13 years before taking the in-house job last year, has been overwhelmed by the support for his efforts.

“Luckily in my position I’ve got a lot of contacts in pitlane, so it made sense to get an auction going as a way of raising funds,” he explained.

“There’s been a great reaction from a lot of people, I can’t thank them enough. There’s over 20 items there and I’m hoping we’ll add more as we go.”

Tour de Cure Australia has raised more than $50 million for cancer research since 2007.