THE MALL, LONDON

2PM AND 3.30PM – SUNDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2010

On Sunday 12 September 2010, The Mall will become the most unlikely venue for the world’s first ever free to the public Eco Car Spectacular, part of The Prince of Wales Start initiative which aims to make green issues and sustainability fun and inspirational.

The Eco Car Spectacular will see two parades during the afternoon (2pm and 3.30pm) of the most exciting and innovative environmentally friends cars currently or soon to be on the market from the super-sexy silent TESLA roadster to the Citroen Survolt racing car, Lightning GT to the electric Think City, Mitsubishi, Smart and Mini E cars and motorbikes, as well as historical electric powered cars and Shell Eco marathon car.

The groundbreaking event is the result of the passion and organisation of Mulberry founder and Sharpham Park organic food brand owner Roger Saul and the Electric Race Cup Team, who have bought together an eclectic mix of personalities and car fanatics to parade the vehicles down the Mall – ranging from Formula One driver Sir Stirling Moss, Dame Ellen Macarthur, Kevin McCloud, Gabi Roslin to Duncan Bannatyne and James Caan of Dragon’s Den fame.

Roger Saul said: ‘This will be a fascinating day out for anyone with even the smallest interest in an eco-friendly way of travelling – a chance to question the transport we use and view the possible alternatives; I am thrilled to be involved.’

On Thursday 9 September 2010, Roger Saul, curator, and Kevin McCloud, participant, of the Start Eco Car Spectacular (which takes place on The Mall this Sunday 12 September), are to race HRH The Prince of Wales from Birmingham to London in an attempt to see who can reach the finish line having used the lowest carbon footprint.

Roger Saul, creator of fashion label Mulberry, organic food brand Sharpham Park owner and historic car racer, together with Kevin McCloud, British designer, author and television presenter, will be undertaking this special challenge when HRH The Prince of Wales travels on the final leg of the Start Tour from Birmingham to London on Thursday. Kevin and Roger will attempt to ‘race’ the chip fat fueled Royal train in two eco cars Californian Tesla Roadstar super cars

The Prince will flag them away from Birmingham and they will arrive in the low-emission electric Tesla supercars at Clarence House in London. The distance is 119 miles, the time of the journey should be around two-and-a-half hours subject to traffic.

This challenge is the lead up to the much anticipated Start Eco Car Spectacular on Sunday 12 September 2010 on The Mall as part of The Prince of Wales Start initiative which aims to make green issues and sustainability fun and inspirational.

The Eco Car Spectacular will see two parades during the afternoon at 2pm and 3.30pm of the most exciting and innovative environmentally friendly cars, motorbikes, scooters and bicycles currently or soon to be on the market. Stars of the show will be the super-sexy silent TESLA roadster, the Citroen Suvoit racing car, Honda fcx clarity, Lightning GT, the electric Think City, Mitsubishi, Smart and Mini E cars as well as historical electric powered cars and Shell Eco marathon car.

The groundbreaking event is the result of the passion and organisation of Roger Saul and the Electric Race Cup Team, who have bought together an eclectic mix of personalities and car fanatics to parade the vehicles down the Mall – ranging from Formula One driver Sir Stirling Moss, Dame Ellen Macarthur,  Kevin McCloud, Gabi Roslin to Duncan Bannatyne and James Caan of Dragon’s Den fame.

Roger Saul said: ‘This will be a fascinating day out for anyone with even the smallest interest in an eco-friendly way of travelling – a chance to question the transport we use and view the possible alternatives; I am thrilled to be involved.’

The Eco-Car spectacular will also witness the Round the World TAG Heuer Tesla complete its journey as it reaches the Mall with a famous celebrity at the wheel.

The Eco-Car Spectacular is sponsored by TAG Heuer, Sharpham Park, Shell, CW, EV Cup, HAB Housing, Caroline Whitmey Ltd, BARC, Solstis and Tesla, and many volunteers who are giving their time for free.  Any profit made from the event will be donated to The Prince’s Charities Foundation and Bottletop

For more information on the Eco Car Spectacular and to learn the latest on which cars are to be featured and who will be driving log on to: www.startecocars.com /  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H7wCDfoiVI.

For more information on Start, please visit: www.startuk.org

-Ends -

9 September 2010

For further event information contact: Juliet Francis

Email: juliet@juicepr.co.uk or Mobile: 07931 363 502

Notes to editors:

The Eco-Car Spectacular takes place during The Prince of Wales’ ‘A Garden Party to Make A Difference’, which will include a selection of eco-cars during the 12 day festival from 8 – 19 September. The Mall will host this free event as an addition to the eco-festival and will bring to life what these vehicles can achieve for everyone to see.

“Sustainability is crucial to our future, but we must get the message over that it’s fun. It can’t be preached. The Tesla shows that environmentally friendly cars can be beautiful, sexy, fast, sporty and fun.”

Read the article on the Telegraph’s website

This was what Roger Saul found when he went head to head for the second round of the Start Eco Car Trials with Kevin McCloud.

The pair set out to see who could get to London from Brighton as part of the Bridgestone Eco Car Rally with the smallest carbon footprint. They were joined by BBC’s Radio 4’s Peter Curran in a third THINK which had just returned from a month long journey around Europe testing just how easy or difficult it would be to plug in as you go, so to speak…

With a host of other eco cars, from a very sexy looking battery powered Ginetta supercar, a flight of three electric 0/60 in under 4 seconds Teslas and a host of serious Eco cars from Tata to Mini E with the legendary Paddy Hopkirk at the wheel and a host of serious motoring and sustainability celebrities, the fleet set out from the heart of motoring speedways Madeira Drive.

Roger once raced to win the Brighton Speed Trials in a 1934 Alfa Romeo Single seater at 110 mph in just 10 seconds on the very same stretch, ironically or not this time he had to get to London and winning meant beating Kevin McCloud by not putting his right foot down if he could possibly help it!

Luck or a modern Alfa Romeo at a set of Traffic lights, before they had even left Brighton, was to be his saviour. Kevin just could not resist the chance to show a boy racer that he was having none of it, the red mist came down as his Red THINK out dragged the Alfa off the line. Roger meanwhile hunkered down in the slipstream of the Red THINK and his very Blue THINK just bided its time.  It actually was a lot of time, as they all got to London there was plenty of it to chat with Peter Curran through the window and find out about his odyssey of a journey and who in Europe got it and who couldn’t understand what Electric power was all about.

In the endless traffic jams as they wended their way through South London, interestingly the electric cars used very little charge, whereas their combustion engine equivalents were burning it away. On the journey there were lots of questions from the public. What happens to those pedestrians who are deaf or blind, how do you know when you will run out of battery, what will they cost? etc etc

Well the last question was answered very quickly as the on board THINK engineer had the answer within minutes of arriving at the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park. Roger Saul spent £1.19 Kevin McCloud spent £1.54 and Peter Curran spent £1.62. What would combustion engine car cost? Well a modern salon doing 40mpg would on average use £7.69 worth of fuel plus £8 London congestion charge, plus parking charge. The train well that was faster, but then it cost nearly 20 times as much.

Plenty of food for thought… Lots more to understand… The real winner was of course not Roger Saul or Kevin McCloud but the future, could this be the Start of a quiet revolution?

The Start Festival is taking place in London and running from the 8-19 September 2010. The Start Eco Car Spectacular, curated by Roger, will be open to the public on Sunday 12 September and will take place on the The Mall, one of the most iconic streets in the world – showcasing an exciting display of the World’s most innovative eco super cars, runabouts and concept cars, with an array of new motoring inventions and environmental motoring solutions.

Start is the creation of HRH The Prince of Wales to help people across the UK lead more sustainable lives, aiming to demonstrate what a more energy efficient, cleaner and healthier future could look like and how each individual can make a start.

Roger and Kevin trialed two of the future eco car stars of the Start Eco Car Spectacular ‐ the Californian Tesla Roadster super car and the Norwegian THINK Electric Car timed by official timekeeper TAG HEUER, supported by the EV Cup, Shell and powered by Good Energy 100% renewable electricity.

The two friends, both known for their competitive nature are both avid speed merchants. Roger has recorded the fastest time of the day at Brighton Speed Trials in his 1934 Alfa P3, but has reluctantly given up car racing as it conflicts with his eco credentials. Whilst Kevin, a great skier, created havoc on the Top Gear leader board by scoring remarkably in the Top Gear ‘Fastest Lap’ chart.

Roger achieved a top time of 13.95 seconds over 200 meters in the THINK Electric Car, whilst Kevin achieved 13.80 seconds, hitting around 60 mph. In comparison, whilst driving the Tesla Roadster Roger scored 8.44 seconds, compared to Kevin who managed to cross the bridge in 8.27 seconds at nearly 100mph ‐ making Kevin McCloud the overall champion for the first round of the Start Eco Car Trials!

After the speed trials, Roger Saul commented “It was a real eye opener. The sheer speed of the Tesla with seemingly just a ‘whoosh of air’ was breath taking; it was like driving a space ship. And the THINK is so far ahead of its peer group in development terms as a runabout that we can expect to see it on the road in 2010. What impressed me most about the two eco cars that we tested was just how far battery technology has come. There is no doubt that it will be the next step in the automotive power train.”

Sylvain Filippi, Managing Director of EV Cup stated, “We are very pleased with the first START Eco Car Trial. Roger and Kevin proved to be very entertaining as well as talented drivers! We are delighted that they have chosen to support the introduction of green cars and we aim to provide more exciting electric race cars for future events, leading to the EV Cup races next year.”
The Start Eco Car Spectacular will take place on Sunday 12 September on The Mall and will be curated by Roger Saul, forming part of HRH The Prince of Wales’ latest consumer‐facing sustainability initiative ‘Start’, which aims to present positive steps to leading a sustainable lifestyle. Open to the public, the Start Eco Car Spectacular will feature an array of environmental motoring solutions within a spectacular showcase event along one of the most famous streets in the world.

The next challenge to face the Start Eco Car team will be an Eco Rally from Brighton to London on 7 July 2010, when Kevin and Roger will go head to head again, this time in an attempt to see who can get to the finish line with most charge left in their cars.