Things may get awfully hot this week inside Tom Sharrad and Chris Wilkinson’s saunamobile, but they won’t be opening the window for 4,000 miles. What’s a saunamobile you ask? It’s Sharrad’s old Greg Volvo 240 — it has 187,00 miles on the clock, which the duo have covered with Scandinavian pine a la an authentic sauna.
The pair of British 20-somethings will dress only in Turkish towels for their entire 12 country, 14-day drive in their attempt to raise £5,000 ($8,184) for the UK’s Samantha Dickson Brain Tumor Trust. Wilkinson’s mother recovered from a benign dermoid cyst seven years ago, and Sharrad, 23, suffered from a brain tumor at age 18 months. He also made a full recovery.
Wilkinson, 24, explained the steamy Scandinavian pilgrimage to the UK’s The Telegraph: “It all came about when Tom phoned me one day and told me, rather than asking me, that he had booked us on a rally to Prague, (the Czech Wrecks banger rally, where participants drive junk heaps from Calais to Prague.) Somewhere along the line, it got extended to Sweden, which is where the Volvo came from, and then we decided that we’d do it for charity.” To watch a video of Sharrad and Wilkinson, click here.
The towel-clad duo will set out Aug. 27 from their home in Sevenoaks, Kent, a London suburb. They’ll hit England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Germany (again), Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany (for the third time), The Netherlands, Belgium, France, and finally the UK.
Wilkinson, who works for London’s Royal Opera House, told the Telegraph: “Although there’s not a proper sauna inside the car, when it’s going along it does get pretty hot in there.”
Can they handle it, erm, no sweat? For updates or to donate, click here.