"SOS Children Villages" Helps Young Children In Need

BRUSSELS, 1 August 2005 - Last Friday, the three Chevrolet WTCC drivers, Alain Menu, Nicola Larini and Rob Huff took children from the local "SOS Children Village" around the Ardennes track for a few laps which will no doubt be forever be engraved in their memories.

"SOS Children Villages" is a project which was started in 1949 by Austrian, Hermann Gmeiner to help children and orphans living in difficult post-war circumstances. The idea was to give these children a family life which they otherwise wouldn't have. Today, "SOS Children Villages" still helps children and teenagers who live in difficult family situations which might harm them morally, intellectually or physically and thus offers them a chance to build up their own lives.

After giving the children a VIP treatment in Chevrolet's hospitality unit, the three Chevrolet WTCC drivers and Chevrolet Europe Motorsports Manager, Eric Nève - himself a veteran of the Spa and Nürburgring 24 Hour races - drove them round Spa in Chevrolet Nubira WTCC R+ vehicles.  "The reactions of the children were fabulous," Nève said. "They enjoyed it immensely, as did the drivers. One girl asked Rob Huff to go as fast as he could, which he duly did. A blind young man, who had traveled on his own from Cherbourg to Spa, could tell from the gearshifts and revs where exactly we were on the track. All in all it was a very enjoyable and rewarding experience for all of us, and something we will certainly try to organize again."

That all drivers did their very best to impress their young passengers, was aptly proven by the fact that after the taxi-rides the tires on the cars were well used!

Said Yves De Cauwer, Manager Public Affairs of Chevrolet Belgium: "Chevrolet Belgium is very happy to have been able to give these children a one-of-a-kind experience, and at the same time draw some attention to the good cause which is "SOS Children Villages", a cause which Chevrolet has already supported in the past."