Shouldn’t that say taxiing along the runway? It should, but in this case driving is indeed the right word to use.
Driving a car along Edinburgh Airport’s runway wouldn’t seem to be a smart thing to do. But that is exactly what happened on 24th September this year. It was a Thursday and perhaps most surprising of all is the fact that the airport itself carried on just like any other day.
But it wasn’t a normal day – because while on the main runway planes were taking off and landing as usual, the second runway was being taken over by so called ‘supercars’.
Think of Lamborghinis, Ferraris and other similar expensive cars and you’ll get the idea. These were the cars that were being put to the test on the secondary runway and their owners had paid a not inconsiderable sum for the opportunity to be able to do so.
The cost of having this chance was £250 per person, with an additional £50 per person to be paid if the driver wanted any of their friends and family to come along with them to watch. There was no other way for anyone else to be able to see what was happening – unless perhaps you happened to be taking off or landing in a plane of course.
The event was known as Race the Runway, and the whole purpose of it was to raise as much money as possible for charity. As such it seemed to be a great success – forty eight people took up the chance to drive their fast car along the runway at Edinburgh Airport, raising a total of £12,000 between them. And considering there were no figures available for how many ‘£50 per head’ spectators attended as well, the final total could have been significantly more.
Of course the attraction of the runway in the first place was that it gave the owners a chance to put the pedal right down to the metal and achieve speeds that simply wouldn’t be possible – not to mention legal – on the open road.
You may think that getting permission for such an event to take place at all would have been difficult. But in fact it was very easy, because the idea was the brainchild of Edinburgh Airport’s managing director, Gordon Dewar. The proceeds from the event were donated to two hospices.
So can we expect to see such an event occurring again in the future at Edinburgh Airport? It could well happen, because it received good publicity for the airport and indeed for the hospices as well. It really was a win win situation, with the drivers having good fun and the hospices receiving some much needed funds to help them continue to provide the services they are known for.
It could even occur at other airports in the future, if they have a similar runway layout to Edinburgh that would allow it. It’s certainly something to watch out for – and hope for – once again.