INTREPID traveller and racer Joy Rainey has packed up and shipped her 110 year-old car ready for an epic journey through central Australia this summer.

The Australian born racer, who now lives in Wickhamford, near Evesham, is getting ready for the 21-day drive, in her 1904 Curved Dash Oldsmobile.

She is to set off from Adelaide on August 3, in the company of 48 other veteran cars, and finishes in Darwin 21 days later.

Ms Rainey, who herself is of restricted growth, is undertaking the drive to support local charity, Evesham Riverside Shopmobility, as she has been a regular user of the charity’s equipment for many years and is one of its trustees.

She said: "I wanted my journey this year to help a charity again and what better one could there be than this – which is right on my doorstep and has given me invaluable assistance?”

On Monday, 60 people gathered for posh fish’n’chips, with Champagne, to toast Ms Rainey's venture and raise more than £900 in her name.

The event, hosted at and by Russell’s of Broadway, featured a grand raffle and a chance to chat to the racer about her plans.

Last year, Ms Rainey became the only woman to have driven from West coast US to the East coast in a single cylinder car, when she and her Oldsmobile completed the 31-day journey, which is now the subject of her book, Joy Across America.

Follow her progress at joy-in-the-outback.com.