A FORMER racing car driver from the Vale of Evesham has started an epic 2,600-mile drive across the USA in a 109-year-old Oldsmobile.

Joy Rainey scooped speed titles in the 80s and 90s in the male dominated sport of car racing despite being of restricted growth. Now she is aiming to drive across the States in memory of her partner Trevor and raise £20,000 for Cancer Research UK.

Her journey will re-enact a legendary crossing from San Francisco to New York in 1903 in a similar Oldsmobile.

Mrs Rainey, of Wickhamford near Evesham, hopes to reach her destination in a month but, with the car’s top speed of 25mph, realises that this is a big challenge.

“It’s not the most comfortable for the driver as it is built high like a horse carriage so I sit on, rather than in the vehicle.

“We’re crossing high mountains at 6,500ft and travelling into blisteringly hot deserts.”

Mrs Rainey had planned to travel with her partner Trevor in 2009, but he contracted cancer, which proved terminal, and Mrs Rainey put their plans to one side.

“I didn’t think I could do it without my soul mate, but I looked at the plans again, found a great new back-up team, so now we’re off, in Trevor’s memory and for Cancer Research UK,” she said.