A COUNTY woman who is set to drive a Morris Minor on a 10,000-mile marathon from London to Sydney for a Worcester charity will write a book about her journey.

Motor-sport champion Joy Rainey, from Evesham, also hopes the challenge will get her into the record books - if she is successful it will be the first time a Morris Minor has driven the journey.

Joy and her co-driver Trevor Hulks, also of Evesham, will set off on the trip from Heathrow on Saturday.

They will travel across Europe, India and Australia - with the car being airlifted twice.

Joy, who has followed in the footsteps of her father Murray, who raced cars in Australia before moving to the UK 30 years ago, has already signed a deal with publishers for her first book Fast Lady.

The book will detail her decades of motor sporting successes, including the Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb ladies' record from 1979 until 2002, with the exception of 1985.

It will also include a diary of her epic journey from London to Sydney and is due to be published in October.

Of her latest challenge, she said: "I wanted to do something different that would take place over a long time."

She purchased the 1970s blue Morris Minor two years ago when it was in a "sad and rundown" condition and Trevor has led the way in modernising it.

Because Joy is more than a foot shorter than Trevor, the car has had to be specially adapted with extensions to the clutch, brake and accelerator pedals so that she can reach them. They can be quickly removed so that Trevor can take over the driving without a lengthy swap over.

"Morris Minors are fairly simple mechanically, so if we breakdown in the middle of nowhere we are likely to be able to fix it," she said.

The duo are using the trip to raise money for St Richard's Hospice, based in Rose Hill, near the city centre.

Anyone wishing to sponsor them should call the hospice on 01905 763963