RACING legend Sir Jackie Stewart backed a Greenock man’s bid to drive across the world for charity.

Jim Suttie, from Eldon Street, and friend Graeme Donohoe are driving from Scotland to Mongolia in a car decorated to look like a Highland cow.

The determined duo are keen to raise as much money as they can for ‘Race Against Dementia’ – a charity founded by Sir Jackie Stewart, inset, to fund breakthrough research that aims to prevent and cure dementia.

Jim, 44, who works in HR, told the Tele: “Graeme and I had been talking about doing something like this for years and we decided that now is the right time.

“We want to raise as much money as we can for Race Against Dementia.

“Both of us have had family members who have suffered from it so we wanted to do something to help.
“Dementia is a truly awful thing for a family to go through.
“I’d like to think our Mongol Rally adventure can help contribute towards one day finding a cure.”
Jim and Graeme, dubbed as ‘Team Jackie Moo-art’, have received support from a F1 legend.
Sir Jackie, whose wife Helen, 75, has dementia, said: “The Highland cow is a great symbol of Scotland and I am sure it is attracting a lot of attention on the rally to Mongolia.
“Race Against Dementia are very thankful to this team for their initiative and their support.”
The guys moo-ved off on their ‘udderly mad’ adventure in a Ford Fiesta supplied by Peoples Ford which was transformed by Perthshire artist Hilary Barker into a furry four-wheeled steed for the 10,000 mile adventure trek.

Jim, who lives with his wife Linzi and five-year-old son Alfie, took the first shift behind the wheel for the first nine days from Glasgow to England then across to Brussels, Germany, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Turkey.

He added: “I’m not doing the whole trip as I couldn’t be away for four weeks.

“I’m going to do the first nine days as a co-driver so I’ll be driving from Glasgow to Istanbul in Turkey.

“Graeme will then spend a few days on his own before he meets another co-driver to head to Mongolia.”

Anyone who would like to support their epic charity challenge should go to www.teamjackiemoo-art.com