Cars for Smiles Barcelona – May 13, 2023

The event took place on Saturday, May 13, 2023 and brought together more than 200 people at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya around high-end sports vehicles.

Cars for Smiles, the non-profit solidarity movement that was born 9 years ago in Barcelona to bring joy and motivation to children and adolescents with serious illnesses, celebrated its seventh May 13 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya edition in the city, with an appointment in which these young people could become co-drivers of sports supercars for a day.

The event, which is being held for the seventh year in Barcelona, once again brought together 44 teenagers and as many drivers, mostly owners of exclusive vehicles from legendary brands such as Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Jaguar, Lotus or Porsche. They were joined by their relatives, volunteers and managers of the companies that sponsor and support the event.

The purpose of Cars for Smiles has always been to create illusion and smiles for these young people, as well as provide support to their families and the people who are dedicated to their care within the hospital institutions.

For this reason, in addition to providing them with a unique and motivating experience, the money raised through the donations made by the pilots goes 100% to projects or improvements in the hospital facilities where these young people receive their treatments. For this Barcelona edition, Cars for Smiles selected the Dental Health project of the HM Obra Social Nens Foundation as the winning project. Thanks to the owners of the supercars, 11,350.00 euros were raised, which will be donated entirely to the aforementioned project.

The HM Obra Social Nens Foundation, whose origins date back to 1886, has a long history of helping those who need it most. The Dental Health project is one of the many projects carried out by the foundation and its objective is to alleviate poor oral hygiene and dental diseases of children and families with few resources, prevention and personalized treatment of child patients with basic pathologies, providing care services and educational attention.

The Cars for Smiles team is made up of professionals from different fields who wish to contribute their experience and put it at the service of young people, hospitals and companies that sponsor and/or collaborate with the project. “It is a unique opportunity to make our passion for motorsport an unforgettable experience for the bravest young people in our society”, explains Martijn Elvers, president of the association. In this edition of Cars for Smiles, the day began at 9:30 a.m. with the presentation of the project and a magnificent breakfast in the main Ball Room of the Hilton Hotel in Diagonal Mar Barcelona, where an exact replica of the 7-track Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya stood out. meters long with slot cars assembled by Mr. José Baglietto from Slot Garraf. The evening continued with an opening act led by SalvaRock who inspired the public on the concept of “micro-hits” to move forward each day, with a speech accompanied by his guitar and the song “we will rock you” by the band. by Queen rock that everyone in the room sang.

Once the opening act finished with a special thank you to the sponsors Panerai, Bentley Barcelona and Lamborghini Barcelona, the moment awaited by the co-drivers began, which is the formation of the teams. A previous work carried out by C4S volunteers with the odd last-minute change. During the formation of the teams the excitement rose because the co-driver and owner are called to collect their C4S plate for the identification of the car and finally find out who will be their partner for the rest of the day. Thanks to the participation and collaboration of Bentley Barcelona and Lamborghini Barcelona, the Ball Room was decorated with a Bentley Continental GTC Speed and a Lamborghini Huracán Evo. These 2 teams had a very special start from the room itself!

The caravan of vehicles left the Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona Hotel. After the siren call of the “Starsky&Hutch” car, one of the very few official replicas of the television series, a 1976 Ford Gran Torino with lights, sirens, speaker, fully equipped and its 500CV V8 engine put on a spectacle. per se. Thanks to the quality as a human being of the supercar owners like Mr. Pedro Peñaranda, who brought his Ford to the event, a truly magical atmosphere is created.

From 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., several rounds of filming and experiences aboard the supercars took place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with the participation of young people as co-drivers and under the supervision of C4S instructors, forming groups of 10 cars with lead car and follow car. Previously, a briefing was held for the pilots in the circuit’s media room. The event continued with a meal at the restaurant in the Paddock run by Aramark.

After the return trip to the Hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona, the day closed with the distribution of souvenir photos, courtesy of T&T Gestión Patrimonial, a raffle for prizes donated by Royal Detailing, the painter Manu Campa and the hotel itself, raffle of t-shirts courtesy of …, accompanied by a cake and a farewell cocktail, and all of it set to the music of the Funtastic DJs.

The hospital centers that collaborated in this edition of C4S were the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and the Fundació Ànima as well as the Johan Cruyff Foundation and the HM Obra Social Nens Foundation as the third sector network that wants to be part of the positive impact that Cars For Smiles has been able to generate to date in cities such as Barcelona and Madrid, managing to raise more than 70,000 euros since its inception.

As in each event and since 2022, the CO2 generated during the event was offset by planting trees in “El bosque de los Dani’s” from Tree-Nation.com.

Los patrocinadores de esta edición han sido el Hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Panerai, SalvaRock, Integra Cars, Integra Serveis, TN Autosport, Lamborghini Barcelona, Bentley Barcelona, Aston Dealers y LG Barcelona.

They have also collaborated: Audio-Equip, CM Import, Stinger Spain, T&T Gestión Patrimonial, Events&Technology, Aramark, Aura Identidad Visual, Royal Detail Luxury Car Detailing, Aston Martin Owners Club Spain, Torelló, Slot Garraf, Porsche Club España, Funtastic events, Avidalia, Gauvin Pictures, Volte.earth, Esade motor, Manu Campa, Pere Nubiola Photography, Pure Digital Design, Masa i Masa Seguros, CCO Madrid.

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