Cooper Supports “Rambling Rat” Child Poverty Aid Tour

Cooper Tire is supporting a charity expedition travelling across the world to highlight the plight of children living in poverty. Dubbed the “Rambling Rat”, Tim Dennis has travelled all the way across Europe, Asia and North America in a Toyota Land Cruiser equipped with Cooper’s rugged Discoverer STT tyres, which have successfully taken him some 44,000 miles across the harshest terrains on Earth.

As well as testing Dennis’s endurance, plus that of his Land Cruiser and its tyres, the aim of the ongoing expedition is to provide education and awareness for the Street Kids International charity. On his travels through developed countries such as Japan, Dennis teaches children the importance of basic needs such as food, water and shelter, and the fact that many children elsewhere don’t have access to these simple things. In undeveloped countries, he visits the Street Kids International projects, to raise awareness of the charity’s positive work.

“This is an ongoing sustainable project, not just some quick little trip around the world,” says Dennis, who sold his house and business for the expedition. “At Street Kids, we believe that every young person is an opportunity, it’s just the local resources that they’re lacking. In Europe and America the problems are usually social based, whereas in Africa they’re caused by war and famine or HIV and AIDS, but the problems are similar, and we try to bring attention to that.”

Dennis has been pleased with the way his Cooper Discoverer STTs have coped with the conditions. “They’re amazing tyres. I’m from a farming and road hauling background so have a lot of experience in the area, and I know these are very, very strong tyres. They’ve travelled around 44,000 miles across terrain from frozen lakes and ice to desert, with and without studs, and they’ve held up fine.”

The “Rambling Rat” Toyota Land Cruiser is now waiting in New York, with a drive south through the USA and Mexico, then through South America to finish in Argentina planned. A second Rambling Rat expedition is also planned to cover Africa.