Audi R8 Spyder raises £620k for Elton John AIDS Foundation

Elton, David and the man from Audi with the chromed R8 Spyder

Audi donated 2 chromed Audi R8 Spyders for Elton John’s White Tie & Tiara Auction this weekend, raising £620k for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in the process.

Quite simply, it’s an astonishingly generous charitable foundation founded by, and driven ever on, by Elton John, and it’s raised getting on for £50 million since Elton founded it in 1993, thanks in no small part to Elton’s generosity with his royalties (always making sure he has enough left over for flowers, of course).

And as it’s Elton who’s the heart and soul of the EJAF, fund raisers tend to be a little more interesting than a bring and buy stall on the local village green. Glitzy fund raisers like the annual White Tie & Tiara event held each June at Elton’s Windsor home manage to extract astonishing sums of money from the bank accounts of attendees – all for the benefit of the EJAF.

Audi is a big supporter of the EJAF (well, Elton is just round the corner from Audi’s other big celeb charity – the Royal Family) and is prone to donate a car or two for Elton’s White Tie & Tiara auction.

Last year Elton – and, we mustn’t forget, David Furnish – got a very special Audi A1 to auction off. Not just any old A1, but an Audi A1 decorated by none other than Damien Hirst.

This year Audi stumped up a chromed Audi R8 Spyder for Elton to flog off, a genorous donation which, in the heat of the evening, became even more generous.

The R8 Spyder managed to attract a bid of £250k, but it was clear there was room to relieve guests of a few bob more so Audi generously divvied up a second R8 Spyder.

Audi’s generosity was obviously contagious, and the buyer of the second R8 Spyder submitted the R8 back for auction a second time culminating in a total of £620,000 being raised from the two cars.

Another hugely successful fund raiser from EJAF, with more than a small nod of gratitude to Audi.