Thrill seekers taking part in the world’s biggest food fight may find themselves splattered with tomatoes from Sandwich.

Car enthusiasts the Mini Red Arrows will be transporting 25kg of the fruits from Ash-based Eric Hall Farm as they embark on an eight-day driving challenge to the famous Spanish festival of La Tomatina.

That’s at least 600 of the goods home grown by John Gregory, which they’ll then hurl among thousands of participants in the famous one-hour street event.

It is the second annual trip for the group of friends who last year re-enacted The Italian Job driving through France to Turin and back. They raised £4,500 for Deal based mental health group Talk It Out.

This year they are raising funds for PAPYRUS, the UK’s only national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide.

Julian Pitts, from Deal, is among the 20 people taking part in nine Mini Coopers and one Ferrari.

He said: “We’re just a group of friends, all from different backgrounds, who enjoy driving cars and having fun. To justify our adventures we raise money and awareness for worthy causes.

“We’re very excited about supporting PAPYRUS with this year’s trip.

“Many of us personally or through work have been touched by what this great charity is trying to prevent and we are looking forward to raising as much money as possible.

“We thought the best way to raise awareness and get publicity is to do something that gets you noticed.

“So during the last months of Brexit negotiations we thought we would take English tomatoes grown in Kent, the garden of England all the way to Spain and throw them at Europeans during the festival.”

They will depart by ferry from Portsmouth on Sunday and aim to arrive at the festival on Wednesday, August 29.

Throughout the trip they will be wearing Union Jack blazers promoting all that is still great about Great Britain as well as

completing personal challenges and playing tricks.

The return trip will take them back through Spain, Andorra, France before finishing in Dover.

The group are keen to highlight that suicide is the biggest killer of young people under 35 in the UK with 1,600 young people, ever year, taking their own life.

The charity’s HOPELineUK provides practical advice and support. Call l 0800 0684141, text 07786 209 697, or email pat@papyrus-uk.org

Follow their progress by liking ‘Mini Red Arrow’ on Facebook. To donate go to the JustGiving page.