A SPORTS car worth more than £44,000 cut an unusual sight outside Great Western Hospital’s front doors.

Staff from the Porsche Centre Swindon parked the speedy red 718 Boxster outside the Marlborough Road hospital as they presented a £500 cheque for the Brighter Futures Special Care Baby Unit appeal.

The cash will go towards new state-of-the-art incubators for the intensive care baby ward at GWH.

Simon Lissemore, centre principal at the Dick Lovett Porsche dealership, said clients had raised the money at an annual golfing tournament.

“It’s the 70th anniversary of Porsche sports cars this year,” he said. “The first car ran off the factory line in June 1948 with another great establishment – the NHS – celebrating 70 years we thought it was the ideal cause.”

And at the firm’s golfing day, where around 40 customers took on a golfing pro in the name of charity, there was widespread support for the SCBU appeal.

Simon said: “Our customers hopefully don’t have too much close contact with the unit, but everyone will know people who have been supported by staff at the unit.”

Cat Newman, head of GWH’s charity Brighter Futures, said: “Now with the appeal just over £50,000, we’re just that bit closer to getting the second incubator. We’re really grateful to local businesses like Porsche for getting fundraising together and really helping us drive forward.

“The new incubators will make such a difference. The incubators we have are over 15 years old now and technology has moved forward. We’ll be able to get the latest version of the incubator and help so many more young patients in those first days.”

Porsche also donated a large teddy bear, named Wolfgang, which will be raffled off to raise more cash for Brighter Futures.