5 December 2011 Last updated at 06:53 ET

Stars race to honour Dan Wheldon in Milton Keynes

Dan Wheldon was killed competing in Las Vegas in October

A memorial race for IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon who died while competing in Las Vegas is to be held later.

The 33-year-old, from Emberton, Buckinghamshire, was killed in the race in October.

The Dan Wheldon Memorial Kart Race will take place at Daytona Milton Keynes from 19:40 GMT and raise funds for The Alzheimer's Society.

Drivers who have pledged their support include Jenson Button, Anthony Davidson and David Coulthard.

The endurance event has proved so popular that the grid has been stretched to its maximum with 36 teams of four drivers due to line up.

Members of Wheldon's family, who chose the charity to benefit from the event, will be joining the professional drivers in the race.

'One-off event'

Race organiser and friend of father-of-two Wheldon, Johnny Mowlem, said the cost of the race was being covered by the professional drivers taking part and would be a one-off special event.

"It's not often that you get professional racing drivers parting with their hard-earned cash in these particular situations," he said.

"For me this was just a one-off and I wanted to go and do to pull everyone together that had known Dan and loved him. I just wanted to send him off in a really happy, and hopefully a really nice, evening."

The two-hour endurance race will start at 19:40 GMT but due to limited spectator capacity, only drivers and their guests will be allowed in.