Disabilities are no obstacle

[drakart]

My Girlfriend had her first race weekend at Brands Hatch on the 2nd of May. All she wanted was to "not to stand out" whilst racing and not to come last. She succeeded in both and it has created some great interest.

Hopefully she can get more disabled athletes to look at motorsport as an option.

http://www.redbull.com/uk/en/motorsports/stories/1...

Edited by drakart on Wednesday 13th May 16:43

[BlackLabel]

Wow that's brilliant!

Did your gf ever look into driving a manual car with hand controls? I appreciate that an auto + push/pull control is the route to go down for those who can't use their legs but do you know if there are any manual set ups available?

[Dan Friel]

Thanks for sharing, great article! Love the race "commentary". Not sure I'd have been brave enough to get back in after the Paddock Hill incident...

[88racing]

All the very best to Nathalie.

My team (Newbridge Motorsport) are running a bunch of ex-Army lads in a VW Golf in the new Endurance Race Series. All have at least one disability. Their aim is to compete at Le Mans - how about that for a target!

http://www.teambrit.co.uk/

Chris.

Edited by 88racing on Tuesday 12th May 20:32

[snowen250]

Was at this meeting, she did well! Considering the car is far less developed then the competition she did a good job.

All the best to her in the future.

[Vocal Minority]

Cool story bro....seriously!

Awesome

[drmotorsport]

I was racing there that day too - wish i knew as would have loved to watch the porker races and have a nose at the car.

There are a few disabled drivers racing out there, however the three limbed guy at Lydden the other year racing in a Reliant Robin was particularly memorable

Would love to get my daughter who has CP, racing. But its more a financial/logistics issue rather than lack of will/awareness/technical.

[drakart]

BlackLabel said:

Wow that's brilliant!

Did your gf ever look into driving a manual car with hand controls? I appreciate that an auto + push/pull control is the route to go down for those who can't use their legs but do you know if there are any manual set ups available?

With one hand on the wheel and the other on the hand control, it would be impossible! The hand control isn't push/pull, it's radial. Push forward for brakes and push down for throttle. Modern autos change up just as fast. We are now working on a way to be able to change down manually. It tends to kick down on the exit of corners which isn't ideal.

She's actually paralysed from the chest down (not waist as per the article) and her hands are therefore affected. Luckily she has better hands than most with a C6/7 complete break.