Tuesday 28th October 2014

Race Of Remembrance

Mission Motorsport's Remembrance Day fundraiser at Anglesey promises racing with a cause

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If you don't already know about Mission Motorsport then, frankly, you should! Under the banner 'Race, Retrain, Recover' and leadership of PHer Jim Cameron (aka Tankslider - guess his previous day job) it's done a fabulous job of giving wounded servicemen a sense of purpose to their lives with involvement in motorsport of all kinds. The emphasis is on the fun but there is, of course, a serious side to all this as those traumatised by injuries both physical and mental attempt to rebuild their lives.

Mission Motorsport's Jim Cameron

Latest in a line of Mission Motorsport initiatives is the Race of Remembrance; in short a fundraiser for the charity in the form of an eight-hour endurance race at Anglesey Circuit in which PH will be taking part. We're driving the same Jota/Mazda UK MX-5 as used at the weekend in the Birkett Six Hour Relay. Just as well it wasn't too badly damaged then...

"I've always wanted an excuse to drive with my medals pinned to my race suit," says Jim of the inspiration for the event, which will take part on Remembrance Sunday and see the race come to a halt to observe the minute's silence and enable everyone to pay tribute to the fallen. A Welsh male voice choir will sing, a chaplain will make a dedication and then everyone will get back into their cars and continue the race. It's a very Mission Motorsport combination of humour, eccentricity and utterly sincere respect for the dead and wounded, made even more poignant as troops pull out of Afghanistan and the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War is observed.

Mission Motorsport and Mazda have long partnership

All embodied by one of the drivers trained up by Mission Motorsport and due to take part in one of the MX-5s. A keen boxer from childhood, Davie Birrell joined the Black Watch and was injured in an IED explosion on foot patrol in Afghanistan in 2010. He lost both legs and with them hopes of taking boxing on as a professional sport but has turned that mental focus and training regime to motorsport, bagging third place in the Max5championship for Mk1 MX-5s.

Anglesey's one of his favourite tracks and he's been looking forward to Race of Remembrance since the idea was first discussed. But the real reason for doing it is clear enough. "I'm racing for all my mates who aren't here any more," he says.

Our chat at Silverstone is a first chance to get acquainted with the Mk3 MX-5 he'll be racing in too. Double amputee or not he races a regular manual MX-5 with no hand controls or other adaptations, the only real issue being an inability to heel and toe his downshifts. He admits this is hard on gearboxes and clutches but it doesn't seem to hold him back much and has levels of focus and determination that'd put many pros to shame.

Davie gets a feel for the Jota Mazda

This saw him reach the top 10 in Ginetta's Want2Race talent spotting competition against 300 able-bodied entrants last year. He didn't manage to bag the top prize of a season racing Ginettas but sufficiently impressed the judges that they put him through his ARDS test and donated him his first race suit. Help from others along the way has made a huge difference too, not least intensive simulator training at iZone Driver Performance at Silverstone. Without the feel of the pedal against his feet he has to find other ways of judging things like brake pressure and sensing the threshold between maximum braking and locking up. Using the G-force display in the simulator he's been able to understand this to good effect. You get the impression there's less of a learning curve required in his application of the accelerator...

Davie has proved himself as a driver in his own right

All of which should make him a pretty fearsome competitor out on track. Fellow Mission Motorsport beneficiary Steve McCulley will also be racing in his Academy Caterham and had best watch out... Steve bagged fourth overall in Group Two of this year's championship (ahead of our Matt) so between them they should do pretty well.

Obviously Jim and the team at Mission Motorsport are keen as many PHers and other spectators make the trip to Anglesey to watch the race and to that end 'Supercar Saturday' before the main event will have opportunities to take passenger rides in Mission Motorsport cars and even the Wix racing BTCC Mercedes A45 AMG of Adam Morgan. See the event homepage for more info and get along to show your support if you can!

[Sources: Mission Motorsport, Ginetta, iZone Driver Performance, Caterham, Wix Racing]

 

 

[JamesHayward]

I cannot wait for this

[Adenauer]

Very well done to everyone at MM.

[Hrimfaxi]

Excellent!

[supersnapper]

Causes don't come any better than this. Well done Jim!

[Scottie - NW]

Any more details for this such as times and spectator info etc?

I'm fairly local to the circuit and would pop along to watch.

The RAF have also hosted charity trackdays for Help the Heroes at nearby RAF Valley, using run and taxiways for a good course

[benjj]

Well done Dan, top work

Access is £10 for Sat & Sun and there will be tuck on site (or you can bring your own of course).

Passenger laps in the miscellany of cars on Supercar Saturday are £25, all of that going to MM.

There is a thread in General Motorsport on the event itself (and you can see which other PHers are competing).

Flyer here:



Website here with more as said in the article: www.raceofremembrance.com

Get up there, will be a top weekend

[benjj]

PHers one and all...

The Race of Remembrance is this weekend at Anglesey Circuit.

As said above, free practice Friday, quali Saturday morning, Supercar Saturday and drift laps in the afternoon, race starting Sunday morning and going on all day.

Would be great to see some of you there. The whole MM team will be there (most actually racing for once ), some of the great and the good from the world of motorsport and much more.

We also do pretty good parties so come along and get involved for little more than the cost of a packet of fags.

[gtdc]

Very, very much looking forward to this. We're driving back from Spa for it. Haven't been to Anglesey for years. Brilliant place & expect it's going to be ace for viewing.

[PJS917]

Really wish I could make this, the Anglesey circuit is fantastic, great for watching/driving and having passenger laps around. The MM chaps are top chaps and it’s in aid of a great cause, what is there not to like.