A 10-year-old karting ace from Norfolk has spent the day meeting Team BRIT’s drivers and crew.
Cory Chapman from Mundesley, who has been stunning competitors on the track since the start of his karting career, visited the HQ of Team BRIT this Tuesday.
Cory stopped breathing when he was 6 months old following a case of severe gastroenteritis. He was later diagnosed with ASD, global development delay, autism and severe ADHD.
Cory was introduced to motorsport at a young age. His dad Craig competed in rally car racing and began taking Cory to Snetterton to watch races including British Touring Car. Cory began to make friends with families and racers within the racing circuit and was introduced to Team BRIT driver Aaron Morgan who at the time was racing in the BMW Compact Cup. Aaron is a wheelchair user after breaking his spine in a motocross accident when he was a teenager.
When Cory was seven he tried racing for the first time, and was immediately hooked, setting incredibly fast lap times with no previous experience.
Last year he joined Total Karting Zero engineered by Rob Smedley. In his first ever race at Mansell, he secured two fifth place finishes and a sixth. This year he has raced in three rounds, winning two finals and coming second in one, currently sitting third in the overall championship.
Despite having an accident during a race at Fulbeck this year, which ended in an air ambulance rescue, a bruised spine and a week off school, Cory is giving everything to racing this year and just two weeks after the accident he went to Anglian Karting Centre in Swaffham and won a race by 25 seconds. The centre is supporting Cory’s racing and he is currently first in its championship.
On Tuesday 20th July Cory visited the home of Team BRIT at Dunsfold Park in Surrey and spent time with the team’s drivers and crew. He was able to try out on the team’s top of the range racing simulator which is equipped with its world-leading hand control technology, before being taken for laps around the Top Gear test track in the team’s racing cars.
Cory said: “I was invited to the Team BRIT HQ where I had the best day. I got to meet all the drivers and was allowed to go on the awesome Vesaro simulator. I was driven around the Top Gear track by Luke Pound which was so cool and I was speechless when I got out – which doesn’t happen very often! Thank you to my Dad Craig, my Mum Anna and brother Freddie for all their support in my racing so far. And thank you to all at Team BRIT who organised the day, I will remember this day for a long time.”
Team BRIT driver Luke Pound said: “It was a real pleasure to meet Cory and we were all stunned by his ability on our simulator. Considering he could only just reach the pedals, his times were only 1 second off that of our new rookie, and he was racing whilst constantly talking to us and pointing out things on the track. We were also really impressed with his understanding of the weight transfer of a car, meaning he was making constant improvements. This is another great example of how motorsport can focus the mind of someone with autism and ADHD.”
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