A group of young people with learning needs and disabilities have had a taste of life as a racing driver after visiting the home of Team BRIT, in Washington near Pulborough.
Earlier this month, a group of three students from Woodlands Meed College in West Sussex visited the HQ as part of a visit arranged by Lightyear Foundation, which works to break down barriers to STEM opportunities for disabled children.
The trip was part of Lightyear’s ‘Work Inspiration Trip Programme’, which aims to encourage young disabled people to look at the STEM industry as a future career prospect. Despite making up 20% of working age adults, disabled people are under-represented across all STEM career disciplines.
The group were given a tour of the HQ and were able to take a closer look at its fleet of four racing cars. The team has developed world-leading hand control technology which enables its disabled drivers to compete equally with able-bodied drivers. The students were shown how these work, and told how there were developed to enable the team to compete.
They then got ‘hands on’ with the hand controls by trying them out on the team’s racing simulator, before testing their reaction times with the team’s ‘blaze pod’ reaction game.
The visit was hosted by Team BRIT driver Paul Fullick, who is a lower leg amputee, and team ambassador Tyrone Mathurin, a former driver who has limited use of one side of his body. Both Paul and Tyrone’s disabilities were caused by motorbike accidents.
Paul explains, “It was fantastic to welcome the students to our HQ. We were able to show them that having a disability doesn’t need to stop you chasing your dreams – whether that’s to race cars or to pursue another exciting career.
“We were also able to show them how STEM skills can open doors to the most exciting career opportunities. Without science and engineering, our team wouldn’t be able to race – we’ve used engineering to create hand controls that allow us to race against able-bodied drivers, something no other sport can offer.
“The students were just fantastic, asking brilliant questions about the team, and putting so much effort into recording fast lap times on our simulator and getting their reaction times down on our blaze pods. I hope they had a great time and that we can welcome them along to a race some time soon.”
Rebecca Garthwaite, Work Inspiration Trip Host at Lightyear Foundation said: “Our Work Inspirations trips provide groups of older students from SEND schools the opportunity to experience STEM in an interactive, hands-on way. These trips give students a glimpse into what working in STEM might be like. During our visit to Team Brit, discussions about technology, engineering, and science were integrated with exciting racing activities, which helped the students engage with the topics. The team was extremely welcoming and informative, giving us the chance to experience what it’s like to be a racer or engineer with Team Brit. Thank you for having us!”
