A group of young people from Portsmouth have experienced life as a racing driver after a visit to our HQ.
On Monday 1st July a group of 14 young people taking part in The Prince’s Trust Team programme, delivered in partnership with the City of Portsmouth College, were welcomed to our HQ and workshop, which is based near Pulborough in West Sussex.
Team is a 12-week personal development programme which supports young people aged 16-25 who are unemployed to build their confidence, gain new skills and earn a qualification. The visit was part of the ‘world of work’ phase of the programme, introducing the young people to new careers to consider in the future.
On Monday, the group were given a tour of the workshop and shown around the team’s fleet of 4 racing cars, including 2 McLaren GT4s. Paraplegic driver Aaron Morgan shared his story with the group, including how he became a racing driver, and inputs were given from team members on the different roles they carry out for the team, including mechanic Jack Webber, PR Manager Lucy Sheehan and Engineering Director Al Locke.
Finally, the young people got ‘hands on’, trying out the team’s hand controls on their racing simulators, carrying out a timed pit stop challenge and testing their reaction times on the team’s blaze pods.
The Prince’s Trust is supported by global IT brand CDW, which is also a Team BRIT sponsor and employer of team driver Aaron Morgan, who is an IT solutions specialist for the firm.
Team BRIT PR Manager Lucy Sheehan, who hosted the group explained: “It was great to welcome the group to our HQ to learn more about our team and everything we do. The world of motorsport provides so many career opportunities, involving everything from engineering and technology to communications, social media, sponsorship and event management. It was fantastic to be able to demonstrate this to the young people and show them the range of roles within Team BRIT.
“They all had a great time getting to grips with our hand controls on our sims, and trying their hand at being a race mechanic with our pit stop challenge. We were really impressed with the effort everyone put in, and even had a ‘best ever’ score secured by Luca on our blaze pod reaction time exercise. A huge thanks to everyone at the City of Portsmouth College and the Prince’s Trust for coming along.”
Luca, who attended the visit said: “Team Brit was an enjoyable experience as it taught me about how they provide people with disabilities the chance to enjoy a career that they enjoy by providing the accessibilities to do so. I also enjoyed the activities that they allowed us to do as it gave me the chance to experience what it’s like to be part of the pit stop crew and a racer.”
Ellie Cook, Partnerships Manager CDW UK&I said: ‘It was inspiring to witness two brilliant partnerships joining forces to empower the young people of The Prince’s Trust. Their excitement and involvement were great to see, especially as they relaxed and celebrated coming to the end of a demanding 12-week course. This exemplifies the essence of successful partnerships, and CDW was delighted to contribute to this introduction and facilitation.”
