It takes courage to drive a racing car. It takes gumption to drive one quickly. It takes audacity to drive one quickly without being able to see.
Face completely covered with a fire-proof balaclava, I stepped into a specially-adapted racer and had a helmet squeezed on to my enormous head. Then, I was strapped in so tightly I was unable to move.
Ralph, my instructor for my slimmed-down session of two laps blindfolded and two laps sighted, said that my restricted movement was for my own benefit. And then the blindfold was put on me.
READ MORE: Stockport Plaza is a great trip back in time - I just wish the food wasn't too
Speaking to me through a microphone and speaker system installed in our helmets, Ralph says he will be an able guide for myself, and I wholeheartedly believe him. But I still can’t see. So I’m still ever-so-definitely terrified.
“Floor it”
That fear evaporates in the Spring sun, by my second corner of the Three Sisters Circuit in Wigan — with Ralph’s calm ‘more left… hold it… hold… straighten it up’ being as much guidance as I need. This feels, dare I say it, easy? It’s a matter of following Ralph’s lead and not overdoing things.
“Floor it,” Ralph tells me next, and I do. That’s when my afternoon goes from being a gentle meander around a small circuit to the full-fat racing experience charity founders John and Mike had promised me earlier.
In an instant, we go, and we keep going. There’s more wind, more noise, more pressure forcing me into my seat, and — somehow — more colour.
Ralph, who I thankfully only learn is nicknamed ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ after I get out the car, tells me to ease off, and gives me a bit more control on our second outing.
We do indeed ‘floor it’ again and it’s just as brilliantly intense the second time around. Lap two is the end of my blind-run, so I pull into the pits, remove the blindfold and set off again.
So, armed with some feeling of the car, more knowledge of the circuit, and still in Ralph’s capable hands, I’m ready to go. We whizz around another two laps, and I’m delighted with myself.
“By my estimations, you were a touch faster blindfolded,” he tells me as we come to a stop. Hearing this, I’m at a complete loss as to why Ralph — my confidant, my guru, my wise guide — is failing to recognise my obvious talent. How could I be slower?
It’s because I’m fearful, he explains, and is relatively common for people like me who do both sighted-and-blinded runs. Nevertheless, I’ve had a great time — and I’m not the only one.
The Three Sisters Circuit in Ashton-in-Makerfield hosted charity Speed of Sight, which uses dual-control cars to take people with visual impairments, mobility needs, and learning disabilities on to the circuit.
“I got a bit too over-confident”
“I don’t have much sight and the charity allows visually impaired people to drive,” Amy Ottaway, a Team GB Paralympian explains. The goalball player, who represented the Union Flag at London 2012, is here with her fiance, Joe Dodson.
Like Amy, Joe was also a goalball player for Great Britain at the Paralympics a decade ago. They met in 2010, when they trained together.
Both of them say it was an ‘amazing’ experience. Amy adds: “It was amazing [to be behind the wheel], really really good.
“I started to learn the track… I probably got a bit too over-confident on the accelerator, we had an interesting corner.”
“It's the first time they release the racing driver inside them”
Part of why it is so amazing is that many disabled people name driving as the thing they miss the most, Speed of Sight co-founder Mike Newman explains.
“I started to get disabled people in adult life [speak to me],” Mike says. “One common theme was that while their life changed beyond belief the one thing they missed most was the freedom to drive. It started to make me want to give them the exhilaration back.”
Mike, 60, is also a double-speed-world-record holder. Racing a Formula 1 powerboat off the coast of Torbay to 110mph won him the fastest blind man on water crown in 2013.
And a year later, he became the fastest blind man on land by driving a Nissan GTR to 204mph. In doing so, he became only the second man in history — and first blind person — to hold two speed records simultaneously.
Rather than chase more personal achievements, Mike decided to share his passion with other disabled people.
He continues: “John helped me in the past with the land speed record. We had to give up our day jobs to get up and running.
“We started off with our first car with help from a businessman in Wigan. Then we got a second… Three Sisters are huge supporters - they always go out of their way to accommodate us.”
John Galloway, 57, says that days like this are the ‘first time’ in a disabled person’s life they will get the opportunity.
“It's the first time they release the racing driver inside them,” he adds.
These days are not limited to Wigan, either. Speed of Sight have events this year at the Teesside Autodrome, Kames Circuit in Scotland, and Llandow in south Wales.
Despite being fully-supported by donations, the charity is now in its tenth year — and shows no sign of slowing down.
You can donate to Speed of Sight and find out more about the charity online.
STORIES
