Tyrone Mathurin talks to host Sue Stockdale about being a racing driver in Team BRIT, which aims to become the first ever all-disabled team to race in the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race – the most iconic endurance sportscar race in the world.

Whilst riding his motorbike in 2005, Tyrone crashed which caused four nerves to be torn from his spinal cord. During surgery to reattach the nerves, doctors were unaware of a hematoma putting pressure onto his spinal cord and a week later he awoke from an induced coma, paralysed. Fast forward to 2022, and Tyrone is behind the wheel at the Silverstone circuit in a specially adapted BMW 118, where previously he had watched Moto GP as a spectator. Tyrone talks about his life growing up, how he endured the challenge of being paralysed, and how he became a racing driver in Team BRIT.

Find out more about Team BRIT:

Website https://teambrit.co.uk/drivers/tyrone-mathurin/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TeamBRIT
Twitter https://twitter.com/teambritracing
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/teambritracing/

Key Quotes:

'My career really started from a negative to a positive, from having a motorcycle accident to getting the chance to race motor cars'.

'I decided to jump on a motorcycle, and then that's when life went the opposite way for me'.

'My nerves detached from my spinal cord, which caused my right arm to not move'.

'It was a long road to the beginning of my recovery and I was in intensive care for three months'.

'There wasn't a support system there to help you through it, I had to do it myself'.

'I met a guy who was in a wheelchair and he gave me the inspiration to not give up- to work hard and you can get through it'.

'I'd never thought I would be actually in the pits at Silverstone doing motor racing'.

'The innovation behind our hand control system puts us on a level playing field. Once we are in a car, the disability goes out of the window'.

'You’ve got to persevere from what you believe in and over time it will happen'.

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Sound Editor: Matias de Ezcurra (he/him)
Producer: Sue Stockdale (she/her)

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