Quatermass Motorsport Launches Para Racers Academy For Sim Racers With Disabilities

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Images: Quatermass Motorsport
Sim racing should be for everyone - which is the thought behind the Quatermass Motorsport Para Racers Academy. The freshly-launched program aims to help sim racers with disabilities.

Competition in sim racing can be fierce, and it might seem daunting to go out on track tor try and battle it out with the best. For sim racers with disabilities, this proverbial hurdle migth seem even more difficult to clear - which is why Quatermass Motorsport launched the Para Racers Academy.

The program's goal is "to empower drivers with physical and psychological disabilities to compete at the highest levels" - not just as a racing team, but as a "platform for change." The Para Racers Academy wants to enable everyone can pursue competitive sim racing if they choose to, even if they face handicaps, while also aiming to have skills learned as part of the program to also apply to other aspects of life.

With ten drivers already on board, the program looks to take part in high-profile events such as the SRO GT Championships or iRacing Special Events, helped by the experience Quatermass Motorsport gained when it was still eTeamBRIT, which also promoted inclusivity before.


Sim Racing & Career Skills​

Quatermass Team Owner and Founder Max Spooner is looking forward to the Para Racers Academy helping sim racers who might not get the chance otherwise realize their potential:

"Our goal isn’t just to create a team of disabled sim racers. We want to support these individuals to become better versions of themselves. With our support we want to teach them the skills required to be competitive in sim racing that they can also use in their careers and to help integrate them into society.

However, like with many things, the costs of adapting equipment and infrastructure for disabled people is more expensive so we want to find ways to lower these costs of entry and work with companies that create the products we use, the venues we visit to make them more accessible in a financially viable way and the more disabled people we get sim racing, the easier that becomes.
"
Max Spooner, Quatermass Motorsport Founder & Team Owner

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Spooner himself has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome at 17 years of age. "We have a team being run by both disabled and neurodiverse staff for both disabled and neurodiverse drivers, which in itself, is ground-breaking", states Team Manager Andrew Chell. "I am really looking forward to working and growing with our great drivers; watching them develop & show that incorrectly perceived disadvantages really are non-existent.”

The Academy will provide specialized equipment including adaptive sim racing rigs, as well as tailored training programs and holistic development for skills that also benefit participants outside of the sim rig. You can find more info on the Quatermass Motorsport Para Racers Academy website.

What do you think about the Para Racers Academy? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion on our forums!
About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

What was his name?
This YouTuber being severely disabled, only being able to write on a computer via an assistive device he fitted to his mouth - and was a predator in sim racing in exactly this fascinating way, all AIDS off.
I only watched a few videos with him over 10 years ago (maybe soon 15 years ago, dunno?), but the experience of enjoying watching his absolutely extreme skills has stuck in the cerebral cortex here.

In this relation Asperger's syndrome seems as a 'light category', but I know it's an ungrateful elasticity of diagnosis of varying degrees of severity, however, a family member here with severe autism, which affects the movement apparatus, there is no doubt, Asperger's can also be difficult to live with in itself.

Speaking. Just a couple of years ago, just passed the 50 mark, I was diagnosed with ADD ('the silent ADHD'), after decades myself silently having suspicion of some sort of Aspergers, the chief psychologist even stated 'moderately challenged', but could not make it rhyme with the fact that I passed a 5-year engineering degree with top marks, but subsequently told him that I have definitely also had my failures and major defeats in life myself. When I think about it myself retrospectively, I think I especially enjoy endurance racing because it challenges my concentration in an indescribably nice way, but really just racing in itself, regardless of whether it's real world track days or sim racing.

I just see my diagnosis as an advantage in relation to sim racing and racing in general, in the meaning that it is a peaceful and healing place for my mind, and not something I want to compete in for a para discipline, even though I now have paper on it.

In that case I'll much more like to enjoy the view of the guy I mention first :)
 
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Premium
What was his name?
This YouTuber being severely disabled, only being able to write on a computer via an assistive device he fitted to his mouth - and was a predator in sim racing in exactly this fascinating way, all AIDS off.
I only watched a few videos with him over 10 years ago (maybe soon 15 years ago, dunno?), but the experience of enjoying watching his absolutely extreme skills has stuck in the cerebral cortex here.
I believe you may be thinking of Quad Racing, he participated in an event held by the Lazarus gaming team in collaboration with Chevrolet. Been trying to find a line of contact with them for a while now.
 
Really great article! It makes all of us complaining about simracing flaws a bunch of ungrateful idiots. There are people with way more issues than the most of us enjoying simracing the best way they can.
Very well thought out. Almost every day I find myself getting upset about things that seems, and the emphasis is on seems, to be important in our fast-moving world.
So many people around the world suffer from illness, war and hunger.

Then you stop for a moment and realize that you really don't have that much to complain about.

Great project
 
Premium
Back in 2016 Frédéric Sausset competed at Le Mans as Garage 56 after becoming a quadruple amputee...
The accelerator and brake were operated by a paddle for each thigh; levers connected the paddles to the pedals. During a driver change the multifunction steering wheel was replaced with a special adapter that connected to a prosthetic Sausset wore on his right arm.
Not found details of how gear change worked but I assume these can be found

As I have been suffering with various pains as I have got older which limits my movements and driving time ( in both real life and sim-racing ) I've sometimes thought that must be a need for sim hardware that can be used by those with physical impairments.
 
Back in the 80s, I remember a classmate's brother who was missing a hand. He played with us just like everyone else, without any special assistance. What stood out to me wasn't his disability, but his unique style of play, his determination, and how he often won. What I loved most was how we all played together, without worrying about who was good or bad—just playing for fun.

Looking back, I realize that true limitations are set by our minds, not by the equipment we use. With today's advanced peripherals and adaptations, winning and enjoying the game comes down to willpower and perseverance. It's important to make everyone feel welcome.

There’s an Italian company called 3DRAP that has developed a product specifically designed for people with limited mobility in their legs. It’s a hand accelerator that connects to a steering wheel, making driving accessible. Innovations like this are always welcome. Here’s a link in case you or someone you know might benefit from it.

And for those who live with some form of autism, video games have been a blessing, as they greatly help with motor skills, entertainment, and mental engagement. No matter what, we need to focus on better inclusion. Great article!!!!

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The guy that bought my old BRD sim rig only had one hand. He turned up to collect in his car so I thought he obviously had it all figured out and can't of hindered him. Car was a hot hatch as well. Obviously wasn't letting it hold him back.
 
Im A Paraplegic, and have use of both Arms Fully, so I use the Fanatec DD with the Multiple Paddle Shifter Optional Hardware, that has progressive Paddle shifters that also work as a Throttle and Brake, very well, and you also have well designed other paddles very close for Shifting, and even a third set for what-ever you want. Ive been in a wheelchair for 17 years, sim racing the whole time, and Now with This Setup from Fanatec, Its as Good as I can possibly expect, and Im Loving it!!
 
Forgot to mention, my mother-in-law's husband, born with 1½ arm (missing lower half left arm) did some lower class rally racing early 70ies, and after 1st time I returned from Nordschleife Touristfahren near 20 years ago, he replied "oh, yes, yes, I was there myself in 1969 in a motorcycle sidecar", where I assumed he was sitting in the sidecar. No, he rode the motorcycle himself with his non-disabled friend in the sidecar.

Still quite unfathomable to me.

Sim-wise, I've out of necessity simraced for year as if I had no legs. My Thrustmaster Guillemotte Ferrari FFB pedals broke, so I used the variable double sidepads, one set for gas/brake, the other set for shifting. In fact a splendid setup, so I hesitated another year to replace eith something new.

While racing that setup, it often came to my mind to think of my countryman Jason Watt after his terrible MC display accident (after talking to Sir Frank about becoming the first black F1 pilot after 2 x runner up F3000 champion) where he ended up paralyzed from the chest down. After some fundraising events like "Racing for Jason" in GB, he had enough money to develop a special version of a touring car for racing - with a more complicated and hairy setup than my own temporary - and he ended up winning the main national touringcar series, in front of the entire national elite.

A lot is possible if you don't rule yourself out as a start.
 
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Forgot to mention, my mother-in-law's husband, born with 1½ arm (missing lower half left arm) did some lower class rally racing early 70ies, and after 1st time I returned from Nordschleife Touristfahren near 20 years ago, he replied "oh, yes, yes, I was there myself in 1969 in a motorcycle sidecar", where I assumed he was sitting in the sidecar. No, he rode the motorcycle himself with his non-disabled friend in the sidecar.

Still quite unfathomable to me.

Sim-wise, I've out of necessity simraced for year as if I had no legs. My Thrustmaster Guillemotte Ferrari FFB pedals broke, so I used the variable double sidepads, one set for gas/brake, the other set for shifting. In fact a splendid setup, so I hesitated another year to replace eith something new.

While racing that setup, it often came to my mind to think of my countryman Jason Watt after his terrible MC display accident (after talking to Sir Frank about becoming the first black F1 pilot after 2 x runner up F3000 champion) where he ended up paralyzed from the chest down. After some fundraising events like "Racing for Jason" in GB, he had enough money to develop a special version of a touring car for racing - with a more complicated and hairy setup than my own temporary - and he ended up winning the main national touringcar series, in front of the entire national elite.

A lot is possible if you don't rule yourself out as a start.
We can't forget 2 amazing drivers Kubica & Zanardi
 

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