Battersea racing driver on a podium streak

A racing driver from Battersea has secured his second podium finish in his third race of the year.

Tyrone, 44, is a driver for Team BRIT, the world's only competitive team of all-disabled racing drivers.

On Saturday (May 27), Tyrone joined his teammate Paul Fullick, racing in the Britcar Trophy Championship at Oulton Park. 

The weekend began on a high when the pair qualified first in their class, putting them in the strongest possible position for the start of the race.

A technical problem unfortunately then meant they couldn't start the first race. But the team worked at a relentless pace, with Paul even driving on to Manchester to secure a crucial piece of equipment, meaning they could get back on track for race 2.

The technical issue meant they were running on less power than they should, but despite this they finished 2nd in class, securing their second podium finish of the year. 

Tyrone was riding his motorbike in 2005 when he crashed over an obscured pothole. The accident 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. A week later he awoke from an induced coma, totally paralysed from head to toe.

After seven months spent on a hospital bed during which time he gained slight movement in his limbs, Tyrone was eventually transferred to a Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore for a further three months where he had to learn to walk, dress, cook and write for himself.

The accident not only changed everything in terms of his physical ability, but also took him away from his previous life involved in drug crime and caused him to turn his life around.

Now, he has weakness in his right leg, no movement in his right hip and no feeling from his right hand to his right elbow. He joined Team BRIT in 2021 after researching adaptive solutions for sim racing, and raced in his first season last year, teaming up with teammate Paul Fullick in the Britcar Trophy. Paul is a lower leg amputee following a motorbike accident. The pair can driver together using the team's world-leading hand control technology.

Tyrone said: "What a weekend! We went into the race feeling really positive after our fantastic result at Brands Hatch in April.

"Our confidence is growing which is reflected in our lap times, and to qualify first in class was the perfect start to the weekend. We were hit with bad luck when we had a damper issue with the car. Many other teams would have said that's the end of their race weekend, but that's not how we work. In true Team BRIT style, everyone went above and beyond to get us back on track for race 2. I'm so glad we could repay those efforts with a podium."

Tyrone races again at Silverstone on the 25th June.