Chatham racer joins world's first all-disabled motorsport team

KentOnline / KMTV

After a lifetime as a racing fan, Dom Shore will now tour the UK in the Britcar championship on legendary UK circuits like Silverstone or Kent's very own Brands Hatch.

Transcript

00:00 Chatham's Dom Shaw, who was born with a spinal condition, is set to achieve his dream of becoming a racing driver this year.

00:06 He's the latest rookie to join Team Brit,

00:08 they're the world's only competitive team of all disabled racing drivers. After a lifetime as a racing fan,

00:14 he'll now tour the UK in the Brit Car Championship on legendary UK circuits like Silverstone or

00:19 Kent's very own Brands Hatch, and I'm very happy to say Dom joins me in the studio now.

00:24 Thank you very much for being here and welcome onto Invicta Sport. Thank you for having me.

00:27 It's amazing to have you here. Now, first of all, tell me where it all started.

00:30 I believe your dad was a big inspiration for you getting behind the wheel. Yeah, so my dad raced 94s

00:36 locally. He'd always had the Porsche in the garage and I'd help him out with the car and go to every race with him and

00:43 that's what sparked the interest for racing for me, but it was something I never thought was possible

00:50 being disabled and not having the equipment available.

00:54 And you've been in a wheelchair since birth and obviously you use it every day in your life,

01:00 but you did start off trying out karting at a young age and also remote car racing. Tell me the story behind that.

01:07 Yeah, so my dad insisted that I go in a go-kart from a young age

01:11 to get me used to driving so that it would eventually get me independent in driving on the roads, etc. myself.

01:21 But also as well that sparked the interest in going racing as well.

01:25 And again with the lack of

01:28 facilities,

01:30 when I was nine, my dad bought me my first ever remote-controlled car.

01:34 Which I still race. I don't race the same one, but I still do remote-controlled car racing to this day. It's fantastic.

01:41 I know there's quite a big following behind remote-controlled car racing. My producer in the year right now is saying she does it.

01:46 So yeah, no, it's fantastic.

01:48 But of course now fast forward to today. You're about to compete in your first championship.

01:53 How are you feeling?

01:56 Excited. All the emotions you can think of. Excited, nervous.

01:59 You know, it's a dream come true to finally be a racing driver.

02:04 Exactly that. You actually get to say that now, you know, and you've proven people wrong.

02:08 I mean, we've got pictures of you here in the studio and also on the screen

02:10 of you testing out some cars. This is a C1, but you're going to be driving a BMW Series 1.

02:17 Yes, that's correct. And you've already been in the car. You've done some testing. What's it been like?

02:21 Yeah, so when I first met Team Brit, I did a track day with them and I went in that very same car.

02:27 So I've done that a couple of years ago and hopefully I'll be racing that again in March.

02:34 So I understand you're paralyzed from the waist down.

02:37 Have you got like a modified car? How does it work for people that don't understand?

02:43 So myself, I've got hand control. So I've got a steering ball on the wheel

02:47 and then I've got a push-pull hand control to the side for accelerator and brake.

02:51 And your team, I've written his name down, Caleb McDuff. He's the UK's only deaf driver.

02:58 And all of your teammates within Team Brit are all disabled as well.

03:03 How does it feel to be paving the way? I mean, it's the world's first team to be all disabled.

03:07 There's going to be a whole generation of young drivers who'll be looking up to you,

03:10 thinking that's never going to be something I can achieve.

03:13 But then when they see you doing it and your teammates, that's going to completely change that.

03:16 That's it. That is the plan, to inspire others to come forward and join us to be disabled racing drivers.

03:24 And that's what Team Brit is for, to show that disabled people can compete in motorsport.

03:29 Now, what would you say to your younger self if he was looking up now?

03:33 You know, he's trying out go-karting and he's got those remote control cars for the first time.

03:38 And if you could see him now, what would you say to him?

03:41 Do it. Go for it.

03:42 Just, if you think you want to do it and you want to approach someone,

03:46 send the email, make that phone call, turn up on their doorstep.

03:50 Go for it. Don't stop.

03:52 Don't stop. Fantastic.

03:53 Well, you're not going to be stopping very soon.

03:55 You're going to be behind the car. You're going to be there.

03:57 Those lights are going to go out and you're going to be racing away.

03:59 First one's this, it's the Brit Kart Championship, very competitive series, starting off at Donington Park.

04:05 30th of March.

04:06 OK. And have you got a track that you're looking forward to most?

04:09 Obviously, you've got the local one.

04:10 You're from Medway, not too far away is Brands Hatch, of course.

04:14 Yeah. So I'm looking forward to Donington being the very first race.

04:17 And again, that was my very first racing track experience in a real car.

04:23 So that would be amazing for me.

04:25 And I've been around brands as well.

04:28 So I'm looking forward to that.

04:29 But I've never been around the GP circuit.

04:31 OK, right. So first, of course.

04:33 Now, do you get to do any more testing before the season actually starts?

04:36 Or is that just straight in for the first practice, I assume?

04:38 Yeah, we will be testing at some point to make sure that we're all ready for the season,

04:42 making sure we're familiar with the car and the controls

04:46 to make sure that we've got all the preparation correct.

04:50 Fantastic.

04:50 At the start of the season.

04:51 And where do you hope to take this?

04:52 What's the... I know you'll see the dream was to just get in the car, let alone be racing it.

04:55 I mean, where do you hope to take your career?

04:58 So Team Brit's long term goal is to be the first all disabled racing team to compete at Le Mans.

05:05 OK, so I hope to be part of that team when we're ready to do so.

05:08 And that's fantastic.

05:10 We hope to follow you all the way.

05:11 Dom, thank you so much for coming and sharing your journey with us.

05:14 We're going to hopefully come down when you reach brands in the calendar

05:17 and we'll follow your journey there.

05:18 Fantastic. Thank you very much for having me.

05:20 Thank you very much.

Category

Transcript

Recommended