In the journey across life's ocean,
you will encounter the calmest of waters
and wild storms of great adversity.
In the moments of the storm, you will have to make a decision
whether to counter the adversity in your life.
It can be a powerful choice in choosing to fight and live a fulfilled life.
Take that deep breath. Step into the journey. Listen to your heart.
Have presence of mind, and create your destiny from within.
Motorcycle racing...
is a passionate sport that many love.
It takes incredible skill to race a bike
at speeds of over 100 miles per hour, around a track.
The sport is challenging enough as it is.
But there is a team that are taking it to a new level.
Talan Racing is a team of two paralyzed, and two above knee amputee riders
that are changing motorsport history.
Riding the very machine that disabled them.
We follow the team overseas
and as they attempt to race alongside able bodied riders,
changing the perception of disability
in a sport that has been otherwise inaccessible until now.
All the way through my life I've been interested in speed.
Whether or not it was on the water for wind surfing,
it's always been something that I've been interested in.
And also competition.
You get that buzz from the speed,
but it's that competitive nature
that's made me want to be a racer,
to test myself against others.
Motorcycle racing is one of the few sports where a paraplegic
can compete against someone who's able bodied
and there not be a massive, uh, difference
in our capabilities.
I was paralyzed in March, 2003.
Two hundred yards down the road, a car came out of a side road
clipped me, knocked me off the bike and I slid
down the road, which wasn't a problem,
'cause I'm in all my leathers and I was protected.
Uh, but being knocked,
I was thrown onto the other side of the road,
and straight into the path of the oncoming traffic.
Uh, the car went straight over the top of me.
I shattered my back and T4 straightaway.
So, I'm paralyzed at this level.
Um, I got basically rolled underneath the car,
breaking more of me, massive internal injuries.
Didn't see any reason for me to be alive. It was...
It was cruel. It was cruel. That's what it was.
For me to be kept alive when I just begged them to let me die.
My mother was very strong minded and determined
that we would find something for me to do.
I was also very fortunate to have an ex-patient from Salisbury.
He came in for a regular checkup.
And he started to tell me about the things that he was able to do.
He was the same level of injury. He had had a motorcycle accident as well.
And then he started telling me that he was driving his car, that he had a girlfriend,
and he started listing all the things.
Then, he said the magic words.
He said, "Oh, and I've just come back from skiing."
And that was the moment that changed everything.
That feeling...
that I used to get on the bike was replaced with a set of skis.
Right up to the point where I got on a snowmobile,
and then I thought if I can ride a snowmobile,
pretty sure I could stay on a motorbike.
That started me thinking,
started doing a little bit of research on the Internet,
saw that one or two people had actually managed it.
Uh, so I...
took a complete gamble.
Went into a showroom, bought a motorbike.
Adapted it... in secret,
went to a disused airfield
and tried to ride again.
And, I managed it for five minutes.
And then I fell over, and then I was on the floor.
But, the five minutes had shown me that it was possible.
My first race I turned up in my van with a bike in the back of it,
and I slept on a little roll mat next to my bike.
I didn't have any spare wheels.
I only had a front and a rear paddock stand.
I think I had tire warmers by then.
I didn't have any generator, I had no gazebo.
Nothing. I simply had a bike
with front wheel paddock stand and a set of tire warmers.
And that was it.
It took me a long time to...
persuade the Auto-Cycle Union,
which is the governing body for racing,
that someone who's paralyzed
is safe and capable of racing alongside able bodied racers.
And we figured out the best way to do it.
So, it made sense for us to say to others who were interested in racing,
"Well, if you are interested, why don't you come with us?
"Let's create a team and let's make it possible
"for more people to get into racing."
My job is looking after team logistics.
So, that's everything on and off the tracks.
I look after the team, not just the riders,
make sure all the equipment is ready to go
make sure all the team are in the right places.
Make sure we've got all the right equipments, contracts, health and safety.
This year, we're racing with BMCRC or Bemsee. It's the oldest UK race club.
They've got an excellent reputation
and we're running in several different championships.
So, we're not just here on track days.
We are out here to compete against able bodied riders.
Last year, we raced with them a little bit,
and we just have to show that we were safe.
This year we're going to be racing competitively with them.
Racing is no exception to the rule when it comes to costing a lot of money.
We were blessed last year with having McMillan Williams
coming aboard and sponsoring Talan just as a solo rider.
And we proved we were a good, safe bet.
We had a good year, both in the media and on the track.
And then, they decided they would back us for having four riders this year,
which is excellent news, but we just wouldn't be able to do it without them.
The cost of running the team,
just getting us to the racetrack,
is exceptionally expensive.
We have so many overheads that most people just don't realize,
but it's not just about buying a motorbike
and turning up here and seeing how it goes.
The first weekend of any motorsport season is predominantly used for testing.
The team's bikes are adapted for paralyzed riders.
So, it's going to be a particularly important weekend
to ensure the adaptions work correctly.
We developed a way of launching and catching the motorcycle from...
'Cause obviously, once I'm riding, I'm balanced.
But getting to that point and coming back from that point to stationary is the tricky bit.
So, we figured out that I get on the bike while it's on a paddock stand.
Then, one person holds the front, one person holds the back.
When I'm ready, I get taken off this paddock stand
start the bike up, put it in first gear.
The person that stood at the front moves to one side,
and then I simply drive outta their hands.
Go off, do my track time, come back.
And the same people that launched me are there to catch me.
You know, I start off from the back of the grid if I have a problem whilst I'm on circuit,
then I can easily just ride over to the arm curve, lean up against it
or the tire wall, lean up against that, the marshals come, lift me
onto the top row, and then the race can carry on.
You can take a standard motorcycle.
First thing you're gonna think about is feet. Your feet, you can't control where they are.
So, we have an old set of steel bicycle toe clips.
So, the peg takes the weight and the toe clip simply stops the boot from slipping
left or right, or forwards and backwards.
So that's the foot sorted out.
The knee, well, we take the knee sliders off of the leathers,
and then we attach a strap to the side of the bike, with a little sort of tail.
That wraps around the knee onto where the knee slider is.
To change gears, you use an electronic gear shifter.
It's a big unit that sits over the top of the foot operated gear lever,
and then on the handle bars there's a red and green button
and you simply press the buttons in order to go up and down through the gear box.
There are real differences
that we've got to kind of go through,
look at, and consider,
and sometimes, you know, unexpected things happen
that we work on as well, because,
of course they've got history,
and sometimes it's more the traumatic history as well,
because of the injuries they've sustained and what not.
So yes, we have to look at that and...
And it is also looking at the functional capabilities of those riders
from a physical standpoint.
and how that relates to their psychology.
Disabilities cause different hurdles for different people.
But I would never stand in the way of anybody who has a real desire
to go and do something, because I think, you know, why not?
Steve Jones is the second rider to join the team.
On November 20th, 2008,
I was involved in an RTA on the way to work, about seven o'clock in the morning.
I ended up hitting a stationary truck
and bouncing back off the back about six to eight foot.
I remember asking the policeman as we drove to the hospital
through Paul, "Was Steve dead?"
To which he said he couldn't answer me at this point.
I'd gone to the hospital with the police... policeman...
and been taken to the relative room, where I was met with,
to the senior staff nurses and one of the consultants at the time.
They said that he had sustained really horrific facial, brainal injuries,
broken his back.
But they didn't touch very much on the back injury, but more so on the concern over the brain
injury and also the facial damage, etcetera.
It was just a sheer mess.
Everything seemed to explode, obviously where I'd taken the impact on the helmet.
And the lower half of the helmet has actually stayed in my jaw.
So, on removing the helmet, the top half inflated, the bottom half stayed in.
Prying the bottom half out, obviously all of my teeth and jaw fell out.
I could only gauge from the scars I had afterwards,
where I'd had the surgery.
It was 20 odd hours surgery to rebuild my face and it was pretty horrific.
With the extensive brain swelling,
I was taken shortly after they patched me all back up,
to Southampton Neurology.
I was there for, I believe, a couple of days. Two-three days.
I was put on life support.
Shortly after that, I was taken back to Paul Hospital
for a general overview,
before I was waiting a bed
at Salisbury District Hospital for my rehab.
I thought going to Salisbury,
they could cure my broken back,
and the core injury.
I was slightly disillusioned really, because
that wasn't the case.
Salisbury was designed to help rehab.
I think I knew from quite an early stage that Steve would be in a wheelchair.
Even though it wasn't really discussed at that point, I knew that the damage to
his spine and his back was severe.
And I knew really that he would be in a wheelchair.
And I do remember actually saying that I could cope with Steve being in a wheelchair
and actually meaning it, and not just a flighting comment.
Um, yeah, no, for better or worse. Yeah.
I was in a room on my own, and the doctor, Dr. Vinod, it was, told me.
And I'll be honest with you. I just burst into tears.
It was the hardest thing I've ever been told, "You'll never walk again,"
after going to a spinal specialist and sensor.
I think the saddest part was Steve sitting in the wheelchair for the first time,
and actually thinking, "God, this is actually how it's going to be."
That he wouldn't be walking out of the spinal unit.
That he would be coming out in a chair, but he would be coming home.
And one of his nurses pulling me to one side and said,
"I think you need to realize, Claire,
"that although Steve's in a wheelchair, he's not disabled."
And I've never ever forgotten that.
I took part in the Inter Spinal Unit Games at Stoke Mandeville,
where I took part in a variation of sports,
which I thought I couldn't actually do
being in a wheelchair, and I did, and I loved every second of it.
And that was then, the incite to sort of do more,
and achieve a lot more.
Really, nothing should hold you back being in the chair at all.
I'm lucky to finish. The worst of the whole injury is being in a wheelchair,
after everything that I've had, is not that bad.
It isn't that bad at all. There's a lot of people in a worse off position than myself.
A couple of years ago, Anthony, the team principal from Talan Racing
asked me if I wanted to be a part of the team.
This year is my first full season under Talan Racing.
So, yeah, I'm very nervous. Very nervous, indeed,
to race and...
But I think, once I'm on the bike, it will be second nature again.
I think my goal is to prove to others,
obviously, being in a chair, you shouldn't have any limitations.
Not ideally, but I'd like to kick some of their asses.
In fairness, I'm not gonna last.
- I can't swear, can I? - Yeah, you can.
I'm shitting a brick.
I'm very nervous.
Let's go. Let's do it.
I'll see you in ten.
Steve's not racing this weekend. He's only here for testing.
It's his first time out on a track for over a year,
so it's a chance to get used to the bike.
After only one lap, Steve has crashed.
The team is concerned and this is a reminder
that everything can change very quickly in motorsport.
Just trying to find out where the med center is.
It looks like Steve has come off
and we're not quite sure where he is.
I'm guessing it has something to do with cold tires, cold tracks and nerves.
We'll have to wait and see how he is.
Was following the instructor for two laps
for a lap, at least, and then he slowed down
for another guy who was fairly slow at the back.
And I'd gone past him on the second... past the pit lane,
just gone into the first bend
from the top I'd gone over, a bit too quick.
And before I could change direction, I was off.
It can happen, so it is.
But as we know, everything's so quick, it can change...
I'll get back and move on.
Just get cracking. I'm fine, really, so.
- Thanks again, guys. - Thanks very much.
The crash was caused by rider error.
Steve's okay, so it's essential to get him riding again today, if the bike can be fixed.
I think it was a real shock to him.
I think it came as a real surprise.
Um, but I think that having had a proper long discussion
so that we can really digest what happened,
and events that led up to it.
I think we've actually gained quite a lot, and it's been a valuable learning experience.
And thankfully, he's come out of it uninjured, and it was a minor incident, you know.
This is a really stressful environment. It's highly competitive.
Nobody out there is gonna give any break to anybody that's on a motorbike.
Nobody will know Steve from anybody else,
and they won't even give him a break for being a rookie.
The race track is the race track.
Mechanics, Dan and Will, get Steve's bike fixed
so he can go back out and finish his test day.
So, what we're doing is, we're securing the tire warmers.
We can't send a bike out on cold tires,
because it takes longer to get speed or safety.
Checking what fuel is in the bikes, checking tire pressures,
checking basically all functions for the safety of the bike,
so that when they go, our riders are absolutely as safe as they can be.
Having an accident is always a risk in motorsport.
Talan has had one serious accident since racing as a paraplegic,
resulting in ongoing bone injuries.
He cannot afford to have another.
I would say that if I had another
serious accident, then I would have to stop motorcycle racing.
The metalwork in the right leg could easily get bent
and obviously the left leg is still in pieces and...
and that would just set me back so long.
We've got another two years, they think, before the leg is gonna be fully healed.
So I have to be very, very careful.
When I was paralyzed, I had an experience of
seeing my life flash in front of my eyes.
And it wasn't that...
It wasn't a linear progression as I thought it would be.
It was... You are in the center point of a giant sphere,
and every second of your life is projected onto the sphere.
And you become consciously aware of every moment of your life
in one instant of time.
It was, and I would say it remained the most
intense and amazing experience of my entire life.
Because I had that experience,
I'm not worried about dying.
Slipped down the track on my right hand side. Me and the bike parted company.
Bike spun away. I was fine, so,
bike is pretty much undamaged.
I'm completely undamaged.
Uh, yeah, so, lots of tough lessons from this weekend.
Talan's fortunate to not sustain injury.
With both riders off in the first weekend,
it looks like it will be a challenge to race competitively.
It's weird looking at that... that mark in the road.
knowing like, that's the spot.
All this was overgrown.
There was a work turn around all of this.
so you couldn't see through the bend.
Through here, all of this was overgrown out into the pavement,
and all these trees were right up high.
So, as I came around the first...
The first time that I saw the back of the traffic,
would have been
about here.
This was all overgrown and I was low.
And that's where I went through...
The flatbed lorry was
further up, just by where the hikes is.
And, the traffic had backed up
to just by where the 50 sign is, slightly before the 50 sign.
In fact, it was quite a lot before the 50 sign.
And so as I came around,
all I could do was either try and stop for the back of the traffic,
or try and
go to the right of the traffic.
And unfortunately, I hit the vehicle that was coming head-on.
I didn't think I'd... I remember hitting it thinking...
"That's not good."
Um, but, not really feeling anything.
I just remember flying and seeing the sky and the tarmac.
And landing and thinking,
"Oh, that's good. I'm fine. Wiggled my hands and lifted them. It's all good."
I sat up. You know, the first thing you think, "Where's my bike?"
It's like, always the first thing. Is the bike all right?
And then, I'm looking for the bike,
and look and see that the bike's there and I'm like, "Right, go and get the bike."
And I went to get up
to go and walk back to my bike,
and then, I couldn't move.
And, uh, I looked down and my...
My leg had pretty much been smashed off.
And the only thing that was holding it
to me was my leathers.
And I didn't think that I would lose it.
And yeah, then I woke up, and, uh...
I just wanted to lift the sheet, as soon as I was sort of
awake enough to realize where I was,
lifting the sheet, and there was no leg there.
I was so desperate to just get back to my...
the life I lived.
So, I was absolutely desperate to get back on a motorbike
and I was absolutely desperate to do this and absolutely desperate to do that.
And I bought a motorbike four months after I got out of hospital,
when I was still all bandaged up.
I remember going into the dealership in London, and them being like,
and looking at me like,
and I'm going to buy this CBR400, which is the exact bike I just crashed.
I really wanted to ride again, and I did. And I've ridden on the road for years.
And, um,
and really valued having that back again.
And then, I realized that I basically did a track day about five or six years ago.
And I really liked it. I really enjoyed it.
You're always reminded of that day and of what happened.
But...
It's like falling down the stairs, isn't it?
I fall down the stairs and break my ankle,
and the ankle could become infected, and I could lose my leg.
Wouldn't mean I wouldn't walk down...
It wouldn't mean I wouldn't use stairs anymore. I'd still use stairs.
But you always have a memory of that place
and the significance of that place and what it did to you.
But I wouldn't say I'd hold any fear, or anxiety, or...
Or any particular attachment to it.
It's just a place and time, isn't it?
You, get on.
A new weekend is an opportunity to improve and develop
following the issues at Brands Hatch.
It's also Louis' first race meeting with the team.
This morning I was pretty nervous.
On the run up to the session...
As I came up a few weeks ago with Franz.
So yeah, I had that in the back of my mind.
Today is a gorgeous day for riding.
The track looks lovely and lovely gripping.
And so it was perfect. I got on the bike and it felt great.
All back in one piece. I've got another four to go today,
so I hope we can improve from session to session.
He's doing really well. I think Brands Hatch was a real shock to his system.
There was some pretty, I suppose, pretty heavy things that we have to deal with,
because, you know, when you've had a significant trauma,
and you then put yourself in a situation where that could be a likelihood,
which is the risk that we play here with motorbiking.
You know, it dredges that type of stuff up, the memories.
And so, we have some time to actually allow him to digest the experience
and kind of get it out of his system, and then to relax and calm down.
It felt wicked just bailing out of pit lane
just straight out onto it.
And I just got my head on straightaway, just went for it like I usually do.
And then...
And then, about four laps in, it just started to get a bit of arm pump.
But, um... 'Cause the straights here are so long.
We're just holding on.
And that extends so quick, And I can't brace myself from the legs.
It's got a hold on my arms, it's killing my forearms a bit, but that's okay.
Logistically speaking, getting three riders to Snetterton
any time would be a logistical nightmare.
Getting two of them that are paraplegics,
and one that's a leg amputee,
that takes a little bit more planning. You need more team.
We need more space, we need more tools.
We need more tickets to get in. Uh, we need more food,
hotels, parts, tires, fuel.
Everything that would normally go into a race day which most people aren't aware of
is timesed by three.
You have to take into every person's special need.
And as much as I look at the riders as just riders,
I don't really see them as having disabilities.
I don't treat them like they've got a disability.
I treat them like they're a rider, because that's what they are.
They're here to ride, they're here to race, they're here to learn.
So I don't treat them like I would any other rider that would be in the garage.
And I think they respect that.
I don't treat them with any kitten gloves
It was a challenge to realize we're gonna have three bikes ready for this weekend.
But I think we've stepped up to the plate and we've handled it really well.
The test day has gone brilliantly.
We've had really, really good preparation
with Branch and Donington, just with one rider.
And then just building up slowly, and...
you really can't fault the team.
I could not do what I'm doing, just having the people behind me to help,
to make the job a lot easier.
Third bike that's come in today, Louis, means I can focus on
that new dynamic of the team and see how that needs to be managed.
Being around a team like this is just good fun.
It's the bottom line. It's good fun.
What else could we be doing at home? Decorating the house?
Don't think so.
I'd rather be out playing with bikes.
Just mucking around with bikes. That's all I'm doing.
It's just an amazing setup. I've never seen anything like it
of all the years I've been racing and
it's marvelous and good luck to them.
I think everybody enjoys it so much,
and I think it's tremendous feat that they can do it.
I always remember Talan's very first race here.
Um, it was about three years ago, I believe.
And I think then he was on a SV650.
Obviously, he's at a disadvantage having to start from the back of the grid.
Unfortunately, there's not much we can do about that.
But, um, on his very first race,
if I remember correctly, I think it was about 30 odd riders out there.
and I think he finished 23rd.
And I think it was absolutely amazing effort.
The reasoning behind... or at least my reasoning behind the
walking the track. It's one of the things I've been trying to instill in all the riders here,
is that, I think, an essential element about connecting
with the circuit and the riding environment
that comes from walking the circuit and doing it in a slow and easy pace.
To take in all of the visual environment,
get a feel for the tarmac under their feet,
it gives them a real good sense of the direction the track goes in,
the qualities of the track, the cameras in various places, and so forth.
And I do it in a slow time, because it gives them the time
to just stand there and take it all in and soak it in in a proper way.
And that's where the art of getting... gaining knowledge of circuits comes from.
It doesn't just come from just jumping on a bike
and zooming around at 100 miles an hour,
because your brain simply cannot process the level of detail
that is there in the environment unless you actually take some time to study it.
If I'd have thought 15 years ago when I lost my leg...
If I'd have thought, when I was lying there on that hospital bed if I'd thought
I'm gonna be...
Let alone racing a motorbike, but riding a motorbike.
I'd have thought that would be incredible.
At the time, I didn't know if I would ever
you know, everything goes... Will I ever kiss a girl again,
will I have a baby with anyone, will I ever have children, will anyone ever love me?
Will I ever ride a motorbike again, will I ever work again, will my friends all leave?
There's a million and one questions that go through your head
when a massive thing like that happens.
If I come last in every race,
I'm still the first person I know that's an amputee
I'm just doing something that I never would have thought I could've done.
The riders all perform well
and finish higher than their start position in each race.
It's looking possible that they may be racing competitively
with able bodied riders moving forward,
but it's going to take a team effort.
Get behind me
Everybody from the management side,
to the mechanics,
to those that support us with our riding development,
uh, mental skills development, you know, everybody
brings something vital to the team, and it is fantastic
to have them there supporting us, and
I hope that what we do out on the track
repays them.
It's now lunch time on the first race day at Silverstone,
and everybody's hungry. So, they're getting their lunch, eventually.
I had an accident myself.
I was riding to my mum's
and somebody pulled out in front of me without looking
and I ended up T-boning her at 50 miles an hour.
Split my pelvis, um...
broke my lower back, hip,
broke my coccyx,
my right wrist, left shoulder,
uh, to the ligaments in my knee,
punctured my lung, and had a bleed to the brain.
So, I did it properly.
I've got metalwork in my pelvis holding it all together.
and I've got metalwork in my wrist...
So, technically, there's...
there's nothing massively, physically wrong with me anymore.
It's just my brain hasn't switched off the pain signals.
And that's now been four-and-a-half years, and it looks like it never will.
So, I've got to just learn to live with this.
Long term.
Anthony got involved with the charity,
because he thought I'd want to use them to get back on a bike.
And then through there, we've...
he got to know Talan more, got more involved with the racing.
And I figured if I ever wanted to see my husband again,
I'd better get involved with the racing as well.
It's... It means the world to me.
I'm very very good friends with Talan,
and he helped me a huge amount in my recovery...
In my mental recovery of coming to terms with chronic pain.
I find this so fulfilling.
If I can't be on a bike, I want to help other people do it.
The people in the paddock seeing what we do is...
It's them knowing that actually, when things do go wrong
there's still light at the end of the tunnel.
It's never an end. There's always a new adventure.
There's always somebody in a worse position than you.
And no matter how hard things are,
there's a way of making them easier. There's a way of making life
not just bearable, but bloody awesome.
So...
Yeah, never give up. Always strive for more.
Expect more. Never settle.
It's important.
Mid-season. It's been a journey to get this far.
Are the perceptions of disabled riders in motorsport beginning to change?
Um, I think it's certainly been a lot more successful.
It's created a lot of awareness of the team and everything.
It's a lot more successful than I
perhaps even thought,
or imagined it would be.
It's definitely really impressive.
I feel very good to sort of just keep it.
Let me know the information on a kind of need to know basis.
So, the information that's given to me is that he had a good ride,
there's not been too many problems,
and then when he comes home he says, "Yeah, I've come off,
"and I have hurt myself a little bit and I have bruised my hips a little bit,
"but I'm fine and I'm ready for the next one."
To be honest, it sounds a little bit cold, but
I've let him get on with it.
At the end of the day, it's not going to stop him.
No matter how hard he falls, he's never gonna stop racing, so
I've got to just have faith in him and let him get out there and do what he enjoys most,
which is, which is this.
I'm glad in that sense, I get left to my own vices,
so I don't have to think too much about Claire
not in a nasty way,
but at the paddock, I don't have to worry if Claire's seen anything nasty,
or any instance that I came off, or anything like that.
It's quite nice to, you know...
I think I've seen the worst that could happen.
While in a race with the boys,
whether you're in a chair or... I just love getting on bikes and racing.
Once people can see we're safe and we're competent,
I think then people will be like, "Okay, yeah." They sit back and start
enjoying our rides and maybe
mention it to someone else, who is in a similar position
of riding or getting back on a bike.
You just got to think slightly outside the box sometimes.
But yeah, I've got here. We're showing a lot of able bodies people, it's great.
It's not until we come back off
and if we get on a wheelchair
and we're wheeling away from there.
What the hell is going on?
Uh, all right. Okay. And then they start to, you know,
they come to say, "Great race." or compliment you on the riding.
What I've really enjoyed, which I didn't think I would,
is the camaraderie of the other racers.
I've really enjoyed getting to know the other racers,
and getting to banter with them.
And that's what's driven me to want to
not beat, but I suppose beat them.
You'd be mad if you didn't want to see a progression.
You'd be mad if you didn't want to see some sort of development.
And that's where that's coming from.
And I'm learning stuff every weekend.
Every weekend we race, I'm learning stuff.
I'm learning stuff about myself, I'm learning stuff about the bike.
Some of it has been hard, some of it has been like a kick in the balls,
and others have been really great.
Yeah, I feel the racers have completely accepted us.
We're taken at face value.
When we're out on circuit it's just us and them. Soon as the lights go out
the crew are this side of the barrier, and we are out there riding.
There is no option but for us all
to be there together at that point and you really feel like
you're competing with them on all the same terms.
You know, it's the same terms. No one's cutting anyone any slack.
I'm certainly trying as hard as I can. I'm pretty sure they are trying as hard as they can.
The summer heat brings a new problem for disabled riders.
Although it may seem just for show,
there is actually a more serious side behind having group girls.
I can't control my body temperature.
Once it gets above a certain celsius,
I think somewhere around about 20/24,
then I start having real problems maintaining my body temperature and keeping cool.
So, if I'm sat out on the bike, waiting for the race to start,
because we have to be there nice and early, so we don't hold up the race,
then I do need shelter from the sun,
or else I'll start overheating. I'm sat in leathers, I've got my helmet on,
I've got my gloves on. It's really gonna be a problem for me.
So, medically, I need to be protected from the heat.
So, tat would mean that they are pretty important.
Back at the garage, Talan has returned following a crash.
All bikes have to go back to scrutiny bay to inspect the damage.
You know, what we need to repair to make the bike safe again.
Well, he's now taking off all the plastics and stuff.
We have to do this outside the awning,
'cause there's stones and there's grass and all sorts of stuff everywhere.
Don't want it in the garage.
We now need to inspect what damage has been created,
but initially what we can see is because the bike's gone straight into the rector cell,
it's taken all the brunt of the impact on the front end.
Uh, so we're now looking at the...
We're now looking at a very twisted front wheel.
Took a tumble. I went head first into some barriers.
Fortunately, they were nice foam barriers, but I must have hit it at 50 miles an hour.
Went from fifty to zero in the spate of four feet.
So I think I'm a little bit shorter now, 'cause I got hit on the head.
I've got a very sore neck, sore back.
Luckily, we've checked the body out. I don't seem to have broken anything.
I've got some swelling on my knee where I impacted, but I went in head first
and when everything settled, the bike was on top of me facing the opposite direction.
So, I don't know how that happened. I just shut my eyes.
Just been to go see the guys at 100 percent suspension,
because I need some form of confirmation that the forks are straight.
He's done a quick check to make sure they feel okay and they do feel pucker.
The next step is for me to take it around the paddock
and drive it and make sure it tracks in a straight line.
And then, all things being okay,
then I'll give it a green light and Talan can go back out on it.
We got the bike fixed.
I went out and raced and certainly I was nervous for the first race having just crashed.
But, stayed upright,
gradually rebuilt my confidence in the second race of the day.
I was back on it and it's been a fantastic day.
And now I'm full of confidence to take the bike forwards
to the other race meets throughout the rest of the year.
And to really battle,
uh, you know, with those that I'm competing with.
It's not just myself that's riding.
There are now two other riders, soon to be three.
And then there's all the support staff,
And then there's everybody the team has inspired.
There's got to be so many more riders.
I mean, since I've been doing this,
there are now four paralyzed riders in the UK
competing against able bodied. And that's wonderful.
The Bike Experience is a charity founded by Talan.
It's where the concept of disabled race team was born.
Today, his parents have come to watch it for the first time.
As soon as I got back on a motorcycle, I knew the feelings that I had
that there have got to be other people out there that would want to have the same.
So I set up The Bike Experience.
It's a charity and we teach disabled motorcyclists how to ride again.
And over the past four years,
we've taught 140 disabled motorcyclists how to get back on bikes.
I'm so proud of his achievements with The Bike Experience.
I really am, because I go on Facebook,
that's how we find out about these things, you know, we're the mum and dad.
No, no, we don't know too much.
I see pictures of people arriving with rather worried looking expressions, nervous.
Then I see them leaving with big coat hanger grins, and I think, "Well done, Talan.
"You've inspired them. They've got something to live for."
This is the first time for Freddie, she's seeing The Bike Experience,
and I saw one in the early years,
and subsequent to that, I have seen him race.
He didn't go straight into motor-racing.
It was The Bike Experience first, and then he thought,
"Oh, wonderful. Love it. Love the speed."
Next challenge, "Oh, I wonder if I could race."
I wasn't ecstatic about the racing, uh, but,
he's our son, we want him to live life to the full.
We want him to have as much excitement
and to meet new challenges as possible.
But I simply find it too painful to actually come to the race track
and watch my son hurtling around at 100 and something miles an hour.
It's not that I don't support and understand
his desire for speed and challenge. I do. And I do support him.
But, at the back of my mind always is...
Well, he falls, he comes off,
at the moment I consider him lucky,
because he's just injured from T4.
He has full movement from the shoulders up. He has excellent brain and excellent wit.
And I think, "My goodness, what if he damages that part of his body?"
His whole face shines and lights up when he shows us
clips from his race days, but I...
Perhaps one day I will really get over this silly business and I will come and cheer him on.
I know Peter was hugely supportive.
And I am, but I haven't actually managed to get here physically, yet,
to cheer him on. Perhaps one day I will.
Today, the fourth rider of the team, Will, is taking his ACU license.
So, I've come to Darley Moor today to, um,
take part in the ACU race license application theory and practical test.
Once you've partaken in this course, it then allows you to go on and race.
Motorcycle to any national events,
you have to come here for assessment
just to make sure you're competent.
Competent and safe.
It was getting harder and harder for me to come to the race meetings
and see those good guys go off and clearly having an amazing time.
And I've always wanted to do it, and
being privileged enough to be in a situation where that was a real opportunity.
So, Talan was a driving force, pushing me down this path,
and so I thought I'd grab it.
I will miss the mechanicing, and mucking about on my ass and belly,
but hopefully this is going to go well.
I always knew there was something intoxicating about fast cars,
or things that went fast, whether it be planes, trains or auto wheels.
If it had moving parts, if it was machinery, I was...
that was my thing. I was really, really into it.
Even when I was a small kid, I'd pull the toaster to pieces.
and on Sunday morning your parents come home and there's just bits everywhere.
As soon as I put my helmet on for the very first time on my bike, I was like,
"Yeah, this is me. This is gonna be... if not my only thing,
"certainly a big part of my life."
And then, it got under the skin and I just wanted more of it.
I want to experience everything about the culture and try every different style.
Like food, you want to try everything.
And it went on from there. So yeah, it's been a part of my life ever since.
You can have ten-hundred thousand miles of riding your bike and it'll all be fine.
But the thing that is important is the one time it goes really badly wrong...
We were just pootling away home.
And as we came off the M25 on to the M4, we were going back towards Hammersmith,
the front just went away.
And then I had a very short trip from the...
from the carriageway underneath the armco.
That's what happened to me. The reason I lost my limb
is because I shattered the right side of my pelvis
into about 12 different pieces.
My friends obviously...
Couldn't have done it without them. They were just fantastic.
And I didn't make it easy for them, you know. I think I tried to brush it off
for the most part. I think, when I'd sort of...
worked out who I was again,
I just tried to shrug it off as, "It's just a flesh wound. Just a flesh wound.
"Oh, don't worry about it. I've got another one. I got another leg.
"Don't worry about it. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine."
But, you know, I was... I was broken...
mentally. And it took me a very long time to
work that out.
So, my partner was amazing.
She was inspirational in my support,
and helped me get back to normality.
I'm amazed at how people can bounce back, and how resilient they are.
From going...
My eyes weren't really, truly opened until I had my accident,
and then you sort of see it through a different lens.
And you see how people deal with various different situations.
And I'm amazed at how they bounce back.
So, I never cease to be amazed at how resilient people can be
in face of massive adversity.
So, thats' what I try and use.
That's what I try and use to fuel me. I see how everyone else deals with their problems
and they power through it, which empowers me.
Will passes his ACU. He can now race with the team.
The whole idea of the exercise is to get more bums on seats.
And certainly more, with all due respect, disabled bums on seats,
you know, and that's not being nasty about it.
What we've said with Talan, that's what we want to do.
You know, and certainly Shawn myself and medical officer.
We'll do all we can to get as many out there racing as possible.
- You get two certificates. - Oh, I see.
One from this morning, and one from afternoon.
Ah, brilliant. Thank you very much.
You should put it with your license.
I will write to the ACU and notify the ACU
that everything is fine as far as I'm concerned.
I have no worries, I assure them you can be out on the track with riders,
and we can see no reason why you shouldn't be issued
a competitor's license, ASAP.
That's brilliant. Thank you very much.
- All right. Pleasure. - Appreciate it.
Brands Hatch, GP.
The biggest weekend of the year.
The team sponsors will be attending, and it's the first meeting with all four riders.
It's Will's testing day, and his first time on a race circuit.
One of my friend's put it very succinctly.
He said, "I forget with you. I forget that you're
"disabled..." and here it comes again, "I forget...
"because you just seem to get around
"most problems, you work to have things work, because you...
"Because you move around the way you do,
"because you interact with the world the way you do,
"I just forget about it."
Whereas with Talan and Steve, you can't forget they're in the wheelchair,
because it's part of them and they are...
They have so much more to get around,
I can't imagine how much more difficult it is.
So, I consider myself very lucky that people could spend time with me and forget
from time to time.
News comes in over the radio that there's a rider down.
So, rider 117, Will Swift has come off just going into Druids, I believe.
I don't know the extent of what's happened. Whether it was mechanical or rider error.
I'm assuming it's rider error, 'cause he's new to the track.
So, just going to drive over to the med center, Brands Hatch,
which sadly is the furthest possible way from us.
And, yeah. So, it's just over there.
But I'm told he's relatively okay.
The team will just check out the bike, see if it's all right.
The first session on my own
and just trying out a slightly different game to the first turn.
Uh, Cranneg curve... I mean Paddock Hill,
Pitching my speed slightly too far to the left,
and as it drops down the corner tightens up.
I ended up sort of being, drifting further and further
out to the left hand side, um...
Probably could have just thrown the bike then, it probably would have gone around all right.
But, as I... Oh...
Fortunately, Will is okay.
It's not uncommon for a rookie to crash in their first meeting.
But it's an indication that he
needs to build up his speed with more progression next time.
Race day.
With the team sponsor spectating, it's important for everything to run smoothly.
Okay, so it's Saturday. It's the Grands GP. The sun is shining.
We've got about 75 guests turned up from various different sponsors.
Um, Steve has gone out and he's crashed over in, I believe it's Sheen's,
which is over there. It's on the GP part.
Another rider down so soon is very concerning.
It's really difficult at this point to find out what went wrong.
But we're trying to shield that at the moment from the sponsors because it's chaos out there.
We don't know how bad it is. So, what we're gonna do is have a word with Steve,
see how he is.
Um, we've got some VIPs going out down to the garage while it's quiet.
Um, and... we're just gonna try and keep this bad news
away from them, because they've come to see
some spectacular racing with an inspirational team,
and while this is the reality of it is that, you know, incidents happen.
We don't want them to get a bad flavor from it, so.
I'm a little bit worried, if I'm honest...
because this will really knock Steve's confidence.
He really doesn't need it.
The team doesn't need it. We had Will come off yesterday.
And, all in all, it's just not good.
We shouldn't have this amount of riders coming off this frequently.
So, I'll be having a meeting later on with Simon Darnton, our performance coach.
And Dan, myself, all the riders,
we really need to get together and find out why...
what is causing these offs...
Is it...
Is it lack of prep, lack of practice?
Knowledge, is it mechanical?
So, that's where we are right now.
So I'm gonna go in, have a word with him,
see if he's okay. Hopefully, he is.
Go down to the paddock on a part of the track that's unknown to him.
We've had a situation where we've been reported by them. He's come round a machine curve,
and he's lost control of the bike and he's in the gravel trap.
So, we roll on tender hooks for a short while. Make sure the rider is okay.
We soon had word back that he's okay.
He's at the medical suite and he's absolutely fine.
Brands Hatch, fantastic run off areas. Very, very safe circuit.
So, where' he's come off, he's gonna land in the gravel trap.
He's gonna tumble across a little bit, but the safety areas have done their job.
Unfortunately now, from my point of view, we got a bit of a smashed up bike.
So right now, the team's got a bit of work to do.
But they enjoy it. That's why they're here.
So, at least they got something to play with.
Steve is okay, but the bike is damaged.
The team gets to work on rebuilding it so Steve can race in the afternoon session.
Although safety and rider welfare is paramount,
it's important to ensure all the riders go out and the sponsor is happy.
The team are treated no differently to an able bodied team by potential sponsors.
Among the sponsors, Talan's parents have turned up.
It's a surprise decision for his mum to watch him race for the first time.
You need to be in the right mental place to go out and race.
And one of the things that I do
is a routine that takes me to somewhere where I'm happy.
'cause I believe if you're happy, you will perform well.
If you're worried or concerned, you won't perform well.
And the other thing I do is, I always ask my brother to come and ride pillion with me.
My brother passed away Christmas of 2008,
and it was a very difficult thing to come to terms with.
When I was racing in, uh, in Assen in Holland,
I had a really bad accident and high-sided,
and I remained strapped to the bike, and the bike somersaulted down the road.
I was just obliterated into the tarmac.
As I was flying through the air and the bike somersaulting,
before I impacted,
I had this sensation, this feeling that my brother was there
and that he put his arms around me and he held onto me.
He protected me.
So now every time I go out, I mentally take myself somewhere happy,
and then I always ask him to come and ride pillion with me.
Dem Demati, Jonathan Kingston, Rick Lindes,
Talan Skeels-Piggins, who is the rider at the back at 26.
Now unfortunately for Talan, he won't be starting 26 on the grid.
Talan unfortunately is a disabled rider. He's a paraplegic.
It challenges me every time.
I have to have a good start. I have to try and fight my way through.
And it's the same in life, you know. We have to fight our way through life.
It's not easy. It's not a given.
And, often, the difficult journeys that we take are
far more rewarding.
Yeah!
It was very good!
What goes on in this team is absolutely unique and very, very special.
Talan and I go back a long way. We were at school together.
And, it's kinda weird realizing that I'm the person who's known him longest
out of everybody that's around him now cause the team is so close.
I am always humbled by the people that I see in that garage.
Not just Talan...
Not just Talan, but you know, Steve, Will, Louis...
They've overcome stuff that I could never
would never want to imagine having to deal with, and they're here doing this.
So, it's a fantastic two fingers up, to fate.
You know, but it just demonstrates utterly what I believe,
which is that you have a choice, you absolutely always have a choice.
You have a choice about how to deal with life, a choice about how to react to situations.
You can either choose to live, or you can choose to die.
Yeah, it was a great weekend.
Friday was quite worrying. We've had Will of,
and that was quite a big blow for him. That really shook his confidence.
Uh, pretty much destroyed that bike. I mean, most of it went in the bin.
Uh, totally unusable.
Then, Saturday morning, we had Steve off, first round,
or first lap, unbelievable.
Turned out it was actually a mechanical failure...
which, we didn't see it, and I take that on board.
Something we should have checked way before, but that's just the way it is.
We can't check absolutely everything every single time.
We don't have the time or the manpower at this point.
So, Steve is okay. That's the main thing.
He was a little bit bruised... more bruised ego than anything else.
At least he felt better that it wasn't his fault, and it wasn't rider error.
First time that Talan's parents have seen him race,
that's his mum, anyway...
and I think she was just totally stunned by what she was watching.
I don't think she appreciated the magnitude, the amount,
really, the amount of effort that goes in, how big the team is,
how much work we all put in to making it work for him.
And, it's just the core team.
Just great people pulling together. Bear in mind, they're not getting paid for this.
Nobody's getting paid. We're all volunteers.
But it's amazing what a group of people with one idea can do and really push forward.
I just can't say "thank you" enough to them, really.
It's been a successful weekend, and despite challenges,
the team have pulled together in a remarkable effort.
The team's profile is growing.
Talan is being lent a bike by Suzuki.
It's a huge achievement and recognition.
We've come here to collect a motorbike. It's a GSX-R600.
Suzuki is sponsoring me by loaning me a bike for the coming year.
So I'll be able to use it to race here in the UK and also abroad.
I've had quite a few conversations with a lot of different people,
and they all thought that my riding style,
my injury level, it all sort of fits the GSX-R600.
Is this it?
Oh, look at it!
Oh!
It's been stripped down a little bit,
but obviously, you know, it'll very quickly be covered over with the race fare,
and the bits and pieces that we're gonna be doing to the bike, so...
If you consider the past year, you know, a year ago I was...
Just over a year ago, I was struggling by myself, and then had Anthony come along, and
help secure some sponsorship and then we gradually started to take steps froward.
But now, having Suzuki helping me, you know, it's really incredible.
And I hope it can grow and develop. And who knows what the future holds?
I have, I suppose, the easy job. I just sit on the bike and race it.
You know, a lot of the hard work goes on behind the scenes.
Generating the money that it costs to race.
Each rider has had to overcome difficult periods in their life.
Inspiration can come in many forms when faced with adversity.
I think I heard Jack Savoretti's album,
one of his songs, Without You on the radio...
And I heard it probably half a year before I had the accident.
But during the period, the rehab period,
the only way to help you sleep in the evenings was to put the album on loud,
on repeat, and that would just send me off to sleep.
It's been arranged for Steve to meet Jack Savoretti.
Can't wait. Hopefully, I won't waffle too much.
I can't wait to see him. He's an amazing guy and an amazing musician.
Hi, there. How are you?
Not too bad, man. How are you?
- Great to meet you. How are you doing? - And you.
Yeah, not too bad. Thank you very much for...
for agreeing to see me.
Don't be silly.
- Shocked a bit. - It's nice to see you.
- Shocked a bit. - It's an awesome story.
Yeah, it's pretty... From my whole... Obviously how it was...
from where it started, really, was that song, I was in the workshop before.
and heard it on the radio, but never heard who the artist was.
So, all I heard was the whistling tune part of it...
- God, that's catchy! - That's good, yeah.
And then I thought, "Oh, okay." It took me a few months,
probably the beginning of '08.
I was a little awake before I heard it. It's Jack Savoretti. Great!
So, I downloaded it, and it was then on constant repeat.
All the time. All the time.
And then, I had my bike accident in November, 2008.
So what happened, exactly?
Motorbike accident.
No, I know that. But, what happened?
How did it happen?
I was told I'd hit a stationary vehicle.
A three and a half ton truck, and I'd gone into it with my head
and the whole impact was on my head. I actually hit my face.
Basically, everything was shattered and sheared.
So, I had 21 hour surgery to try and put it all back together.
Here I had an Alice band but they took it off.
I can't imagine.
I was put in an induced coma for three to four days...
And I died on the table a couple of times.
So, I'm a lucky guy to still be here,
and it was...
I lost my brother-in-law, three years ago to a motorbike accident.
- It was unfortunate. - I'm sorry to hear that.
He hadn't done his helmet on properly.
- So that didn't help. - I'm sorry to hear that.
Terrible.
You've had an amazing recovery.
- Yeah. Thanks to you. - Considering.
All thanks to you.
Well, it was the soundtrack.
I'm not gonna take any credit.
Okay, a little bit was me.
I think it was all you.
Fair enough.
We were like a little band in the corner.
It was on every night. But yeah, it was...
literally, without you, from then... between the mines
and it was just on constant repeat...
Obviously in the hospital we hear all the buzz and people are talking...
So I'd literally put my earphones in.
Bang. Put it on repeat. It just went over and over,
and it helped me get to sleep.
- How long were you in hospital? - Five months.
Oh, my... Wow!
So, yeah... That was thanks to you.
I'm glad we could keep you company.
Keep each other company.
It was unbelievable.
I can't wait to see your gig later. It's gonna be awesome.
And we'll have a drink after the show. Just in the backstage,
so we've even got our own little bar.
Perfect!
If I can't come and see you and have to drink with you, then its a bad gig.
- Jack, honestly, thank you. - Nice to meet you.
I'll see you after the show.
He was unbelievable. He just smashed it out of the ball park.
It was just unbelievable. It's better than the album.
I've been listening to him all the way down.
If I could get up and dance, I would be up there on the stage.
He puts that sort of energy into the music.
It just comes across and you want to be so much a part of it.
The whole thing was unbelievable.
It's very difficult in motorsport, here in the UK to get the funding.
You've just got to work hard at it and prove that you're worthy of people's investment
of both their time and their energy and their hard earned money.
This was the first track I came to. Um, I was VIP'd by a friend of mine, Chris Boyd.
Uh, we came here to watch Samsung-Honda.
We came through the tunnel from the VIP area, so we came through underneath,
and I popped up and then, we were in the garages.
And that's kind of a golden space. That's where all the real action happens.
And I thought, "You know what, I love this. This is where I wanna be."
This is where I fell in love with motorsports in a very different way,
and thought this is what I wanna do.
So, sponsorship-wise, I'm looking forward to next year.
We've got a lot of things coming up.
A lot of new individual sponsors that are trying to get involved.
And that's great. Currently we're with McMillan Williams
and they've been really good to us over the first two years,
and we're hoping that they're going to continue into year three.
I've got a lot of people counting on me to, uh, make it happen.
These aren't just normal, everyday riders.
They can't just go from one team to another.
They can't just say, "Oh, don't worry, I'll find another backer."
The cold winter weather is setting in
and racing has been postponed due to fog.
So, it's exactly nine o'clock, and...
now is really when we ought to be starting for the first qualifying session.
But, given that it's completely fog bound and we don't have decent visibility,
or line of sight, as you can see, we just come out to Druids now,
and the bridge is only really coming into visibility now.
So, it's definitely not acceptable conditions for racing.
I've announced a 15 minute delay.
We'll literally take this is increments of 15 minutes
just to see when the visibility will improve.
So, this is not the weather we need.
We've got Louis, who is... He needs to be racing today
and tomorrow, because he's in a top ten finish.
In his group, we've got Will Swift, who's going out to his first race.
So, this is not a good environment,
if you can't see literally outside the garage to the pit wall.
By mid-morning, the fog clears, and racing continues.
It's really hard work. Really hard work.
'Cause this is the indie circuit, it's all right handers,
so I'm turning right for about three quarters of the lap.
There's no real straights.
So, just getting massive fatigue
lying on the right of my prosthetic.
I'm top ten in the championship at the moment,
which is why I've come up here this weekend,
to try and just get some points.
Today marks Will's first race of the season.
He was such a lovely little boy.
He really was, and I'm not terribly keen on children.
But, he was genuinely a sweet, sweet kid.
- Really sweet. - Yeah.
He wasn't any trouble.
No, he really wasn't.
Lisa and I realized, while he was in recuperation, still in hospital,
quite how important motorbikes were to him.
Now, we knew he was keen on bikes,
we knew he enjoyed riding bikes.
But, I don't think we really understood how it was in his blood.
And to me, that was epitomized by him asking us to bring him the Motorcycle News.
So, he's in hospital, he's lost his leg, and he wants to read the Motorcycle News.
And, it just... We just...
It just dawned on us that this was really important to him.
And you hear about Will racing,
and practicing, and falling off,
but seeing it is a whole different ball game.
It's tough to watch. I mean, however fast I thought they go, they go a lot faster.
And it's... There's not much between them and the road, is there?
So, it's... It's tough, but we know that Will loves it.
I think it's a dilemma.
Do I wish he was doing something less dangerous?
Yes.
Do I want him to be happy? Yes.
And this makes him happy.
You know, he needs to know that we do support him.
Despite the dilemma, we're very proud of him.
Will has performed well in his races over the weekend.
He only has another two races to get through today
to complete his first race meeting.
A radio call comes in that there's been a very serious accident on track.
Anthony's concerned that Will has not come back into the paddock.
So, Will's come off. Not a good day to do it. It is his birthday, after all.
And he's come off a paddock hill bend.
I'm not sure if it was a collision, or whether or not he just went a little bit wide.
Hopefully, he's going to be okay.
But it's...
It's a very early stage, so you just never know with...
You just never know with riders.
They always keep everything quite...
quite quiet.
Will's come off with an altercation with another bike,
I think at the paddock hill bend.
He's gone to the health care center.
Bike's been brought back in and we've only just been allowed to touch it
just in case there's anything more serious. But fortunately there isn't.
So, I'm just seeing what's up with it,
and I think it's knackered.
Anthony's informed that Will has a suspected broken neck.
He's rushed to hospital.
I've spoken to a number of people about exactly what happened.
It appeared another rider tried to out-break him going in to a paddock hill bend.
It appeared he slammed on his breaks, cut in front of Will and hit the front of the bike,
which caused it to go down the gravel trap down the end.
Will was taken to A&E.
He has a fractured collar bone, and we believe some sort of fracture to his neck as well,
but we're just waiting for CT scans.
So at this point, I can't say exactly for sure the level of his injuries.
The way the end of the season ended for me wasn't ideal.
We were coming down the start finish straight and...
so, a 100 and... 140 miles an hour plus...
into the breaking area at the apex,
this other rider comes down the inside and just sweeps across my front wheel.
So, he basically drives over my front wheel with his, effectively his whole bike.
As he rode over, as he hit my front wheel,
I got flipped over the front of the bike, effectively ejected
in a straight line towards the barrier.
Um, head-first. I've... I speared into the ground with my face,
knocked myself out immediately.
I was out for between two and five minutes.
I think everyone was extremely worried, because it was an absolutely horrendous crash.
Um, I think the other chap came away virtually unscathed,
but I was punished extremely severely
in that particular moment.
I broke my neck.
An extra millimeter would have been total paralysis,
possibly, or death.
So, that... I mean... I couldn't have...
It could not have been closer, as far as I'm concerned.
But then I spent a couple of weeks in hospital.
Scans, MRIs... you know, obviously being isolated the whole time,
So, you know, I couldn't move.
And a pretty scary couple of weeks.
I'm totally comfortable with the fact that
if I continue to race,
which I plan to do,
this could happen again. And I'm comfortable with that.
We understand the risks.
We understand the job we do.
That's kind of why we do it. Because it's fun, it's exhilarating.
It is dangerous,
but that's part of the joy. That's part of what we get out of it as racers.
It's... finding that edge.
It's a reflective time for the team
as they begin their last race weekend of the season.
A season, I think with any race team, has it's ups and downs.
Fortunately, we found far more ups than our downs.
We always seem to bounce back from the setbacks
and come away stronger. And I think the team grows from that,
and from the challenges that we faced.
We've become a far greater team
than probably we would have done if everything had gone
very simply and easy.
As long as you learn from the mistakes that you make,
then, they're a positive part of life.
This year has been fantastic.
I obviously started very nervous as a new rider
coming into the team with Talan as the head guy trying to fill the boots.
It's been a massive learning curve, really.
Every single track has been a learning curve.
So, as we've grown on throughout the season, I've become more confident.
I've met a good bunch of guys in the paddock than in a race class.
This is the end of the season at Snetterton. It's been a magnificent year of racing.
When we started this last year, it was just Talan on the bike, and lots of people had said
it was a stupid idea. It would never happen. It would never work.
And, nobody wanted to sponsor us.
Talan went out last year and he did a phenomenal job
and more sponsors came onboard for this year.
We've come a very long way from June, 2012, when I first
left the pit here at Snetterton on to the 200 circuit
and took part in the very first race.
It was a very emotional time for me and I was in tears for the entire cool down.
It's also very emotional today,
to see just exactly what has evolved over those last few years.
To see the family that has grown from just me, sleeping in the back of my van,
to everybody that we have here,
both, working on the bikes, riding the bikes,
supporting everybody that's behind the scenes.
It's not just about us and racing and having a good time.
It's about helping so many other people see what we're doing
and take inspiration, and take motivation from it.
And you can all be incredibly proud of that.
Helping to change other people's lives is a truly humbling experience.
And everyone's lives get touched by what we do.
It is a truly wonderful team,
and I am so happy to be a part of it
and I hope that you are happy to be part of it as well.
And, I can't see it stopping for a very, very long time.
And I hope that you will all continue with the journey that we're taking
and who knows where it will take us.
A single idea can change history.
It takes desire, passion and commitment to make that idea a reality.
It wouldn't be possible without the combined efforts of every single team member.
Not only have they changed the perception of disabled riders in motorcycling,
they've also carved a path for others.
It has been a roller coaster. It's been an amazing year.
We've put together a team that a lot of people didn't think would work.
We sacrificed an awful lot of time and energy this year.
I think it's been worth it.
We've put in some really good positive steps to encourage more people
into a sport that otherwise would have alienated them.
We've made it achievable.
What was dreaming an impossible dream, has now become an achievable dream,
and in a very short space of time, we've showed the world that you don't have to just
sit there and think, "Well, that's my life with disability. I can't do stuff."
They can go on and do great things.
These races have allowed us to compete with them on a level playing field
even though we're disabled.
And by them treating us normally,
that empowers us so much.
Everybody has got the ability to do whatever they want to do.
It's whether they can unlock the ability within themselves
and knocking your potential is not always easy,
and it's not always simple to do,
because people are complex and you have to know yourself.
Know what it is you're trying to achieve very well.
So this year, Talan Racing has been emotional,
eventful, not what I expected.
It's not always been great, but it's been a fantastic experience
and I wouldn't have changed it for the world.
Life is short. We're here for a good time, not for a long time,
so you owe it to yourself not to be controlled, or limited by your fears.
There aren't any limitations,
whether you're partially blind, or have an illness,
or in a chair, through an accident, or any injury.
Whatever it is, nothing should stop you. I think that's the main goal, is to do more.
'Cause you never know what's around the corner.
Someone you love, if anything happened to them,
you'd think, "I wish I'd done this, or I wish I done that."
There's no time for any of that, so really, you need to make the most of now.
Enjoy it, and certainly pass the message on to others, to your friends...
and certainly do more to enjoy it.
We all have this resource of energy of power inside us
that we can tap into, that we can use
to keep us moving forwards, even when we have these life-changing traumas,
these life-changing accidents.
So, I would encourage everybody to
take some time to be truly honest with themselves,
be reflective on how amazing they actually are.
Because everybody is truly amazing and everybody has that ability
to do incredible things.
And it's just tapping into that energy and using it.
Don't let it go to waste.