Kingsley Wheaton
This podcast is intended for regulators, scientists, policy makers and investors. Only the views expressed in this podcast are the personal opinions of the speaker. Only any references to products having a reduced risk or reduced harm are based on the weight of evidence and assume no continued smoking. This material is not intended for us audiences and a warm welcome back to the smokeless word. Today, I joined by Mike Scudamore, team principal of Team Brit the world's only competitive team of all disabled racing drivers, Mike and I will talk about his journey through the racing world, how technology can solve problems, how there are surprising overlaps between their regulatory world and the regulation we face, and their aim of becoming the first all disabled team to race at Le Mans. Mike a huge warm welcome to the smokeless word.

Mike Scudamore
Thanks for having me. It's delighted to be here, looking forward to sharing my story.

Kingsley Wheaton
No, it's great that you could be here, maybe for our listeners who don't know much about team Brit perhaps you could start off by telling us a bit about it, how it came about, what it's up to, and the story of the race team, of which you're team principal, cool.

Mike Scudamore
I'll try and keep it very small and potted a couple of anecdotes along the way. So we started off as a carting charity called cartforce, set up by the former team founder Dave player. And this was to provide injured troops with some rehabilitation therapy. And they came back from Afghanistan. So this was back in sort of 2010 a long time ago, and karting was designed to, if you like, get people back into team sports, get that adrenaline rush they were missing. They're working together as a team. And some of those guys got so good at karting, they said, what's next? So okay, Dave said, look, let's, let's set up a car racing team, but we're only going to do that if we can compete on a level playing field with able bodied drivers. Fine, no problem. So that's what they were, that's what they were aiming for. 2015 they set up, set up team Brit, and that stood for British racing injured troops, right, right. Great name, and we had a great PR team at the time, and they managed to get one of our drivers on Good Morning Britain. There they were chatting on the sofa, talking about the fact they drove for Team Brit. And lo and behold, at home was the new CEO of Brit insurance on the sofa. He was like, hang on a second. I said, I'm in my company. So we got a call saying, oh, Mike, we'd love to be able to help. Is there any way we can help? But I thought, Well, what I really need is a title partner. We're just getting going with this project. He said, Okay, no problem. I'll get my colleague to give you a shout, and we'll get you in for a meeting. So a week later, there we were, sat around the boardroom table, 7am in the morning breakfast meeting in the city. Quite exciting. Delivered our pitch, and they said, oh, we'll let you know in a week. Week later, they phoned up and said, we'll be delighted to be your title sponsor for the next three years, three years, three years. Honestly, sponsorship doesn't work like that, as I'm sure, you know, I'm sure you know, you know.

Kingsley Wheaton
What was the first, you know? So, what was the first venture? What was the first sort of, you know, car beyond the karting world? What was it?

Mike Scudamore
So they started with a, it was a VW Golf GTI with a sort of DSG automatic gearbox with traditional push pull hand controls. And the challenge with push, pull hand controls is you can be on the accelerator, on the brake. There's none of the in between, so you can't balance the throttle, you can't sort of feather it as you click on the blip on the down changes, none of that. So you're at a reasonable disadvantage. So the challenge to our head of engineering was to come up with a way where you could keep your hands on the steering wheel, accelerate, brake, and do gears so you weren't at a disadvantage to an able bodied driver.

Kingsley Wheaton
I mean, just just, just to take a step back and come, then we'll come. Because I think the technology angle is amazing. So injured war veterans from Afghanistan, you know, just for the listeners, you know, maybe, what sort of injuries were they coping with and still driving a race car,

Mike Scudamore
I guess you know some horrific injuries. You know amputations. You know people have had their legs blown off, people who are badly burned, but also people have had psychological challenges. And that's one of the important things that team Brit always stood for, was looking after people with both physical and psychological challenges. I think the best way to describe it is with the only team in the world with an all disabled driver lineup, which I think is an amazing thing. You know, I can't quite believe we're not in the Guinness World Records, to be honest, be giving them a call. So that's something that we've maintained. We're always providing opportunities, and that technology allows multiple people to drive. So the way the system is set up, as I said, is accelerator on the right, paddle brake on the left, where traditionally you'd have, in your normal car, your flappy paddles for your gears. We have slightly longer travel paddles for accelerator and brake. Gear up and down with your thumbs on either side. So that allows the drivers to keep their hands on the wheel at all times. If you've only got one arm, no problem, you can maybe drive with your feet and your. Right hand, gear up and down with your right thumb, same with the left. If you've only got one leg, you can use some pedals, some hand controls. And because we do endurance racing, even if you're swapping drivers in and out, they don't have to make any changes to be able to drive and carry on going. So you haven't got to change loads of steering wheels out and change loads of settings. The system's designed to be suitable for as many people with disabilities as possible.

Kingsley Wheaton
I mean, the, you know, the technology challenge, which I always sort of think is, you know, synonymous with some of the technology challenges we face in terms of solving problems that must have been immense to get that wheel. Yes, I think when that must have been the big breakthrough.

Mike Scudamore
No, when the engineer was first asked the question, he was like, No, that's not that's not possible. It's not possible. It's not possible. And if you, if you've met Dave, you'll know that he was quite forthright in insisting that that's what was required. So the system, I think we're on version seven now. It's fully integrated into our McLaren GT four and the BMWs we run. And it's, I guess it's a bit like an iceberg. The bit you see that wheel is only a tiny fraction. Most cars have electronic throttle. That's easy. Accelerator on the right, the brake on the left, it's much more complicated. So you squeeze that a little bit, talks to the ECU under the bonnet, which talks to an air compressor, fills up an air reservoir, talks to some pneumatics, presses the master cylinder, which presses the brake, fortunately, much quicker than I can say it. But that's the challenge, and it's interesting what you say about the comparisons with your business, because we've also had challenge with legislation, because it's new, right, right? Okay, so people are saying, hang on a second. We don't know about this. We've never seen this before. Who's Who's approved it, who said it's going to be okay? So you know, the motor racing industry is quite set in its ways. And so here we were coming up with something completely new. And safety is really important. Safety is paramount, yeah. So, for example, our brake system has a manual override, so we call it the Oh something lever. So if there's a problem, you've got a you've got a handheld, handheld assistance in case of problems, fortunately, I think we've used it once in seven years. So that's good to know. But the theory is that the brakes are the input the clever bits under the bonnet. That brake input, although we use a lever, could be somebody blowing and sucking on a straw to activate something. It could be someone driving with a gear stick, sure. So there's lots of different ways it can be utilized. And you know, we've had the UK governing body come and inspect it. We've had the FIA come and inspect it, so we're really pleased that that we now effectively set the standard for some of those, yeah, other races around the world who also use our system.

Kingsley Wheaton
Now, I suspect that what a lot of people you know, because this will be new to a lot of people, what they will want to know next, before we move on from the first Golf GTI, is, are the drivers quick? Are they? Are they

Mike Scudamore
properly quick? Did you know that's sometimes the challenge, right? So we've got disabled people who maybe haven't been carting all their life like a normal, traditional racing driver pathway. They've become disabled and said, Oh, what's next? And so there's, oh, I could be a racing driver. So quite often, some of the people that we find or show promise are almost eight to 10 years behind the development curve of some other drivers who might have done carting, for example. So they're learning at a much faster rate. They've got to learn race craft, positioning of the car on the road, all of those things weight transfer, all the things that you would have come naturally as if you were a Carter. So two of our quickest drivers have come from karting, right? So Caleb, our def driver, Bobby, our autistic driver, both had a great background in karting, but then Noah, for example, is 19. He was a freestyle motor cross rider. Had a jump that went wrong, broke his back, and he's got no fear. So he's adapted exceptionally well to driving a car without a problem. Same with Aaron Morgan, you know, and you know, they've excelled because they knew about race, and they understood speed. They understand what it took to be competitive.

Kingsley Wheaton
And I think in 2022 you want to, you want to a title. Is that right? Have I got the year right?

Mike Scudamore
Doing your research? Kingsley, yeah, 20 the official line is, in 2022, we were the first all disabled team to win a national championship. And what was that national championship? We run in the brick Car Championship. Yeah, that was with our BMW, with James Whitley, who was born with no hands, and Chris overhand, who has hip dysplasia.

Kingsley Wheaton
And how. Okay, so this less, because this is all fascinating. How many, how many other teams are in that are in that

Mike Scudamore
so in that championship is between 20 and 30 cars, right? Okay, and how many are there rounds? How do they it's like, I guess it's a smaller version of Formula One, if we're looking sort of the what most people understand. So we run between seven and eight race weekends. Some of those race weekends have longer endurance races, maybe an hour and a half. Sometimes we have 245 minute races, driver change in between, and we're competing against, you know, say, 30 teams. And the most important bit is they're all able bodied, yeah? So there's no class for disability, yeah. And that's one of the most empowering things for our drivers. I think my favorite line from Aaron is, when I'm in the race car, feels like I've left my disability behind. Amazing.

Kingsley Wheaton
And. I think, you know, we were talking about this earlier, weren't we one of the only sports in the world where, you know, there is

Mike Scudamore
no class for disability. There is no class for disability. It's not the Paralympics. It's, you know, as I said, the technology we've developed means there is no requirement for there to be a class for disabled. How?

Kingsley Wheaton
Okay, so you got 25 or 30 cars, seven or eight rounds, you know, quite a thing to win that to full season of racing, of course. Yeah. Okay. So, you know, we leave, we can think about different factors. And you'll probably talk about teamwork and but there must be some x factor in all of that which would, which would drive that team to win, sort of against the odds. If you see what I mean in

Mike Scudamore
we're very lucky. I think we work on we're a very family, focused team. I think anybody that spends time with our team, you know, because everyone's had similar challenges, everybody pulls together. And whether it's the mechanics, whether it's the drivers, whether it's the management, whether it's the sponsors. Everybody buys into that ethos. And you know, we're very lucky to have said some fantastic backers for since we started the team in 2015 some of them have been with us. Since then, some of us have joined. Some of them have joined more recently. And there is the drivers who can excel, but they're they're no good unless the car is brilliant, and we wouldn't have a car on the track if we don't race the sponsorship. And whereas motor racing, traditionally is wealthy people who decide they want to go racing and that's their hobby, and they just pay what it costs. All our money is race from corporate sponsorship.

Kingsley Wheaton
Let's talk about ambition. I mean, I think Le Mans is an ambition. I say that like I know exactly what that means. I mean, I know what le more is perhaps describe to the listeners. You know, what? What does that mean? What does it take? How long might that take? You know, just, just talk us through the journey from here to that ambitious future.

Mike Scudamore
So the Le Mans 24 hours, most famous endurance race in the world. And that was quite deliberate when we set when, you know, Dave originally came out with that ambition, because people know what Le Mans is. You know, they know what Formula One is. They know what is. They know what lemon is. But this, we could have talked about all kinds of other racing series, and people have gone no idea what you're talking about. And one of the reasons that we chose GT racing is because people know what a McLaren is, or they know what a Ferrari is, or they know what a Porsche is, if you're talking an LNP something, people like what I don't even know what you're talking about. So we had a very, very strong focus that we wanted to do the GT racing route. I think our original plan was three years back in 2015 it's taken us a little longer, but we're still well on the way. And I think we touched on it earlier in terms of skill set. So, you know, the team needs to be good enough. You know, we got up to British GT, GT four level, which is sort of the highest level GT racing in the UK. And we finished second in the Pro Am class that year, which we were very pleased about. There wasn't an enormous entry. So I won't say we beat a field of 50 people, because the field was relatively small. However, you've got to be in it to win it. And I think we proved that the team belonged. But probably it's about having the right car at the right time. I think our drivers still need some work. You know, it's like the team needs a team needs to improve. Drivers need to improve. And it goes back to the skill set we discussed earlier. A lot of the model is Pro Am, where you have a pro driver, that's your teammate. So we have, effectively, two M's, right? So what we're trying to do is we're trying to disrupt the system, which is which is challenging, but with two fantastic ms, we have the opportunity to still do exceptionally well. Hopefully we're not far away from acquiring our next car, which will hopefully take us on that journey.

Kingsley Wheaton
And what's that? That's a

Mike Scudamore
GT three, GT four. I describe it to people as GT four is a bit like a fast road car that's been able to go racing, and a GT three cars like a racing car that's been made to look like the road car,

Kingsley Wheaton
okay, all right, but that means going offshore. That's not UK the

Mike Scudamore
dude, no, it can be UK based. Okay, so there's a couple of championships that run GT three in the UK, right? But we're looking forward to racing in Europe as well. There's a number of European series, whether that's and they race all over, whether that's the spa, do a 24 hour as well, for example. But the trouble with lemon is lots of people want to do that,

Kingsley Wheaton
of course. Just Just tell them a bit about leadership. I mean, you know, you're the team principal, you know, I'm sure there's some updates. You know, you've just won, you know, just top of the phone. There must be some really tough days, you know, for you and for the drivers. And I don't know how many times I always cars, but how do you, how do you, how do you put yourself back up again.

Mike Scudamore
Don't talk to him about smashed up cars. That's one of the hardest things to manage. Yeah, it's, you know, you can insure your race cars, but it's, it's so expensive to do that, It therefore makes more sense to self insure. Last year we had hardly any accidents, right? This year we had two humdingers in rounds one and three, like, oh. Oh, it's not easy, yeah, but I would describe people say, Oh, Mike, have you had a good day? And I would have said, in motorsport, you're either ecstatic or devastated, two options. There's no middle ground. You don't say, Oh, well, we did fourth. That's okay. Yeah, you've either won and you're dancing or you've, you've got, you can't, you've crashed, and you're, you're devastated. So it's trying to make sure that the team stay motivated, that they understand what's that everybody's working together. And I think that's all brilliant. We have no blame culture. Everybody wants to do well. Everybody understands what it takes to get to the grid. And a lot of them have had those struggles. And I think when you've, you know, all the people on our team have a disability, and they've had their own challenges in life. So you know, occasionally, having up some bad luck at the racetrack is nothing compared to the other things they've faced in their life. So to be able to, you know, provide them with a racing opportunity and to feel part of a racing family. And, you know, hopefully success in the future is certainly something that we're very proud of, and hopefully we can continue to

Kingsley Wheaton
do Yeah. I think it's a story of Yeah. And I think we, you know, we have some of this because of what we do. You know, the story is one of resilience. I think bravery, courage. I'm sure the drivers don't necessarily feel brave and courageous. Maybe they do. Certainly for me, I look in from the outside and, you know, I couldn't even do what they do as I am. You know,

Mike Scudamore
it's easy to forget. I think that what we do is inspirational. Yeah, exactly, exactly. You have to sort of take a step back and say, we see this every day, sure, but other people are seeing it for the

Kingsley Wheaton
first time. Yeah, that's right, yeah, yeah. And, I mean, one of the reasons, you know, the this smokeless word, it's a platform for discussion, you know, I think we were always keen that it wasn't always about everything that you know, we're doing. And I think, you know, I've spoken to a lot of people about team Brit over the years, you know. And people are always surprised, you know. And I think it's a story that you know should be told more. And I'm hopeful that this is another small chance to get that story

Mike Scudamore
really, really appreciate the chance to come on the platform. And I think, you know, I like the several stories that really stand out to me. That means that we can make a difference away from the track, because we talk about racing, we talk about wanting to get to get to Le Mans. But what does that look like away from the track? For the brands we work with, you know, who else are we impacting? And one of my favorite stories is our driver, Paul is a lower leg amputee, right? And he was sort of wheeling through the paddock, and he saw another young lad who had, like, must have been eight years old, this lad, and he also had a lower leg amputation. He thought, Oh, my God, first time I've seen somebody else. And he wheeled over and said, Oh, hi. I just like, introduce myself. I'm Paul. I drive for Team Brett. You know who we are? No, no, don't know, but he's mad about racing. He loves racing, so Paul took him into the garage and showed him the car, and the guy said, the boy said, Well, you can't be a driver because you've only got one leg like me. And Paul showed him how he drove with his hand controls, and the kids face lit up, and he was like, so I can be a racing driver. And it's things like that, you know, small little things that mean, you know, think stories like that make my day. Of course, when you think, you know, that's that's an ecstatic as opposed to devastated moment. Think that we've really there, delivered something that's changed someone's life. Yeah, yeah. You know, by doing what we're doing, we're showcasing what's possible for people with disabilities to inspire the next generation. I think that's so powerful.

Kingsley Wheaton
Yeah, it's incredibly powerful. And, you know, I think the other thing, just to sort of finish, is it's also a story of people, right? All the stories you tell are of people. And said, I was interested today, when you, when you talk it through, you always name them, you know, it was Paul, it was Dave, it was whatever. These are very personal things. And you know, for us at bat as well, the world likes to objectify us, you know, I say this, you know, the world likes to say bat. It's, it's easy to not like bat, because it's just a company and enterprise. When you break it down, it's 47,000 people who come to work every day, real human beings, you know, hearts, minds, all sorts of things, who believe they're there to do something purposeful and achieve something. In your case, it's Le Mans ultimately, and who knows what after that. In our case, it's to transform the industry that that we work in. And I think that those individual people rising to that challenge as a team to achieve something is probably the heartland of where our where our stories come together. Agree. Fantastic. Mike, thank you ever so much. It's been wonderful having you here. I wish you all the best. I know all the listeners will wish you all the very best.

Mike Scudamore
Thank you very much for the opportunity, and hopefully a few more people now understand our story, can share our story with their friends and colleagues, and maybe we can learn a few more sponsors on top.

Kingsley Wheaton
Why not? Mike? Thank you so much. So that is the end of the latest episode of the smokeless word. Thank you very, very much for joining us for. Are listening in huge thanks to Mike for being here in the studio. Please do listen. Look out for the next episode, you'll be able to get the smokeless word on all of your usual podcast channels. And thank you very, very much for joining us. You.

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