Austin Featured In Karting Magazine

What karting means to racers
with the invisible disabilities
General
By Simon Stiel
Karting has brought pleasure
and purpose to those with
physical disabilities. There are
those with autism and ADHD,
two of the invisible disabilities.
A passion for cars and for
motorsport has fired them up to
race and to succeed in karting.
A
ustin Riley from Ontario in
Canada was 7 years old when
he was diagnosed with ADHD,
fine motor skills and high anxiety issues.
Sport was suggested to help, and hockey,
powerskating, football and basketball were
tried. He didn’t like any of them as his father
Jason explained: “Nobody really enjoys
things you cannot do. Because of Austin’s
motor skill issues it was quickly apparent
that he wasn’t going to be able to do what
the other kids could do at the same age.”
Since the age of four, Austin was
passionate about cars and being in the
driving seat was a special feeling. “He has
always had a battery powered car since he
was four years old,” Jason said. “He would
drive them until the plastic wheels would
wear out and we would have to replace the
car and get him a new one. We would also
have to keep an extra battery on charge or
all hell would break out if the battery went
flat and he couldn’t drive.”
A special moment came at an arrive
and drive session at Goodwood Raceways.
Jason recalled: “When they started him up
he pinned the throttle and didn’t release it
until he came off. He must have spun 12
times during that first outing. His exact
words to me when he got out of the kart
with the biggest smile on his face were…
‘Man those things are fast’.”
Last season Austin was runner-up in the
Eastern Canadian Karting Championship’s
Rotax Minimax class and champion
in the class for the MIKA (Mosport
International Karting Association) and TRAK
(Toronto Racing Association of Karters)
championships. In January 2012 he had
been diagnosed with autism. He bonded
with his fellow drivers as Jason said: “All of
the kids Austin races with have all been
incredible with him at a club level. They
don’t think of him of being autistic. They
Karting has brought great happiness
to Austin and his father Jason
George Michaels
just think of him as a kid that loves racing
just like they do. They have all been
incredibly supportive.”
In October, Jason decided to tell the
press: “For me contacting the press was
difficult. I am a very proud man and
reaching out for financial help was and is
very hard. It was when I started to realise
how Austin’s talents could inspire other
children and parents that we made the
choice to go ahead.”
There is another who has had a similar
experience. Alex Magee had ADHD
diagnosed when he was very young:
“The teachers said I was actually quite
creative and a good student but I couldn’t
concentrate for a long period of time.”
Competitive sport was suggested because
through that the mind and body can be
kept busy. Alex tried rugby and football but
his real love was motorsport. Watching F1
on the TV was part of it and so were toys as
Alex said: “When I was two years old I was
in my living room floor pushing my little
Hot Wheels cars.”
Alex’s eighth birthday present would
be an arrive and drive session in a kart
at Silverstone. “The first lap I ever did, it
was amazing. I absolutely loved it from
the second I got into it. I remember the
instructors telling my dad that I had a
knack for learning very quickly. I seemed
to be able to learn the lines and the circuit
extremely quickly. As soon I was out on
track it felt like I was in a different world. I
think that’s the best way to put it. I found
something that I was good at and could
concentrate more on.”
Alex raced between the ages of 10-12 at
the Junior Kart Club at Whilton Mill. Father
Kevin found enough sponsorship to carry
on and got into contact with Philip Gough’s
team in Junior Rotax. Alex joined James
Webb and Ashley White in the team. “Our
relationship went from there and they were
very good with us on the first test” Alex
said. “They saw that I was a quick driver but
I had a lot to learn.”
Phil could nurture Alex in driving by
making his input smoother. Phil’s father
Gavin could nurture Alex mentally.
Gavin had qualified as a Neuro Linguistic
Programming (NLP) practitioner in 2007.
Alex recalled when Gavin told him about
NLP: “I was bit sceptical at the time. It was
difficult for me to work out how sort of
imagining driving around the circuit and
trying to keep yourself calm all the time
could be such an advantage. Obviously,
motor racing is a very excitable and busy
place. You don’t seem to ever get a break.”
Gavin talks about Alex’s self-confidence:
“It hadn’t got a real depth to it and he could
be rattled by other drivers. Gradually, and
certainly when I started working NLP with
him, his confidence soared.” Another ‘nice
feeling’ for Alex was that his helmet bore
the colours of the RAF’s 92 Squadron. Kevin
had served in the unit.
Alex became quicker and quicker in the
Whilton Mill and Kimbolton championships
during 2007. Overtaking would be a
struggle so at one meeting at Whilton Mill,
Phil and Gavin worked on a strategy to sort
that out. On the Saturday they sent Alex
to the back of the grid behind the novices.
“Go off and pick off the novices” Gavin told
Alex. “Put a target on the back of each of
them: lock on, shoot, kill, look for the next
one. After each session, Phil and I would
debrief him through mentally rehearsing
what he’d just done, mentally rehearsing
the overtakes he’d made to reinforce his
confidence.” Alex moved up the grid and
on the Sunday he was amongst the quicker
drivers.
At Kimbolton, Alex would lead his first
A Final. “He was quick all weekend” Gavin
said. Three laps from the end, Alex hit a
22 Karting magazine May 2013
P022-23.INVISIBLE DISABILITIES.indd 2
03/04/2013 11:39
General
kerb too hard at the Bus Stop and would
be demoted to 2nd, but being a leader had
given him additional confidence. In 2008
he won the Whilton Mill club championship
when facing Bradley Smith and Jack Goff.
In 2009 Alex would compete in the Rotax
Winter Cup at Campillos, his first event in
Europe. He would run out of the RL Race
team’s awnings at a new circuit. He would
also be in the Senior Max class for the first
time. “I remember flying out there thinking
we were an absolute nobody,” Alex recalled.
“But in the week running up to it I’d had
two sessions with Gavin.”
For the first session, Alex was told by Phil
to take it easy and his fastest lap was 1.2s
off the fastest time. For the second attempt,
Alex was told to go for it and his fastest lap
was only three tenths off the quickest time.
“It was a drop-jaw moment for us” Alex
said. He qualified ninth out of 40 and won
the first heat. A 4th and 5th then followed
and, despite having to start the Final 29th
because of a sheared bolt in the Pre-Final,
Alex made his way through traffic to finish
9th.
Alex finished 7th in the Super One
standings in 2009. Looking to go into cars,
Alex made enquiries to Antel Motorsport
and got a test at Silverstone in a Formula
Renault BARC in August 2011. It rained all
day and Alex had an “incredible experience”
driving the car and achieved a 1:08.01
when the fastest time of the day was a
1:07.5. “Brett (Parris, team-owner) was very,
very impressed.”
Alex Magee at his first event in Europe, the 2009 Rotax Winter Cup
Alex couldn’t find the sponsorship to
go into Formula Renault but since then he
has worked at Whilton Mill in corporate
karting. In 2013, he is in the shootout
for the VW Scholarship hosted by Tony
Gilham’s team.
“Karting has been a big part of my life”
Alex says. “You meet fantastic people and
it’s been a fantastic learning curve. It gives
you such a big confidence boost in life in
general. It really teaches you to hold your
own quite well because when you’re out
there, you’re by yourself.”
The Rileys hope to move into Junior
Rotax for 2013 and Austin showed promise
during his debut in the class at the end of
last year, he finished 6th out of 12 drivers.
Thanks to support from families, friends,
teams and other drivers, Austin and Alex
have been enabled to try to be the best
and perhaps become one of the best in
what they have found and love doing.
Jason said: “We couldn’t afford to race but
we also couldn’t stop. When you see your
son struggle for acceptance and happiness
his whole life and all of a sudden he finds
something that changes that, how can you
take that away?
•
Alex tested a Formula Renault but couldn’t find the budget to compete
Kevin Magee
May 2013 Karting magazine 23
P022-23.INVISIBLE DISABILITIES.indd 3
03/04/2013 11:40