Race2Recovery

While watching the British TV show, Top Gear, one evening I found myself enjoying a feature on a group of ex-soldiers who were unfortunate enough to have lost limbs during active service in the Middle East.

Now Jeremy Clarkson often features the British Armed Forces on his show with a view to promoting what a wonderful job that these dedicated men and women do. This segment was different however, rather than being loud, brash, silly and terribly scripted, this section was all about how a group of injured vets had come together to form an off road racing team. Not just the driver and co driver, I’m talking about the mechanics, support staff, organizers and builders of the vehicles that had all been injured in one way or another. They had come together to form a team to help each other overcome the mental challenges that they were all going through as a result of the injuries that they had sustained.

I’ve been a big believer that courage comes in many shapes and forms, with a number of mental and physical ailments requiring courage and strength to simply execute simple tasks and work through each day. Being able to focus on a greater task and enabling themselves certainly seems to have worked for the team behind Race2Recovery.

The vehicles themselves are equipped to handle the toughest terrain and are based on Land Rovers Defenders. The original Land Rover Defenders from the UK were launched back in 1948 and share many of the same designs which are rolling out of the factories today. The Race2Recovery team use heavily modified vehicles that are first of all worked over by Wildcats to cope with the unforgiving terrain and then additional alterations are completed to ensure that the driver and co-driver are able to drive and navigate the vehicles. To give you an idea of just how fully race prepared they really are, here are the change headlines:

• Land Rover Engine: Petrol V8, 4000cc double overhead cam with variable valve timing. 283bhp, 292lbft torque
• Transmission: Sequential six-speed Quaife gearbox, Alcon clutch, limited slip differentials (front and rear)
• Brakes: Alcon four-pot calipers (front), two pot calipers (rear)
• Wheels & Tyres: Silverline alloy wheels, Cooper Discoverer STT off-road tyres
• Suspension: Donerre twin-piston 60mm remote dampers
• Fuel tank: FIA specification, 365litre capacity
• Interior: Bosch drivers display, sensors and data logging, Luke harnesses, 3M Peltor intercom, MES fitted fire suppression system and extinguishers

So not exactly your regular mobility vehicle!

The team started out racing and competing on a local level throughout the UK, with a view to running in the infamous Paris Dakar rally race. Now the Paris Dakar hasn’t really run from Paris to Dakar in a number of years and is now run on similar style terrain through South America. It is well known to be one of the toughest races on the planet with only 40% of the entrants completing the grueling task each year. Vehicles are subject to some of the toughest conditions on the planet while racing through deserts with temperatures of up to 45 degrees during the day and sinking to well below freezing once the sun disappears from the sky. Now stating that the vehicles have a tough time dealing with the conditions gives even greater reference to the physical strength that the occupants of the specially altered vehicle have.

The prosthetic limbs that the driver and co-driver are using are a mixture of high tech and ultra high tech limbs. One of the co-drivers has electronic and motorized prosthetic limbs that are tested to destruction under normal conditions. What they are not tested to do is work under severe temperature changes, sand, water, mud, dust and everything else mother nature has to throw at them throughout the 5,282 miles that the competitors cover.

Massive technological advances are made throughout the motoring world as a result of manufacturers involvement with racing, no matter what type. Interestingly the challenges which these artificial limbs are being put through is also creating a highly valuable loop back to the manufacturers of the limbs that the team are working with while taking part in these races. In the same way that NASCAR or Formula 1 are changing engine design to make them more efficient, maybe the same can be said for reducing fatigue or wear on the wearer of prosthetics.