Great write up on his day with Mission Motorsport at Donington, our friend and avid blogger George Pas writes:

I woke early on Sunday morning and felt absolutely fine, no problems or any sign that I had been unwell on Saturday and so I text my friend Piers to let him know that our trip to Donington was on. Piers arrived at just after seven o’clock in the morning and picked up the things I would need to take with me. He got my Son in to the car and strapped him in and then I transferred in to the car, while I was getting myself sorted he folded my chair and put it in to the boot, finally at around half past seven we were on our way. It took around three hours to reach Donington race circuit. It was the longest time I had spent in a car without a pressure cushion and I had not experienced any problems, I called Adam when we arrived to let him know where we were and that it would take me around ten minutes to get out of the car and back in to my wheelchair. The timing was nothing short of perfect on his part. He had walked to meet us as we were walking to meet him, we shook hands and I introduced him to Piers who had driven me, his Son and my Son he then started to take us to the Mission Motorsport trailer where we would be able to catch up with James and the team. We had barely walked twenty feet when he received another call from another of the guests which he had to meet. He pointed us in the right direction and within a couple of minutes we had found and reached the trailer and awning of the Mission Motorsport team.

James was not at the awning when we arrived however some of the team was, I said hello and spoke to them for a while until a familiar face was approaching in a mode of transport which is a lot slower than he is used to. James was approaching on a push bike, showing that it is not just the female of the species that can multi task, some of the males can too. This was proven by James riding whilst taking care of a phone call, I was impressed until I saw the colour of the bike, but don’t worry James I have no photographs of this so the fact that the bike was a very feminine pink will be kept just between those who were present at the time! With his phone call completed he came over and greeted us, he remembered Piers from our visit to Tedworth just a couple of weeks ago and so it just remained to introduce my and Piers’ Sons. We spoke for a short while until the time arrived when James had to get ready to take the Porsche out on to the track. He kindly gave us an orientation and then told us he would see us soon but he had to go. After wishing James luck, Piers and I spotted some cars that the kids might be interested in so we took them to have a look.

And my Son really liked the lorries.

Piers, the kids and I then headed off to an area where we would be able to watch James on the track and give my Son, as I can not speak for Piers, his first real taste and experience of motor racing at a real race circuit, and he loved it. He kept telling me when he had seen James going around the corner which is where we were.

Then Piers kindly took the boys a bit further round which meant they could see the cars coming up the start finish straight, round the corner and down over the gradient where they would lose view for a second or so until they then watched them go up the other side and disappear out of view round another corner. I stayed where I was as it was all loose gravel and very hard work as I had only kept the standard wheels on the wheelchair instead of fitting the off road wheels and third wheel that I use when I go for my st-roll with Alison. We stuck around and watched the race. It was strange to see Clio’s racing with Porsche and Nissan `Z` cars but they are different classes of cars that race so although you may not come across the line first, you may in fact win your class.

Each lap that passed, each time the cars went passed us the order would change, the car that James was behind was suddenly behind James.

The lap count went up, the number of laps to go went down, the car numbers that James had passed increased until the race ended, now to listen for the results….

It took some explaining to my Son about how although James passed the finish line as the third car he won his class, I was confident he did not understand despite my best efforts but I would see what happened. It was lunch time, we headed over to the hospitality area to get a bite to eat. We were joined by James, Adam and a couple of the team and guests, this was where my Son congratulated James with a `hi five` for his third place! Bless him, I knew he would not have grasped it but it did not phase James, he chuckled about it while I tried to again explain how James had won the race with his type of car. “Ohhh, so you won” said my Son, “Well done!” as he offered his hand for another `hi five`. After lunch we watched some more of the racing and walked around the back of the garages, the kids got to see even more cars.

Another race was the solo seats.

I received a call from Adam to let me know that I needed to get to the pits, so that is where we headed.

Chevron racing team have decided to support Mission Motorsport which can only be a true showing of how Mission Motorsport are doing, you can’t help but feel proud of how they are doing, not Just James and the drivers but the mechanics, the support volunteers and Adam with his job searchings for people. I make an apology now for the names I do not remember, it is not that they are any less important in fact just the opposite, the support staff are part of the team, it is the fact that I have more to do with James and Adam than most of the other team members, oh and the fact that my memory is not what it was since my bang on the head! Such an amazing team, a team that I say thank you to again and again for the opportunities they provide, and my visit to Donington is no exception.

We said our goodbyes and thank yous and headed off to the car for the journey home. thankfully it was a good drive home and took only marginally longer than the trip up. I still am unsure as to who was the more tired, the kids or me! A truly brilliant day out with some great motor racing and some brilliant people. Thanks to Piers for driving me up, I have to rely on people to drive me to different places but some of the things are worth it!

I have not told you all of the results, it was a full weekend of racing, I want you to read my Blog but if I tell you everything, (like the epic task for first time awning assembly), then you will not visit the website of these guys.

www.missionmotorsport.org

I was unable to write the Blog yesterday as I had a minor relapse and my body was not wanting to play ball and so to that end I had an earlier night. I hope that you have enjoyed reading this entry and that you will go to the Mission Motorsport website to view any pictures that they have. I asked other paraplegics if they had ever experienced what I had been unfortunate to endure for the day on Saturday, the general feeling is that it could have been Autonomic Dysrefexia after all, guess we will never know, I do know that I don’t want it again though. For now though I am ok so time to crack on. The sun is starting to shine during the day times now so you never know, summer could be on its way! Enjoy the sun while it is here people, and take care of your selves. My letter has gone off to the person I need to ask about my next challenge so I really hope that I will hear back from him soon, if not it will be option two presented by a friend of mine, someone who you will hear about later on when he gets set up.

So I leave you with a little intrigue, what am I going to do for charity and my wheelchair fund next???

Good afternoon all.

Last month, we accompanied the Help for Heroes ‘Band of Brothers’ at a Motorsport Endeavour event at Donington – was a great day for our lad Lionel, who was let loose in the Mission Motorsport M3. He got it rather sideways on the cold wet track, but did as taught and was relaxed enough to catch a rather tasty drift coming out of Coppice

Big grins from Pte Lionel "DriftGod" O'Connor safely back in the paddock in the Mission Motorsport M3

We ended up helping fit something rather tasty with hand controls…

Jim, can we find an automatic car? Erm, yes, I think I know where one is...

Huge thanks to the Maserati press team, that was a very excited young lady. Car sounded epic, and she didn’t hang around…

If you are going to learn hand controls, do it at Donington Park. In a Maserati

We were also fortunate enough to meet Stephen Carr, a veteran who has something of a gift for poetry. He finds it cathartic, we think it is brilliant. He’s been kind enough to allow us to reproduce his words here:

I did my duty
I did my best
I hid behind a bullet-proof vest

I walked the streets with gun in hand
I held the peace in a foreign land

People didn’t want me there
They would often stand and stare

But my duty was to keep the peace
I tried to save a life, at least

I saw men die
I saw men suffer
Life couldn’t get too much tougher

Bombs and bullets played their tune
And forced me deep in to the gloom

My duty there was never done
I worked until the passing sun

Then one day the years have passed
But memories would last and last

No corner of my mind is safe
I am haunted by that foreign place

I try to run
I try to hide
My demons always by my side

Did I serve my country true
Would I really die for you

Did I do my very best
Did I need my bomb-proof vest

Did I see my colleagues die
Or is it just a wicked lie

All I know is this you see
I can never be set free

The Troubles they have left their mark
They keep me trembling in the dark

So enjoy your freedom that I won
For this soldiers work is done

(c) Stephen Carr

Let us know what you think at http://www.facebook.com/missionmotorsport or on Twitter at @MissionMotorspt

I would just like to say thank you to Mission Motorsport for inviting the residents from Tedworth House up to the Autosport Show last Friday.  The guys had a fantastic time looking at all of the cars and girls and we even managed to get free access to the live show.  One of the residents (Pte Jamie Laws) even said that he would be interested in trying to get in to motorsport.  I will ensure that he has your details and is aware of the Mission Motorsport website, so you may hear from him soon.
 
Once again, thank you very much for your kind hospitality, what you offer is something that interests a lot of service men and women and is something that we here at Tedworth House could not provide without the generous support of charities such as Mission Motorsport.
 
Dean Williams
 
Dean Williams | WO2 | Battle Back SNCO | Tedworth House

Teamwork: Director Gav's at the wheel, Jim is calling the corner names, and Adam, who can't see the screen is on the pedals

Fantastic email received:

A winter’s tale, of sorts.

Myself, brother and sister-in-law sat around over Christmas, moaning about our seemingly spectacular collection of injuries; sister-in-law, broken wrist thanks to too many sherbets at the office party; brother, recovering from having a scheduled operation on Christmas Eve to remove some bone from his shoulder following a rugby injury; myself, damaged ankle ligaments from the Boxing Day charity rugby game that took place hours earlier. In the midst of our moaning, slightly belated Christmas gifts and cards were shared, including Mission Motorsport Christmas cards. I commented on the surprising relevance of the Jaguar-legged reindeer and our collective collection of injuries; how fitting that even the reindeers were crocked.

Then it dawned on me, the kind of injuries depicted by those reindeer and how pathetic and inconsequential our collective injuries are by comparison. In weeks and months, bone and ligament will heal, life will go on and Christmas 2012 will be a humorous anecdote up there with with the sister-in-law crashing the car in front of the family in 2009 and me accidentally firing fireworks at the family back on New Years Eve 2000.

For those brave boys and girls injured doing their job for their country, we salute you and hope that you all had a fantastic Christmas with family and friends and that 2013 is a fantastic year for all. We are thankful for what you did and greatly admire the way you are tackling your challenges going forward.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all at Mission Motorsport. Keep up the good work.

Regards,

Simon