UK-based Quatermass Motorsport has launched the Para Racers Academy, an initiative ‘dedicated to promoting diversity, inclusion and excellence in the world of sim racing and esports’.
With the 2024 Paris Paralympics having come to a close and the upcoming Olympic eSport Games in Saudi Arabia in 2025, Quatermass says this academy arrives at a pivotal moment, aiming to empower drivers with physical and psychological disabilities to compete at the highest levels.
The Quatermass Motorsport Para Racers Academy is ‘committed to breaking down barriers and providing unparalleled opportunities for talented drivers to showcase their skills on the global stage. Our mission is to ensure that everyone, regardless of their challenges, has the chance to pursue their passion for competitive racing’.
Previously known as eTeamBRIT, Quatermass Motorsport has already competed in various competitions and helped various drivers along the way.
Max Spooner, Team Owner of Quatermass Motorsport, said:
“Our goal isn’t just to create a team of disabled sim racers. We want to support these individuals to become better versions of themselves. With our support we want to teach them the skills required to be competitive in sim racing that they can also use in their careers and to help integrate them into society.”
Max Spooner, Quatermass Motorsport
“However, like with many things, the costs of adapting equipment and infrastructure for disabled people is more expensive, so we want to find ways to lower these costs of entry and work with companies that create the products we use, the venues we visit to make them more accessible in a financially viable way, and the more disabled people we get sim racing, the easier that becomes.”
Max, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, founded the initiative back in 2011 at 17 years old. He turned his passion for simulator racing into reality – starting in the 750 Motor Club Locost Championship, Max built and branded his first car within three months, marking Quatermass’ debut at Brands Hatch. By 2017, the team expanded into professional sim racing, competing in the British Virtual Touring Car Championship and later joining Team Brit’s esports division, where Max also served as team manager.
After becoming an independent team again in 2022, Quatermass Motorsport partnered with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in 2024, leading to victories in the Radical eSports Cup and iRacing Indy 500 special event.
The Para Racers Academy now has one of the largest contingents of disabled athletes in esports, with ten drivers who are aiming to compete in events such as the iRacing Special Events, SRO GT Championships, FIA Motorsport Games and the Virtual Le Mans Series.
Andrew Chell, Sporting Manager, added: “I am really excited for the launch of the Quatermass Motorsport Para Racers Academy as it really is a unique proposition. We have a team being run by both disabled and neurodiverse staff for both disabled and neurodiverse drivers, which in itself, is groundbreaking.
“I am really looking forward to working and growing with our great drivers; watching them develop & show that incorrectly perceived disadvantages really are non-existent.”
The Quatermass Motorsport said it wants the Para Racers Academy ‘to work in collaboration with organisations, governing bodies, OEMs, prominent members of the disabled and parasport community and sponsors to provide a supportive and inclusive environment, where our drivers can develop their talents and compete against the best in the world on a level playing field’ We invite individuals and organisations to get involved with the Para Racers Academy, supporting our cause and helping us achieve our goals of competing at the top levels of sim racing.’
More details about the Para Racers Academy can be found on the Quatermass Motorsport website.
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
