Quatermass Motorsport has announced that it’s launching the Para Racers Academy, an esports team focused on helping people with physical and psychological disabilities in the world of sim racing esports.
The Para Racers Academy already has ten highly talented drivers. This makes it one of the largest groups of esports athletes with disabilities in the community. The academy is focused on providing opportunities for every racer to show their skills globally. It’ll break any barriers in the esports scene to do so.
Quatermass Motorsport will provide these drivers with training and equipment to overcome any obstacles in their way. The organization has worked in the past to bring light to the accessibility problems with many virtual racing equipment.
This includes adaptive racing rigs and sim racing software drivers can customize as needed. It will also invest in any additional technology needed for each driver.
Para Racers Academy wants to work with other organizations, OEMs, governing bodies, and big names in the community to make a more even playing ground for all drivers. Its training also goes beyond sims, helping its drivers build life skills to succeed in all areas of life.
Prior to the Para Racers Academy, Quatermas Motorsport worked with eTeamBRIT to create an inclusive space in racing esports. Many eTeamBRIT drivers have succeeded in iRacing competitions. Now, the group mostly focuses on console racing like Gran Turismo.
Para Racers Academy plans to focus on iRacing Special Events, SRO GT Championships, and the Virtual Le Mans Series. Additionally, with the esports games coming to the Olympics in 2025, the academy plans to bring its top talent to Saudi Arabia for the first time.
The Team Owner of Quatermass Motorsport, Max Spooner, is excited for Para Racers Academy:
“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. 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.”
Sporting Manager Andrew Chell also expressed their excitement:
“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 ground-breaking. 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.”
For more esports news, check out the Japanese Valorant group of elderly players, The Maragi Snipers.
