‘I wanted that adrenaline rush’: Man paralysed after motorbike crash races for UK’s only all-disabled team
A man who cheated death after damaging his spinal cord in a motorbike accident is now tapping into his need for speed as a racing driver.
Tyrone Mathurin, from Battersea – who went to prison at the age of 21 for drug dealing – tore four nerves from his central nervous system when he crashed his motorbike in 2005 after riding over an obscured pothole.
During surgery to reattach the nerves, he was put in an induced coma for a week when doctors discovered a hematoma putting pressure on to his vertebrae.
He awoke, paralysed from head to toe, and spent seven months in a hospital bed slowly gaining slight movement in his limbs.
Mr Mathurin had to learn to walk, dress, cook and write as a result of the brachial plexus injury, but still has weakness in his right leg, no movement in his right hip and cannot feel anything from his right hand to elbow.
However, those disabilities haven’t stopped him from joining Team BRIT – the UK’s first and only all-disabled racing team – and loving a new life behind the wheel.
The 44-year-old said: “Having a disability means you’re always challenged. You’re always pushing to prove yourself, it drives you on with determination to prove yourself every minute.
“It was just seeing my mates riding again and just feeling that passion again like ‘I wanna get back on the bike,’ but the next best thing was quad bikes, four wheels that’s a bit easier. I thought ‘ok, I can get the hand controls moved from the right to the left’ because I’m left handed now.
“I came across a demonstration video of Team BRIT explaining the hand controls. So initially I got in touch with the team principal in an email and he replied back with ‘do you want to race? How about racing?’ I was like ‘how about racing?’ So I took the chance and I was like ‘yeah let’s go.’”
Mr Mathurin joined the Surrey-based outfit in 2021 and is currently competing in this year’s Britcar Endurance Championship Trophy alongside Paul Fullick in a BMW M240i.
The pair sit 16th in the 38-car category ahead of the penultimate round of the season at Snetterton on Sunday.
“I felt initially it was wanting to get that adrenaline rush again. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” the Team BRIT driver told sponsor car insurance company Adrian Flux in a short film it made about him.
“I never thought I could do it, but it was something I wanted to do from a young age. Where I come from it’s not something that’s widely done, it was just something that was like a fantasy.”
Pictured top: Tyrone Mathurin next to the BMW M240i he races for Team BRIT (Picture: Team BRIT)
