Mission Motorsport collaborate with Subaru – helping all-time ambitions come to life at the Nürburgring Nordschleife - video Dailymotion

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Mission Motorsport, The Force’s Motorsport Charity, recently teamed up with Subaru UK & Ireland to make lifelong ambitions come to life for charity beneficiaries. Made possible thanks to the charity’s unique accessible Subaru BRZ and the Destination Nürburgring experience, the trip allowed Mission Motorsport beneficiaries to tackle one of the world’s greatest circuits.  The Subaru BRZ has been fully converted for track use and adapted with special modifications, allowing wheelchair users and those with lower limb disabilities to drive the vehicle using hand controls.  Mission Motorsport, the Force’s Motorsport Charity, aids the recovery and rehabilitation of those affected by military operations by providing opportunities through motorsport and the automotive industry.  The “Destination Nürburgring” experience, an annual red-letter celebration for selected beneficiaries, was held at the end of July 2025 at the legendary Nordschleife. The 12.94-mile (20.8km) undulating track situated in Germany’s Eifel Mountains is widely considered the world’s most challenging circuit. Each lap, a driver experiences elevation changes of nearly 1,000 feet and encounters more than 70 named corners such as the renowned Hatzenbach, Adenauer Forst and the iconic Karussell, each placing differing demands on the car and driver.  The road to the Nürburgring was not straightforward for the debut of the Subaru BRZ. Following an incident at the Shelsey Walsh Hill Climb Event, Subaru UK & Ireland was one of many parties involved in the rectification and rebuild of the car, with a tight timescale for repairs to be completed ahead of the trip.

Transcript

00:00We're here with Mission Motorsport. We've got the hand-controlled BRZ behind me now

00:03and we are giving an opportunity for those guys with charity that are lower

00:07limb disabled and the opportunity to drive around the Nürburgring which is a

00:11real red-letter day and on everybody's bucket list of things to do.

00:15I'm Steve Binns, I'm an ex-paratrooper, served in Northern Ireland and the

00:19Falklands and that's some time ago and I had a slight accident 20 days after

00:26returning from the Falklands and broke my back on a motorbike.

00:30At Mission Motorsport we have a common aim and that is just to put people in

00:35in seats and enjoy it regardless of the challenges that it may have in their

00:40lives. At Mission Motorsport we keep it friendly, we keep it aware of everybody's

00:45different and their needs. Two years ago it was a learning curve read disability

00:51and because I at that time we didn't have an adapted car so everybody else got to

00:59go out and drive the car around the ring but I just had to, make do is a wrong word

01:05but I just had to embrace the passenger rides. We went away with a lot of effort

01:11and we got a group together so there's three paraplegics myself included. The

01:17challenge was to take a car that was a cut-end right off and put it back to road

01:26legal which was sponsored by eBay which was fantastic. We did that on the

01:32condition that we could have the car back and change it into a race car and we

01:37did and the Subaru have got behind behind the project they think it's great we

01:44think they're great yeah. So here we are now back at the Nürburgring two years

01:49later with the car that's fully adapted to be driven and this time I'll be taking

01:55the car around the track. Unfortunately in the lead-up the car was ready to go

02:00fantastic but there was a little small incident let's say which happens to us

02:06all I believe so everybody tells me over and over again. I managed to have a slight

02:13contact with the barriers at the top of Shelsley Walsh hill climb. What makes it

02:22worse is it's one thing doing it to your own car but when you do it to the

02:26charity's car it makes it doubly worse but especially as the car had a full

02:33program of events to go to including this one everybody was called to arms

02:40favors were called in Subaru jumped on board other supporters came in and

02:47mainly with a lot of work from Aston who is our our workshop manager and it's

02:54risen a second time from the ashes it's here hopefully to do some really tentative

03:01laps to start off with around the ring. It's actually been a privilege to work

03:05with the guys to get the car up and mobile again it's not really about the

03:09car or the brand of make of the vehicle it's about what the vehicle does and I

03:13say it gives the guys the opportunity to get out on track. There was there was a

03:17long list of requests not just from Rider Street we actually managed to get a

03:21couple of bits over from Japan as well. I had the absolute privilege of going out in

03:24the car with Jim it's my first time at the Nürburgring he can pedal the car

03:28really quickly but it's amazing how much grip the car has just naturally through

03:33the corners yeah it's a real pleasure. This is a journey that we've been on with

03:36Mission for about 18 months we supported them last year for their race of

03:39remembrance in November now we are at Destination Nürburgring we'll be back at

03:43race of remembrance again this coming November so yeah this is one of a long

03:47list of things to do. Mission Motorsport is the forces motorsport charity we run

03:51just one of the avenues of recovery sport that's there to support those who've

03:55served the nation and their and their families so we run a lovely low-level

04:00national sporting program that's helping people get off the sofa and get engaged

04:04and start to live again. Sport is amazing it's restorative and healing and you see

04:10it from the Paralympic Games to some of the things that allow people to to go and

04:17compete and have a purpose but motorsport there is no disabled category you adapt the

04:23vehicle instead of the sport and they race on the level playing field against

04:26able-bodied and that's incredibly powerful but you know cars and motorbikes

04:32and things that move you literally as well as figuratively you know some of the

04:37things that make life truly joyous and engaging and it's also about personal

04:41freedoms as well so if somebody's had a life-altering injury how can they regain

04:46that personal freedom the independence that they used to have and often it's

04:50through engineering that we're able to do those things the real joy of motorsport

04:55is though it's not about the drivers it's about the team and making it happen

04:59as a group where you're working together to achieve a higher goal and a lot of our

05:03stuff is gauged in that way to be able to pick people up and put them alongside

05:06people that they'll find inspiring and it will engage them and help them beyond

05:11the moment and that's really what we're trying to do to be here at the ring with

05:18the Subaru is and being able to take it round is so life-affirming for me it is

05:28the top if if I don't wake up tomorrow it won't matter I'll have I'll have finished

05:33ha I've done tick tick the box that's it

Mission Motorsport collaborate with Subaru – helping all-time ambitions come to life at the Nürburgring Nordschleife

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