A man left paraplegic after a motocross accident thought he would never race again - but now beats able-bodied people driving a McLaren using just his hands. Aaron Morgan, 32, grew up watching his dad, Rod Morgan, 63, go-kart racing and got his first bike at just seven years old.
But aged 15, his racing days ground to a halt when a horror accident saw him land badly on a jump, causing him to stop breathing for nine minutes and rendering him paraplegic. Without the use of his legs, Aaron thought his racing days were over - until he learned it was possible to operate an adapted race car without the use of pedals.
After learning how to drive an adapted car, Aaron is now back on the road and part of an all-disabled racing team which regularly sees him compete against, and beat, non-disabled opponents. Aaron has stacked up silverware driving a BMW, McLaren and Aston Martin.
His team is on a mission to become the first all-disabled racing team to compete in the world's oldest most prestigious endurance race, 24 Hours of Le Mans, in France.
Aaron, an IT networking specialist, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, said: "After the accident I thought my racing dreams were over. When it first happened, I lay in bed thinking: 'Why did this happen to me? Of all the races, all the jumps, all the drivers, and all the clubs. Why me?'
"But when I remembered I stopped breathing for nine whole minutes, I realised I'm just lucky to be alive. It was an incredible feeling being back on the track - since then, I've never looked back.
"We race against able-bodied drivers - the playing field is completely level. I don't know if there are even any other sports where that's the case.
"After everything that has happened, when I get in the car, I feel like I leave my wheelchair behind and I'm no different to anyone else. You can call it passion or pure stupidity, because motor racing is what caused me to lose the use of half my body, but that won't stop me doing it."
Aaron was 15 when he lost the use of his legs following a motocross accident - when a jump went wrong. On April 14, 2006, he went over a jump which went wrong - resulting in him stopping breathing for nine minutes at the side of the track.
He couldn't move and was air-lifted to Salisbury District Hospital, Wiltshire, before being transferred to Southampton General Hospital, Hampshire.
He was in a medically induced coma for two weeks and had spinal surgery before he went back to Salisbury for occupational therapy. He had to learn how to live without the use of his legs after the incident left him paraplegic and needing a wheelchair.
After turning 16, Aaron learned that due to his disability he was eligible to sit his driving test in a car with adaptive hand controls, a year early.
He said: "I would wheel out of the hospital in my chair and get into the car then come back an hour or so later, get back in the chair, then go back into the hospital. I wasn't aware disabled drivers even existed until I started lessons."
After passing his test he was desperate to get back on the track, and thanks to an old racing friend of his dad's, it became a possibility - when they offered to build an adapted car for him. Aaron got back behind the wheel, which he said was an "incredible feeling" and soon secured commercial sponsorship to race independently.
He did that for eight years using basic hand controls in a BMW E30 and a BMW E36 Compact after finishing a sports science degree at Brunel University, London. Then, in June of 2019, he was contacted by TeamBRIT - an all-disabled racing team who use advanced hand control systems on the steering wheels to allow their drivers to compete with able-bodied drivers.
He was offered a spot on the team for the following year’s season, driving one of TeamBRIT’s cars with their specialist hand controls instead of normal foot pedals. Aaron said: “I bit their hand off. Being able to use those controls was incredible – they completely levelled the playing field.
“Being able to race against able-bodied drivers is so good – the only difference is the steering wheel looks a little different. With motorsport, as soon as the doors are shut, nobody cares who you are or if you have a disability. They just want to beat you.”
Aaron met his racing teammate, Bobby Trundley, 22, who was diagnosed with autism aged four – and the pair quickly gelled and began bringing home trophies for TeamBRIT. In August 2020, Aaron and Bobby raced in the Britcar Endurance Championship at Brands Hatch, Kent, finishing fourth in their class, driving an Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 fitted with pioneering adaptive hand controls.
In April 2021 Aaron returned to the Britcar Endurance Championship at Silverstone circuit, Northamptonshire, with Bobby in the Aston Martin – this time finishing third in the class. And in July 2022, Aaron and Bobby made history by becoming the first all-disabled pairing to compete in the British GT Championship, driving a Mclaren 570S GT4, and finished second in their class.
Not only that, but at 2022’s Circuit de Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, the pair won their class. Aaron, who lives with his partner, Gillian Spain, 35, a renewals manager for a software company, and her son, Sean, eight, works for an IT company by day.
But every night, he goes out to the track with TeamBRIT - as he and his teammates have their sights set on the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. While nothing is confirmed, they are working on their race plan in the hope of qualifying to race in Le Mans – and if they manage it, they would be the first all-disabled team in the world to do so.
Reflecting on his motor racing journey so far, after once thinking it would be over forever, Aaron described it as “an amazing place to be, as a disabled person”.
Aaron said: “I’d love to do this for the rest of my life. After everything that has happened, when I get in the car, I feel like I leave my wheelchair behind and I'm no different to anyone else.
"You can call it passion or pure stupidity, because motor racing is what caused me to lose the use of half my body, but that won't stop me doing it."
