Nicolas Hamilton, Racing Driver

Nicolas Hamilton, English racing driver who competes in the British Touring Car Championship, joins Kene Ejikeme, head of Multi-Asset Platform Sales in EMEA, to discuss his career as a racer, how he’s adapted racing to work with his cerebral palsy, and how the support of his family (including his brother, seven-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton) has continued to be a precious but renewable resource.

On finding a way into motor racing: “I always loved motor sport. I ate, slept, and breathed it. It's all I knew. So I turned my attention to racing games and simulators. I got this 20-pound steering wheel from PC World. I put it on my desk. I couldn't use my legs, so I used buttons for the steering wheel, and I just practiced and practiced and practiced. I learned everything I needed to know about car setup and engineering, to then just general race craft and qualifying laps and all those sort of things. And I got so good at it I joined the British Championship at 2009. And then I won the British Championship using buttons and a steering wheel and my brother was like, ‘Wow, you've clearly got what it takes. We should try and put you in a proper race car.’”

 

Download Transcript

The episode was recorded on April 29, 2021.