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He has an auto-immune disease which has fused his spine, but retired soldier Gareth Paterson has found a new lease of life through the charity Mission Motorsport.
Paterson retired as a sergeant after 24 years in the British Army and now competes in the real and virtual world for the motorsports organisation which helps to rehabilitate wounded, sick and injured military personnel and assists them in finding jobs in the industry.
Gareth was able to complete his military service, but he lives with the auto-immune disease Ankylosing Spondylitis which has attacked his body and resulted in his spine fusing.
“Trying to find anybody who would allow me to get involved in motorsport or anything like that with this condition is quite limiting,” said Paterson, who joined the army after leaving school at 16. “People instantly turn off if you say that you've got a spinal condition.”
But it was a meeting with the CEO of Mission Motorsport, James Cameron, in 2012 that set Paterson on his racing journey.
“Mission Motorsport look at the injuries and illnesses that each person has got and then come up with adaptations and changes that will help them get involved in racing,” he said.
It also helps Paterson and his fellow servicemen and woman to replicate the camaraderie they experienced in the forces. "One of the issues that you have when you're in the armed forces, is you define yourself as a soldier, as an airman, or by the job that you do," he said.
"When you become injured, sick or you end up having to leave the armed forces you kind of lose that identity. So being involved in charities like Mission Motorsport gives you an aim.”
Since becoming involved, he has completed the gruelling Dakar Rally in 2013 as part of the Race2Recovery team and represented the United Kingdom in the 2016/17 Invictus Games.
"The racing side of things is just an escape,” he says.
"Being in that group, being pushed into competing, being pushed into trying to better yourself and showing people how good you are is one of the things that I love about motorsport and racing.”
Paterson says that resilience and dealing with pressure is "drilled" into military personnel and believes this transfers perfectly to racing and a career in motorsports.
The ABB FIA Formula E Championship has benefitted directly from the notable work done by Mission Motorsport – one of the mechanics for Mahindra Racing came through the charity.
"What I've picked up is that teams like the fact that we thrive under pressure rather than collapse because that's what you need in those situations," added Patterson.
Last week Paterson was part of the Challenge grid for the ABB Formula E Race at Home Challenge in support of UNICEF, and he admits he was star struck “warming up” alongside the Formula E drivers on the simulator.
"Doing the sessions in the training server - and having the likes of Max Guenther popping up and saying ‘hi’ to everybody and then Stoffel Vandoorne comes in - I go a little bit fanboy if I'm going to be completely honest and I have to rein myself in and take some control of myself," he said.
Competing against a strong grid of sim racers again this week, Paterson has clear goals in mind: "My first outing was not to come last, which I succeeded. So this one is to finish as far up the field as I possibly can."
Opportunities like competing in the Race at Home Challenge demonstrates the value of Mission Motorsport's work, according to Paterson.
“Once you get into that car it's pretty much a level playing field, so you can compete against able-bodied, fully-fit people and it gives you something to aim for, something to drive for," he says.