Saturday, August 23, 2014

Master of My Fate


Cambridge, ON - August 23, 2014
Photo via Jaguar LandRover

Motorsport has endured its fair share of marketing and public relations ploys over the years.  Some have been really outstanding and some have been just disastrous.  The reality is that most sponsors are looking for some sort of return on their investment in terms of advertising streams and revenue from sales.  Motorsport is a bit of a nice market advertising wise unless you know how to create a really good hook with broader appeal.  When trying to use motorsport as a marketing ploy, though, one has to be careful about the balance between crass and inspirational.

An example of a bad viral marketing strategy was a television show that tried to use the unfortunate Stewart/Ward shunt as a means of driving traffic to the show's website by circulating a picture of a NASCAR shunt with the caption "Government announces new measures to control deaths in NASCAR through regulation".  Many average people fell victim to the ploy, which had them clicking on the photo that was linked the television show website where there was no mention of anything motorsport at all.  It was a cheap and crass marketing ploy that backfired on the television show.

On the outstandingly good side of the coin, there is Jaguar LandRover.  About three years ago, the marketing department at Jaguar LandRover decided to sponsor Race2Recovery.  It was a gamble for them, because the team were complete rookies and could guarantee nothing to the car manufacturer except that they would do their best.  That gamble has paid off in spades for Jaguar LandRover with two motorsport records, international press (your truly included in the press portion of this equation), two documentary films, a book, and one of the best and most inspirational stories of the Dakar Rally-Raid two years in a row.  Jaguar LandRover couldn't have asked for a better return on investment for their dollars.  At the same time, Jaguar LandRover found value in supporting wounded soldiers and has broadened their sponsorship mandate to include the upcoming Invictus Games in the United Kingdom in a few weeks.

I've seen several promotional videos for the Invictus Games, the most notable being the one with Daniel Craig in it.  I like Daniel Craig.  I think he's a great actor.  As he recited his line from the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley, I found myself making a fervent wish that someone would make a video of Tony Harris, co-founder of Race2Recovery, reciting the same poem.  I wanted to hear a man recite the poem that I knew was in some ways epitomized by the words he was saying.

The fates granted my wish, as Jaguar LandRover has released a promotional video for the Invictus Games featuring Tony Harris, Jon Flint, Nick Black, and David Hubber reciting the poem.  While I'm not familiar with the last three men, their delivery of the poem is just as powerful and inspiring at Tony's.  Jaguar LandRover's marketing department hit the ball out of the park with this video.  It's a tasteful and inspiring marketing approach that increases my respect for Jaguar LandRover tenfold.

For me, one of the best moments of the video is the very end, when Tony Harris recites the last two lines of Invictus as he's shown walking away from his Wildcat RallyCar.  The reason?  Tony Harris lives the words he's reciting every day of his life.

"I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul."

Jaguar UK Promo for Invictus Games

The Extremes of Speed - Race2Recovery

Cheers to the Marketing Department at Jaguar LandRover!  Well done!

~Colene~

Monday, August 18, 2014

Anything You Can Do I Can Do Too


Cambridge, ON - August 18, 2014
Photo via NationalSpeedSportNews.com

This past Saturday night at Jefferson Speedway in South Dakota, Isaac Schreurs set a new motorsport record, becoming the first paraplegic driver to win a major 'A' Main Sprint Car race.  Schreurs led the 25 lap race flag to flag.  Sprint Car racing is a tough and demanding form of racing, so Schreurs has accomplished quite the feat with this win.  Schreurs lost the use of his legs 7 years ago at age 14.

Also, our friend Austin Riley was featured on Toronto, Ontario's Global News this past weekend.  Here's the link to the News Video.  When Austin's father Jason says that Austin will steal a piece of your heart and you'll never get it back, he's telling the absolute truth.  Austin owns a  piece of our hearts here at Inspiration At Speed.

Some other news from the last week comes to us from our friends at Race2Recovery over in the United Kingdom.  First, R2R co-founder Tony Harris and 2014 Dakar Rally-Raid finisher Daniel 'Baz' Whittingham will be representing the U.K. in next months Invictus Games.  You can get more information on the Games at their WEBSITE..  The REALLY great news was the unveiling of the new livery for one of the R2R Wildcats. This is the moment where we indulge in a little 'car porn'.  The photo of Gordon in his new livery comes to us courtesy of R2R.

Finally, we'd like to give a shout out to the blog of former R2R PR and Social Media Guru Deborah Harrison.  She's started a blog about occupational therapy in mental health and posted this week about the value of motorsport as a recovery therapy.  She was kind enough to include us in that post, for which we are very appreciative.  She raises an important point in her blog post on motorsport as a Recovery Tool that we can't argue with.  That point is that motorsport can be an incredibly powerful tool for recovery from physical trauma, physical injury, and mental health issues.  You can read her latest post here.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Respects to Kevin Ward Jr.

Cambridge, ON - August 13, 2014

Normally, we celebrate the successes of those in motorsport on this blog.  We prefer to do that.

After the sad events of this past weekend, however, we have to take a moment to reflect on the other side of our sport - the side we're not nearly as fond of.

Our hearts go out to Kevin Ward Junior's family and friends, the Empire Super Sprints organization, Canandaigua Motorsport Park's owners, employees, and fans, and Tony Stewart.  Nobody ever wants to have a competitor die on a race track under any circumstances.

If you would like to express your condolences for Kevin Ward Jr., his family has asked for donations in lieu of flowers to the Empire Super Sprints Injured Driver Fund.  If you would like to make a donation, here's the address.

Empire Super Sprints Injured Drivers Fund
5562 Bear Rd.
Apt. C2
North Syracuse, NY. 13212

In addition, this Friday at Brewerton Speedway and Ohsweken Speedway, the organizers are asking fans, teams, drivers, and anyone/everyone else to come out wearing orange in tribute to Kevin Ward Jr.


Saturday, August 9, 2014

The Sweet Taste of Victory


Cambridge, ON - August 9, 2014
Photo via formula1600.com

It would be nearly impossible for a Hollywood script writer to come up with a plot this good for a movie.  In fact, it's so stunning that we're still reeling.

In Canada, for 2014, there is a new Formula 1600 (Formula Ford) Championship called the Toyo Tires Formula 1600 Super Series.  Essentially, it's a collection of support races run at bigger events for the Formula 1600 series in both Ontario and Quebec.  It brings the best young open-wheel talent in Canada together for a select group of races to battle it out for what amounts to an unofficial national Championship Title.

Today marked the final two rounds of the Super Series, with a race in the morning and a race later in the afternoon at the historic Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres in Quebec.  The GP3R is the longest running street course venue in North America, having run the first of it's annual events in 1967.  The points leader coming into the GP3R was Tristan DeGrand.  Chase Pelletier was sitting second in the Championship, but in order to win the Title, he had to be absolutely perfect and DeGrand had to have a major problem.  It was an outside shot at best to win for Pelletier.  Added to the pressure of managing a high stakes weekend such as this, 18-year-old Pelletier is a Type 1 Diabetic.  However, Pelletier is the same young man that beat John Heinricy last weekend at Mid-Ohio in the PWC race.  

Pelletier came out of the box fast, flying, and determined.  He grabbed pole for the first race, took the lead on the first lap, and never looked back.  While Pelletier would win the race, DeGrand ended his race on the first race lap in the tire wall.  The first half of Pelletier's goal was accomplished.  He and DeGrand were now tied for the points lead in the Championship.  With Pelletier starting third in the second race in the afternoon, it was still not a locked up Championship for either DeGrand or Pelletier.  In an unbelievably high drama race, DeGrand would climb the race order from last to fourth.  Even with Pelletier in the lead, DeGrand would have won the Championship with a fourth place finish.  In the latter part of the race, DeGrand would end up suffering a mechanical failure that ended his race.  Pelletier would win the race and the Championship in one fell swoop.

We look forward to catching up with Chase at some point in the not-too-distant future to gather his inspiring story for our series.  In the meantime, Chase, from us at Inspiration At Speed - CONGRATS!!!


Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Double Video Day - Racing With Autism & Race2Recovery

Cambridge, ON - August 6, 2014

A bit of a rushed day for us at Inspiration At Speed today, as both Racing With Autism and Race2Recovery released videos today.

Race2Recovery released their August 2014 update video.  A couple of notes for this video.  First, congrats on the continued good results in the Freelander Challenge to the team.  Second, two members of the R2R team are taking background positions after being at the forefront of the team for the last few years.  Co-Founder Tony Harris is turning his attention and focus to other areas of his life, although we hope to see him compete in Dakar again.  We'll definitely miss Tony, who is one of the few members of R2R that we've spoken with directly over the years.  R2R's Social Media Coordinator Deb Harrison is also stepping down, which is a huge loss for us at Inspiration At Speed, as Deb has been our lifeline to the team the last two years.  We're looking forward to working with the new Social Media Coordinator and keeping in touch with Deb going forward.  Here's their August Update Video.

Racing With Autism also released a video today that is a chronicle of Austin Riley's adventures at the 3-Day Skip Barber Race School at Road Atlanta last week.  It's without a doubt some of the most important six minutes of your life to watch this video.  You'll get to watch as a young man overcomes Autism to exceed the expectations of everyone around him and learn how to drive a race car.  It's impossible to watch this video and not have your heartstrings tugged on at least a little bit by this incredible young man and his determination to succeed.  As Austin himself says, having Autism doesn't mean he can't do great things!

Austin's Adventures at Skip Barber Race School - Road Atlanta

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

From Mid-Ohio to Morocco They Were Inspiring

Chase Pelletier leads the TCB Class at Mid-Ohio.


Cambridge, ON - August 5, 2014
Photo via Motorsport.com

There were a lot of inspiring folks out this past weekend doing a whole bunch of awesome and inspiring things.  Here's a quick round-up of some of our favourite moments.

Tony Harris moved mountains for himself and other wounded soldiers when he helped to found Row2Recovery and Race2Recovery.  The Dakar Rally-Raid driver decided that rather than move the mountain, this time he'd climb it.  He took on the challenge of climbing Mt. Toubkal in Morocco this past weekend with his wife Liz and raised over 3,000 pounds for Help for Heroes and BLESMA.  That's a 13,671 foot climb.  He's still able to take donations for the climb.  If you'd like to donate, follow this LINK.

How many Type 1 Diabetic race car drivers competed at Mid-Ohio this past weekend?  Answer - Two.  The first, and most well known, is IndyCar driver Charlie Kimball who finished 7th after a cut and slice drive through the field from 17th place.  The second driver is a less well known young man that Charlie Kimball mentored from Brampton, Ontario named Chase Pelletier.  We met Chase at the Honda Indy Toronto a few weeks ago.  Chase took the pole and the win in the Pirelli World Challenge TCB class over veteran driver John Heinricy (Yes, THAT John Heinricy).  Chase normally races Formula 1600's (Formula Fords).  He was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes 9 years ago, and he has been inspired and helped along by the inroads forged by Charlie Kimball.

We're also going to throw out an honourable mention to a fantastic young man that's out there spreading a great message.  Eighteen year-old Jason Cherry competes under the banner of the American Autism Society in the Pirelli World Challenge TCA class.  He's a big supporter of Canadian racer Austin Riley, as well as supporting Autism Awareness, because Cherry's older brother is on the Autism spectrum.  Cherry made the podium on the weekend at Mid-Ohio while flying the flag for Autism.

That's a quick recap of the weekend's dose of Inspiration at Speed.  We're feeling pretty inspired by it all, how about you?

Friday, August 1, 2014

Skip Barber Race School Has A Very Special Graduate


Cambridge, ON - August 1, 2014
Photo via Racing With Autism

It's not too often you'll hear an announcement like this one.

Austin Riley has become the first graduate of the Skip Barber Race School who is on the Autism spectrum.

You read that exactly right.  The 15-year-old Canadian from Uxbridge, Ontario already has three Karting Championships on his racing resume, as well as being ranked one of the best karters for his race group in Eastern Canada.  Yesterday, Austin got his diploma from Skip Barber after a three day race school at Road Atlanta.

With that Skip Barber diploma*, Austin needs to pass a medical, and he can then apply to Canadian Automobile Sports Clubs - Ontario Region for a Novice Competition License.

Austin has now had a chance to drive a proper race car on a proper track.  It's a great start to a process that could see Austin racing something more than a kart in the near future.

Congratulations Austin!

* Assuming that CASC-OR, the sanctioning body for motorsport in Ontario, has Skip Barber on their list of approved professional race schools.  At this time, I could not find a list confirming that Skip Barber is an approved school.