Ex-Marine hopes to secure place on Le Mans team

A former Royal Marine who is part of a motor racing team is hoping to take part in a renowned endurance race.

Jamie Falvey, 32, of Farnsfield, drives for Team BRIT, which describes itself as motorsport’s most inspirational team.

It is aiming to be the first all-disabled team to compete in the Le Mans 24 hour, an endurance race in France.

Jamie joined the team last year while it was competing in the UK Fun Cup Championship, a series of races on tracks throughout the UK.

He will compete in the team’s Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4, at races including the Aston Martin Owners Club GT4 Challenge, British GT and Creventic 24hr Series.

Jamie, along with the team’s more experienced drivers, will be hoping to impress the team’s management enough to be able to compete in Le Mans 24 hour.

Jamie served in the Royal Marines Commandos from 2010 to 2016, rising to the rank of lance corporal.

He served at Faslane naval base in Scotland, in Afghanistan and was a cold weather warfare specialist for exercises in Norway.

In 2016 he was medically discharged after sustaining permanent hearing damage and tinnitus as a result of his time served within the corps.

He and his team-mates at Team BRIT live with a range of disabilities.

Many are injured troops, some are amputees, and in September the team opened its doors to civilian drivers to widen opportunities and to promote its ethos of Believe and Achieve.

'We can compete on a level playing field with able-bodied drivers'

Drivers use hand control technology, designed and developed by the team’s founder, Dave Player, and experts MME Motorsport.

The controls mean that the drivers with a range of requirements, such as Ash Hall, who is a double-leg amputee, and Jamie, who has hearing difficulties, can compete in the same team, switching between adapted and conventional controls.

Jamie runs a personal training business from his own studio and has a passion for motorsport.

He has competed in national and overseas karting events since 2006, and is testing for the Caterham 270R Championship this year.

He said: “As a real lover of cars and motorsport, I am so excited to be able to share the news of our Aston Martin.

“The team is centred around an ethos of Believe and Achieve, and our progress to this level of racing is a reflection of the belief and determination we have.

“We want to show disabled people all over the world that anything is possible.

“We are normalising disability and proving that we can compete on a level playing field with able-bodied drivers.

“I will be focusing on improving my lap times as much as I can this year, so that I have every chance of being one of the first drivers to get behind the wheel of the Aston in our first GT race.

“We are here to compete, not just take part.”

The team’s two Fun Cup cars begin racing when the championship kicks off on April 7 at Oulton Park.