SRT41
Frédéric Sausset ensconced in the cockpit of SRT41's Morgan-Nissan LMP2 car. You can see how his prosthetic connects to an adaptor that replaces the steering wheel used by his two teammates.
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One of the cooler things about the 24 Hours of Le Mans is called Garage 56. The name dates to 2012, when Le Mans only had room for 55 cars in its pitlane, but the ACO (the race organizers) added one extra spot for a car which, according to the ACO's Sporting Director Vincent Beaumesnil, "explores the automobile technology of tomorrow and beyond." In the past, Garage 56 entries have gone to cars that have been pushing the envelope on fuel saving (the Deltawing) or electrification (the ZEOD RC), but this year the focus is rather different.
In 2012, a French businessman called Frédéric Sausset scratched his finger while on vacation in the southwest of France. Tragically, the scratch rapidly led to a life-threatening infection (necrotizing fasciitis) which left Sausset a quadruple amputee. At the point where many of us might just give up and wallow in depression, Sausset instead decided he wasn't going to let the lack of hands or feet get in the way of a life-long ambition—racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And this coming weekend, he's going to do just that.
Sausset's team, SRT41, had a tricky job. A 24-hour race like Le Mans isn't a solo effort—each car has three drivers who split the race between them, swapping in and out during pitstops. The team had to convert its Morgan-Nissan LMP2 car (the slower of the two prototype classes at Le Mans, intended for pro-am teams) so that Sausset could drive it, without compromising the ability of his two able-bodied teammates Jean Bernard Bouvet and Christophe Tinseau from being able to do the same.
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