Victoria and Caroline at the Speed of Sight

Granby is a company that loves to support charitable causes in their community, and one of the most exciting causes they have come across is the ‘Speed of Sight’ charity for disabled drivers.

This Bolton-based charity was started by Mike Newman, the fastest blind man on the planet, who has a passion for cars and a desire to help other disabled people experience the joy of driving.

Recently, two members of our Granby team, Victoria Pittman, and Caroline Noblett, took a day’s holiday away from the office to attend a track day organised by Mike and his team at a local race circuit.

They had met Mike and his co-founder John Galloway at a recent Business Bootcamp event organised by Community and Business Partners and were really impressed by the remarkable work the team does for blind drivers. So impressed, in fact, that they signed up to try it for themselves.

Here, you can see Victoria and Caroline alongside from left to right, John, Mike, Granby’s own Jo Kimber – and not forgetting, Stan, Mike’s dog.

Caroline Noblett, Director of People and Finance at Granby, is an advocate of such events “I believe activities like this not only increase awareness of the difficulties faced by disability but also encourage essential team building skills like trust and communication. And sometimes you just have to see these things for yourself.”

The Speed of Sight Story

The story of the Speed of Sight charity began with Mike, who was born completely blind but had a lifelong ambition to become a racing driver.

Despite the challenges he faced, he never gave up on his dream and eventually founded the charity to offer driving experiences to other disabled people.

The charity now offers experiences not only for sighted, partially sighted, and blind adults and kids but for those with other disabilities as well.

The charity has had four cars specially designed and built – two racing cars and two all-terrain buggies. They allow people of all ages with disabilities to enjoy the excitement and thrill of driving.

The vehicles, named after Mike’s guide dogs, are specially designed with dual controls and twin steering wheels and their buggies are equipped with hand controls. Their driving experiences take place nationwide at racing circuits, off road tracks or any venue with a large enough car park or area where a circuit can be created.

As well as offering driving experiences to people with disabilities, the charity is all about promoting positive awareness around disability too.

And they’ve created some unique experiences in the hope it opens people’s eyes to life without one of the senses. And yes! You guessed it…they use blindfolds.

Victoria and Caroline

Victoria and Caroline had a terrific day at the track and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Victoria says “ Caroline and I had an incredible time. The day was organised by Mike and his amazing team, and we were so impressed by the remarkable work the team does. It is incredible to think they have put on almost 100 track days in the past decade. We now need to help make as many people as we can aware of their magnificent work”.

If you or your business would like to support Mike’s work with Speed of Sight, you can visit their charitable giving page.