Lionel's Brands Hatch Challenge - 27 Racers / MM Online

Lionel O’Connor served with the Royal Anglian Regiment. He lost his left leg above the knee in an attack on his vehicle in Iraq in 2006, which resulted in two of his comrades being killed. He is now Stunt Team Coordinator (Volunteer) for Mission Motorsport and is the ‘Bernie’ (organiser) for PC sim racers for Mission Motorsport on 27Racers.

Lionel clapping eyes on car and team for the first time in the bottom paddock at Brands Hatch

In full flight. JC certainly in his happy place

Back in 2012 I was invited to a race day at Brands Hatch. From a beneficiary perspective it was my first engagement with the Mission Motorsport charity. The aim of the day was to meet members of the charity and have a fun day out. I was sick at home, playing Xbox, awaiting my discharge from the Army.

Little did I know that when I got to the circuit I’d be part of the pit crew. Somebody slung a stopwatch around my neck and suddenly I became a ‘time man’ for a racing team. So, from having never been at a proper race day, to being a part of the chaos was pretty surreal.

Weapon. 993RS race car - and a lot of pressure to get it right!

The event was a Club MSV Team Trophy and the race car was a yellow Porsche 993. I had absolutely no idea how many driver changes or pitstops were needed, but it was my job to send the drivers on their way in the allotted time. Too early and they got a penalty; too late and they lost valuable lap time.

I guess this would be trivial to someone that knows how a race day works, but for someone that was self isolating (now that some of you understand it better!), struggling with PTSD and still trying to come to terms with life changing injuries, it was a pretty daunting experience.

But as the day evolved, I was slowly reminded about teamwork – something I missed badly at that time. In short, the day at Brands Hatch filled me with life, especially as the team podiumed in the race.

It turned out that the day wasn’t actually an official Mission Motorsport event. Charity CEO Jim was helping a friend of his over a ‘free weekend’ and had invited me because he thought it would do me some good. Back then I had no idea about the work and effort that was going into the charity behind closed doors – but I am honoured to have been a small part of an awe-inspiring journey that the charity has been on. Full circle – from one type of isolation to another – Brands Hatch resonates. I like Brands.

For this reason, I’d like to set you a Brands Hatch Sprint challenge. It’s a simple ‘fastest lap’ challenge: pick any road-based Porsche, on any platform or game (PC, XBox or PlayStation). The snag is it must feature Brands Indy – and just like a Porsche 993 race car it’s no stability aids (although you’re welcome to use ABS if you declare it). On a related note, when you post your fastest laps on your Twitter make sure you tell us which platform and game you’ve used, and tag #27racers. If you’d rather send evidence of your fastest laps to us via email, that's fine.

Second overall, First in class. But how can you do round Brands Hatch?