Nicolas Hamilton
Racing Driver
Being affected with Cerebral Palsy has not diminished Nicolas Hamilton’s ambition to become one of the top racing drivers in the world. He hopes to inspire audiences, and show others how obstacles can be smashed whilst chasing your dreams.
As a motivational Speaker Nicolas shares his story of overcoming Cerebral Palsy; the younger brother of Formula One star Lewis Hamilton, Nicolas was born 2 months premature, unable to stand or walk and bound to a wheelchair for five years. With huge amounts of courage and determination Nicolas is now a racing driver. The first disabled athlete ever to compete in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) driving an Audi S3 no less.
Nicolas shares his insight and thoughts and hopes to inspire as many people as possible, whether they are able-bodied or disabled.
Topics
- Overcoming Adversity
- Determination
- Teamwork
- Sport
- Innovative technology
- Self-motivation
Nicolas endured years of punishing training and physio so that by the age of 17 he could walk completely unaided.
Nicolas has been involved with motorsport his whole life but it wasn’t until late 2010 when he was invited to drive a BMW M3 at Palmer Sport that he started to seriously think about racing himself.
As cerebral palsy mainly affects the strength in your legs and ability to walk, adaptations were made to the car in order to help him with his driving. The first thing was to have the accelerator pedal pushed back to floor and the brake pedal widened so that he could push down rather that reach away, which is harder for him. He also had the seat raised by 100mm and a hand clutch mounted to the rear of the steering wheel so he didn’t have to use another pedal.
Nicolas won a seat in the competitive Renault Clio Cup, the entry level to touring car competition and the gateway to motorsport for many future successful drivers. After a high-profile first season (partly due to his disability, partly due to his brother being Lewis Hamilton) Nic moved to the European Touring Car Cup. Sponsorship and financial issues in this most money-dependent of sports enforced a season’s break on him, but he retains his aim of racing in the DTM, the top-level German touring car contest.
VIDEO