British driver born without arms hits the racetrack for the first time

Callum Smith, 23, is a rookie race-car driver with Team BRIT. (Submitted by Callum Smith)Social SharingLISTEN | Interview with rookie race-car driver Callum Smith:As It Happens6:37Man born without arms hits the race-car track for the first time A U.K. man who was born without arms is one step closer to achieving his dream of becoming a professional race-car driver.

"It's always been something that I've always thought I could do," Callum Smith, 23, told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal. "But I never had the chance to kind of prove that to anyone."

That all changed on Thursday, when he tested out a brand new race car adapted specifically for him by the engineers at Team BRIT, an all-disabled race-car team in the U.K. 

"It's quite an exhilarating feeling," Smith said. "Through Team BRIT, I've now kind of got this opportunity to prove that I can become a racer."

Smith, who is from Nuneaton, England, has always used his feet for everything from eating to typing to playing video games.

His personal car has adaptive technology that allows him to drive with his feet, using his left foot to steer and his right to accelerate and brake.

"If you were to stand outside of the car looking in, the normal steering wheel moves by itself," he said. "My foot's operating it down below. But, obviously, because you can't see that, you think the car's a self-driving car."

When Team BRIT signed Smith as a rookie driver last month, it decided to fit one of its academy cars with similar technology. 

Smith, who was born without arms, takes his newly adapted race car out for a spin for the first time. (Submitted by Callum Smith)Still, he says, there's a world of difference between driving a regular car on public streets, and zipping around a circuit at 160 kilometres an hour in a race car. 

"The sensations are completely different," he said. "There's a little bit of a shock to the system."

Paul Fullick, Team BRIT's GT3 driver, was in the passenger seat during Smith's maiden voyage. He told the BBC it was a bit "nerve-wracking" at first.

"First time out for me going with someone with no arms, 100 miles an hour," he said. "You get to the straight and you just hope that steering wheel is going to turn."

But Smith says he wasn't scared at all.

"It sounds silly, but everything kind of becomes quiet," he said. "The outside noise disappears and you're just focused on that next apex that's in front of you, or that next car ahead that you're chasing. You kind of ignore everything else."

The fact that it's dangerous, he says, only makes it more fun. 

"It's just the thrill of chasing … that near-death experience, kind of. That's what gives me the kick," he said.

"Travelling at high speeds, you are pretty much millimetres away from death if anything does go wrong, in the worst-case scenario. But that doesn't kind of hold me back. That just gives me that urge to keep going."

Smith says he wants to race at the highest levels. But first, he'll need a licence to compete. 

To do that, he needs to prove he can fully exit the vehicle within 10 seconds in the event of an emergency — something he hasn't quite nailed yet.

"It's something that the Team BRIT engineers are relishing because they love a challenge, they love trying to tackle the next big obstacle," he said.

"That's what I've spent my whole life doing, you know, kind of breaking down the barriers, you know, and proving that just because you've got a disability, you know, doesn't mean that I can't do what anybody else can."

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