Piloting a 911 GT3 Cup Car
At the age of 17, Ben Taylor was identified as suffering from both autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In spite of this, he is pushing back limits by entering the 2024 Porsche Sprint Challenge Down Under.
According to V8 Sleuth, Taylor’s wheels for next year will be the Number 25 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup vehicle, with Auticon acting as his sponsor. Auticon is a renown IT consulting firm with a noteworthy 455+ autistic employees. It cannot be said that Taylor was arbitrarily selected as he holds vast motor racing knowledge, from karting to Formula 3. His future performances are anticipated to also serve as an experiment to assess autism in the sport.
“At Auticon, we are excited to partner with Ben and help him reach his goals,” the company said in a statement. “We will deploy our autistic data analysts and software engineers to build insights that will take Ben’s driving to the next level.” Auticon continued, “By leveraging our expertise in data science and engineering, we are confident that Ben will be able to reach his desired performance level.”
Taylor asserted that autism is not a processing malfunction, but rather an alternate operating system. “It’s a different mindset, and it has a few advantages,” she said. “One of the most common qualities of people on the autism spectrum is their capacity for intense concentration. In IT, this can be useful for tasks like error detection and for having a knack for data analysis and coding,” Taylor added. “Personally, I think my autism helps me stay concentrated on the fine details of racing, such as timing stopping distances and corner speeds. It really assists me in performing at a high level as an athlete.”
Depending on how Taylor performs in the upcoming year, he’ll be promoted to the very top-level of Australasian racing – the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia series. This championship is a support series for the hugely popular Supercars Championship and also occurs prior to the iconic Australian Grand Prix.
“We’re exploring the potential of employing innovative ideas to motorsport data analytics,” declared Bodo Mann, managing director and CEO of Auticon. “Our team has already pinpointed prospects to strengthen racing comprehension and bring more value to Ben’s on-track performance. This collaboration is a great chance to put autistic abilities on display, and we want to illustrate the potency of neurodiversity and how having a different way of thinking can be beneficial.”
Undoubtedly, the researched results will be utilized to advance the aspirations of other autistic or neurodivergent racers. Dispensation of Taylor’s entire campaign in the GT3 Cup Car shall generate hundreds of megabytes of info which is certainly going to assist future prospects.
The world of motorsports is increasingly becoming more accessible to a broader audience, beginning with the renowned Forza Motorsport franchise that now offers visually-impaired gamers the ability to drive. Not long ago, a man living without his sight clocked an 11.5-second quarter-mile in a Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock.
