A select group of wounded, injured and sick (WIS) veterans of the British Armed Forces will compete in the 2018 British GT Championship as part of a new motor racing team in specially-designed Jaguar sports cars…
Invictus Games Racing is a collaboration between James Holder, Co-Founder of the successful clothing brand Superdry, and the Invictus Games Foundation. Holder has commissioned Jaguar’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) division to develop and build two bespoke F-TYPE SVR racing cars to GT4 specification for the Invictus Games Racing drivers to compete in.
The Invictus Games Racing project is the vision of Superdry’s Holder, a motor racing fanatic who competed in the 2016 British GT Championship. During his debut season racing, he was inspired by watching the 2016 Invictus Games in Orlando and had the idea to create Invictus Games Racing.
The team’s mission is to give WIS servicemen or women the opportunity to experience the adrenaline of competitive racing and inspire others to embrace the ethos of the Invictus Games of triumph over adversity. Thanks to these bespoke cars, the wounded drivers will compete equally with their able-bodied counterparts.
Holder has funded the project himself and overseen the design and development of the cars to create Britain’s most unique motor racing team.
He said: “Invictus Games Racing will enable ex-servicemen and women who have experienced physical or psychological trauma during service to compete against each other and the rest of the top-level racing field, in cars that are tailor-made for them. We wanted to give these men and women the chance to compete in a professional racing competition with the established teams.
“Over the last six months leading experts Mission Motorsport have held trials to identify and train four drivers from the Armed Forces best suited and most likely to gain personally from this experience. We have worked closely with Jaguar to construct GT4-specification supercars that accommodate each individual driver’s needs and style.”
Dominic Reid OBE, Invictus Games Foundation Chief Executive, said: “The Invictus Games Foundation is thrilled to be working with James Holder and his racing team. We are developing this exciting new opportunity for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women – both serving and veteran – to get involved in motorsport at a high level in vehicles purpose-built by Invictus Games presenting partner Jaguar Land Rover. We expect to see some very competitive racing from these drivers!”
Fans can follow Invictus games Racing on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @RacingInvictus. Please use the hashtag #InvictusGamesRacing.
Following Invictus Games in London in 2014, Orlando in 2016 and Toronto in 2017, the fourth Invictus Games will take place in Sydney between 20-27 October 2018. The motor racing arm of the movement aims to raise further awareness of the Invictus Games Foundation and marks a three-year commitment to this unique racing project.