Author name: Matty

People with autism have a superpower.

Some people might be able to tell you exactly what kind of train is on the track and where it was made, but for me it’s all about motorsport.

There are bad days. Recently, I couldn’t cope with the transition of moving house. The colour of the new soap-holder and the position of the glasses in the new kitchen caused me to completely flip out.

I took time off work, I imagine I was quite grumpy and snappy to some people. Sorry mum. There’s always bad days. But you’ve got to get up and crack on.

I’m Matty Street and I’m the CEO of TeamKarting, I’m 22 and I have autism. Here’s my story.

Autism is different for everyone. Me and my brother are autistic, and – as my mother would say – we are chalk and cheese.

I like structure and routine and he is more relaxed in that respect. It varies from person to person but, ultimately, it’s a social disorder which means some people struggle to understand what others would take as ordinary.

There are so many negative labels associated with autism. A friend of mine says I’m not supposed to be good at eye contact. To that, I say it’s overrated – depending on who you’re looking at.

We’re also not supposed to be good at speaking in front of people. Me? I speak in front of hundreds of people at events. And we’re not supposed to be good at sarcasm, even though I speak it as a second language!

There are so many different aspects of the link between autism and motorsport.

There is the repetition of constantly going around the track – nothing really changes. The speed of it is calming, because you’re constantly going ‘break, accelerate, turn’ and looking at all these different reference points.

It’s soothing because your physical actions are keeping up with the speed your brain is working at.

Motorsport isn’t like most sports. When you put the helmet on in the car or kart, it’s just you; the driver.

In football, for example, there are 11 players on the pitch who rely on each other and communicate socially. With motorsport, you don’t necessarily need to do that which is why it works out so well for some people with autism.

I manage a race team with 11 drivers. A couple of those drivers are autistic and when we turn up at a new track you can immediately sense the anxiety there.

At a new place, they don’t have familiar surroundings – all those things are going through their head and it takes a while for them to come out of their shell.

But the minute you put the helmet on it’s a sense of calmness, and a sense of relief and security that you are within yourself and it helps your initial anxieties.

I’d always like to know where I’m going, so if I’m going to a track for the first time I’ll always be extra prepared so that when I arrive I know what’s what.

Fired, rehired… then bought the business

Has motorsport changed my life? Massively. Without it, I wouldn’t be in the position I am in now.

I have a lot more confidence now – I’ll quite happily speak in front of people. I wouldn’t have done that in school.

I didn’t tell anyone at school I had autism – even my closest friends didn’t know. When I was a kid I didn’t like the way PE shorts felt and you couldn’t get me to wear shorts for the life of me – it would be the world’s hottest day and I would still be in jeans or jogging pants.

Autism was just not something I felt confident to share or relevant to share at the time, but now I see kids coming through and struggle with things that I struggled with.

Since leaving school, everything evolved around motorsport, and I went to college to do motorsport engineering. At the time, I decided I didn’t like getting my hands dirty so I decided to go down the management route instead.

I started working at TeamKarting part-time at university, got myself fired, rehired, and then eventually bought the business with my business partner Chris.

By the time I was 21, I had qualifications, was a business owner and employed 30 people.

I’m a completely different person to how I was in school. Back then I wouldn’t say boo to a goose. Now if I’m doing a deal, I would quite happily walk away because it’s my way or no way.

I feel like I’ve got that insight to be able to help and share my experiences to make it a little bit better for them.

My biggest achievement is helping people with similar backgrounds to me defy all the misconceptions that come with it.

Advice to others? Own your own story. Just because someone says you shouldn’t be able to do something, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a go.

Want some information or support? Click here

Matty Street was talking to BBC Sport’s Niamh Lewis.

Source: BBC News

Two young drivers from Rochdale, who live with autism, have competed in a charity karting event as part of the team ‘Racing with Autism’ (RWA).

Hosted by Team BRIT who support drivers with a range of physical and psychological challenges to access motorsport, 12-year-old Sandro Ballesteros and 22-year-old Matty Street, CEO of Rochdale’s TeamKarting and Team RWA Captain, took to the races on Tuesday 6 August 2019 at Brands Hatch, Kent.

Their team – Team RWA – is made up of six drivers, all with autism, and consisted of two teams of three young drivers on the day, racing against 16 other teams in a three-hour endurance race.

Matty and Sandro’s team put it in a fantastic performance, finishing 4th out of 18 teams, with the other RWA team finishing in 2nd place.

Sandro was diagnosed with autism when he was three and had his first experience in a kart aged five. He began racing in Daytona Bambinos and won his first Bambino Championship in his second year of karting, aged 7.

In his first year of junior championships, Sandro has managed 4th and 5th place, now lying in 7th as one of the youngest on the grid.

He also gives presentations at primary schools and was recently asked to speak at an autism conference with an audience of 120 people, including teachers, parents, and professionals.

Matty was diagnosed with dyslexia, dyspraxia and Asperger’s (a form of autism) when he was at school. He won a £30k scholarship to go racing at the age of 14 and studied motorsport engineering before securing a degree.

He said: “At the age of 12, I discovered karting, which had a huge effect on me and helped me manage the challenges that Asperger’s can cause.”

Matty now runs Rochdale’s TeamKarting, the UK’s highest rated karting track, and has won an award for being Autism Friendly.

Together, TeamKarting and Sandro’s Able Racing project have helped introduce numerous autistic children to karting, some of which are now racing outdoors.

Matty and RWA team founder, Dave Player, invited Sandro and his fellow young kart racers to form a team, putting the other teams of sponsors and corporate supporters to the test.

It is hoped that the team will come together again for more events throughout the year, supported by Team BRIT.

Sandro’s father, Tony Ballesteros, said: “The moment Sandro put on a helmet we saw a calmness in him we had never seen before, and some of the autistic traits turned out to be well suited to karting; his hyper-focus, determination, fearlessness, attention to detail and rules. Cutting out all other inputs down to only what you can see through the visor, leads to some extraordinary reactions and consistency.

“Events such as the race with Team BRIT on Tuesday are great for Sandro. They give him a feeling of belonging and acceptance through the drivers’ common interest in the paddock, which has brought on not only his social skills, but helped with self-confidence, fairness, sportsmanship, dealing with failure and disappointment, relationships and teamwork.”

Team BRIT is aiming to become the first ever all-disabled team to race in the Le Mans 24 hour. Recently, the team supported Matty in starting his car racing career.

Source: Rochdale Online

A 22-year-old entrepreneur from Rochdale has begun his racing career, thanks to the help of a team of disabled drivers.

Matty Street is the CEO of TeamKarting, the UK’s highest rated indoor karting track, and on Saturday 6th June he took part in his first race at Snetterton circuit with Team BRIT.

The team consists of all disabled drivers, and invited Matty to take part in BMW 116 Trophy race, alongside their drivers. Despite being his first race with the team, Matty finished in an incredible 4th place and was one of only three drivers to clock a sub 3 minute lap.

Matty has now brought the Team BRIT car in which he raced, to his TeamKarting base, where it is on display to help promote his racing goals.

Matty was diagnosed with dyslexia, dyspraxia and Asperger’s (a form of autism) when he was at school.  He found school extremely difficult and was predicted poor grades.  He struggled with socialising in his early teenage years and had very little self-belief.

At the age of 12 he discovered karting, which had a huge effect on him and helped him manage the challenges that Asperger’s can cause. He won a £30k scholarship to go racing at the age of 14 which opened doors to the expensive world of motorsport.

When he first took his GCSEs, just before he began his racing career, he failed them all. When he re-took the exams, he passed everything, as his teachers began to relate his work to motorsport which helped him understand and retain information. 

He studied motorsport engineering then went on to secure a degree. He worked at TeamKarting while studying and became Executive Manager at the age of 19.  In July 2017 he raised enough investment to buy out the business and become CEO. It is now the UK’s highest rated karting track and has won an award for being Autism Friendly.

Matty hopes to increase opportunities for disadvantaged or underrepresented groups and is now hoping that through his racing career, he will inspire others who face challenges similar to him, that anything is possible.

Matty said, “It was amazing to take part in my first race alongside Team BRIT this weekend.  I’ve known about the team for some time and we share the same passion for creating opportunities for people that may never have thought it possible to get into motorsport.

“I’ve faced challenges my whole life, but with the right support and a lot of determination, I’m running a business and starting my racing career.

“I strongly believe that we have a responsibility to reinvest back into the grass roots of motorsport and make it more inclusive and open to all irrespective of physical, mental, academic and cultural background. I am so passionate about this because I have seen first hand how motorsport can changes people’s lives.

“Being autistic, I’m proud that I’m proving people wrong and I want to help other people do the same.”

Matty will race again with Team BRIT at Brands Hatch on the 17th August.

For more information on TeamKarting visit https://www.teamkarting.co.uk

Source: Team BRIT

Matty first met with Anna Kennedy OBE at the Autism Hero Awards in 2017 after winning the Autism Friendly category and after sharing visions, it was clear that Matty was the right role model as an Anna Kennedy Online Ambassador, sharing similar values and joining us to help raise Autism Awareness.

At Autism’s Got Talent 2018, it was officially announced, please read Matty’s inspirational story and journey:

My name is Matty Street and I am the 21 year old CEO of TeamKarting.co.uk We are the UK highest rated indoor karting track and a company with a very strong social heart beat! I have a huge passion for motorsport and have competed from the age of 12. Motorsport can be a very expensive sport where talented drivers don’t always make it to the top without enough financial backing and support. I’m from a working class family so at the age of 14 when I won a £30k scholarship to go racing this opened doors for me which I never thought were possible.

At the beginning of my school career I was diagnosed with dyslexia / dyspraxia and Asperger’s and I found school very difficult and at one point was considered a lost cause, I was very unsociable in my early teenage years and was predicted very poor grades and expected to achieve nothing. Being autistic I was told I would not be good at speaking in public or communicating with others, even though now I travel up and down the county speaking at Autism Events promoting good practice and inspiring young people, regularly speaking in front of 100s of people. There have been a number of things I was told that I won’t be able to do or should even try doing.

My love for motorsport helped me to deal with all these labels and negative expectations and achieve academic success and now success in business. When I first sat my GCSE’s I failed everything, this was just before I started my karting/racing career.  Second time round with my new found passion and drive for racing I turned my grades around. My love for motorsport in school was noticed so teachers began to relate my work motorsport which helped understand and retain the information that was being offered.

This minor tweak in the way I was taught totally turned my life around. I managed to pass all my GCSE’s with 8 A*-C grades. I then went to college and completed a Level 3 Motorsport Engineering course. Much to everyone surprise I aced the course and went on to university where I studied Motorsport Management & Logistics. So from a potential school drop out to Degree student in 4 years!

During my time at college and university I continued to work with my passion. In 2015 I starting work at TeamKarting.co.uk as a part time track marshal. Within 10 months I worked my way up to Duty Manager and was promoted to the Executive Manager at the age of 19 and over saw the running of the full company and had 20 staff working under me.

In 2016 I had the ambition of setting up my own business within the motor sport industry to help increases grass roots participation in motorsport and make it more inclusive for people with autism and other additional needs. With the old owners of TeamKarting struggling to make the business work, I set my sites on stepping in with fresh ideas and a passionate team of directors to help grow the business. In 2017 that came true when I raised enough investment to complete a management buyout of TeamKarting to make myself the CEO of the company I love and worked within for the past 3 years, at the young age of just 21!

The reason I am telling you all of this is because during my time at TeamKarting iv worked very hard to create opportunities for people, to try and give people similar opportunities to what I had which help turn my life around. I have a strong desire to help children with disabilities and other social projects including most recently girls In Motorsport, a project which was backed by the royal family, and lead me to meet Prince Harry back in 2016. We also hosted a Racing With Autism Day and invited 40-50 school students to the track to learn how to kart free of charge for a full day and meet an autistic karting world champion. From this we were able to put like minded people together and helped build new friendships. We also support one of Rochdale most talented young racers Sandro: Click here for details.

I strongly believe that we have a responsibility to reinvest back into the grass roots of motorsport and make it more inclusive and open to all irrespective of physical, mental, academic and cultural background. That is why we offer a number of bespoke session to meet a number of needs. I have made it TeamKarting’s mission to increase participation in grassroots motorsports by innovating low cost solutions to make motor sport more affordable and accessible.

With this tweak in TeamKarting business Plan in a very short space of time we have become the UK’s highest rated karting track (as rated on Facebook, Google & Trip Advisor) We also won an award for being Autism Friendly and were presented with this achievement  at the Autism Hero Awards 2017, which is how I first met Anna Kennedy and the team at Anna Kennedy Online.

From speaking to her and the team discussing me, my background and what we are trying to achieve at TeamKarting.co.uk, Anna asked me to come on board as an Ambassador to help raise autism awareness. We are also planning to host a number of event at our track in Greater Manchester along with the charity with the aim at getting more people into motorsport who ordinarily wouldn’t be given the opportunity.

We’ve had great success in what we’ve done so far and we have huge plans for the future, I am really excited to be joining AKO team as an ambassador and cant wait to get stuck in.

Source: Anna Kennedy Online