OUR STORY
A charity created to give people like Nathalie the experience of doing what she loves on a race track.
Spinal Track was created in 2016 by husband and wife Andrew and Nathalie. Nathalie had started racing the previous year becoming the first tetraplegic racing driver in the world and the couple started receiving messages from the disabled community asking how they could get involved. When there wasn’t anything available to sign-post them to, Andrew and Nathalie decided to create something and so Spinal Track was born. From running a track day CIC with their own personal track car in their first year to ten years later having a fleet of fully adapted cars running track days, car control experiences and community events all whilst being a well regarded charity with long term partners Silverstone Circuit and Aston Martin Formula One Team.
The unique thing about Spinal Track is that no one takes a wage at the charity, everyone who works here does so because they have a passion for cars and motorsport and an ambition to make these things more accessible for their disabled community. All driving experiences are offered free of charge to our drivers. After spending ten years playing wheelchair rugby and seeing how easy it was for people who had surplus income to buy equipment and commit to the sport compared to those who relied on state benefits, Nathalie didn’t want Spinal Track to be another thing only people with money could do. It was also important to cater for as many different disabilities as possible so having left-foot accelerators as well as hand controls enabled the charity to be accessible to everyone, not just people with a spinal injury like Nathalie.
“Spinal Track has given me opportunities that I thought I would never experience… The drive around Silverstone with an amazing instructor was just the most fun and one of the best days of my life.”
THE
FOUNDERS
Nathalie McGloin
CO-FOUNDER
Nathalie McGloin is the only female quadriplegic racing driver in the world. Having broken her neck in a car crash when she was 16, Nathalie is completely paralysed from the chest down yet she competes against able bodied men.
Nathalie races cars with hand controls which means she is at no real disadvantage to her fellow racers. Nathalie is proof that both gender and disability are completely irrelevant when it comes to racing cars.
In 2018 Nathalie was appointed President of the FIA Disability and Accessibility Commission which is responsible for the governing body’s global policies on disabled participation in motorsport.
Andrew Bayliss
CO-FOUNDER
Andrew started his professional life as Chartered Surveyor for a decade whilst taking part in rallying and racing in his spare time. Winning a regional tarmac title was a highlight, but he spends more time racing these days. Andrew started working at the Bill Gwynne Rallyschool and became a top grade instructor, sitting with hundreds of drivers. Since starting Spinal Track, Andrew is now a Motorsport UK qualified Coach and seems to spend half his life walking his boxer called Claude.
THE
TRUSTEES
Richard Solomons
Richard is the Chair of Rentokil Initial plc and has been since joining the Board in May 2019 and is also Chair of the Board and Advisory Committee of HBX Group (formerly Hotelbeds Group). Richard is a Non-executive Director of Mandarin Oriental International Limited. Richard was Chief Executive of InterContinental Hotels Group plc from 2011 to 2017, and prior to that was Chief Financial Officer from IHG’s inception as a standalone public company in 2003. Richard is a trained Chartered Accountant and prior to joining IHG’s then parent company in 1992 he was an investment banker in New York and London.
Mike Simpson
Mike has spent the last 27 years of his career living in the US and UK working for multiple global blue-chip organisation’s, including CNH Industrial, Stanley Black & Decker, Toshiba, Fujifilm and United Biscuits, with commercial experience spanning six continents. Mike currently serves as the CEO of Bennamann, a majority owned company of CNH Industrial, focusing on the removal of fugitive methane from the atmosphere via the processing of gas into fuel grade bio-methane for agricultural and industrial vehicles.
Simon Evans
With a background in Mathematics and Computer Science, Simon has spent most of his career architecting high performance hardware and software systems. He has founded four technology companies of which three have had successful exits and currently sits on the board of Next DLP, a cybersecurity software vendor. He is a classic car enthusiast with a passion for all things motorsport and is also an avid amateur racer, mostly in historics.
Becky Walsh
