The Nürburgring has become famous, or should I say famous, for its dangerous corners. Apart from being a testing ground for several car manufacturers and performance brands, the ‘Ring’ is home to a wide variety of accidents. In fact, there are several videos on YouTube dedicated to compiling this crash in Green Hell.
Why am I talking about the Nürburgring? Well, despite the relative difficulty and danger this German track poses, there is one racer who can get through the ‘Ring with relative ease – and he is exclusively hand-driving.
Meet, Axel. He is paralyzed, therefore his BMW M2 is specially equipped to be driven by hand only.
Misha Charoudin, co-founder and manager of a car rental company called Nurburg Peak, met Axel by chance when an M2 overtook him on the track, only to see the driver then roll over in a wheelchair. Fascinated by how Axel managed to drive a high-powered coupe, he asked if he could ride a rifle with him on a round of the Nürburgring. Axel is mandatory.
Before driving, Axel explains how the controls work on the modified M2. Practically, there are two ways to control the accelerator, available for both hands. Meanwhile, braking is controlled via a lever for the right hand. With the steering also being controlled by hand, we wouldn’t blame you if you found this setup confusing – but not for the Axel.
As for which accelerator to use while driving, it depends on the situation but clearly, Axel has mastered it. Busy hand operation is not an easy task for normal driving, moreover, on hot laps on dangerous race tracks. That didn’t stop Axel from driving hard, even hitting 149 miles per hour (240 kilometers per hour) at one point.
While riding the rifle, Misha looked amazed at Axel’s driving skills – maybe even better than he had ever seen before. So much so that he wanted Axel to be a part of his racing team.
