Sussex motorsport engineer wins national award after developing the world’s most advanced hand control driving technology

Al Locke from Angmering received the bronze award in the Chief Engineer of the Year category at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Innovation Awards, held in London.

Al, who was born in Shoreham and moved to Worthing before settling in Angmering, is engineering director of Team BRIT, the world’s only competitive racing team consisting of all-disabled drivers.

He was nominated for his work developing and refining the world’s most advanced hand control driving technology, which allows the team’s disabled drivers to race on equal terms with able-bodied competitors.

Al said: "I find it mind-blowing to see the work we've been doing over the past ten years to enable accessibility in motorsport recognised in this way. It’s not only testament to the hard work and ingenuity of our team but also to our wider engineering family, who form vital parts of our development and supply chain.

"We’ve had the best year of our history, with podium finishes across three major championships, but we have so much more to do and tech will be right at the heart of this.”

A combination of pneumatic, electronic and hydraulic technology enables the steering, brakes, clutch, throttle and gears to be controlled seamlessly using hands alone.

This year, Team BRIT competed nationally in the British GT Championship, British Endurance Championship and Britcar Trophy.

Drivers James Whitley from Eastbourne and Chris Overend from Southampton won the Britcar Championship this year and were the first all-disabled team to do so. The long-term goal of the team is to become the first all-disabled team to race in the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race.

Being shortlisted was an acknowledgement of Al’s expertise in managing the technical configuration of four completely different cars, all specially adapted, across the three separate championships they compete in.Al said: "I feel honoured and quite humbled to have received this award amongst such skilled, successful engineers who are experts in their industries.

"The award ceremony was a true showcase of the power of engineering to make a difference and that’s exactly what we hope to do with our hand controls."

Al joined Team BRIT in 2018 as a race engineer, before becoming engineering director in 2020. He was shortlisted alongside engineers from organisations including National Grid and Ericsson.

Team BRIT founder Dave Player said: “I’m incredibly proud that Al has recognised amongst such high profile peers in these national awards. Without our hand controls, we wouldn’t be making the progress that we are in ensuring motorsport is truly accessible for disabled people.

"Technology is key to this, and our hand controls have been continually developed and refined since the simple set of controls we first developed for karts.

"I couldn’t be happier for Al to be receiving this recognition of his skill and expertise. He is crucial to our operation and thoroughly deserving of this award.”