Nigel Bailly: “I didn’t want a sport that was played in a wheelchair”

Hello Nigel. Our interview did not begin in the car, but during your impromptu physiotherapy session. An imperative that your rivals can do without, because you are a driver, let's say... atypical.

Indeed, I am a disabled car driver. I lost the use of my legs in 2004, at the age of fourteen, following an accident while motocross, a sport I had practiced since the age of six. I found myself in a wheelchair, and I literally and figuratively went from two-wheelers to four-wheelers...

What role did the smell of gasoline play in this reconversion?

After the accident that changed my life, it was indeed the smell of gasoline that made me reconnect with motor sports. At the time, it was psychologically very intense, I felt a lot of excitement and was very envious at the idea of ​​being able to practice a motor sport despite being in a wheelchair. It was something that really excited me, but I didn't think I would have a career. We can say that it is a stimulus that rekindled a passion, a sort of deep memory of my beginnings, since over time, my relationship with this smell has obviously changed to become more habitual.