Our Friend, Philip, is part a lovely online racing community called ‘Bongo’ and he has chosen to write about his journey.
My name is Philip, and I am 55 years old. I was diagnosed with SCA6 in 2018. My Mum and auntie also have SCA6. I live alone with my dog Wilson. I have two grown up daughters and one beautiful granddaughter.
I raced motorcycles and worked in the racing paddock most of my life. I started racing online in 2019, after I started to get bored with staying indoors all the time as my balance is a problem.
I moved from ps5 to a huge PC setup in 2020.
I found bongo racing and its proprietary Mr Robin Tate on YouTube in late 2023 and was drawn to them because of their older gentlemen driver ethos.
It was from then on that I met some wonderful gentlemen from across the world: USA Netherlands, France, Belgium, etc.
We race 2 or 3 times a week with practice in-between. We all have special car liveries to use in-game, I have my livery designed by a lovely French gentleman call Laurent from Whalenapp design which took him a few weeks to do.
I then progressed on to using virtual reality headset to race in and wow it’s like sitting in a real car on a real racetrack. I use a meta quest 3 and I’ve just got a pimax crystal light headset to.
Looking back now I’m not sure where I’d be without SIM racing, the community aspect has become very important to me and look forward to hearing and chatting to the guys and gals each evening tends to get me through.
I will advise anyone to start a hobby if they suffer with ataxia.
It has helped with muscle retention and keeps my mind active all the time.
My consultant at queen’s university hospital London thinks it is critical I carry on as long as possible.
My enemy is fatigue and without having to spend the day after racing to recover I would be racing more.
Let’s hope I have many more years racing and I wish everyone finds their hobby to help their mind.
