Driving Forward Racial Diversity In Motorsports Conference
RC Vision founder Andy Hyde reflects on Motorsport UK’s Racial Diversity Sub Committee’s first annual conference, Driving Forward Racial Diversity.
“I was delighted to be invited to join yesterdays conference at Motorsports UK alongside advisory team member Biiftuu Aba-Godu to talk about what our sport can do to promote diversity and inclusion.
I have mixed feelings about the aftermath. I am celebrating that we collectively made it happen and immensely thankful for the contributions made by others. Every story was a learning experience I am grateful to have heard.
Driving Forward Racial Diversity Event at Motorsports UK HQ
However, my morning-after feelings are conflicted:
Frustration at the latest reminder of how resistant regimes are to change, despite the enormous shifts in the landscape and the brilliant innovations happening at the grassroots,
Excited optimism to see, hear, and feel the power of the connected community that exists and will become a movement.
There will be time in the days ahead to write more detailed reflections. It will be essential to discuss what Motorsport can learn from civil society, systems thinking, and social change to get comfortable with a more innovative approach. But, for now, I wanted to share my spontaneous impressions.
The day started with an introduction from Hugh Chambers, the CEO of Motorsports UK. I'd not met Hugh, and part of my mission for RC Vision was to meet him and 'sell' the project to him. He talked beautifully of ambition and commitment, describing the UK as a world leader in motorsports and on a mission to be the world leader in diversity in Motorsport. The conference was to be the start, a turning point we could look back on.
Hugh ended the day with a similar address. He spoke of MSUK's inability to solve the world's problems, "we can only do what we can do". A strong safeguarding team and a commitment to act on reported abuse. A commitment to celebrating the stories of success of Black drivers.
It felt, to me, to be a retreat—a reinforcement of the status quo and a commitment to business as usual.
What happened?
We had heard stories from Naomi Schiff, Jahee Campbell-Brennan, Aaron Mensah, Joshua Bugembe, Corey Alleyne and Carl-Daniel Chase. They all talked about the challenges they had faced on their journey and the resilience and support they needed. The room, brought to tears at times, rightly celebrated the achievements.
But, we rather blasted past the real story that these young people were all survivors of racial abuse within Motorsport.
We also heard from famed diversity consultant René Carayol. He spoke about culture and how culture eats strategy for lunch - an often discussed organisational truth.
In my panel, we built on this point. Kelechi Okafor spoke powerfully about the underlying issues, history, and positive action. Somebody once defined culture as "that which will be tolerated without taking action". For me, this was the turning point. Shifting the narrative from centring the resilience of survivors of racial abuse to acknowledging systemic racism exists in motorsports and the role the governing regime can play in driving change.
We spoke about sharing power, representation, engaging directly with lived experience, of inequity and inequality, of working with discomfort and fear, using resources and taking responsibility, of links to other challenges in society, of engaging with the past, recognising distrust, bias and centring the now.
We massively overran our time slot.
Racing Driver Naomi Schiff, Author and Public Speaker Kelechi Okafor and Motorsport UK CEO Hugh Chambers
I don’t know specifically why Hugh’s closing remarks contrasted so starkly with his words at the beginning. Perhaps I am very sensitive to these things and read too much into the words. Perhaps there is anxiety over budget, or of getting things wrong. Or of stepping outside of the comfort zone and facing fear beyond a conference event? I didn’t get a chance to ask
I believe MSUK will not arrive at a straightforward story of what needs to change in motorsports in the UK, why that change is necessary and how it will happen without that shift in the narrative. I left the event frustrated and unsure if we'd started that shift or not.
Despite this, or alongside, I feel immensely positive. I met inspirational people and made connections that will undoubtedly be hugely valuable to me and the RC Vision mission. But, more than that, I witnessed energy in the relationship between people that filled me with optimism. Whether the group knows it or not, and I suspect they do, there is a powerful movement forming that will bring about long-lasting, radical change. This group has the charisma, values, stories, and skills to catalyse the deep engagement with the people, projects and organisations in and around Motorsport to make change real. I hope to become part of that group, personally and as RC Vision, to make yesterday a moment of truth.
We need to because as things stand the landscape has shifted a long way, people and projects are on the move, but the regime is out of sync.
An inaugural annual conference? Let's not wait.”
