He impresses by driving a Dakar car without using his feet, only with his hands: “It’s like playing Play”

Isidre Esteve He is an example for anyone because of the obstacles he has broken since his motorcycle accident in 2007 that caused a spinal cord injury. He pilots the Dakar with only his hands, without the use of his legs, using controls adapted from Guidosimplex where he competes against the best in the world.

Competing with only your hands is a disadvantage compared to other drivers, which Isidre managed to minimize with a lot of work and experience, automating the many movements he needs to make to accelerate, brake, turn, change of gears or activate. the clutch with your hands and fingers. “It’s like playing, it comes spontaneously, without thinking”said Isidre, comparing her movements to fingers pressing ‘X’, ‘R2′ and ’round’ to face the most dangerous deserts.

A lot of that remains. But the thing is more. The disadvantage that Isidre had to face was greater because of one important point: she had no sensitivity from the chest down. That is a key aspect.

Some of the best drivers in history in various modes have revealed that their best ‘sensor’ for tuning their cars is the rear. And in Isidre’s case, not being able to feel anything in that area or in his legs prevented him from feeling that the car was starting to doze or lose grip. Esteve realized this later, when he noticed it with his eyes, when he saw the car crossing. This means that at crucial moments, with sudden braking or acceleration, Isidre can lose a few precious seconds. which, with stages of more than 500 km, can lose minutes.

What should you do in that context? Wait

Because of this, Isidre had to rely on learning and mental clarity. Need to move forward. The years allowed him to learn and perfect his technique of anticipating what was going to happen, predicting when the car might skid or react differently to act earlier and waste as little time as possible.

“In a normal situation, when the car moves or reacts, you feel it quickly. But I have a spinal injury, I broke the T7 and T8 vertebrae and from the chest down I no longer have sensitivity, I no longer feel anything. So when “The car started skidding, for the first second I didn’t notice it was skidding until I saw it with my eyes,” he said..

“So I have to anticipate the reaction of the car because I don’t have the sensitivity that other drivers have,” Isidre argues to MD.

“I’m learning to do it. I always have to anticipate the rest a little. I have to correct a little when the car is going to skid before I feel it because I will feel it later than the rest. So that second is key to not crossing the car too much and not wasting time”he added.

“It’s a matter of ultimately having to adapt my driving to my situation. And it seems normal to me and I think I’m anticipating more, to open the gas earlier, to brake later and I’m in a constant learning process.”

To better understand it: it is as if other pilots use a simulator, which moves and gives the complete sensation of piloting. While Isidre is playing with a Playstation controller, no one notices and reacts when he sees the car disappear. “I didn’t think about it, but it’s true,” he admitted to MD.

“Exactly, that would be it. If you only play with the play, without the simulator, you don’t notice what the car is doing. On the other hand, in the simulator, when you brake you notice the inertia and when you. skid you will notice it too.. That removes the tenths you have to recover in anticipation of the vehicle’s reaction. Pure magic. “Well, we do what we like and it’s good,” he says, as if what he did was simple.

So, I understand this double complexity, it is easier to understand the incredible results in a very difficult Dakar, with more than 50 top class cars. before the best, Isidre aspires to the Top-20. Just use your hands. And a brilliant thought.

This is how Isidre Esteve’s special steering wheel works

Isidre Esteve cannot use his legs, and therefore, he competes with the world’s best in driving with only his hands. He brakes, accelerates, grips, changes gears and does it all with his hands. Use only hands and fingers.

This is achieved through controls adapted from Guidosimplex.the same ones he carries in his car on the street. These controls or adapted steering wheels have two main elements: a round surface inside the steering wheel (accelerator), and an outer ring behind the steering wheel (brake).

“Because of my spinal cord injury, I cannot use my legs and I am completely restrained by my legs, both by the feet and the knees by means of hooks to tie my legs to the chair. This way my feet don’t move and don’t block my path. To drive, I have my own steering wheel, to turn, and in the middle part is the accelerator, which is very sensitive. And I sped up with my palms because with my fingers I take the steering wheel. And in the back there was already a ring on the brake: I pressed myself to brake. Also, the brake ring rotates on itself so I can brake while I’m turning, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do it,” Oliana explained to this newspaper.

Isidre turns the steering wheel while accelerating with the palm of one hand while the right hand changes gears with the sequential shift lever.and then, you can brake by pulling with the fingers of the left hand on the rear rim, both turning the steering wheel so that Isidre can turn and brake at the same time, also need to get off with the right.. All this, in a tenth of a second, with very fast and rhythmic movements, a perfect choreography that impresses from the co-pilot’s seat and that Isidre keeps repeating during the long Dakar stages of hundreds of kilometers.

“We are used to seeing drivers driving on stretches with one hand on the gearbox or both on the steering wheel. But for me it is many things at the same time. Sometimes when I slow down fast and suddenly I need another hand because I’m holding the brake and steering wheel and I have to downshift at the same time. or put them back and I can’t. But I think I’m doing it faster and faster,” he said.

“Many times my hands are on the steering wheel, with my palms I accelerate and with the other hand I have the brake and then I change everything very quickly.like when braking hard, I’m going down 170 km/h, so I’m always playing with my hands. I always say that for me it’s like playing. I don’t think about what I’m doing, I have everything, automatedand no problem. “If you ask me what I do all the time, I’ll tell you I don’t know, because it’s something that comes to me spontaneously,” he added.

“When I brake, I always slide my hand, for example, if I brake and I have to let the steering wheel roll back to its place. I let my hand slide here,” he added.

Here we must add successive changes. To move up, pull the lever back. And to go down, pull it forward.

And the clutch, which you use in the beginning or to avoid stopping the vehicle in complex areas. To activate or release it you have to press a small cam attached to the gear leverwith a short stroke, using the index finger of the right hand. He also uses it to stop the car again or on other occasions such as “if I see on a top of a dune that I am going to stop, I can take it so that the car does not stop.” Besides, In tight corners there is another lever for the rear brake. Unbelievable. There are no other possible qualifiers.