Wickens to drive parade lap at Toronto with hand controls

TORONTO—Robert Wickens has attacked his rehabilitation from a spinal cord injury with aggressive goals. The Canadian wants to dance at his upcoming wedding, one day walk again with zero evidence his legs once did not work and, of course, Wickens hopes to return to racing cars.

Nearly a year after his devastating injury in an IndyCar race, Wickens will get to drive a car again at a track. He will lead the parade lap Sunday before the Toronto IndyCar race in an Acura NSX equipped with hand controls.

“It’s just been quite the ride and we are not even one year in of what’s going to be a very long recovery,” Wickens said Friday. “Hopefully, I can keep on driving because I think that’s the best therapy I can have. I am a little bit concerned by how eager I am to get back in the car.”

Wickens got a chance Thursday to drive the car—he thanked Honda for trusting him with the $157,000 Acura— and said he quickly bent a wheel during his laps around Exhibition Place.

“I am notoriously hard on equipment,” he laughed.

The modifications to the car were made by Arrow, sponsor of the Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team Wickens drove for last season. In 2014, Arrow developed a Semi-Autonomous Motorcar (SAM) Car that allowed team owner Schmidt, who is paralyzed from the neck down, to get back in a car.

For Wickens’ drive, Arrow devised a kit that controls the throttle and acceleration with a ring on the steering wheel and through software. The brake is a mechanical handbrake with the driver’s right hand, there is no clutch and Wickens will shift using paddles on the steering wheel.

He’s had roughly two hours behind the wheel of the car that included a shakedown this week at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.

“In my head I’ve been thinking about this for hours and hours and hours at night while I was in rehab,” Wickens said. “I figured out how to throttle on the one side, brake on another side, and it was very important to me that my hands can’t leave the steering wheel. So I was always thinking I’d have brake on one side, throttle on the other, and once I got on track, I quickly realized that I need to be able to access the throttle with both hands and access the brake with both hands.”

Arrow also has updated the brakes, tires and seatbelts, and Arrow CEO Mike Long said the company is invested in getting Wickens back into a race car on a regular basis.