Blindness no barrier to Ben's speed dream

Ben Felten believes he came within two seconds of making it into the Guinness Book of World Records earlier this month.

Completely blind as a result of retinitis pigmentosa, the 49 year-old took to the salt flats of Lake Gardiner in South Australia on March 3 in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for fastest motorcycle ever ridden blindfolded.

Working with his navigator Kevin Magee, former Moto GP rider and Spanish Grand Prix champion, Ben took his bike up to 252km/h, falling agonisingly short of the world record speed of 265.33km/h.

“If I’d been able to hold the throttle for another two seconds, that’s all it would’ve taken for us to have broken the record,” Ben says.

Ben and Kevin were riding during Speed Week, an annual motorcycle event at Lake Gardiner, and were hindered by weather conditions.

“They have two tracks but because of the weather conditions there was only one track opened and with 180 competitors down there it made things a bit difficult,” he says.

“We finally got about 20 minutes of time on the main track on Friday afternoon and managed to get in couple of good runs, but there was a still a strong side wind and that really hurt us.”

Having fallen just short this year, Ben said he and Kevin have vowed to return to Lake Gardiner in 2018 for another tilt at the record, which would cap Ben’s return to the world of motorsports.

A life-changing crash

Somewhat ironically it was a motorcycle accident that saw Ben diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa.

“I’ve always been into bikes. When I was 15 I had an accident on my bike and had a concussion, I was getting checked out by my doctor and he took a look at eyes and noticed something.”

By the age of 37, Ben had lost all the sight in both his eyes, but he had given up driving much before that, something that he took a little while to deal with.

“After I was diagnosed my vision did slowly start to deteriorate, by the time I got to about 24 it got to the point where I had to give up driving and riding bikes. I still probably had enough vision to keep going but the last thing I wanted to do was end up hurting somebody else.

“For me having to give up driving was an inconvenience because I couldn’t just nip down the street if I needed too, but giving up riding was something that was really tough and something that I struggled to come to come to terms with.”

Where to next?

After a period where Ben said his “whole world collapsed”, some self-reflection started him on a path to other outlets.

Ben first turned his attention to rowing and forged a successful path picking up multiple world championships before going on to play in World Cup and Ashes tours with the Australian blind cricket team.

Despite success in other sporting areas, motorsports remained in the back of his mind.

“The last cricket tour I went on was in 2010 to Barbados. I was 42 then and I thought the time had come for me to retire from cricket. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next.

“I actually sat under a palm tree with a couple of rum and guava juices and thought about it for a while and decided I wanted to get back into bikes.”

After talking it over with his family, Ben got back on a motorbike in 2014 and it was like he had never stopped riding.

“As soon as I got on the bike it just felt like this is where I’m supposed to be, it felt exactly like the last time I’d been on one.

“One of the first times I went riding again I rang my bother to come and watch, he didn’t believe me. He came along and after a couple of laps I pulled a wheel stand down the straight of Eastern Creek Raceway.”

The same but different

While Ben felt right at home back on the bike, it wasn’t a seamless progression into the world of extreme speed.

To safely ride his bike at high speed, Ben first needed to find a navigator he could trust and he then had to convince organiser of events like Speed Week that he was capable of participating.

“The real challenge in getting back on the bike was being able to trust my navigator, when you’re going along at 250km/h you really need to trust that voice in your ear. That took a little while for me, but luckily Kevin is a rider who really knows what he’s doing.

“I got in touch with the Speed Week organisers about taking part a couple of years ago and the committee was split about letting me. They were 50/50 about it and then I went down and did a demo ride last year. I got up over 200km/h that day and then they rang me this year and said to come down and take part fully.”

As he continues chasing his dream, Ben hopes his efforts might encourage others in similar situations to do the same.

“A lot of people said to me I must be crazy trying to do this. One of the things I want is for people not worry what other people think and just go after whatever they want to achieve.

“If somebody is blind or live with some other sort of disability that doesn’t mean things are impossible. It might take a bit of hard work, but if you’re prepared to do that then you will achieve it.