24 hours on a mobility scooter

Goodwood Motor Circuit will play host to an ambitious world record attempt this weekend as 53-year-old Steve Tarrant bids to go further in 24 hours than anybody else in history – on a mobility scooter!

Tarrant, 53, from Poole in Dorset, lost a leg in an accident while marshalling 14 years ago, but has maintained his passion for motorsport by regularly donning his orange overalls at some of the world’s greatest circuits – including Goodwood – in the seasons since then.

In addition to his motorsport exploits, Tarrant was a medal-bearing gamesmaker at the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.

“It’s fantastic to have such an historic location as Goodwood to make this record attempt,” said Tarrant. “The course I’ll be using is a hard tarmac surface, which will provide a consistent level of grip throughout the day and night and should put me in good shape to break the record. In theory, 215 miles is the maximum distance possible on a 10mph vehicle, so 200 is quite ambitious. Reliability permitting, however, I’d say I’m in good shape.”

Attempting to secure a place in history is nothing new for Tarrant. He previously succeeded in breaking the existing 170-mile (274km) distance record for the distance covered in 24 hours, only to see his effort unratified for official purposes on a technicality.

This time he is aiming to complete 200 miles (322km) of a specially devised tarmac circuit at Goodwood, while at the same time raising money for a cancer support network. His vehicle will be a TGA Breeze S4 GT mobility scooter, which travels at 16km/h.