Bedford Driving Lessons

A bank manager will attempt to become the first blind man to drive a car at more than 200mph today. Mike Newman is to hurtle four miles along a beach in a 260mph supercar guided only by a radio link to his father in a helicopter. The Barclays manager from Sale, Manchester, hopes to claim the world blind land speed record, which stands at 182mph. The married father-of-two has headphones inside his crash helmet to receive instructions, which he says are a simple matter of ‘left a bit, right a bit’. The record attempt will take place at Pendine Sands, in Carmarthenshire, South Wales, at 4pm. Mr Newman, 48, was born with severe glaucoma and has been blind since the age of 11. He has a labrador guide dog named Baxter. He previously held the record after hitting 144.7mph in a Jaguar XJR in 2003. He also reached 178mph in a BMW M5 in 2005, and broke the world blind speed record on a motorcycle by riding at 89mph on a 1,000cc Aprilia Falco in 2000. But he lost the driving record earlier this year when blind Turkish pop singer Metin Senturk drove a Ferrari F430 at 182mph. More