Ryley Batt Shows Off His Lucky Underwear - Episode 1 | You Little Ripper Podcast | Toyota Australia

hi i'm kurt fernley and this is a really special episode of you little ripper we're here at toyota australia's autodrome in altona and i have to say this is an amazing facility we have your favorite paralympians and also we have the gr performance cars that we get to take for a spin now you have seen riley bat in the australian paralympic team he is fierce when he competes in the green and gold for wheelchair rugby now today we get to see what he's like behind the wheel riley bat welcome to you little ripper oh thanks for having me mate i am so excited right now looking at these performance cars mate these are some incredible cars and the weather in melbourne it's turned out it's rain hail shining all in one day so we've got a wet track as well we have the gr yaris the gr86 and the gr supra which one are we taking a fairer spin mate i've had this super for a few months i've driven it multiple times it's in a sexy yellow color today i think it matches my eyes mate so let's go to supra i'm a little bit concerned because i've seen you get those yellow canary eyes when you go out and you compete uh i'm wondering whether or not you get as crazy behind the wheel oh whiteline fever for sure mate oh yeah i hope you trust me today because i don't know if i trust myself you know what if there is one person that i i would trust to drive this car it is you and i will definitely come to regret making that statement famous last words mate you're a brave man oh mate honestly i'm going to be clawing onto the door so will i mate i reckon what a graceful graceful entry and do we just throw this away i'm sure someone will take care of that have you seen comedians in cars getting coffee no i haven't but well we're going to call these cripples in cars not crashing i love that oh wow well we were thinking about it um what's your take on that word oh man i'm sweet with it i think it's i think it's great that if someone i don't take it it's the wrong way is that that makes sense i it's i love to take the piss out of myself doing that um like saying i guess um you can call me whatever you want you know i think when someone's saying at you as i guess an attack i think that's different everyone i hang out with i i make sure they laugh at my you know disabled jokes or my um you know jokes are having no legs or you or whatnot i make sure they're comfortable with that because there is a lot of people especially when you know you get to meet them you make a joke about yourself you know obviously having no legs or being in a wheelchair and they don't want to laugh about it i think you need a laugh at it i think it's um you know we're normal you know what's your first memory of driving yeah remember look at the day i got my p-plates i had a van and um mum took me obviously to do my tests and i passed and dropped a home put my motorbike straight in the back and took off for about three days and slept in the back of my van and obviously had my motorbike and i just remember the sense of freedom yeah well how important is independence not only as an athlete but also you know to feel that independence as a person with a disability as well independence is isn't just about being strong and fit it's uh you know it's it's it's been comfortable with your situation and in your skin and you know making sure you go out and you you know you're happy to be in the public eye in a wheelchair and i don't know don't worry about what people think what do you think about it kurt i don't know when you when you're somewhere along the journey of disability you feel the opposite of that right when your agency is taken away and you don't feel like you can operate on your own like you're relying on other people yeah but then when you feel that independence it's like a moment of i don't know you breathe easier right can you remember back to your um when you first even got in a car did you ever worry that you wouldn't be able to drive mate i get asked all the time how i drive and you know we're normal people yeah we're in wheelchairs but we're normal people so you know obviously there's there's ways to get around everything in life and for us you know we use hand controls and different adaptions to drive but yeah i don't think driving should be a barrier for anyone you know especially in this day and age where we have so many smart engineers and we've you know obviously got ndis who can help you know us people with wheelchairs or with disabilities the other you know have this independence of driving so um yeah i think i think driving's um definitely something that we all should you know people with wheelchairs people with disabilities should all be trying to strive for my mum took me for my first driving lesson and she was terrified all right so i put portable hand controls on the car and i'm driving up the lane and mum didn't know what to say you know like do how do i describe how to accelerate how to brake and and everything like that do you have a memory yeah you're bringing stuff back to me here mate and i do remember like i drove with mum obviously the first time i drove mum a lot like i think some of my first drivers were driving almost full stints to sydney driving my mum because she didn't like the drive so um i remember her saying to me like she obviously taught me how to uh you know drive and you know the rules and stuff but she couldn't tell me how to use my brakes and how to drive with one hand on the steering wheel and because you're using the others for throttle and acceleration that's something you have to self-teach but for me i was brought up with motorbikes i was brought up with you know high performance anything and you know driving tractors and excavators and bobcats and whatever it was and i had that you know that know-how how to drive and how machinery works so it was pretty easy as soon as i got in you know driving in you know in the seat of of a car and i love driving mate and that's why today you know being down here at altona with toyota you know the autodrome here with you mate in the car you're a brave man driving a gr supra like this is it's an awesome moment in life um something i remember [Applause] can you tell us about the um not yet can you tell us about how toyota's assisted you with the new chair and what that means to you mate toyota has been unbelievable you know like you look at most sponsors and corporations they're just happy to throw you know cash or products at athletes but toyota's actually generally cares about your performance what's really cool to see so toyota's been helping design a custom-made carbon fiber sort of like bucket seat that mounts in my rugby chair and i know that doesn't sound like a lot to people but i'll tell you what you know we're like almost race car drivers where any one percent change in our wheelchair rugby chairs with a custom made any one change it it makes a world of difference so what we're trying to do is make sure my fit is even better than it is currently it's a tighter fit i can be more maneuverable i can um less use less energy to turn the chair and so far it's working a treat we've got a few fine adjustments and obviously fine adjustments on carbon takes a little bit of time but we're almost there i think it's going to be the future for our sport all right now we're here we're about to hit the proper stretch so i'm going to sink the claws into the dash you said you like to let loose when you go on to the field so mate coming out of the next airspin hairpin it's all yours well mate i've got something for you just just in case um i thought i'd bring something along today and you know we're about to go hit some laps now and i thought you might need a change of underwear and wait i've got a surprise for you i've got they are lucky oh you've got the lucky batman i'm going to take these because riley bats lucky undies that is a that's that's that's art right there the national treasures last year lucky they've they've been worn six times late all right they smell like success success and determination why have you have your eyes just gone pink all right have you got the traction controller uh i think so mate i can't remember oh my god it goes well doesn't it oh my god [Applause] [Music] riley you've got issues [Laughter] my blood pressure's settling down that was awesome but you don't overget i've got a uh a bit of a special surprise for you mate you're right uh australian rally champion harry bates is about to take his boat for a before oh yes oh no he's looking like he's confident hey legend hello boys how are we good mate having some fun mate he had a little bit too much fun to tell you the truth but i'm looking forward to seeing what you do behind the garage mate all right well let's swap cars see what we can do so excited you go back there mate yeah mate loving life do you need to change those undies yet thank you to everybody for the special guest appearance on your little rhythm [Music] you