12.13.2024
Important recognition for the Automobile Club of Italy at the FIA Awards 2024, today in Kigali, Rwanda, on the occasion of the General Assembly of the FIA - International Automobile Federation.
In fact, the ACI was awarded the 2024 FIA President’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Award for the “Motorsport For People: INCLUSION-E” project, which involves the development of zero barrier technologies and the implementation of a study of clinical research to make virtual motorsport – Simracing – accessible to people with disabilities. At the center of the project is the driving simulator created with an innovative steering wheel and a driving position that allows facilitated and autonomous access to people with physical disabilities-paraplegics.
The initiative also includes a research study aimed at various objectives: investigating the psychophysical reactions of people with disabilities when practicing the sporting discipline of Simracing; analyze future scenarios that can guarantee the inclusion of further forms of disability in the practice of Simracing; plan inclusive sports-training events in the best possible way to promote Simracing to everyone; encourage the drafting of technical regulations to ensure compliance with key requirements and criteria for the creation of specific Driving Inclusion Centers.
“Italy, which historically plays a role of excellence in Motorsport in the world, confirms, thanks to the work of ACI, great attention and research for disability and social inclusion, making its knowledge and experience available to all countries, in particular those from the African continent which is hosting the General Assembly and the FIA awards”, commented Monica Mailander Macaluso, member of the Senate of the International Automobile Federation, who accepted the award.
The President of the ACI ESPORT Commission, Cristiano Martelli, defined INCLUSION-E as “a far-sighted and innovative project that allows us to break down barriers and stereotypes, promoting inclusion and reducing inequalities thanks to virtual Motorsport: it is an initiative that opens the doors to an important path in which the Federation itself, together with other partners, is committed to promoting the practice of the sporting discipline of Simracing towards people with motor and intellectual disabilities, in a fair and regulated, but above all safe way and favorable.”