When he was four-years-old, Noah Cosby’s dad introduced him to motorsports. Consequently, fell in love and joined the world of freestyle motocross. He had a goal to compete in the X-Games, but when he was 16, a life-changing accident put his motocross aspirations to rest. Despite the injury, Cosby was determined not to let it stop him.
After meeting Aaron Morgan, he eventually joined Team BRIT in 2023. Now, he races for the team, driving an adapted BMW M4 GT4 in the GT Cup Championship. The Girls Who – Motorsport recently spoke to him to discuss how his own perceptions have changed since his accident, and how he is helping to make motorsports more inclusive for all.
Challenging Perceptions
Being a full-time wheelchair user, many people wouldn’t expect Cosby to be able to race. Society holds long-ingrained perceptions about disability. Because of this, he has found that many people assume that once you are in a wheelchair, “there’s nothing you can really do”. But Team BRIT are showing that disabilities don’t hold someone back. Cosby thinks that people are shocked when they realise this. However, he mentioned how awareness is the “most important thing”. He has felt a shift from how people view disability and shared how it is a “really great feeling” that it is becoming more widely accepted.
But it isn’t just other people’s perceptions that are changing. Before his accident, Cosby was “completely naive to what a spinal cord injury entailed” and didn’t understand disability much — because he hadn’t had to think about it. His motocross accident opened his eyes to everyone around him. This gave him a fresh perspective on disability and interactions with people he’d met.
“[It] gave me the view of both sides, having the first 16 years of my life being able-bodied and then, since my accident, being disabled.”
For him, the accident helped show him what is possible. Whilst challenging his perceptions of ability and disability, it has helped him learn that, “regardless of having this bound injury that keeps me to a chair, it actually hasn’t blocked out as much of my life that I would have assumed”. Consequently, he focused on taking it day by day and having new experiences as he finds new things to enjoy. Now, he is parting the way and trying to show and prove that disability doesn’t mean the end.
Cosby’s Mental Battle
Motocross was his life, and after the accident he thought that anything like that was “gone forever”. So whilst the physical side of his accident has been something to contend with, he has found it to be more of a mental battle. “Your whole life perception is different”, he explained, sharing how everything you do is harder and takes longer. As a result, he has developed a mental fortitude to “push past it and keep going”.
One of Cosby’s biggest hurdles has been overcoming the feeling that his disability doesn’t define him. Another barrier he has faced mentally has been “the thought that I can do this”. Freestyle motocross is a physically demanding sport, and he used to be very sure of himself, knowing his body and what it could do. So having to build that back up in a sport he had no experience with was a challenge. Although he was thirsty to get back into a sport, coming into car racing was daunting.
Being stubborn following the accident allowed him to never feel defeated: “I didn’t allow it”. So whilst the mentality and perceptive shift was something to overcome, Cosby always maintained that “this isn’t going to beat me and I’m going to come back”. The racer was unsure of what to expect when joining Team BRIT. But as he’s developed, the GT4 driver has taken every hurdle as it has come. Consequently, now he feels as though his “racing career [is] starting to shape up”.
Growing Awareness
Coming from a background in freestyle motocross, Cosby has always been aware of the risks that come with racing. As an individual sport that sees you with few safety devices when nearly 30 feet in the air, he is used to the risks that can happen. However, it didn’t prepare him for being in the car. Now, the risk is slightly different and the driver explained how he has become more aware of everything around him when on track. “You’re more worried about the car rather than yourself.”
Looking outside of his career, we also touched on how motorsports can become more inclusive. For him, it comes down to awareness; especially from marshals. When the cars stop, most drivers get out of the machinery themselves. Because of his disability, Cosby is unable to do this, which has occasionally led to some panic from marshals.
“I’ve had a few offs where I’ve had to get collected by marshals. Obviously they’re running up and incredibly worried about me because I haven’t got out of the car, [but] I can’t move my legs. Very often they don’t know that I’m in that situation, so there’s often a lot of panic about whether I’ve just injured myself in that way.”
Cosby believes that regulation changes that promote awareness of disability will help in these situations. Growing awareness and understanding will help allow people with disabilities to race on a more equal footing. More than that though, it will help show others what they could be capable of achieving. Showing everyone that disability is not something to define you, the driver is continually helping to redefine the limits in motorsports.
You can read more about Team BRIT here.