CONNECTING THE WORLD
THROUGH MOTORSPORT

Founder and CEO of MotorMouth, Tim Silvey is this week’s guest on Mission Makers. Throughout the episode Tim discusses his dyslexia, struggling at school and reveals what techniques he uses to overcome the limitations imposed by the learning difficulty. Tim also goes on to explain how he got into motorsport, the key to securing sponsorship in racing and the future of female drivers.

 

Legend has it that when Albert Einstein’s teachers were asked to provide feedback on the then six-year-old pupil they described him as slow, unsociable and mentally adrift. What they didn’t know was that the future Nobel prize winning theoretical physicist had Dyslexia. It was that learning disorder and his unique ability to process information that is said to have been at the root of his genius. 60 years later the world seems to have a much greater understanding of the intricacies of the condition. In fact, official NHS statistics report that 1 in every 10 people in the U.K have some form of Dyslexia. Tim Silvey is one of those individuals. Like many others before him Tim has been able to find a way to not only live with this difficulty but in fact thrive. 

 

Despite Tim’s self-confessed early struggles with Dyslexia, “I didn’t excel at anything at school,” he says. Tim has managed through hard work and perseverance to turn himself into one of the world's most accomplished and experienced sports marketers. His line of work has seen him manage accounts for some of the world’s largest companies including Hilton, Epson and Genpact, across a number of sports including Formula One, Formula E and Golf. As Tim goes on to explain his success can be put down to adapting to his limitations and focusing on what he does well, he also adds that, “at the end of the day you just have to work extremely hard.” 

 

And work hard he has. Last year Tim, a self-confessed motorsport enthusiast, launched MotorMouth, an app and web-based racing community, which has already amassed a loyal following. Tim is aware though that for the platform and sport to grow it needs to become more inclusive, “If we keep increasing participation in female motorsport then hopefully someone will come through and race in Formula 1,” he says. 

 

Our full conversation with Tim can be found on the video below and on the Mission Makers podcast on Spotify and Apple.​

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