Wolfgang Reip, or when a disability breaks a career

He is missed by many. Not only did he have a good drive, but he's also super nice. Wolfgang Reip is a beautiful story in his own right, he who was revealed by simracing to then rise to the upper echelons of GT, revealed by the Nissan GT Academy which he won in 2012. But since the end of 2019, Wolfie is absent from the circuits. The guy from Grez-Doiceau was forced to end his career by force of circumstance. Not because he has no budget but because he is disabled. Quite simply. He suffers from severe hyperacusis and crippling tinnitus following several sound traumas during his racing career, the first dating back to 2014 when he drove in a single-seater on an oval when he had no of corks. As a result, Reip's world is nothing but silence. Each sound that is a little too loud or too high-pitched causes him pain. It is a rare and little known pathology, hence the lack of funds and research on the subject. In a poignant text, Wolfgang confided in his disability, in the hope that it will encourage people to protect themselves ears as much as possible. The guy still had his whole career ahead of him before having to hang up the helmet by force of circumstance. “There is too little prevention and hearing is our most fragile sense. I have always believed that at worst, you lose hearing acuity a little earlier, absolutely nothing dramatic, and that is indeed what happens to most people, but you can also well develop permanent tinnitus, which may or may not intensify, and depending on its volume it can already be very difficult to live with, and finally, you can also develop hyperacusis to different degrees, from mild to severe with or without tinnitus, but in 80% of cases, with. Lightweight, that was my case from 2014 to early 2020. It only took one day of single-seater testing where I hadn't put my caps on because we didn't have the radio that day, and so I thought I didn't need them, (see how I had no awareness of their protective role and not just a listener… and no awareness of the danger). So I took in my ears more than 115db or even 120db with the noise of the wind (in addition with a very long part at the bottom, it was an oval) for several hours and the same evening, on returning to the hotel, my ears were ringing very loudly, ringing.. I had never had that in my life. I told myself that it would pass during the night, like many after a night out in a nightclub, but it did not. In the days that followed the buzzing disappeared, I kept a very high-pitched whistle on the left and a hiss on the right. But it was light and I quickly got used to it. 2/3 weeks later I started to have the first symptoms of hyperacusis, I noticed it for the first time at lunchtime, in the restaurant, I couldn't stand the noise of cutlery, children screaming, and these symptoms got worse, I had no idea what was going on. I was extremely scared for my career, I still had so many dreams. The ENTs were helpless. The "annoyances" quickly turned into burning ears, for example after the plane, after driving, at the restaurant, at the cinema etc... From that moment on, I started to protect my ears as soon as I a session went green when I was on a circuit, systematically, at all the races and practice sessions. But also in the evening, at the cinema, on the plane, in the car on the highway and I hardly listened to music at the beginning etc. And I had a second chance, after about 1 year and a half, it was better, I I wasn't cured, but it was going a lot better, despite my career. I could live relatively normally, modulo protection in noisy places. Regaining confidence, I went out a little more in the evening, and despite the traffic jams, I felt that I had relapses in the following days, but it always ended up passing. Nevertheless, over the years, with each new “exaggeration” things got a little worse. In 2017 when the deal was signed to do the 24h of Zolder in Norma (prototype) with an option for more if that happened, I had to withdraw. Indeed, during my first day of testing which went very well sportingly, I quickly understood that it was not going to be possible, the car was much too noisy in addition to the wind (open car). After that day, I felt a big relapse, impossible to imagine doing the 24 hours, it would have been auditory suicide. open up opportunities, I loved the car and we were clearly going to play for victory,but one of the pilots who was going to be my teammate then started rumouring how to say… Not very nice, like what I had given up because I was afraid that he would be faster etc. a big jerk and it certainly wouldn't have was the case hahaDuring my last races, the engineers and mechanics must remember that I always asked to lower the volume of the radio which was often extremely loud so that it was clearly audible with the noises of the car, but that was tearing ears. And then for some reason not clearly defined, from the beginning of 2020 it was the descent into hell. I'm not going to re-write my previous post but basically I have to remain silent, I cannot no more putting sound on electronic devices, no more evenings with friends, the city, music, walking around quietly without traffic jams, showering without noise canceling headphones, speaking in a normal voice (forced to whisper) etc etc I am already happy with be independent and manage to go shopping at the store with earplugs and noise-canceling headphones. Added to that I have now very powerful tinnitus, at frequencies you want some here. A permanent personalized concert. The sense of hearing is not designed for modern life. Evolution did not foresee that we were going to put headphones in our ears, be able to amplify sound and invent all kinds of machines that make more noise than each other. Biologically speaking, we are made to hear the sounds of nature, quite a difference all the same…. So in theory, these pathologies should not happen. It's not that we are badly made, it's that we have completely neglected our biological limits. The human ear is degraded either because of a sudden very loud sound, or by prolonged exposure to loud sounds … For me it was a mixture of the two. From more than 8 hours of exposure per 24 hours at a volume of 80db, we damage our ears, then we divide the maximum time before damage by two every 3 Decibels, the scale being logarithmic, every 3 decibels the power is doubled, so 83db, more than 4h, 86 db, more than 2h, at 101 Decibel, you irreversibly damage your ears after 3 minutes. Yes yes, and we are there very quickly, a noisy restaurant is 90db, a nightclub often above 100… The noise of the wind in a helmet is just amazing, all bikers MUST put on plugs, and pilots of cars also a fortiori open but also closed. At 100kmh the noise measured for the best motorcycle helmets is 100Db!!! So imagine at 200kmh…. or even 300, it's immediate damage. Get into the habit of measuring the sound environment with your phone, protect your ears as soon as it exceeds 90db, you will avoid hearing loss at best, this that I have. And protect yourself systematically on motorcycles, in 2-stroke karting, in clubs, in bars with loud music, on circuits, etc. To make a donation so that research advances to find a treatment, it's over here: https ://www.facebook.com/donate/4993540040713478/ No matter the amount, rivers make great rivers. “We miss you, Wolf. But medicine is advancing rapidly and it is hoped that in a few years, a remedy will exist to cure you so that you can come back and complete what could not be done. We're thinking of you a lot, friend...Mr.

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