TEAM GB Paralympic cyclist Karen Darke has won a gold medal today at Rio on a bike made by Williams F1 in Grove.
The 45-year-old from Halifax came first in the H1-3 time trial with a time of 33 minutes 44.93 seconds.
She was riding acarbon fibre bike crafted by a team of 30 engineers at Williams F1 in Grove, near Wantage, who were so inspired by the challenge they took it on as a not-for-profit project.
Ms Darke approached the team earlier this year to see if they could help streamline her existing bike.
Like the company's founder Frank Williams, she is partially paralysed: she lost control of her body from the chest down following an climbing accident when she was 21.
Engineers in Williams' Advanced Engineering department, who take Formula 1 technology and apply it to other uses, were inspired by the challenge and a team of 30 ended up working on the project.
Aerodynamicists took Ms Darke's existing bike and used airflow modelling to see where it could be improved by moving the handles and other parts into more aerodynamic positions.
They designed the perfect model, built it, and handed it over at the beginning of August.
She took the new machine to Rio and rode it to victory, winning Team GB's 37th gold medal of Rio 2016.
The golds keep coming for ParalympicsGB!
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) September 14, 2016
Karen Darke was won their 37th of #Rio2016 https://t.co/MxeVEAlN7Y pic.twitter.com/OOARNF0JHt
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