My passion for cars

Earlier this year, we were lucky enough to be meet Leon Watts, founder of Autoism, who travelled down from Wiltshire to Devon to visit Re:Fuel. We were blown away by his passion for cars, and the story behind his club – so, naturally, we had to ask him to be one of our guest bloggers…..


Hello. I feel privileged to have the opportunity to introduce myself to you all. My name is Leon Watts and I’m 16 years old. Many people know me for being the founder of Autoism; a platform where I share my passion of cars whilst raising awareness and money for Autism and Mental Health charities. Autoism was formed in September 2018, since then I have gained 1300 followers on my Instagram. I have also formed friendships with many amazing people, from all walks of life, and been fortunate to have attended some amazing car events.

I’ve been into cars from a very young age. Funnily enough, what got me into cars was watching Top Gear at the age of 3, the episode was an Austin Allegro jumping over 2 trucks with a trailer. Regular trips to Beaulieu and attending local car events further fuelled my passion and enlarged my knowledge at a tender age.

Leon enjoying one of his visits to Re:Fuel earlier this year

I was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 5 and my love of cars has always helped me get through the challenges that come with being on the spectrum. One of the (many) positives, however, is that I have a photographic memory and so my knowledge of cars is pretty extensive! This has helped me gain recognition in the car world.

My proudest moment with Autoism so far was holding my own charitable car event at The Classic Motor Hub last June. We raised £1650 for charity and had some amazing support. We were due to have another event this June, but we have postponed it for now. I have big plans for my future and some exciting ideas for growing Autoism , including a South West Car Relay for charity next year.

Leon Watts (middle) with David Johnson aka “Formula Art” (left) and Dan Regan, founder of Re:Fuel (right)

I have visited the Re:fuel Open Days twice and hope to attend many more. I think the events are brilliant because it’s getting a great community together with a huge variety of cars. I love Devon and plan to live and work there when I am older. All the guys at Re:Fuel have been super supportive of me and I really appreciate it. Hope to see you all in person when all this settles down.


We very much look forward to seeing you at Re:Fuel again soon Leon. Such an inspirational character, a HUGE petrolhead, and also genuinely lovely guy. We’re honoured to have you write for our blog.

Leon was also kind enough to donate an Autoism T-shirt and metal pin badge for our auction to raise money for NHS workers and volunteers. The auction ends at 9pm on Sunday 19th April, so please get bidding and help us support this incredibly worthy cause. You can see Leon’s donated item by clicking here.