How it started...
Taking every lap, every challenge and every win with a grinning face.
I’m 18 years old and obsessed with motorsport, engineering and anything mechanical. Nobody in my family was into racing or mechanics, so everything I know has come from teaching myself, getting stuck in and spending hours in the shed or at friends garages.
Whether it’s wheel-to-wheel racing, building engines, designing parts, fixing old machinery or trying to reinvent and improve engines, I’m into it all. I’ve never been the sort of person who can just sit still.
My first real memory of motorsport started at vintage bike and car shows. I always used to pick out “the one I would bring home” with my dad, and one day I saw a homemade vintage kart which stuck in my head.
From then on, I saved every penny I could and just after my 13th birthday, I bought myself an old Petrol Go Kart which had been converted with some grippy grass tyres and had the bumpers removed. It was sketchy, noisy and was the best thing I bought.
Not long after that I discovered karting through a friend who went to the local rental track. One session later and I was hooked. I got every racing book I could get my hands on and spent countless nights reading about famous racers, karts, F1 cars and race bikes, the famous Isle of Man TT and the Le Mans 24 Hours- Both of which I would love to visit and just maybe one day be a part of.
My racing dream was mainly what got me into mechanics. I knew that if I wanted to race at all, I would need to earn to pay for it myself. So I leant how to fix and sell many old mowers to save enough to go karting at my local rental track and one day hopefully get my own ‘real’ kart.
I managed to join the Knockhill Karting Championship at age 15 and got within just over a second of the lap record, which I was very chuffed about considering I was new to the sport and only has a few sessions under my belt. That was the point where racing stopped being just a dream and started feeling real for me.
After more than a year of saving, late nights cleaning carburettors and working whenever I could, I finally got myself a 2014 MS ProKart.
During that time I was also helping at a car body repair shop and the guys son did owner karting. I started joining him at race weekends as part of the team, helping as a mechanic and soaking in ‘living the dream’. Kindly in return he offered to coach me through the new winter series as he saw I had potential, but my parents weren’t able to always get me and the kart to the track, so unfortunately it never quite happened. I did still make it out on the odd day for practicing, but luck wasn’t on my side and one of the engines blew up and the second time I went out I got oil all over the track as the engine crank breather pipe popped off!
In the end I sadly did have to sell the kart to afford getting my driving licence but knew it would be worth it in the long run. I made sure to still make it down to my local indoor kart track, although for me it never quite matched proper outdoor racing especially when they switched to electric karts.
These days I’m working on setting up my own business fixing and selling powersports and garden machinery, while still trying to chase the dream. Currently I am working towards an attempt at a Guinness World speed record and hope to have many more great experiences in the future.
As always, Hard work makes the Dream work, so keep at it!
Track Time Counter: 34h