NO ORDINARY JOE
Joe turney achieved major k art ing success last year and is now looking to make the move into cars.
There’s no denying that 2018 was a successful season for Joe Turney. To take British, Belgian and world Senior karting titles is some achievement. And he came close to adding a European championship crown too, but for a spark plug failure proving costly.
But Turney would never have enjoyed such success were it not for two chance events. The first was the decision for his 10th birthday party to be held at a kart track.
“I started karting at a birthday party at just a corporate track near where I live,” he explains. “I did alright at that and so I continued, did a championship there, and did quite well.”
The second chance event was ex-formula 1 driver Anthony Davidson happening to watch Turney karting at that Daytona Milton Keynes circuit. He was impressed by Turney and suggested to him and his family that he should start racing in competitive Motorsport UK classes. And that’s exactly what he did – gradually rising up through the ranks, enjoying plenty of success along the way.
But a tricky 2017 put a halt to that progress. His first season competing at Senior level – having already won British Junior titles – didn’t go exactly to plan. It coincided with Turney taking his GCSE exams so a full campaign wasn’t planned anyway, but that was compromised further when he broke his finger.
With that in mind, Turney decided to continue karting last year rather than try and graduate into cars.
“I think my first year in Seniors, due to exams and breaking my finger, I didn’t achieve what I wanted to,” he says. “I was still young and still only 16 at start of the year so did another year to give it a good shot.”
He certainly did, but choosing which of the plethora of karting series to race in proved difficult.
“We started 2018 not knowing what classes to race,” Turney continues. “We had quite a few options, and weren’t sure which ones to take within the karting scene so went for most of them and spread our bets a bit.
“We ended up doing four championships, expecting to drop out of one or two if we didn’t have a good first few rounds. The first half of the season went really well and we ended up carrying on with all of the series.”
In the end, he won two: the BNL Senior championship and British Senior X30, the latter enabling him to compete at the world finals. Unsurprisingly, his success on the world stage was the real highlight of the season as he beat 144 other drivers to take Senior X30 honours.
“It was definitely very big,” admits Turney. “Only a few years ago I would read karting magazines and look up to the drivers who were winning the world championships so to be like that and hopefully having the same effect on Cadets right now is quite good.
“At that event it was so close between the top 15 that anyone could have won it so when we won it, it was a massive shock. It wasn’t like we knew we were going to win because of the pace, anyone out of that top 15 could’ve won and we did, so it took a while to sink in but feels very good.”
But there was still time for one more success in 2018 as Turney also secured the Motorsport UK Young Driver of the Year award after impressing on the simulators at izone – becoming the first karter to win the award in the process.
However, Turney feels now is the time to move on and make the switch to cars. So far he has had two tests in different Formula 4 machinery. The first was with Double R at a very wet Pembrey, far from ideal conditions for his first ever run in a single-seater. The second came with the Italian F4 squad BVM at the Adria circuit and this time the weather was dry – and Turney was able to impress.
“The speed was really good, and the progression through the day was very encouraging,” Turney says. “The time at the end of the day was only a tenth off that team’s best qualifying time in May when the track was warm and on qualifying fuel load and new tyres, and we didn’t have new tyres or a qualifying fuel load. To be a tenth off was good and they were definitely happy with it and would like us to come back.”
Now it’s all down to money. The Italian series is currently the preferred route – although Turney is certainly not ruling out a campaign in any F4 championship across the world.
But a possible late deal and a lack of pre-season testing does not faze Turney. In fact, very little does.
“I’m fairly confident if it came to it I would be able to sit in the car at the first round of the Italian F4 championship without any testing,” he states. “I think I would be able to compete fairly well.”
Given the way his second ever test went, that confidence is justified. In the meantime, Turney is trying to do as much as he can to prepare for whatever the season ahead has to offer.
“I think it will be a late decision and I’m doing days at izone to stay comfortable in the car,” he explains. “We’re also entered for the IAME Winter Cup in Valencia in a few weeks in karts. We’ll give that our best shot and will [help to] stay fit.”
The result in that particular event is not crucial for Turney, but given his progression in recent years there may be some far more significant results to come this year. At a time where British drivers have achieved major success in singleseater series across the world, Joe Turney could become the latest driver to star in the junior ranks. ■