The 18-year-old newly crowned Ultimate Karting champion talks about his prize GB4 test and what’s next
Last week I got to test a GB4 single-seater car at Bedford Autodrome with Scorpio Motorsport, a prize drive offered by Scorpio for me winning the Ultimate Karting Championship this year in Senior Rotax. The GB4 test was mega, it was so much different to karting and it was really enjoyable. I was getting quicker and quicker throughout the day, and that fact just makes you enjoy it more.
The track was wet at the start of the day, and then I did one dry run on the slicks. That was a lot different, but it was a lot more enjoyable because you can carry so much more speed through the corners. Every lap I was getting more confident with the car and braking a bit later; in some of the fast stuff I was carrying a lot of speed which I didn’t think I’d be able to do. The harder you go into the corner the more grip you’ve got, it’s a weird feeling, but it’s really good.
The main things in adapting were that the weight transfer’s a lot different in cars than karting, and you’ve got so much more power and you’ve got gears so are having to ease the throttle on.
It wasn’t the first time I’d driven a singleseater, as I also tested a Formula 4 car with Argenti at Pembrey a couple of months ago. I have driven for two years with Argenti in Senior Rotax karting and the team has been like a family to us. Argenti offered us a half day in their F4 car shared with my team-mate. When I tried the F4 car it was wet; I got one slick run but the track was still quite wet. But I enjoyed both the GB4 and F4 car the same.
The UKC season went really well, it was really well run and our main highlight was winning the Clay Pigeon round on slicks in the wet. Then at the Three Sisters title-decider there was a lot of pressure, and we managed to win in the pre-final so wrapped up the championship with a race to go and I could then relax. But that feeling of winning the title was just amazing, the whole atmosphere of the win was really good.
At the time the prize GB4 test was announced I was leading the championship so a little bit more pressure was added but I dealt with it quite well and the GB4 test is something I’ll never forget.
I first sat in a kart when I was five years old. We were on holiday in Cornwall and my dad took us to a kart track he’d been to as a kid. And I just got into a kart and instantly fell in love with it. I just remember loving the speed, because I was never really interested in football or anything, and the fact that I was so in control of this kart. And I never looked back since.
From then we had this indoor kart track that’s near us that for around the next two years we went to every now and then. And then my dad said if I can get a certain lap time he’ll buy me my own kart. I managed to do it, we bought our own kart and then on my eighth birthday we did my first race at Clay Pigeon. Ever since my first race I’ve just never stopped.
I really want to do car racing next year, either single-seater or some sort of tin-top racing. We’ve been in karting now for 10 years so I feel we’ve got to cut strings and move on to whatever the next thing is.
Precisely what we do next is all budget dependent. We’ve looked at a few types of tin-top racing. The Mini Challenge has caught our eye because my team-mate from last year Oliver Meadows raced that all year and he’s said good things about it. And it just looks like a good championship plus some of the rounds are alongside the British Touring
Car Championship so they’re on television. I’ve watched touring cars since I was a kid, alongside Formula 1. Touring cars looks like a good option and it always provides really good racing.
Obviously we’ll always want to do singleseaters, it is always the dream for everybody, but it is a lot of money compared to other car racing. But I’m not too fussed. Something on four wheels, that does it for me.
“I was getting quicker throughout the day and that makes you enjoy it more”