OLIVER RACING HIS WAY TO SUCCESS

Six-year-old Oliver Smith from Radcliffe is taking his first steps in the world of motorsport in a similar fashion to former world champion, Lewis Hamilton. We’ve all seen the pictures of a young Lewis racing his way around a karting track and now Oliver is doing exactly the same.
His Dad, Stuart, told The Local News: “The usual age to begin karting is eight, but over the last couple of years a less powerful kart has been developed to assist young drivers in motorsport. Even though the engines are less than 3hp, they can still reach speeds of 40mph.”
Earlier this year, Oliver was one of nine drivers to take part in the UK’s very first official Motor Sports Association (MSA) Bambino Time Trial competition. This was held at Buckmore Park Kart Club in Chatham, Kent. Due to the drivers age, they are not permitted to race each other but are set a target time, which over two sessions, each of six timed laps, the drivers have to try and get as close to as possible.
If the driver gets within 5% of the target time they are awarded a Gold Certificate. Between 5% and 15% is Silver and between 15% and 25% is Bronze. Despite tricky icy conditions, Oliver raced his way to a Silver and was only a couple of seconds away from Gold.  He was placed fourth out of the nine drivers. Apart from a very short practice session a couple of weeks earlier, Oliver had never raced at Buckmore Park, but the top three drivers are all based at Buckmore Park. Oliver’s home circuit is the PF International Circuit, near Newark.
Oliver followed up his excellent performance in Kent with another fantastic drive at the same circuit last month. He obtained his second Silver, clocking a combined time of 6 minutes 52 seconds, which was 12 seconds quicker than his last race.