Lewis Hamilton champions young kart drivers
 No going back: but England’s F1 star Lewis Hamilton remains a strong supporter of karting that was the start of his racing career. He is pictured at the Vodafone Go-Karting Challenge prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix in August2007 in Budapest.
With stunning performances in his debut season in Formula One, British driver Lewis Hamilton has undoubtedly arrived on motorsportís world stage. But his climb up the ladder of success started years ago when, as a young boy, he scorched round the track at Buckmore Park Kart Circuit in Chatham, Kent, southern England.
Big race wins and consistent podium finishes have seen the F1 ‘rookie’ in an intriguing battle with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team-mate, Fernando Alonso, that has kept F1 followers on the edge of their seats.
The most enthralling F1 season for years has been overshadowed by a ‘spying’ row that has seen McLaren fined and stripped of points in the constructors’ championship by the world sport’s governing body, but Hamilton escaped censure that could have wrecked his chances.
Hamilton remains a keen supporter of kart racing in the UK and around the world, and at home his mentors are intensely proud of his achievements. Now, at Buckmore – which has long been a nursery for motorsport talent – they are hoping that through their Junior Club (that starts drivers as young as eight) they will find another future champion revving-up in the pits. It’s no wonder, because Hamilton is the brightest new star in the UK motorsport industry that contributes billions of pounds to the economy.
The Junior Club, which is linked to the Sisley Kart School, has attracted nearly 400 young members since it was formed two years ago and is going from strength to strength. The young drivers are provided with identical Honda-powered 160cc karts and all the necessary safety wear – Buckmore is extremely strict about safety.
After youngsters become part of the Junior Club they gain access to social events and to the lively Junior forum on the Buckmore website; they can also use the lapalyzer system that allows them to view, compare and download performance times.
The club operates all year round with winter and summer championships; in winter the rounds are held at weekends and in summer the rounds are mostly built around school holidays.
Buckmore’s head Bill Sisley – the guru of the kart world – has trained British champions since 1972 including F1 champions such as Johnny Herbert.
Sisley said: “I have always been passionate about introducing youngsters into karting and the idea of the Junior Club was to offer young drivers from all backgrounds the chance to experience the thrills of the track at a reasonable cost and to nurse them up to go further in racing.
Many racing today would never have sat in a kart, never mind a car, if it hadn’t been for the introduction offered here.”
Former World One Champion and seven times World Motorcycling Champion John Surtees has been deeply involved in the development of Buckmore Park, its facilities and his vision for the future, the Motorsport Training & Technology Centre.
Surtees’ son Henry, at the age of eight, started competing at Buckmore Park, finishing his karting career by being British Junior Gearbox Champion, and is currently racing in the prestigious Formula BMW Junior Championship.
Surtees Snr said: “Karting has so much to offer not only to motorsport but to the community as a whole. Whether a youngster goes on in the sport, to some other place in the motor industry – or just takes aboard that experience of slide and locked-up brakes when he or she becomes a car or bike owner on our roads – the background gained here is invaluable.”
Bill Sisley added: “We are trying to create a ladder of success and hopefully find the next Lewis Hamilton. I have talented-spotted for over 35 years and all the current British Formula One drivers, with the exception of David Coulthard, started their careers in karting at eight years old at Buckmore Park.
“I always say I can tell within two laps whether a young driver will have what it takes, but the sort of raw talent enough to take them all the way to Formula One is rare. In fact there are only one or two in a generation that are that good. Lewis was certainly one of them and it showed. We did help him in his career as a youngster and I’m sure he will be a future world champion.”
Hamilton is headline news in the UK motorsport industry that contributes more than fi ve billion pounds a year to the economy, 50 per cent of which is accounted for by exports.
The sector supports 40,000 jobs, including 25,000 skilled engineers.
Motorsport Valley, based largely in southern and central England, is the hub of the industry. It boasts a unique cluster of high-performance engineering companies, acting as a global centre for the production of high performance cars, chassis, engines, brakes, suspension and transmission systems, telemetry and a range of other world-class products, services and facilities.
Flexibility in the production of leading-edge quality products is one of the industry’s selling points. Its extremely diverse supply chain incorporates dynamic smaller businesses as well as major industry leaders. The cluster is renowned for its ability to react quickly to specific industry requirements – perfect for clients that need complex precision components incorporating the latest technology to be designed, prototyped and manufactured on a fast-track basis.
The UK accounts for a major proportion of the world motorsport industry market and is home to some of motor racingís biggest names. These include high-profi le F1 and F3 teams, globally active component manufacturers, an array of design and engineering experts and several racing team
operators.
London is also a key part of the UK motorsport cluster. The capital is the base to the rights holders and organisers of F1 and the World Rally Championship, with both being run by the FIA from an office at Silverstone, together with the many specialised legal and insurance companies that are vital to global motorsport.
For all these reasons, and many more besides, the UK is increasingly providing innovative design, engineering and service solutions in markets worldwide, as well as attracting further inward investment in an evermore competitive industry.
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