I'm an 11-year-old from South Ribble who could be the next Lewis Hamilton

11-year-old Riley Blakemore from Longton has just this year started at Penwortham Priory School but outside of the classroom, he has a rather exhilarating hobby…

For the past three years, Riley has been honing his skills in karting, so successfully that he last month won two national competitions- the British Kart Championship and the SuperOne National Kart Championship - and is now ranked number one in the country for his age category.

The former of these competitions is well known as the starting place of some of the UK’s biggest Formula 1 stars, including Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and George Russell.

Explaining how an eight-year-old boy from Longton found himself taking up such a sport, Riley told us: “One day, it was just my birthday and we went to this car track, and I just really liked it. So we bought a cart, and then we got into it, then we started getting into it professionally.”

This is only Riley’s second year competing at a national motorsport UK level, with a licence governed by Motorsport UK, which is part of the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) that governs Formula 1.

Asked if that’s something he wants to go into, Riley answered: “Yeah but it’s expensive!”

He continued: “I really like it because I just really like going fast. That's my favorite thing about it, going fast, overtaking people and generally driving. My dream is to get into some kind of car racing, earning money from it when I'm older, Formula 1 yeah.”

Wading in on the matter, dad Jeff, CEO of payroll service ForeTwo Group, said: “It's something that he's very good at, he really enjoys doing, and at the moment, arguably, it's a hobby which could lead to something career wise. Whether that means he ends up working within the motorsport industry, could be as an engineer, race team mechanic, could be a driver. Obviously, driving is what he's very good at so we're just really trying to encourage that as much as possible.”

Having reached the top of the Cadet class (for those ages 8-12), Riley has moved up to the next class, Inter, for those aged 10-13.

Able to now drive up to 70 miles per hour, Inter is seen as the stepping stone before Junior (ages 12-16) which he is currently both too young and too light to enter.

Jeff said: “If we kept him in the Honda Cadet class for another year, he could then next year go straight up to Junior but we don't want to keep him in that. We're ready for a new challenge.”

Riley is currently preparing for his first race as an Inter this weekend - the Ultimate Kart Championship- during which he will be racing with his new team, Tooley Motorsport.

As part of this team, Riley is also expecting to be involved in the promotion for the new Silverstone Kart Circuit with Sky Sports.

Asked how he feels watching Riley race, Jeff said: “It's very nerve wrecking watching your child drive around a Go Kart race track at speeds of 60 miles an hour, soon to be 70 miles an hour. There's normally around between 15 and 30 plus carts on the track and it's very, very competitive. Obviously your heart's in your mouth for the majority of it. You're worried for their general safety - although they're not worried about it - but obviously the competitive side in you wants them to do well and when it doesn't go well, it's really hard. It's a real range of very high highs and very low lows because Riley's so passionate about it. When it doesn't go how he wants it to go- and obviously he wants to win all the time- it does knock him.

“Seeing your child upset and disappointed obviously isn’t enjoyable but when he's standing on the podium, and obviously this year, when he's become the British Champion, it's incredibly, incredibly emotional. We're really proud of him, and every weekend we watch him in the car, we're amazed at just how great he is. The speed and the racecraft that he's developed over the last three years is exceptional.

“But yeah, it's really nerve racking. I’ll be stood still watching at the side of a racetrack and I've had alerts on my watch to say that my heart rate is in the fat burning zone!. So, yeah, it's a very emotional thing to watch but as long as he loves it and it's enjoying it, we're very supportive”

And what does Riley’s school think of it?

Year 7 pupil Riley told: “My teacher calls me, like, ‘the famous person of our form group’ and my friends think it's really cool.”

Offering his advice to other kids who fancy trying Kart racing out, Riley said: “If you're scared, it doesn't matter, just go out there and drive!”