Young driver achieves lifelong racing dream

After racing in karts for the past couple of years, local racing driver Jack Burgess has recently achieved his lifelong dream of racing in a car, after he was offered a seat in a Junior Fiesta ahead of the 2024 season.

After taking up karting in 2021, the 14-year-old began to impress, so much so that he appeared on the Amazon Prime series ‘Driven Dreams’, which followed the journeys of several young drivers across the UK.

The show, filmed in 2022, focuses on Jack’s first season in the Cadet Karting Championship, a competition involving eight races throughout the year spread across the UK.

Jack’s debut year was a huge success, with his biggest achievement of 2022 coming in the seventh race at Hooton Park in Liverpool when he came third overall, picking up his first CKC podium place.

Speaking to the reporter back in October, following his first overall race win at the SuperOne Championship at Whilton Mill in August, Jack said it was his ‘dream’ to one day race in cars.

Fast forward just a couple of months, and the lad from Ashton has already made this dream a reality.

As mentioned, late last year Jack was offered a seat in a Fiesta Junior with the BPC Motorsport Racing team ahead of the 2024 season.

This offer came after he impressed during a test day with the team at Blyton Park, with the bosses at BPC believing Jack would be a perfect fit for the team.

Jack’s very first race in his Fiesta took place in late March at Silverstone, where he began the BRSCC Fiesta Juniors season.

This was the first of eight races that will take place between now and October, with the first one being more of a practice run and the remaining seven being points-based.

This race was a welcomed introduction for Jack, which allowed him to get a feel for how his new vehicle would operate in a race situation.

Before the race at Silverstone Jack spoke about his apprehension going into it:

“I’m really nervous, I’m not sure how I’ll react to being in a race situation as racing in cars is obviously a lot different to racing in karts which I’m used to.

“I’m just hoping to be able to finish the race, I’m not expecting too much as it’s my first one.”

Jack reacted superbly to the step up to cars and nerves were not an issue for him at Silverstone, with the 14-year-old finishing both races in style, finishing 8th out of 17 in the first race and 12th in the second.

When asked about the main difference he noticed between racing in cars and karts, Jack said:

“The main thing is it’s a lot harder to overtake with the cars being a lot bigger and everyone fighting for that same place on the track, there’s also a lot more contact and it can be carnage sometimes.”

With Jack’s first race being a huge success, he is already dreaming of what he might achieve this campaign:

“I’d like to finish in the top 15 in the championship but I won’t be too hard on myself if I don’t get it, as long as I finish all of the races that’s all that matters.”

This weekend, Jack will be making the trip to Kent for his second race of the calendar at Brands Hatch, which will take place across the 13th and 14th of April.

If you would like to keep up with Jack’s progress over the next few months you can drop him a follow on Instagram @Jack.burgess_karting or you can visit his website: https://www.jackburgessracing.com

For sponsorship opportunities please contact jack.burgesskarting@gmail.com