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MY STORY

2006
The Origins

My story starts like every other racing-mad kid. At six years-old I would sit with my parents every Sunday to watch the grand-prix, and I knew immediately what I wanted to do with my life.

My genius plan to tell my parents this was to sit waiting for them to come to my room to say goodnight, which was when I proudly announced that I wanted to spend my life driving a bomb on wheels in circles.

Understandably, they didn't like this announcement, and explained that we simply couldn't afford even the first step in a racing career.

Over time, I learnt that my dream was impossible, and I transitioned towards designing racing cars instead of driving, while simultaneously falling into another sporting career... 

2014
Where It All Went Wrong

So now I'm 14 years old - and still dreaming of racing. I'm working hard to start a career as an aerospace engineer, with the goal of designing Formula 1 cars.

Though I'm still spending most of my time daydreaming about racing, I've also followed another passion; l've become a 2-time national champion in figure skating, represented Great Britain internationally, and I'm starting to plan a Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic run with my skating partner.

One day in June of 2014, I'm training with my partner and we're attempting a new lift on-ice for the first time. As I lift, I arch my back, force her up over my head, and lock my arms. Suddenly, my back explodes in pain. 2 MRI's and 6 doctor's appointments later, they told me I had ruptured my L4-L5 and L5-S1 spinal discs.

This is where it all goes downhill!

2016
My Lowest Point

The years following my injury are the most difficult thing l've ever experienced.

From my first diagnosis I was told the best case scenario was a 2 year recovery time, and in an instant all of my career plans were gone - from Nationals to the Olympics, all of it was slipping away.

Injuries are common in every competitive sport, and you feel like you know what to expect, but you're never warned about the mental impact. In an instant, I went from chasing a goal and committing myself every day to that goal, to suddenly being confined to a bed, barely able to move. As the weeks, months, and then years went on, my motivation waned, my mental health plummeted, and soon I couldn't even bring myself to try and get out of bed.

What was the point? I couldn't skate, I could barely stand with extreme pain, if I was lucky I could sit down for 15 minutes before the pain became too much, so why bother? I didn't realise until later, but I was fighting with depression, and it was getting worse each day. Even as things improved and I slowly returned to my life, I was in a constant fight against pain.

Finally, in 2018, my luck started to change. After 4 years of misery, a new procedure was suggested to me by my doctor, and I decided to go for it. I underwent a Spinal Biacuplasty and Stem cell treatment in early June of 2018, and they paid off, lowering my pain to a manageable level.

2019
The Turnaround

So, my back is slowly improving, a figure skating comeback is written off, and I'm lower than I've ever been. I'm sick of the depression, the helplessness, and the constant misery. I need to turn things around.

Over the next few months I slowly come to a realisation. Life's short, things go wrong, and nothing is guaranteed. So why wasn't I chasing my biggest passion, my pipe dream, the thing I think about every minute of every day?

Sometime in 2018 I was put in touch with a friend of my father's who raced GT3 cars. We sat down to chat and I told him about my desire to finally chase this dream. He introduced me to sim-racing, and suddenly the competitive fire that l'd been missing since I'd last skated was back. Finally I had something to push towards!

For the next two years, I threw myself into competitive sim-racing, and jumped from team to team, learning everything I could from everyone I could. I wrote to dozens of teams asking to race, train, even just watch and learn from them. I entered each team as the slowest driver, and left as the fastest, slowly working my way up the sim-racing ladder until I reached the highest rungs, and finally found the opportunity to show my skills in the real world.

2022
Aspiring Driver Shootout

In August of 2022, the chance l'd been waiting for finally came in the form of the PT Autosport Aspiring Driver Shootout: a talent search program for talented but underfunded aspiring race car drivers.

For 73 days I committed myself entirely to winning this shootout, going as far as to condition my body specifically for the cars we were using, tracking down the exact cars we were running, and even forcing myself to learn to run again, almost 9 years after I thought my injury had left me unable to run for the rest of my life.

I progressed through two rounds of testing before reaching the finals, and on November 8th, 8 of us gathered at New Jersey Motorsports Park for 2 days of gruelling testing, both on and off-track. Over the course of the event we were evaluated on our fitness level, marketing and promotional abilities, mindset, race craft, pace, setup feel, consistency, and more, and come the end, I was crowned the winner.

As the winner I was awarded a scholarship and Driver Development contract with the PT Autosport team, giving me the opportunity not only to race consistently in 2023, but also learn from the three founders and their extensive experience, including shadowing the team's professional driver in Porsche Carrera Cup.

After 8 years of suffering, suddenly the future looks brighter than ever.

2023
The Debut

Immediately after winning the shootout, it was time to be brought down from my high. My back had been worsening throughout 2022, and I had been scheduled to undergo an Artificial Disc Replacement surgery, which I had delayed to take part in the shootout, against the advice of my doctors!

In late december, Dr Richard Guyer of the Texas Back Institute removed my L4-L5 disc, and replaced it with a Centinel Spine ProDisc L Artificial Implant.

After 6 long months of recovery, I was back on track. For my first season, PT Autosport set me loose in a Porsche Spec Boxster to learn as much as possible in club-racing. Competing in various PCA and SCCA races over the remainder of 2023, we took 9 podiums from 12 races and just barely missed out on my first win by a tenth of a second!

To cap off my first season I was rewarded with a test day in a Toyota GR Cup car, the potential next step in my career. 

2024
Turning Pro

After a promising debut season in club racing, the time had come to test myself in a truly daunting environment.

For 2024 I was given the opportunity to compete in the Toyota GR Cup North America Series - where I would face the most promising up and coming drivers of the new generation at some of the most historic and challenging tracks in the USA. 

Entering the year with conservative goals of a top 10 finish by the end of the season, we fought against an uncompetitive car to take two podiums, two fastest laps, and three hard charger awards on our way to Seventh in the championship standings.

I had made it. And I had proved that I have what it takes to fight with the best.

2025
Championship Chasing

For 2025, my eyes are firmly set on fighting for the GR Cup North America Championship. 

In joining forces with a championship winning team I now have all the pieces I need to push myself to a whole new level both on and off track, and fight up front for race wins.

It's going to be a challenging year against a field of incredible drivers, and I don't yet have the funding secured for the whole season, but I'm confident in myself and the team and the level of performance we can achieve.

Bring on the challenge.