An 11-year old karter from Nottingham has signed to race with a newly launched kart team in 2021.
Jacob Jukes, who is currently in year 7 at Toothill School in Bingham, signed for Team X-Kart in November, a new team formed to race in the Italian-made ‘TB Kart’ go-kart, which has been re-branded as X-Kart and introduced in the UK.
Having seen pictures of his father karting, Jacob asked to try it for himself when he was 8. He tried it out at his local kart track, Stretton Circuit in Leicester and was immediately hooked. Just a few months later his parents bought him his own kart and now he lives and breathes the sport, karting three to four times every week at Stretton, Lockwell Hill and Whilton Mill.
Jacob started competing in 2018 in the Stretton Sprint Series. Despite having no official coaching, he went on to take his first podium in his first race of 2019 and won two rounds in the club championships. He finished third overall in the Stretton Sprint Series of 2019 in only his second year, and took numerous podiums in the 2020 national Cadet Cart Championships, finishing as runner-up overall.
Jacob was invited by X-Kart founder and Team X-Kart manager Matty Street to test out the new X-Kart in September this year and was later invited to join the team.
Having shot up in height during the Covid lockdown, Jacob has moved up to the Junior ranks of karting two years early and will be the youngest member of the team and one of the youngest competing at this level this year. The team will race in the Junior Kart Championship and Whilton Mill Club Championship.
Jacob is already passionately committed to the sport, studying YouTube videos to look for ways to shave 10ths of a second from his lap times, analysing circuit videos and arriving at tracks two days in advance of a race to prepare himself for the competition.
Jacob said: “I can remember watching Formula 1 a few years ago and asking my Dad if I could try karting as I knew he’d done it when he was younger too. I loved it from the start and now that I’m racing, I just love the wheel to wheel experience of competing. Lockdown was tough as it meant I couldn’t get out on the track but somehow, I’ve come out of lockdown quicker than before. I even set some new records at my local track.
“It was a shock at first to be asked to join the team as nothing like this happened to me before. Matty has put together a really strong team and I think we have a strong shot at finishing in the top 10 this year.
“Long-term I’d love to make it to Formula 1 and I’ll take whatever racing opportunities come my way.”
