Where it began
We don’t really know how Luke’s love for cars came about, but we do know that it all started before he could even walk or talk. Growing up in Cornwall is about as detached as you can be from the world of motorsport, but for some reason, Luke chose that as his path in life. Our earliest memories of him all involve cars. Like most babies and toddlers, he would love to push a toy car along the carpet or build one out of Megablox, but this was different, very different. Luke wouldn’t just play with them; he would study them, group them, and dissect them. At the age of two, he could spot types of cars on the road and tell you what they were. This wasn’t just an interest; this was his passion. Then there was the constant loop of the TV, not Peppa Pig or whatever was big at the time, Top Gear, constant Top Gear on repeat!
Early Years
From the excitement of hearing the F1 intro music to that distinctive Top Gear banter Luke was hooked, he learnt more and more, from racing lines to handling techniques, things that us his parents didn’t even understand. See Luke didn’t come from a motorsport background or even a motor related background of any kind, we had absolutely no interest in cars prior to Luke, I watched a bit of F1 and that was about it.
Luke was probably about 3 when we really noticed that he was a bit different to most children his age , and I think 7 when he was finally diagnosed as having autism and dyspraxia
From Toys to Reality
Like most children Luke loved to play with cars, push them around one of those rugs with a road on it, unlike most children though that’s not really how he played with them. Luke used to line all his cars up in a perfectly straight line like they was on parade instead. He would then take a few steps back, check that they was perfectly straight and if they wasn’t then he would move them millimetre by millimetre and repeat till they was. That all changed at 5 when he got his first racing wheel for the playstation! no longer was he trying to make his cars perfectly straight, he was now chasing curves and racing lines.
It was only a cheap second hand wheel but to Luke it was the best thing ever, he took to it like a duck takes to water and within a couple of weeks was setting lap times I his dad couldn’t even get close to. It was just all so natural to him.
Living way down in Cornwall there really isn’t that many options to progress to the next step and see how he could control a wheel for real, but that wasn’t even the biggest obstacle! Lukes autism ment that he would get massively overwhelmed by even the simplest of things, let alone the roar of engines the screech of tyres or just the smell of burning rubber.
Seven years old is when he first plucked up the courage to get into a kart, at a local indoor track in Plymouth, and from that moment he was hooked. By 8, he had now made it a weekly thing and had done all he could do in the cadet karts at Plymouth Karting, so he was allowed to try out for the junior karts.
Up next was to see if he could actually be quick where it would matter, a proper track outside. So on to Rye House, Luke’s first proper taste of outside karting on a professional track in proper karts. Of course, he flew through his academy week there, taking the top step of the podium on the final day.
Helmet on, Race ready
The outside world goes quiet, the thoughts and anxieties soften, suddenly the overwhelm disappears.
When the helmets on and the visors down thats when Luke is most happy , thats when he only has one thing to focus on RACING.
