Seventeen year old racing driver Ben Gridley from Faversham has ambitions to become one of the country’s top performers in the coming years.

Gridley spent 2011 racing in the Mini Championship Challenge, part of the MSVR series of races and has ambitions to win the title in 2012:

“It’s going to be an exciting year as I do my second year in the Mini Challenge in Club Class. Hopefully if all goes well this season I can go for the title.”

Last year proved to be a difficult one for the seventeen year old though, as funding problems restricted him to just four races, but he hopes to find the money to be involved for the whole season:

“No Motor sport is cheap really. Minis can be expensive, but it’s worth it. The thrill you get from it, it’s just pure excitement. My first race last year I was nervous, but once I got out on the grid I was excited.”

“I want to get that feeling again and raise the budget needed to be in there this season.”

Most people would normally name someone such as Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button as their inspiration for getting into driving, but Gridley admitted it was someone much closer to home:

“My mum’s side of the family got me into racing and I think my first trip to Brands Hatch came when I was about six months old to watch touring cars. Since then, it’s been a dream really after having got into karts.”

“Having my mum into minis as well has helped and going into the Mini Challenge was right for me as it’s got lots of TV coverage.”

As for his ambition in the long term, Ben told KSN how he would like to move through the series before ultimately racing in bigger cars:

“My main aim would be to get into Touring Cars in the end, maybe do the British rounds, but I’d also like to go to Australia and do the V8 Supercars.”

Racing drivers are a rare breed and the adrenalin buzz of screaming around tracks such as Brands Hatch at break-neck speed is normally what gets most of them going, but Gridley is different to the norm:

“In some ways, I think I’m different as I like the build up more, especially when the countdown is going on as we go out to the grid. When your out there driving, that’s the easy bit. Finding the money to get out there and drive is always the hardest part!”

To find out more about Ben Gridley and to become a sponsor, please visit his website – www.bengridley.co.uk