THE JOURNEY

EARLY BEGINNINGS

It all started in 2012 at a rental kart track in Margate during a family holiday. I was 7 years old, on track with my mom and older brother. The moment I got behind the wheel, I was absolutely hooked.

It wasn't about speed - not yet. I just loved the feeling of independence, driving like my dad, being in control of something with an engine. For a 7-year-old, that sense of responsibility and freedom was everything.

But I had no idea professional karting even existed. I thought rental karts were all there was - just a fun holiday activity. A career in motorsports hadn't even crossed my mind.

THE DISCOVERY

Fast forward to 2021. I'm 16 years old, and my friend Khubeka had been deep into Formula 1. That season was insane - the Hamilton-Verstappen battle had everyone watching. I'd been casually following F1 before, but never really thought about it beyond what I saw on screen.

Then Khubeka mentioned something that flipped a switch: all F1 drivers started in karting. But not the rental stuff I'd done as a kid - actual racing karts. He told me about Idube Raceway in the hills of Camperdown, KZN, about 30-40 minutes from where I lived. That's when it clicked. I wanted to pursue a career in professional motorsports. Formula 1 was the dream, sure, but I wasn't fixated on it. I just wanted to make a living behind the wheel of a race car - any race car.

I immediately went to my father asking to go. But the reality was harsh. He was a single father - we'd lost my mother the year before - and he couldn't take me to the track. Beyond that, motorsports was expensive in a way we couldn't even comprehend, especially at grassroots level. I sent over 40 Facebook Marketplace ads of used karts to my dad. Eventually, he blocked me on WhatsApp. I was stuck watching from behind a screen.

BREAKING THROUGH

2021 to 2022 became my hustle era. If I couldn't get my dad to pay for karting, I'd make the money myself. Like any naive teenager, I genuinely believed I'd become an overnight success.

I dove headfirst into coding - HTML, CSS, Python. In 2021, I built my first website: OnlyShoes, a parody of OnlyFans but for sneakers. It was all frontend, no backend, but I was learning.

By 2022, I got serious. I built a full marketplace with WordPress and backend infrastructure called soleseekers.co.za to sell secondhand clothes. I completed the entire site - handled marketing, recruited vendors, managed listings, everything. But it failed. Hard.

(Fun fact: the website you're reading this on right now? Also built by me. Clearly I learned something along the way.)

2023 hit - my matric year. I shut down the site to focus on my studies and doubled down on learning Python. But something deeper was happening. I was desperately cycling through backup plans: one week I wanted to be a pilot, the next a soldier, then a paramedic. I was grasping at anything that felt like a real career path.

I was slowly accepting that motorsports just wasn't an option for someone like me.

The mental battle got louder. By the end of 2023, I finally built up the courage to call my dad and tell him the truth - I felt lost, confused, unable to decide what I wanted to do with my life. Our lives had stabilized since losing my mom, and he gave me something I desperately needed: permission to take a gap year and figure it out.

Somehow, I found myself back at karting.

March 2024. I stumbled across an ad for a kart academy test day at Idube Raceway - the exact same track Khubeka had told me about three years earlier. I signed up immediately. This time, I could drive myself. I convinced my dad to come watch.

The moment I got behind the wheel of a real racing kart, I was completely unprepared. The speed was insane. I had tunnel vision so bad I could barely process what was happening. The difference between this and rental karts? Night and day.

But I was hooked all over again.

My dad saw it in my face. He was reluctant at first - he knew what this meant, what it would cost, the uncertainty of it all. But I couldn't shake one thought: if not now, then when? I'd rather start and fail than never try at all.

He helped me get my first real racing kart.

That's where the journey truly began.

TODAY & TOMORROW

Fast forward to today. I now race and work with the largest team in Africa, Worr Motorsport, as a data and driver coach. Alongside this, I continue competing at a regional & national level in kart racing, constantly pushing myself to improve.

The dream? To make it into a works or factory racing team and compete in GT3 cars - endurance racing, GT Challenge, DTM, you name it. I want to race at the highest level possible and turn this into a sustainable career.

But beyond personal success, my goal is to inspire the next generation of South African racers to chase their dreams, no matter how impossible they seem. If a kid from Pietermaritzburg who started at 18 can make it, so can they.