"I'm a keen fisherman and my wife is a keen horsewoman, so Richard had nothing to do! So when he was 13 I took him kart racing and he really took to it.

We got him an MSA driving licence so he could compete in kart racing as he won the novice section in his first year - we really hit the floor running. Unfortunately, we have to go all the way to the track just off the A5 in Llangollen or over to Wigan for practice as there isn't one in north west Wales.

Within a year Richard qualified for his national a licence and became club champion for his age range. He competed all round the UK the following year and always made it onto the podium.

It's got a bit addictive even for me - fishing's out the window, all we do is go kart racing! But there is a lot of travelling involved and we've had to finance most of it. Lots of the kids he competes against have fathers in the sport and have a lot of money spent on them and their equipment. So Richard's got where he is on pure talent. We haven't been able to buy him the best equipment, but he's still done really well purely because of his driving as I don't have the knowledge or the finances to give him access to the best mechanical knowledge or equipment.

He came fifth in the JICA Junior Intercontinental A series and took part in the Stars of Tomorrow competition run by British Racing Drivers at Silverstone.

At 17, Richard became the youngest Welshman to win a significant single seater championship - the Formula Renault BARC Championship in 2006. He was awarded the most up and coming driver at the prestigious BARC annual awards ceremony for this achievement, as well as being named the junior sportsman of the year for the Conwy Borough region.

He has now moved on to Formula Renault UK which Lewis Hamilton won in 2005. Formula Renault UK is one of the hardest single seater Championships in the UK to win. I believe it took Lewis Hamilton 3 years to win this title before moving on to F3.

So what about the driver himself?

"I'd never driven anything before I took up karting and I only got a few turns round a car park with my dad before I began practising with a car on a race track. Driving cars was a bit weird to begin with, especially getting used to all the gears and steering something which weighs 700 kilos, rather than the 14 kilos of a kart.

Most of the other young people driving with me are rich and have been racing for a long time. Then when an average Joe like me comes a long and starts beating them all, it feels really good.

I raced round a track at Silverstone for the first time last week. Qualifying didn't go great - I started in sixth place and then I had probably the worst start ever and dropped down to tenth. But I made my way back up to third and finally came fourth.

If I win this championship then I'll get £30,000 towards next year, when hopefully I'll drive Formula BMW or Renault.

But I've got my GCSEs coming up. It is sometimes hard to keep up with school work - especially when I can't go out with my friends in the evenings because I've got to finish my coursework before going racing on the weekend. But I do intend to stay on for my A-levels and get the qualifications to go on and work in the car racing business.

My friends don't believe that I drive over 150 miles an hour when I don't even have my licence to drive on the road! Racing's fantastic and it would be great to get paid to drive fast cars for a living."