It was in 2013 when I reached the age of six that my Dad bought my my first go-kart for my birthday. Shortly after, it would become routine to take the kart out on a Saturday morning to the Archerfield go kart track.
I always had an innate interest for riding anything with wheels when I was younger, whether that be a two wheel plastic scooter, a ride on lawn mower or even a quad bike. One year my Dad took me to a V8 Supercars round and it was there I met racing stars like Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes, although I was still very young, I quickly grew a strong interest for the sport.
From practice days at Archerfield to race wins, state and national championships. I was lucky enough to race the kart all around Australia at just 8 years old.
The picture above was taken in December of 2015. I had raced competitively for one whole year. The year started of with testing in Lismore where I was 6 tenths under the lap record. From there, I won the Lismore Young Gun Titles, travelled all parts of Australia winning several state championships. It was also in 2015 where I entered into the ProTour series in which I took out the national championship title, winning an award for most wins in pre final & final races.
In 2015, I also had the amazing opportunity to go to Las Vegas in America to race at one of the biggest go kart meetings in the world. In practice I was third quickest (see below) out of 88 kids but unfortunately ran into mechanical issues towards the end.
American Crowds!
After much success in go karting, it was time to move onto something a little faster. I casually raced SuperKarts in which I was the youngest in the field, bringing home a few race wins. I only did this for a short time all while my Dad and I were building a BMW race car to move into car racing.
Jack Westbury #4
Although I never raced in the BMW machine as the opportunity came up to race in the Toyota Gazoo Racing 86 series, it was awesome to do some practice laps in my first race car and have the experience to work on it with my Dad.
Speaking of my Dad, all of this could not have been accomplished without him. We have been a Father-Son team from day one and I can't thank him and my Mum enough for making this all possible.
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