Stratford karter Lucas Blantford, 13, knew horror 70mph crash at Whilton Mill "would happen eventually"

It’s a hard task for someone who is used to being out on the track so often to find something else to do and with an in-house simulator as well, trying to control that urge to do too much too quickly is a battle for the youngster.

However, Lucas, pictured, is showing maturity beyond his years and knows just how important the recovery phase is if he wants to get back behind the wheel at the earliest opportunity.

Considering what happened to Lucas, to have gone from barrel rolling 40 yards and being thrown out of a kart, to getting that burning desire to get back out racing in a such a short space of time speaks volumes.

“I’m very determined to get back behind the wheel because I’m starting to get a bit bored,” said the Stratford School student. “I’ve been on TikTok and playing games of Frustration and Uno to try and pass the time.

“I was not surprised to have been involved in a crash like I was, it can happen to anyone at any age, it’s all part of motorsport and it’s the risk we as racing drivers take when we go out on the circuit.

“I knew something like that was going to happen eventually.”

Describing exactly what happened at Whilton Mill, Lucas told the Herald he had tried to go past a novice down the inside of the first corner, which also happened to be the fastest bend of the circuit. Lucas said it was at that point the novice turned into him, which sent him hurtling across the track.

“When he turned into me I thought ‘this isn’t going to end well’. I felt the kart go to the right so I was thinking it was only going to be a spin,” he said.

“I then felt the kart tilt and all of a sudden I see the sky, the ground, the sky again and then the ground again. After the final time I roll over, the adrenaline was pumping, I looked at the kart and I then walked over to the barrier. I don’t remember much else after that.”

For father Adrian, who himself was involved in a huge shunt at Knockhill during a race in the British Monster Rally Cross Championship around eight years ago, seeing his own son in a crash was horrific.

“It’s the first time where I have ever questioned the decisions I have made. It was the most horrific experience I have endured in my life and the phone call to the wife was just horrendous,” he said.

“You always try to play these things down and I was telling her Lucas was OK but I was so glad both she and our other son were not there to see it.”

He added: “Not once have I thought Lucas would not race again. Ultimately, it’s his decision whether he wants to race or not but I can tell how he’s feeling just by looking at him. Even after the accident, he was like ‘is that us done for the day?’.

“When Lucas gets back behind the wheel, he’s already said he wants to go back to Whilton Mill to bury what happened and put that demon to one side.”

Following the crash, Adrian is now looking to make more noise about improving safety standards at kart tracks across the country. While he acknowledges change may not happen, he stressed it’s important to keep the conversation going.

“It was one of the biggest accidents you’ll ever see at a kart track,” he said. “We were lucky where the accident happened because there was a run-off area, if it had been the corner before, it would have been a totally different outcome.

“We were unlucky, though, because we were on track, without knowledge, with someone who had never been on a circuit before. We accept motorsport is dangerous and these things can happen but the accident was totally avoidable and we want to make noise to the relevant authorities to try and improve safety at kart tracks.

“At these kind of testing events across the country, there are no medical staff on-site, they have minimal marshals and there’s no ambulance on standby. I’m not looking to blame anyone but that element of safety needs to improve and it can’t go on along this line because someone is going to get seriously hurt.

“This isn’t about finger-pointing and at the end of the day, the other boy involved is probably more traumatised than Lucas was and may never step foot in a kart again.”

He added: “I’m not going to just go away. What this proved is that things can go wrong on test days just as much as they can do on race days. We have to try and do something. I would not feel right if I walked away without trying something. I’m not going to dedicate my life to it but I just want to try and improve safety standards.”