A go karting hot shot from Danbury has secured his first contract - aged just 12.
Sandon School boy Scott Huntley, who has raced three times at national level, has put pen to paper on a deal with CZ Racing Chains, a company based in the Czech Republic. It will last until he is 16.
It is the first time in 15 years that the corporation has sponsored one person. And he also finished third overall in the British EasyKart Cadet Championships this weekend, having been fastest on the track. Steve Huntley, Scott's father and coach, said: "Some kids start karting between the ages of five and eight but Scott around two and a half years ago, so he's a newcomer to the sport.
"I had a racing app on my phone and, when I left it lying around, Scott had progressed from Mini Cooper to Bugatti Veyron, completing all the levels within four hours.
"So, I took him to the indoor track at Witham and he learnt the basics at the Cadet School."
Scott has so far scooped 30 trophies from karting competitions across the region, with 2013 a particularly strong one. He most recently became the 2013 Cadet Champion at the A12 Pro-Karting Championships in Witham.
He also secured his first national podiums, seeing him defeat the British Champion Karter as well as gain the 'Rooker Winner' title
Scott has previously beaten the lap time of Nicholas Hamilton, the brother of F1's Lewis, in a less powerful kart. (160cc as opposed to Nicholas' 200cc)
Malba Allen, the UK CZ Chain distributor, said: "Scott is the first person that the UK director importer of CZ karting chains is sponsoring for the last 15 years.
"Not only do we have high hopes for him, but we also believe he will have a great future, specially coming from a family of racers - that will help even more in the development of his career."
Go karting appears to run in the family.
Scott's grandfather, Dennis Huntley, used to race in the 1960s and his great uncle, Maurice Lee, was the North East's Autotest champion for five years and started racing Mini Coopers 50 years ago.
Scott is also sponsored by farmers Frances and Peter Theobald, who've devised the 'Living Memorial' to honour our fallen servicemen and women.
If he secures sufficient funding, he'll able to attend the World Championships, representing Great Britain in Italy.
Mr Huntley added: "We couldn't believe it. Usually, you have to approach a sponsor and even so 10 or more can be selected.
"It took about five weeks to get the contract signed - they had to look at Scott's school report as he was to be an ambassador for the company."
When asked about how others could get involved, he responded with: "Go to local track and don't rush into anything. Some kids spend thousands of pounds on professional karts.
"Scott's used hired karts and we only bought a second hand kart, that had been lying around for 18 months, last year.
"His dream is to get involved with F1 and people can shoot him down for having that dream. But, you don't know anything until you try."
