SIDE Year 12 student, Bart Horsten and his family moved to the United Kingdom in 2019 so that Bart could pursue his single-seater racing career.
Bart also wanted to keep his educational options open. Studying with SIDE allowed him to pursue his ambition to become a Formula 1 driver, developing his performance skills in the British Formula 4 championship, and to complete his education.
After successes in the British Formula 4 Championship in 2019, Bart was offered a place with the Lanan Racing Formula 3 team in 2020.
Photos courtesy of Jakob Ebrey
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the UK just as racing was about to commence. Bart was at first disappointed when he realised that he was not going to be driving a real racing car for months. However, he approached this unusual time as an opportunity to set some goals to maintain his skills and continue his studies during the lock down. Bart’s conscientious approach to his SIDE Year 12 studies has led to an early University offer in mechanical engineering and he has been able to work with his performance coach to ensure he maintained his physical strength and mental skills, as well as honing his performance skills through iRacing and simulator training.
He said,
I’m always thinking about little things, like how my approach or my preparation could be better, or what I am going to do to practice for the next event. All in all, lockdown has been a unique time in all our lives and I’ve tried to maximise this time as much as possible to benefit my career as a racing driver going forwards.
Bart’s racing season finally started on the first weekend in August and resulted in a podium finish. Racing continues across seven events finishing in November.
To discover more about Bart and Formula 3 racing check out his website at barthorsten.com or his blog at barthorsten.com/blog.
