Britain’s youngest speed demon is just four years old. The youngster can tear up the track at 40mph, even though he’s yet to master reading and writing. Little Raef Virdee has just kicked off his school life but is already being hailed as a future F1 sensation by top current drivers.
The tiny racer is sharpening his skills weekly at MPH Karting Academy in Solihull, West Mids, under the watchful eyes of his chuffed mum and dad, Lionel and Armadeep. The mini motorsport enthusiast got hooked on racing after catching F1 races on the telly with his dad Lionel, 35.
Proud father and property developer, Lionel said: “I think racing is in our DNA. My dad worked at Jaguar developing engines and I’ve always loved cars.”
“Raef would always be playing with toy cars and whizzing around in the electric cars he had. When he was just one he was reciting the names of his favourite drivers like Schumacher, Barrichello, Raikkonen and Massa.”
“His interest and ability has grown and he has a real talent for knowing how a kart handles and he has no fear.”
Brummie-born Raef has already turned heads, including that of Mercedes F1 hotshot Frederik Vesti, during a special session.
The Danish ace, who hit the tracks at eight, was wowed: “He’s four years old, so he has got a big advantage on me.”
“He’s already quite impressive and it’s just cool to see.”
“The next step is going racing against other kids of course, learning to pedal, try to overtake and defend, eventually winning his first race.”
Come January, when Raef hits five, he’ll be revving up to race against other young petrolheads.
Lion-hearted Raef is on the fast track to stardom after smashing records with a blistering 45.18-second lap time at Sutton Hill circuit in the Midlands. The speed demon couldn’t contain his excitement, stating: “It was fast. I wanted to overtake him.”
Ambitions are sky-high for the young racer who blurted out: “I want to be a Formula 1 driver and zoom and win the World Championships and all the races.”
Following a chance encounter last year between Raef’s dad Lionel and racing ace Vesti at Goodwood Festival of Speed, where Lionel chatted about his son’s racing penchant, the lad’s track career zoomed off.
Now with full-time coaching from Harry Darby at Solihull’s MPH Karting Academy, Raef’s setting the pace with record laps, prompting Harry to say, “The lap times never lie, and he’s producing some extremely quick lap times, to the point where I’m having to do some practising to make sure that he doesn’t beat me.”
Raef has been crowned “our fastest bambino driver that we’ve ever had in the last five years,” by his coach. Watching from the sidelines with pride is mum Amardeep, 36, who shares her lad’s passion for pace, noting, “Raef is so talented and we want to support his dream.”
When he’s not burning rubber, Raef enjoys kicking back with cousins, social whirls with extended family, play dates, and park adventures.
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