DREAMS of hitting the racetracks have come true for John Suckling -- after building his own race car.

John, who celebrated his 49th birthday last month, was determined to become a motor racer before passing 50. He started building the Caterham-7 style car in October and raced it for the first time last weekend. "It started out as a pile of tubes and a pit of sheet metal, it is a great feeling to put it all together then climbing in and racing at 140mph."

John's company, Suckling Fabrications, makes ovens which 'cure' the Carbon Fibre bodies of F1 cars for all the top teams including McLaren and Ferrari, but while their cars cost millions of pounds his clocked in at just £6,000.

This weekend he is racing at Brands Hatch "Driving on a track is nothing like driving on a normal road and when everything comes right it is fantastic," he said.

The car was originally designed to be built by schoolchildren and John has offered to help local schools get into the race game. He can be contacted on 01535-670022.

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