Student near Banbury named after Jenson Button is now aiming for his own success at national motorsport tournament

Swalcliffe Park School student Jenson Jowett will hope to follow in the footsteps of his namesake, Jenson Button, when he competes for his school later this year.

Jenson, who was named after the famous Formula One driver, will be at the wheel of a battery-powered kart when his school takes part in the Greenpower Challenge.

Jenson said: “I got my name because my parents were big Formula One fans and particularly liked him. Hopefully I’ll do as well on the track as my namesake did.”

The Greenpower Challenge sees hundreds of pupils from schools across the country race against one another in self-built race karts.

Under the Greenpower Challenge rules, Jenson and the other boys in the Swalcliffe Park motorsport team have to design and then build three battery-powered racing karts.

After thoroughly testing the karts, the team will head to the starting grid at famous tracks like Goodwood and Mallory Park to race.

The races are 90-minute endurance events, with each of the three drivers taking turns at the wheel for a 30-minute period.

At the end of the race, the kart which covers the greatest amount of mileage during the 90 minutes is considered the winner.

Speaking about the racing, Jenson said: “It’s bumpy and stressful. There are around 100 cars from different schools lined up at the start of a race; it can be total chaos.

“It’s crucial to be road aware and avoid collisions. We just missed out on the final last year, but I think this will be our year.”

Jenson is one of several boys that make up the Swalcliffe Park racing team, which uses a specially kitted-out garage near the school to build their race karts.

Alan Mayor runs the school’s racing team. He said: “Our Jenson is a smashing driver, but there are 14 other boys in the Swalcliffe Park team, and they all bring different skills, some are terrific engineers, others have exceptional design skills, and everyone is crucial to making us a competitive race team and getting our three cars on the starting grid.

“It’s no small matter to design, build and then race these cars; the boys learn so much in the process. I’m very positive about the season ahead, even though we will be up against teams from a total of 350 other schools.

“The boys have worked really hard, and they could achieve great things. These races are free to attend and great fun to watch. We get crowds of around 11,000 at the final.

“I’m hoping that anyone with any sort of connection to Swalcliffe Park might come along and cheer us on at a race or two. We’ve made that national final twice before, and I’m hopeful we’ll be there again when it’s held at Goodwood this year.”

The Greenpower Challenge is run by the UK-based charity Greenpower Education Trust, which set up the races to get young people enthusiastic about science and engineering.