Disabled racing driver Jack Ferguson 'proving everyone wrong'

Jack Ferguson, 15, has won the first three races in his summer league at Ellough Park Race Circuit near Beccles, Suffolk

A teenage karting racer with medical conditions so severe that doctors told him not to play sport is "proving everyone wrong", his father said.

Jack Ferguson has arthritis, obsessive compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Asperger's syndrome and a leaky heart valve.

The 15-year-old, from Ipswich, has won the first three races of Ellough Park's Junior League for 8 to 15-year-olds.

Dad Pete said: "He should be dead by now, but he's proving everyone wrong."

Jack said he first got in a kart two and half years ago and "took to it straight away".

At moment Jack competes in a junior karting league for 8 to 15-year-olds, but next year hopes be driving a racing car

He hoped to be Formula 1 driver and said his hero was the late Brazilian three-time champion Aryton Senna.

When asked what he enjoyed most about racing, the answer was straightforward: "It's the winning."

'A lot of pain'

He has a new challenge - an invitation-only three-hour endurance race at Sandown Park in Surrey.

The invitation came from Dave Player who runs Team Brit which features former or serving military personnel who have had serious injuries and are disabled.

The team is hoping to expand to include other disabled drivers such as Jack.

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Most go-kart endurance races are only 60 minutes long and Jack was looking forward to "driving the kart fast" and "proving I can do long, demanding races".

Jack Ferguson had to be revived several times a week when he was a baby, but dreams of becoming a Formula 1 driver

Pete Ferguson, the "very proud" father who himself raced in Formula Ford, said: "He manages to do things when he drives that I can never manage.

"I'm quite jealous."

Pete Ferguson said his son would watch Formula 1 with him as a toddler

He admitted Jack's need for speed did worry him and that "you see him pushing it, he can put himself through quite a lot of pain".

Pete said he regularly had to resuscitate his son until surgery corrected a hole in his heart at the age of two, which was followed by the diagnosis of a form of genetic arthritis which affects all of his joints.

"It's incredible what he has achieved," he said.