News & Race Reports

Smoke, Drama & a Blown Engine! Buckley's First Engine Failure

Sunday 11 October brought a new kind of milestone for eight-year-old racer Buckley Herbert: his first blown kart engine!

What began as another day of track time at Anglia Karting took a dramatic turn when a cloud of blue smoke billowed from Buckley's kart. The moment was caught on camera, with the smoking kart making quite an entrance into Buckley's racing scrapbook.

Not every memorable moment in motorsport comes with a trophy or a personal best. Sometimes it comes with a lot of smoke — and a story that will be told for years.

First engine failure: ticked off the racing checklist. On to the next session!

Buckley Herbert Smashes Personal Best with 19.452s Lap!

Eight-year-old karting driver Buckley Herbert has reached another milestone, setting a new personal best of 19.452 seconds at Anglia Karting on Sunday 4 October 2026.

The breakthrough came in Group A, Session 4, driving kart #6. The lap beats his previous personal best of 19.529s by 0.077 seconds.

Having started racing in May, Buckley continues to build his speed, consistency and confidence through regular time on track. His latest personal best is another encouraging step in his development as he looks ahead to the 2027 Club100 season.

New personal best: 19.452s. The journey continues!

New Personal Best — 19.529s

Best lap: 19.529s — beating his previous best of 19.576s (6 Sep) by 0.047s

What Buckley learned: An absolutely smashing cadet session — four sessions against Charlie Trotter, Cohen West, Caleb Culwick and newcomer Jenson Traveller, with pace building steadily across the day (19.976s → 19.740s → 19.577s → 19.529s). Three of the four sessions were in Kart 6, which now accounts for 6 of his top-10 fastest sessions ever — no longer a pattern worth noting, but a known quantity worth requesting every time.

Buckley Wins Again — Fourth Race Win

Best lap: 20.065s in the race itself; 19.981s earlier in the day, the fastest lap of that session

Result: A position race — Buckley completed his 15 laps first, taking his fourth race win of the season.

What Buckley learned: Two sessions today against Callum Tester, Caleb Culwick, Logan Lillicrop and Douglas Pitt. The earlier session produced the fastest lap of that group, and the win came in a genuine position race rather than on outright pace alone — same pattern as his first three wins, where finishing position mattered more than the single fastest lap.

New Personal Best — 19.576s

Best lap: 19.576s — beating his previous best of 19.847s (23 Aug) by 0.271s, his biggest single jump since first breaking into the 19s

What Buckley learned: An 18-lap session against a six-driver field — Layne Eagle, Finlay McErleane, Logan Lillicrop, Charlie Worrall and Leo Piggott — produced 8 laps under 20 seconds. Notably, this is the second consecutive personal best set in Kart 6, following the 23 August record in the same kart: a trend worth watching rather than a coincidence at this point.

Buckley Wins Again — Third Race Win

Best lap: 19.944s

Result: 1st place in a 7-driver field, Buckley's third race win.

What Buckley learned: The biggest field he's raced this season — seven drivers including Tyler Smith, Callum Tester, Leo Piggott, Layne Eagle, Charlie Trotter and Henry Clark — and he still came out on top. This came in the same session as a fresh sub-20 lap, just hours after setting a new outright personal best of 19.847s earlier in the day. As with his first two wins, the result came down to race position rather than outright lap time.

New Personal Best — 19.847s

Best lap: 19.847s — beating his previous best of 19.892s (19 Aug) by 0.045s

What Buckley learned: Four sessions against a new field — Henry Clark, Charlie Trotter and Tyler Smith, plus a bigger 7-driver field in the final session including Callum Tester, Leo Piggott and Layne Eagle. The new PB came in his third session, his longest of the day at 22 laps and by far his most consistent — reinforcing that longer, settled sessions keep producing his best results, even though this one broke the recent trend of the best lap coming last.

New Personal Best — 19.892s

Best lap: 19.892s — beating his previous best of 19.919s (10 Aug) by 0.027s

What Buckley learned: Five head-to-head sessions against Nojus Sadauskas, with pace building steadily across the day — the new PB came in the fifth and final session, continuing a pattern seen on 26 Jul and 10 Aug of his best results landing late in a long day rather than early. The head-to-head with Nojus stayed razor close throughout: 2 wins each way and one loss by just 0.008s.

Buckley Cracks the 19-Second Barrier

Best lap: 19.919s — a new outright personal best, and his first-ever lap under 20 seconds

What Buckley learned: Two earlier sessions that day (bests of 20.257s and 20.172s) built up momentum before the breakthrough. The final session wasn't a single lucky lap either — he beat his own running best 5 times across it (20.359s → 20.218s → 20.175s → 19.952s → 19.919s), with 6 laps under 20.2s in total, more than every previous session before it combined. A new personal best of 19.919s, beating his previous best of 20.164s, and it came at the end of the day rather than fresh into it.

Buckley Wins Again — Second Race Win

Best lap: 20.322s (2nd fastest lap of his career)

Result: 1st place in the final session, Buckley's second race win.

What Buckley learned: Two race wins inside two weeks, and this one came off the back of another strong pace day — 20.322s was just 0.16s off his all-time personal best. As with the first win, the result came down to race position rather than outright lap time, with a mixed field including some new faces (Jack Cochrane, Finlay McErleane) alongside regulars.

Buckley Wins His First Race!

Best lap: 20.595s

Result: 1st place in the Grand Prix, Buckley's first race win.

What Buckley learned: Buckley raced through four heats before the Grand Prix final, running his most consistent pace of the day in the final itself — a tighter gap between his best and average lap than in any of the earlier heats. Finishing position, not raw lap time, decided the race, and Buckley brought it home in first.

Buckley Sets New Personal Best at Anglia Karting

Best lap: 20.164s (personal best at the time)

What Buckley learned: Opening-lap consistency continued to improve, and the gap to the fastest driver in the field narrowed to its smallest margin yet at 0.921s in one session. Sustained pace across a full run of laps was the standout improvement compared to earlier sessions.