Champions choose Force Motorsport for superior kart engine performance and support
Force Motorsport is situated just 10 mins from Wombwell Kart Circuit in South Yorkshire, and is owned and operated by champion kart driver Jordan Baines. Force Motorsport started in 1993 and was founded by John Davies – initially preparing engines for his son, with the business taking off when Lewis Hamilton chose Force Motorsport to prepare his engines.
Jordan Baines
Jordan started his karting career at the tender age of 5 at indoor karting events. As the minimum race age back then was 8, Jordan spent time testing a cadet kart at Wombwell Karting aka South Yorkshire Kart Club before he could make his race debut. Having never seen the circuit at Rowrah in Cumbria, he finished 12th our of 32 runners in his first race, winning the novice cup for as the highest place novice. The following year he competed at Wombwell and Fulbeck, finishing second in both championships.
In 2009, Jordan got his first taste of Force Motorsport power – little did he know he’d go on to own the company! Setting the fastest lap at Fulbeck, a record which stands today. In 2010 Jordan moved onto Rotax Mini Max winning the championships at both Wombwell and at Fulbeck. Jordan continued his winning streak in 2011, in the TVKC Championship at PFI and placing second in the Northern Kart Federation Championship. 2012 saw Jordan enter Super One, but with a lack of funds, he had to drop out mid-way through the season, even though a top five championship position was on the cards from his early running.
Moving up to Junior Max in 2013, Jordan started being involved in driver coaching, advising on kart set-up and driver tuition, he finished the season as Vice Champion at TVKC in the Junior Max Championship that year, just 1 point away from the overall win.
2014 saw Jordan concentrate full-time on chassis preparation and driver coaching, winning the Wombwell Kart Championship in both Honda and IAME Cadet. Supporting others and achieving more wins spurred him on, he went to work with John Davies at Force Motorsport, gaining more knowledge on the engineering side of motorsport and being trained by one of the best Engine Prepares in the country. John Davies saw potential in Jordan and entrusted him to keep his legacy alive.
Quote from Jordan “I’m lucky that I love what I do at Force Motorsport, I get more of a kick helping a driver to go quick than I did winning races. Seeing Force Motorsport power champions from Club Championships to the British really does give me a buzz. I like to think the set-up we have at Force is different than most. We are the only kart engine tuner in the UK to have a rolling road dyno for kart engines, ensuring that the power output we can achieve on the dyno is representative of what you get on the track. We also take our time to ensure every engine that leaves us is a better than when it arrived. We have a network of suppliers and manufacturers through the UK and Europe, so we are always ahead of the curve with new development in kart engine tuning.”
It’s why champions choose Force Motorsport for their Kart race engine preparation, service, dyno testing and rental
Why did Sir Lewis choose Force Motorsport to power his karting success?
John Davies, founder of Force Motorsport, takes up the story; It all started in 1993. My son was racing in cadet karts (8 to 12 year old class) at Rye House. Lewis was a novice racer, having just turned 8, he was driving rather enthusiastically and ended up crashing into my son Jonathan, his kart ending up on top of Jonathan’s. I untangled them (no one hurt) and set them off round the track again. After the race I had a conversation with Tony (Lewis’ father) suggesting he might calm Lewis down a bit!
In these early days I was preparing Jonathan’s motors as a hobby.
Lewis was a quick learner and showed talent after only a very few races. In those early days John Button (Jenson’s dad) prepared Lewis’ motors. John’s motors were very good and frequently won karting British Championships.
The following year, Martin Hines (ZIP) was looking for the best engine builder to build cadet motors for his son Luke.
Martin sent out one new cadet motor to each of the country’s top engine builders with the message that whoever produced the fastest motor would get the contract to prepare Luke’s. It turned out that Martin had heard of me and sent me a motor as well.
The motor I prepared for Luke turned out to be the best one. This was a big turning point for my engine building career. Up until now I had been a senior manager in the construction industry, preparing the motors as a hobby. All of a sudden I had people asking me to prepare their motors on the basis that, if they were good enough for Martin Hines, they must be good.
This was a life changing moment: I left the construction industry to turn my hobby into a job.
Two years had now gone past since first meeting Lewis. By now he was winning races and championships. I thought it would be good for business if I could tempt Lewis to race on our motors. I had a word with Tony about this, but he was very committed to John Button. I asked if he would try some of our motors, and, after a lot of persuasion he took up the offer. Fortunately for me, Tony and Lewis liked the motors and Lewis switched over to Force Motorsport engines. This was the start of a wonderful working relationship of 4 ½ years where we supplied Lewis with his power.”
The Force Motorsport difference
Other than put the engine in reverse, we’ll test everything from the carb to the exhaust and engine itself, finding that last bit of performance to get you further up the grid. Without a strong engine, you’ll never reach your full potential. That’s why we spend time making sure we get you an improvement from your engine when you first bring it to us. If you are buying a new engine, you can buy with confidence as we check every engine on our dyno before you hit the track to make sure it will perform.
It’s why champions choose Force Motorsport!