Karting kid Dexter Collins, 10, builds up 12,000 followers on Instagram through his track exploits

Ten-year-old kart racer Dexter Collins is making quite a name for himself.

Collins, who lives in Blue Bell Hill, has built up 12,000 followers on Instagram through his exploits on the track, and 1,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel.

Instagram also brought him to the attention of six-time British truck champion Ryan Smith, who acts as his mentor.

It’s proving quite the partnership as Collins lives his racing dream, showing the older kids how it’s done.

Last month he won the Brentwood Senior Championship at the first attempt, competing against 50 rivals aged 13 to 18.

He’s also in line to win the Bayford Meadows Junior Championship, which has a round to run.

Collins caught the racing bug at a young age.

“He wants to be a racing driver,” said dad Duncan.

“We live five minutes from Buckmore Park and from the age of three, every time we went past the sign for it, we’d get, ‘Can I kart? Can I kart?’.

“We took him along at four to do the electric karts and he moved on to the bambinos when he was six.

“This is his first full year of proper championships - he won the seniors at Brentwood by quite a margin.

“He idolises Ryan Smith, who’s his mentor, so if I asked him what he wanted to do down the line he would say truck racing, Formula 1 or Touring Cars.”

Collins, who is a pupil at St Andrew’s in Rochester, benefits greatly from his link-up with Smith.

“Ryan knows talent when he sees it, and he’s backing Dexter,” said Duncan.

“He’s learning so much having someone like that in his corner.”

Collins would like to thank Soar Electric Karting in Gillingham for their sponsorship.

You can follow his progress on Instagram using the handle @Dextercollinsracing and on YouTube by searching Dexter Collins Racing.