JACK Clisby had wanted to live life in the fast lane ever since he got his first motocross bike at the age of 12.

So what did he do about it?

He designed and built his own racing car from scratch, of course.

Now 25, the engineering student from Cilcain took a year out, became team manager of the John Moores University’s Formula Student team, then built and raced a car.

The Formula Student competition is an annual event where teams from university engineering courses around the world go head to head in the fields of design, brakes and acceleration.

But the biggest challenge is the race, where teams that have designed and built their own vehicles compete on the track.

More than 80 teams from Canada, Germany, Australia and Britain took part this year at the world-famous Silverstone circuit.

John Moores came 21st overall in the event, which was won by German team TU Munich.

Jack said: “Getting over the finish line is an achievement in itself. It was always at the back of my mind that the whole thing was going to fall apart, but it held together and came away with a great result.”

Jack took diplomas in engineering at Yale College and Swansea Metropolitan and also worked with Ramsport, a rally car preparation company from Ruthin, before taking his passion to the next level.

But he has nurtured a keen interest in engineering since childhood when he worked on machines with his dad, Tim, who said: “Jack had to pull the whole team together – he had to make it all happen. To have come 21st is very impressive.

“This is a big thing in the engineering and design community. It’s one thing to design a car and throw ideas about, but you have to realise your ambitions. They’ve done that and they should all be proud of themselves.”