PE talks to 20-year-old Jack Bartholomew to find out what it’s like for the Sussex-based electrician to balance his work with the pursuit of his racing dream.
Monday morning: a sharp reminder of reality for most of us mere mortals. Yet, for Jack Bartholomew, this barely scratches the surface.
He spends his working week as an electrician, following in his father’s footsteps for Chris Bartholomew Electrical Contractors, based in Lewes, East Sussex.
However, every so often, a weekend comes along where he gets to step out of the electrical world.
I sat down with Jack after one such weekend; he had participated in the first race of the 2019 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe at Silverstone Circuit.
If that wasn’t enough, he came out of the weekend with two podium finishes, including a race win.
As recently as a year ago he was competing in the Asian edition of the series, which for Jack meant “flying out on the Tuesday before a race weekend, and then getting back into England on the Monday or Tuesday after.”
One thing is for certain, however; Jack is able to balance the two lives well, and he’s had plenty of experience doing so.
He explains: “I guess I’m quite good at balancing the two now; I was racing karts between the ages of nine and 16, so it was always difficult balancing school and racing.”
Jump start
Although racing is his passion, Jack always knew he would end up in the trade at some point.
He says: “I’ve been racing for almost 11 years now, and it’s obviously been a bigger part of my life than the electrical stuff. With my father being an electrician and running a company, it was inevitable I was going to end up in the trade.”
In particular, Jack says that, over the last few years, the company has done a lot of work on “renewable energy and solar installs, so a lot of my time has been spent on rooves puling in big armoured cables for solar installs.”
And there is the potential for an exciting avenue of work in the future, as he explains: “We’ve just set up another company installing solar in Vietnam, which my brother is in charge of.
“That will be a really cool project and, hopefully, I’ll be able to get over there and potentially do a bit of work and manage some larger projects. Career-wise, that would be really good for me.”
Importantly, it’s working for the family business that allows him the freedom to pursue his racing dream, as Jack admits: “As much as I love the electrical industry, I don’t plan to be doing it forever, and I hope to go professional with the racing.”
How easy could this be to achieve? Jack says: “To get to the position of being a factory/paid driver, you need to have money behind you and have partners and investors to put backing behind you.
“I think the fact that I’ve gone to work with the family business has helped that side.”
He recently took a step closer to this reality as he was announced as one of 13 drivers on the 2019 Young Driver Program for Lamborghini Squadra Corse.
Electric avenue
Although his future plans lie away from the electrical industry, Jack only has good things to say about his day-to-day work.
He recounts: “I finished school in 2015, and then started work in the August of that year. I’ve now just got to finish the AM2 and I’m done. It’s been just over three years since I started, but it’s been brilliant.”
In terms of the near future, he says: “Within the next two to three years, I’d like to do the next level of training and become approved.”
Despite his dreams, Jack is clearly down-to-earth with his goals. He explains: “As with any athlete in any sport, things can always go wrong. You can get injured or things can happen at the wrong time, so it’s important to have a plan B.”
Acknowledging his place in the next generation of electricians coming through, he knows the importance of the industry prioritising young talent.
He states: “I know an apprentice is a cost for the first year or two, but you have to see it as a long-term investment. It’s about changing the stigma surrounding apprenticeships.”
Furthermore, Jack recognises that the electrical work has produced certain benefits for his racing.
For example, he explains: “Some of the days working on solar are quite physical, so from a fitness point of view, that’s good.”
Above everything else, however, he notes: “The biggest thing is discipline: when you have places to be, you have to be up on time. People have school runs and schedules of their own, so when it says 8am, you have to be there at 8am.”
Formula for success
At the moment, Jack believes both sides of his work offset each other well.
He says: “You can have a particularly bad day at work, which motivates me to want push on with my dream of racing.
“Alternatively, I can have a bad race weekend, but I can crack on with work and suddenly the next race weekend comes around. They definitely help each other.”
Although, he admits: “To then come back to work on Monday morning is a bit of a comedown, but you do get used to it and get more motivated for the next race weekend.”
So, realistic with his goals, Jack’s sights are firmly set on racing professionally one way or the other in the future.
He concludes: “I know everyone aims for Formula One, but that’s not possible unless you have between £15-20 million behind you.
“The single-seater formulas are very expensive to run and you basically have to buy a seat with one of the teams.
“A realistic goal for me is to be a paid GT driver, which is what I’m doing now with Lamborghini. Who wouldn’t love to be paid to drive fast cars around the world?
“It’s an absolute dream. I’ve been living this dream for the last 11 years, but I want it to be a full-time career.”
