YOU won't catch him speeding around the streets of West Oxford, but you might see this Botley-based petrol-head revving his way around Britain's best racing circuits.

Talented Tim Blanchard, of Lamarsh Road, is now taking on some of the world's best young drivers in Britain's Formula Ford championship, after moving from his native Australia.

The 20-year-old Melbourne-born racer won the Australian Formula Ford title last year and is now hoping to follow in the tyremarks of F1 stars Jenson Button and David Coulthard by clinching the British crown.

Mr Blanchard, who began racing go-karts at the age of ten, is second in the title standings, behind his Jamun Racing teammate Wayne Boyd.

The Antipodean made the move to England, like his F1 compatriot Mark Webber, to test his mettle in a more competitive championship, and to experience more testing tacks and weather conditions than in his homeland.

And he set up base in Oxford to be close to the home of Williams and Renault F1 teams as well as double world champion driver Fernando Alonso.

The driver, who reaches speeds of up to 150mph in his single seater fibre glass car, said: "Oxford is the home of a lot of drivers and a lot of big Formula 1 teams are based here, so it seemed the best place to settle.

"My dream is to become a Formula 1 driver."

He added: "I'm fully focused on the Formula Ford title at the moment. I came here to learn the British tracks and the British way of racing."

With 11 rounds of the season still to go, Mr Blanchard is 36 points behind Wayne Boyd, but 106 points ahead of third placed Victor Correa from Brazil.

He said: "We still have a few more races left and there's no reason why I can't win the championship."