Hi, I’m Mitch Gilbert. I am a 20 year old Australian that was born in Kuala Lumpur, and I’ve been spending most of my 20 years on earth trying to become a Formula 1 driver. I lived in KL for nearly 15 years, I went to school in KL, I started racing in Malaysia, my dad even still lives there. Malaysia really is where I call home. However, there is a big part of me, my upbringing, that is Australian. Basically, I like to have a barbeque with my friends and family, but I can go for Nasi Lemak at 3am too!
I started racing in 2002 at the Elite Speedway track and I never dreamed that would have got me to where I am today, living in the UK, racing in the GP3 series that supports Formula 1. I normally think about how far I have to go to reach my ultimate goal, but sometimes it’s nice to see how far I’ve come and where I’ve come from. There is only a few drivers from Malaysia that have gotten to the same level as I have, and I am proud to be part of this elite group of drivers.
Let me tell you a bit more about my story. Other than the fact that I’m an Australian that grew up in Malaysia, I also lived in Italy for a couple of years. I spent the beginning of 2009 until the end of 2010 in Desenzano on Lake Garda. This was a very significant point in my life. This was the moment, when I was 14, that I decided that I was going to chase my dream. My dad told me that if I wanted to be a Formula 1 driver, my time in Asia was up, and that I had to commit my whole life to being a driver. This is a big thing to do at 14. Most 14 year olds don’t even have to think about what they’re going to do with the rest of their life, let alone commit to it. 3 months after the decision was made, my mum and I packed up our stuff and headed off to Italy. In racing, you can’t do it on your own. The whole family has to commit to racing. My mum is a very important part of my life, probably my best friend in the whole world. She has given up her life for me to chase my dream. I’m thankful that my mum is here and more importantly, at my races. She is my biggest fan, but also my harshest critic.
Other than my story, let me tell you a bit more about myself. Obviously, I live and breathe racing, and am a big fan of racing, but I’m into a lot of other sports. I LOVE football. I’m actually a big Arsenal fan, and hopeful for a good season this year! Football is the only sport I really follow, I do watch some of the big events like big tennis matches, olympics etc. I do love playing sport, any sport. I love playing football, basically pretending I’m a footballer haha, and also play racquet sports. Squash, tennis, badminton. You name it! I like fashion a lot, sometimes a bit lazy to follow it myself, but do love it. Most of the accounts I follow on Instagram are fashion ones. I love music. Music has helped me get through difficult times in racing, and motivate to push on. I listen to a lot of rap and hip hop music, this helps me get motivated. However, when I want to write blogs, read, or just wind down, I listen to house music. The repetitiveness of the music helps me relax and drift off.
Finally, this is just an intro to me. I write blogs about a lot of different things in racing. Mainly, my races but also different things that I get up to throughout the year. Whether that’s training camps, track days, test days, travel days or just an insight into racing. I try and keep them different and interesting and fairly regular. I think anyone who watches racing or follows it at all will get a kick out of reading what life is like as a driver who is chasing the dream, and trying to make it.
I hope you keep reading 🙂
Mitch
You can follow Mitch on his social media accounts.
Instagran – @mitchgilbertracing
Twitter – @MitchGilbert25
Facebook – Mitch Gilbert Racing
