Kane travels the world with Formula 1 race team

Travelling the world and working on a Formula One racing team has to be a dream job for any young fan.

There aren't many jobs which offer world-wide travel with all the excitement of the F1 stage and for a Norfolk lad there could really only be one team - Lotus.

Former College of West Anglia apprentice Kane Hemmant is currently in India with the team and will be coming home after this weekend's Grand Prix before heading straight out to Abu Dhabi for the next round.

Not a bad life for the 22-year-old electrician who spent three years at the college as an apprentice to a King's Lynn company before making the move to Team Lotus.

He was part of a crew working on electrical installations at the Team Lotus HQ when someone suggested he should ask if there were any vacancies for his line of work - and he was taken on.

Speaking from India, Kane, from Scarning, near Dereham, said working for the team was a dream come true.

'I love it, it's a great job and a great team of people to work with,' he said.

The Hingham-based team is tight-knit, with drivers Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen, Luiz Razia, and Karun Chandhok all on the books.

'We are working well together and all quite close,' said Kane.

The newly-created team entered F1 for the first time last year and achieved 10th place while this year, so far, it has enjoyed a highest placing of 13th in three of the races.

As a race electrician, Kane works closely with the team drivers and other technicians.

'We do pit stops and we get calls on the radio about set-ups which might need changing,' he said.

But it was his decision to take up an apprenticeship when he left school that was to prove the best move he could have made.

'I could never have done this without the apprenticeship - it was the best thing I ever did and I would really recommend it,' he said.

But his ambitions do not rest behind the wheel of the cars he works on.

'I don't think I would fit, I'm around 100kg (15 stone) and the space is very small,' he said.

A Team Lotus spokesman said: 'We are always looking for young people who are keen to join the motorsport world. We have a GP2 team, the younger brother of the F1 team, both based in Hingham, and we encourage young people to contact us if they are studying engineering, mechanical engineering, marketing or anything associated with motorsport to be considered for opportunities that arise. We do not currently have an apprenticeship scheme in place but are looking to do so in the future.'

The Indian Grand Prix takes place on Sunday.