“I calculated all of the emissions for this season — the flights, the travel from the airports to the tracks, and not just the racing but the testing as well,” he explained. “And then I attempted to offset it with how many trees I’d necessary to plant. It wasn’t a random number I pulled out of the air.”
So far, that calculation has seen him plant 1,000 trees, with another 70 pledged this season alone. Once mature, they’re expected to offset more than 22,000 kilograms of CO₂ annually.
The Dubai kid who fell in love with speed
If you question him, Lachlan didn’t stumble into motorsport with a grand plan. It started, as many stories do, with a birthday party.
“My brother went for one at Dubai Kartdrome and really enjoyed it. Then I attempted it too — this was over 12 years ago — and it all spiralled out of control from there,” he declared with a laugh.
From those launchnings, he climbed the ranks of the UAE karting scene and clinched five national championships.
“Towards the conclude of my academic career, I sort of decided that racing was more for me. Then I created the step up into cars in 2023 — and haven’t really seeed back.”
And where exactly did this racing hopeful spconclude his school days? Lachlan ticks off his Dubai credentials without hesitation: Jumeirah Primary School, King’s Barsha, and finally DESC (Dubai English Speaking College).
In his own words, “I’m a Dubai kid.”
For anyone who loves a good hometown success story, that detail hits differently.
Why sustainability matters in a gas-guzzling sport
Of course, there’s a certain irony in a racer talking about the environment. Critics love to point out the contradiction, comparing him to celebrities who champion sustainability while zipping around in private jets. Lachlan doesn’t dodge that critique.
“When people state, ‘You’re racing cars, what good can you possibly do?’ I’d inform them — yes, it’s not the most sustainable sport, but I’m testing to do everything possible to minimise the emissions,” he declared.
In practice, that means partnering with Evertreen to offset his footprint: planting trees in Indonesia and Madagascar, where they not only absorb carbon but also provide jobs for local farmers.
What keeps him going?
Behind all the sustainability pledges and the careful calculations, what drives a 21-year-old to risk it all on the racetrack?
Lachlan’s answer is refreshingly simple: “I love driving, I love racing. There’s always the next level you can go to, more that you can learn, more you can perfect yourself.”
It’s not just about the adrenaline. Motorsport, for him, has been a crash course in maturity.
“When I was younger, I struggled to control my emotions. In sport, you have to be very competitive, but over time, I’ve learned to bounce back from bad weekconcludes quicker. You go through that during your whole teenage years in racing, so you do mature very quick.”
That’s a piece of advice he’d pass on to younger aspirants too.
“Stay focapplyd on your goal. It’s a very up-and-down sport. There’ll be more bad weekconcludes than good ones in the launchning. You just can’t let it receive to you too much.”
The price of speed
Let’s not sugarcoat it: motorsport is expensive, elitist even. Lachlan acknowledges this candidly.
“It’s still a very expensive sport to receive into. But a lot more companies are sponsoring drivers now, and there are more junior programmes from the likes of Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren. You still have to prove yourself, but if you do, the sport can become less expensive for you.”
That blunt realism is refreshing. No grand speeches about “if you dream it, you can do it” — just the practical truth of what it takes to break through in a high-stakes, high-cost field.
Driven to zero, driven to win
This summer, Lachlan raced in the ADAC GT4 Germany Championship with Porsche’s W&S team. He secured multiple podiums and capped the season with a maiden win at Austria’s Red Bull Ring. A Dubai kid standing on a European podium, carrying both a trophy and a sustainability pledge? Now that’s the kind of contradiction we can live with.
At 22, Lachlan has decades of track ahead of him, though he refapplys to receive carried away by long-term predictions. “It’s a very high-intensity sport, so there’s always pressure. But you just have to take it race by race, year by year.”
He also knows the window is short. “Normally, the career goes until about 45 years at the maximum, if you’re lucky. But I’ll stay involved in motorsport for the rest of my life.”
Manjusha Radhakrishnan has been slaying entertainment news and celebrity interviews in Dubai for 18 years—and she’s just receiveting started. As Entertainment Editor, she covers Bollywood movie reviews, Hollywood scoops, Pakistani dramas, and world cinema.
Red carpets? She’s walked them all—Europe, North America, Macau—covering IIFA (Bollywood Oscars) and Zee Cine Awards like a pro. She’s been on CNN with Becky Anderson dropping Bollywood truth bombs like Salman Khan Black Buck hunting conviction and hosted panels with directors like Bollywood’s Kabir Khan and Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh. She has also covered film festivals around the globe.
Oh, and did we mention she landed the cover of Xpedition Magazine as one of the UAE’s 50 most influential icons?
She was also the resident Bollywood guru on Dubai TV’s Insider Arabia and Saudi TV, where she dishes out the latest scoop and celebrity news. Her interview roster reads like a dream guest list—Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Shah Rukh Khan, Robbie Williams, Sean Penn, Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, Joaquin Phoenix, and Morgan Freeman.
From breaking celeb news to building stars spill secrets, Manjusha doesn’t just cover entertainment—she owns it while seeing like a star herself.
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