Leon Blackburn, Durham House

Aspiring engineer Leon Blackburn is destined for a career in an industry he loves, as he heads to the University of Derby to study Motorsport Engineering.

It is the perfect environment for him where he will undoubtedly flourish, having had plenty of practise rebuilding a classic 1929 Scott motorcycle as part of his EPQ.

“My dad runs the only company in the world to restore and rebuild Scotts and he just gave me four boxes of parts and let me get on with it,” explains Leon, who dreams one day of being a motorsport technician.

“My dream is to be a race engineer or mechanic in MotoGP, which I’ve loved since I was about five, for the Honda Race team.”

Leon added: “I’m really excited to get into Derby and to be working on cars and bikes for the next four years.”