A 15-year-old boy with an unusual talent for engineering has built his own hybrid go-kart.

Aaron Mitchell from Dryland Road, Borough Green, is a Year 10 pupil at the School of Science and Technology in Maidstone.

His go-kart uses a petrol engine and a powerful electric motor and can reach speeds of 55mph.

Aaron said: “I don’t really know where my interest stemmed from - my dad is a train driver and my mum a nurse - but I’ve been building things since I was about six.

“I’ve built go-karts and quad bikes before but this time I wanted to build a hybrid.”

Aaron has been working Saturdays at a container business to raise the £1,200 he reckons the project has cost him.

He said: ”I’ve got a workshop in the garage and I’ve been building the go-kart since the summer, starting with just a bare chassis.

He has done all the work himself from welding the engine mounts to the electric wiring.

Now the project is complete, he said he intends to show it to his engineering teacher at school.

But he doesn’t intend to race the machine.

He said: “My nan’s got some land, so I will probably take it there and enjoy it a bit, but it’s really building the kart that I like.”

Aaron is hoping for a career in engineering when he leaves school.

His mum, Diana, said: “He’s always been working on something since he was very, very young.

“But his projects have just grown bigger and more ambitious over the years.

“Naturally we’re very proud of him. He’s very talented.”