'If you dream it, you can do it'

22-YEAR-OLD LACHLAN FROM DUBAI IS A PROFESSIONAL RACER WHO ALSO PLANTS TREES

- BY MANJUSHA RADHAKRISHNAN

When you think of motorsport, the first images that spring to mind are roaring engines, eye-watering speed, and an unapologetic trail of emissions in its wake.

But meet Lachlan Robinson, a 22-year-old Australian who grew up in Dubai, cut his teeth on the UAE karting circuit, and is now quietly rewriting the narrative.

Not only is he stacking up podium finishes in Europe, he’s also making sustainability a cornerstone of his career. Yes, you read that right — a professional racer who also plants trees.

“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 tried to offset it with how many trees I'd need 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.

If you ask 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 tried it too — this was over 12 years ago — and it all spiralled out of control from there,” he said with a laugh.

Five national championships

From those beginnings, he climbed the ranks of the UAE karting scene and clinched five national championships.

“Towards the end of my academic career, I sort of decided that racing was more for me. Then I made the step up into cars in 2023 — and haven't really looked back.”