It shows sport's unfailing capacity to surprise that while Britain's great motorcycling hope went to hell and back on his big day, a teenage tyro stole his headlines, made history and went to Hull. Too young to drink and too old to concern himself with school, Scott Redding celebrated becoming the youngest grand prix winner of all time by sitting in the back of his motorhome playing with his Meccano set. He was oblivious to the irony of missing the boat after rewriting the record books.

For those who missed it, Redding won the British 125cc Grand Prix at Donington Park in Derbyshire on Sunday. He was 15 years and 170 days old. This is two years younger than Valentino Rossi was when he claimed the first of his 91 victories and almost three years younger than Casey Stoner, the MotoGP world champion, when he scored his maiden triumph. It was also the first British win in the class for 35 years.

Not surprisingly, Redding suddenly was news. Rossi, who has seven world titles, joked: “He won his first race in shorter time than me. I hate him - he is half my age.”

In a car park in Hull on Sunday night, awaiting the ferry to take him to Assen for today's Dutch TT, Redding's father, Adrian, might have reflected that it had been a long journey to make it to the start of the road. A part-time window fitter, Redding has long been seduced by bike racing, while his father still fits bikes for the TT races on the Isle of Man. His brother, Daryl, has helped him to plough every penny into fuelling his boy's dream. Does he worry?

“Look, he was doing over 100mph at the age of 9, so I'm used to it,” Redding Sr said. “It's been tough for all of us. Everything has been on hold from the age of 6. I phone my boss three days before I come home from a race and he tries to find me some work. Scott contributes to the travelling costs and hotels now. He's looking after us. It's payback, I suppose. How much have I spent? I reckon it's probably around £250,000 so far.”

It was a stirring achievement to give the Donington crowd a winner after James Toseland, the piano-playing Briton, had crashed on the first corner of the MotoGP race. Redding Sr does not come across as a pushy parent, but although he has not pressured his son into a high-speed career, he is confident of success. “I am 90 per cent sure that he will be the world champion next year,” he said. “The bike's old, nothing special. If he gets on the new Aprilia next year and rides it like he is doing now, the sky's the limit. I've told numerous people at work to put some money on him.”

Redding Jr, from Quedgeley in Gloucestershire, is unflustered by such paternal enthusiasm. “If I get a good bike and everything works out, hopefully I will be the world champion next year,” he said. “I did not think I'd get a win so soon, but thought a podium was a possibility.”

He is ahead of the game and, intriguingly, is doing it his way. Having been spotted by Roger Keys, who runs FAB Racing, a company promoting Metrakit mini racing, Redding progressed through minimoto and Metrakit classes before finding £4,200 to pay for a spot in the Copa Calypso in Spain. Six wins proved his worth and in 2006 he was fast-tracked into the MotoGP Academy, a fame school for the cream of teenage talent backed by Dorna Sports, the MotoGP rights-holder. That was a tricky year, not least because of a mysterious problem that rendered his hands numb. “I went backwards in the academy,” he said. “It did not suit me. It's too serious in there. It's racing and nothing else. It's not like a family. The hand thing didn't help. I could not feel what was going on, so I had to guess. It would come on mid-race and was pretty scary. I pulled out of the first race. In the next one I slowed down. The one after that I just went with it.”

His father was unimpressed when it was suggested that Redding have an operation. “They were going to cut open both his arms to get blood into his hands,” he said. “I didn't agree because he was so young. I made him squeeze a ball every evening instead. He still has it and, touch wood, it hasn't come back.”

A year in the Spanish CEV championship followed before his grand prix debut with the Blusens Aprilia Junior team. It took him only eight races to score a win. He says that nothing bothers him but will not talk about crashes. “I never have and never will.” Superstition? “Yeah.”

Intriguingly, Alex Barros, the Brazilian veteran, was his hero. Why? “Well, he never had the best kit, but when he got the good stuff he was battling with Rossi straight away,” Redding said. He does not live and breathe racing.

“We get home and he goes off on his mountain bike and we don't see him for the rest of the day,” his father said. He gets on well with Danny Webb, another young Briton in the 125cc series, but says that Bradley Smith, the Oxfordshire teenager tipped for the top, needs to lighten up. “Me and Danny mess about on photo shoots, but Bradley's done the MotoGP Academy and is too serious,” Redding said. “You only have to get serious when the helmet's on.”

His Spanish team know that. “They let me have what I thought was tomato soup for two races before telling me it was the mix for pizza,” he said. “They are a good laugh.”

This is the life of a boy getting his teenage kicks by racing at 140mph. He qualified for today's race in sixth place. Utterly unflustered, he says the only thing that bothers him is heights. He may have to get used to that.

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