carroll, who was born in portadown, northern ireland, started his career in 1993 competing in karting events. he continued in karting until 1998. after winning the elf la filiere scholarship in 1999 he moved on to british formula ford, winning the winter series and taking 3rd in the festival. he raced in the british formula ford competition in 2001, before successfully making the move to british formula 3 b-class in 2002 with the sweeney team. despite driving year-old cars, carroll was always an outright front runner and he dominated the class winning the title with a record points tally.