Sue, who was a pioneering force in motoring journalism, a long-standing SGMW member and former chairman, passed away in November 2022 after bravely battling Motor Neurone Disease.

To celebrate Sue’s contribution to the world of motoring and the SGMW, members agreed that this year’s annual karting event would take place in her honour, renaming it the SGMW Sue Baker Memorial Karting Grand Prix with the Motor Neurone Disease Association as its nominated charity.

Fifteen teams entered – with last year’s winners Gazoo Racing competing against BMW, Genesis, Honda, Ineos/PFPR, Kia, Lexus, Mazda, Newspress/Loop, Nobull, Porsche, SMMT, Toyota, Volkswagen – along with the Southern group team entry, Volvo by SGMW.

From the moment the lights went out, every one of the teams dug deep with some very committed racing.

The early pacesetter was the Porsche team, trailed by SGMW by Volvo in second and Gazoo Racing in third. In the early stages, the SGMW’s own Sean Ward set the pace with a fastest lap time of 49.868 seconds.

After nearly 50 laps, Nobull had broken into the top three only a couple of seconds behind SGMW by Volvo by SGMW in second place, while the Porsche team was showing strong pace in first place, quickly establishing a lead of nearly 12 seconds.

Soon after, Nobull battled into first place – with Porsche, Gazoo Racing and SGMW by Volvo regularly swapping places to make up the top four – with all showing strong pace to separate themselves from the rest of the field.

By the end of the two-and-a-half-hour race though, the Porsche team claimed victory with a brilliant fightback to complete 161 laps by the chequered flag and take the coveted SGMW Karting GP Trophy.

In second place, Gazoo Racing finished only 14.3 seconds behind the winner. It completed the same number of laps, while the Volvo by SGMW team took a well-deserved third place completing 159 laps.

All of the top three teams set the pace throughout the race with only a few tenths of a second separating them for the quickest lap of the day.

Overall winners Porsche recorded a time of 47.989 seconds, with second place Gazoo Racing just ahead with a time of 47.704.

Both were denied the bragging rights by SGMW by Volvo driver Sean Ward, who set the fastest lap of the day with a time of 47.648 seconds in the final stint of the race.

The race finished with SGMW treasurer Chris Manning handing over a cheque for £4,850 to the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA).

SGMW chairman Ian Robertson said: “A huge thank you to everyone who was involved in organising the karting event.

“But, more importantly, thanks so much to everyone that supports the event, donates the money, participates in racing and who helped us to raise a whopping £4,850 for Motor Neurone Disease in memory of our dear friend and colleague, Sue Baker.

“Since we started the annual charity karting event, we have now raised more than £30,000. It’s thanks to our colleagues in the industry that this has been made possible.

“As chairman of the Southern Group of Motoring Writers, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”

The top picture shows Stuart Bird, a leading light of the SGMW karting organising team, and Sarah Armstrong, MND Association south east regional fund-raiser, with the £4,850 cheque and other SGMW members.

To learn more about the MNDA’s fantastic work visit www.mndassociation.org

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Twelve teams competed for glory – from BMW, Honda, Newspress, Nissan, Porsche, SGMW, Stellantis, Toyota, Lexus, Gazoo, Volvo and Women On the Move Against Cancer (WOMAC) – earlier this month at TeamSport in Crawley, near Gatwick Airport.

This year’s Karting GP nominated charity was WOMAC which was established in 1979. The original plan had been to tie in the event with WOMAC’s 40^th anniversary but the Covid pandemic forced the cancellation of the Karting GP in the past two years.

But it was worth the wait and, better late than never, it raised £2,550 for WOMAC.

WOMAC is made up of around 70 women volunteers working in the automotive and associated industries. It organises events and activities to raise money for cancer charities.

Over the years, WOMAC has given more than £1,000,000 to cancer-related projects, searching for more effective treatments or improving the quality of life for cancer-sufferers, their families and carers.

Despite receiving three black flags before the lap counter had gone into double digits, it was soon evident which team was the one to beat.

Graham Bothamley, head of the Toyota press garage, looked suitably impressed with his team’s work but any mentions of ‘brought-in’ karting racers were denied.

The black flags would increase for the Gazoo team during the 150-minute endurance race.

From the start to the chequered flag, the 12 teams worked hard, building up sweats and appetites that were thankfully catered for with a non-stop run of pizza throughout the race.

Despite continuing to collect black flags, the overall winner, with 147 laps completed, was Gazoo Racing. It added to the SGMW karting title it won at the previous event back in 2019.

Toyota took second place with Porsche third.

Prizes for the three fastest laps went to:

• Ryan Luscombe (Gazoo Racing) – 47.785 seconds.
• Andy Jenner (Toyota) – 48.160 seconds.
• Sean Ward (SGMW member driving for Team WOMAC) – 48.182 seconds.

Massimo Pini, a co-founder and organiser of the SGMW annual Karting GP, said “It was great to be back on track with one of our biggest fund-raisers of the year and fulfill our promise to WOMAC which was originally to have coincided with its 40th anniversary – but the pandemic put paid to that.

“The Southern Group of Motoring Writers is a big supporter of the charity and we are proud to have WOMAC patrons Sue Baker, Sarah Bradley and Claire Evans among our membership.”

The event finished with SGMW treasurer Chris Manning presenting a giant cheque for £2,550 to WOMAC chair Georgia Fox, charity co-ordinator Moyosola Fujamade and media co-ordinator Heather Webb.

WOMAC aims to raise a total of £15,000 for its two charities for 2022 – Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation and Maggie’s. Both provide care and support for those going through a cancer diagnosis. Funds raised will go towards expert advice, counselling services, patient grants and research projects.

Everyone agreed it was good to have the SGMW Karting GP back on the calendar and are looking forward to getting back on track again next year.

Find out more about WOMAC’s sterling work by visiting www.womac.co.uk

Thank you to Richard Parsons (www.richard-parsons.com) and Sims Images for all the pictures.

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