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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Sue, a motoring pioneer, long-standing SGMW member and past chairman, died in November after bravely battling Motor Neurone Disease.

SGMW members unanimously agreed to choose the Motor Neurone Disease Association as its nominated charity to benefit from this year’s karting GP in memory of Sue.

It looks set to raise a record amount for charity. That is testament to Sue’s popularity and the esteem she was held in throughout the motoring world.

It has been renamed the SGMW Sue Baker Memorial Karting GP.

Sue was the driving force behind setting up the annual charity event. She was part of the original team which came up with the idea, and got the karting GP established, and remained a keen supporter.

The highly-competitive event is on Thursday, April 27, 3pm to 8pm. It is again being staged at the triple-level indoor circuit at TeamSport Crawley (www.team-sport.co.uk/crawley), near Gatwick.

The SGMW karting GP is tremendously popular with PRs, each year attracting a grid of ‘works’ teams from the automotive world.

This year’s response has been exceptional with a near-maximum field of 15 teams, some making their debut in the event. There have been financial pledges from four other manufacturers which are unable to attend but want to help a good cause in memory of Sue.

Chris Rees, SGMW secretary and karting GP organiser, said: “The amazing response to this year’s karting GP is testament to Sue Baker’s popularity and the respect people have for this pioneer of the motoring industry.

“There will be a lot of memories of Sue, and a lot of laughter, which will make it even more fun – something Sue would approve of.”

The event is also a great opportunity to network and, including this year’s grand prix, has raised more than £30,000 for charity since launched.

Teams compete in a 150-minute endurance race, trying to complete as many laps as possible, for the coveted SGMW karting GP trophy.

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