The annual event was again held at the National Motor Museum’s corporate marquee at Beaulieu in Hampshire.

A splendid turnout saw PR friends from eight manufacturers join 23 SGMW members for a day of motoring memories and convivial conversation.

The following cars were available to drive from manufacturers:

• Ford – Mark 1 Transit van, Capri 280 Brooklands and Explorer SUV.
• Genesis – three electrified GV70s.
• Kia – Stinger GTS and Mark 1 Picanto.
• Lexus – IS-F and RX500h F Sport
• Mazda –  Mark 1 and 4 MX-5s.
• Porsche – Taycan, Panamera and 911 Carrera T.
• Toyota – Corolla Coupe GT AE86 and GR86
• Volvo – P1800ES, 240 GLT estate and S90 Executive.

SGMW members also brought their own heritage vehicles including a Volkwagen Westfalia camper van, Mazda MX-5s, an Alfa Romero Brera, Alfa Romeo 146, Saab 9-5, Peugeot RCZ and Porsche Cayenne.

And it was Stuart Bird’s crazy VW camper that won members’ car of the day while Ford’s 1965 Transit was voted car of the day and loved by everyone who drove it.

The heritage quiz was won by SGMW member Phil Huff with a score of nine out of 10.

The SGMW Heritage Day is also a social occasion and a popular event on the motoring calendar with manufacturer PRs.

Dan Sayles, Kia UK head of press and PR, said: “It is such an eclectic mix of new and old. There is nowhere else that you could drive this selection of cars.

“You can jump out of a Mazda MX-5 Mark 1 into a Volvo 240 estate and a Porsche 911. It is not available anywhere else.

“We PRs never spend time together so it is a good opportunity to catch up and discuss things.”

Simon Branney, Genesis Motor Europe head of UK PR and communications, said: “The SGMW Heritage Day is one of my favourite events of the year because it is so relaxed. Everyone is so friendly and so approachable.

“You just come along and have a lovely time. It’s always a pleasure to the with the Southern Group of Motoring Writers.

“It’s a great venue, everyone gets involved and are super excited to be here. Everyone gets excited about the heritage stuff and old cars.

“It’s an opportunity for people to bring their olds cars and you don’t get to see these very often. It’s the only heritage event on the motoring groups’ circuit and brilliant.”

Volvo was making its debut at our annual heritage day and Barnaby Jones, UK product communications manager, was enjoying the atmosphere.

“It’s great to catch up with people you might only see once or twice a year.

“It is a nice, relaxed and informal event and people come and go as they please and drive what they want. How popular our cars have been even surprised us.

“We see members of the Southern Group of Motoring Writers two or three times a year and, at other events, we can’t always talk or catch up. It has been nice to spend quality time with you all and have a good catch-up and talk about what is new for Volvo.”

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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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Our fifth Heritage Day, again staged at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in Hampshire, was enjoyed by 25 SGMW members, a record number representing three-quarters of our total membership.

They were joined at this popular blast from the past by 17 PRs, from seven manufacturers, while another four brands sent cars, both heritage and modern models, for SGMW members to drive.

SGMW secretary and Heritage Day organiser Chris Rees said: “The response was overwhelmingly positive at the end of the day.

“People didn’t want to go and they were just glowing about our Heritage Day. People also stayed and visited the motor museum.”

Every single car supplied by manufacturers for the event was driven while some SGMW members added to the heritage haul by bringing their cherished classic cars.

At the end of the day everyone voted for their champion cars – the Car of the Day brought by manufacturers and best car belonging to an SGMW member.

Manufacturers Car of the Day was a two-horse race between the current Porsche Cayman GT4 and 1993 Ford Escort RS Cosworth with the former winning by a single vote.

Stuart Bird’s characterful SEAT Terra van was the runaway SGMW winner.

The full range of manufacturers’ cars driven were:

• BMW 1 Series M Coupe.
• Citroen’s new C5X executive crossover.
• Ford Escort RS Cosworth, Mustang Mach 1 and Mustang Mach-E.
• Genesis GV60 SUVs.
• Honda HR-V SUV.
• Kia Stinger 3.3 V6 GT-S and original Soul EV.
• Lexus IS F and NX HEV SUV.
• Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 and Cayenne Turbo GT.
• Skoda Fabia vRS Mark 1.
• Toyota Yaris Mark 1 and MR2 TF 300 Roadster.
• Volkswagen Polo GTI.

A big thank you to all the manufacturers and SGMW members who supplied cars and made the event such a success.

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More than 20 members are attending our SGMW Heritage Day at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in mid-August.

It will be the fifth time the group has hosted the event at the historic motoring venue with manufacturers bringing heritage models and modern counterparts.

Kia UK, one of the manufacturers attending the Heritage Day, is also hosting a driving day for the SGMW the previous day. Members will drive the latest cars from the Kia range, including electrified models.

Members are staying overnight at Burley Manor, in the heart of the New Forest National Park, so the Kia driving day will be followed by the SGMW’s AGM.

SGMW secretary and Heritage Day organiser Chris Rees said: “It promises to be a really, really good turnout of members.

“To get two-thirds of the total group membership in the summer holiday season for two days of events is excellent.”

Altogether 12 manufacturers are supporting our Heritage Day.

Eight PR teams – Ford, Genesis, Kia, Lexus, Mazda, Porsche, Toyota and Volkswagen – are attending in person while BMW, Citroen, Honda and Skoda are supplying cars.

The picture shows last year’s star cars. Car of the day went to the Jeep CJ-7 while Mark Bursa’s Kia Pride was judged best members’ car.

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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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