For 2025, the Southern Group is proud to announce that our chosen charity for the 2025 Sue Baker Memorial Karting GP is Woman On The Move Against Cancer (WOMAC).
This fantastic charity works to raise vital money to continue the fight against cancer, including raising funds to continue vital research. It also provides help to cancer patients, as well as vital equipment for the treatment of men, women or children.
The Sue Baker Memorial Karting GP
Since its inception over a decade ago, the SGMW Karting GP has raised over £32,500 for charity. In 2023, the event was renamed in honour of long-standing SGMW member and former chairman, Sue Baker, who sadly passed away in November 2022 after a brave battle with motor neurone disease. The Karting GP is held annually to celebrate Sue’s vast contribution to automotive journalism and the SGMW.
The Karting GP is a key event in the SGMW calendar, and one that pitches automotive PRs in a thrilling endurance race against each other and an SGMW team. As well as competing for the fastest lap times, the event is also a great chance for SGMW members to catch up with their automotive PR friends.
For the 11th SGMW Karting GP, chairman Ian Robertson said: “As ever, the Southern Group is hugely grateful to all of the PR teams who are taking part, and all those who’ve made donations for a very worthy cause. The 2025 Sue Baker Memorial Karting GP will be another fantastic event.”
A bit of Karting GP history
Recent races have provided many thrilling moments. In 2023, fifteen teams entered in what was the final year running petrol-powered karts. In a hard-fought race, Porsche finished in first place, fighting to retake the lead in the last third of the race. Gazoo Racing finished in second place, while the SGMW by Volvo team finished in third spot. Former SGMW member Sean Ward took the bragging rights with a fastest lap of 47.648. A time recorded in the final stint of the race,
Last year, which was the first race using new electric karts, Honda took first place after much place swapping with Toyota in second spot, while Hyundai finished in third. All three of the top teams were separated by a single lap, with Toyota driver Andy Jenner recording the fastest lap with a scorching time of 46.316 seconds.
When and where, and how to get involved
The 2025 Sue Baker Memorial Karting GP will be held on Thursday, 8th May at Team Sport in Crawley. Practice starts at 16:00, with the race starting thirty minutes later.
Want to get involved? If you’d like to offer a donation to support the event, you can contact Stu Bird here, or Ben Hodges here.
