I’ve written here before about my son Ethan — the 40 overtakes at PF International, the weekend at Shenington where he led a national race for the first time.
This Thursday is bigger than both.
Ethan makes his debut in the British Kart Championship at Kart Silverstone, running Thursday to Saturday. Junior Rotax, as a rookie on a National licence, against the best junior drivers in Britain. It is the top of the junior ladder in this country, and it’s where careers either start or stall.
Four years ago almost to the month, he had his first ever session in a kart — an arrive-and-drive hire kart at Midlands Karting, with a borrowed helmet and no plan beyond finding out whether he enjoyed it.
This past weekend was the final preparation: Round 6 of the Trent Valley Kart Championship, back at PF International.
It was an unusual one. Ethan was racing with Dave Edwards Race Team for the first time, in a brand new Tony Kart chassis with a new Aurum engine — a new team around him, a new driver coach, a new mechanic, a completely new setup. All of it three days before the biggest weekend of his career so far.
So the aim wasn’t a trophy. It was laps, consistency and getting comfortable in unfamiliar equipment.
Saturday went well, running mid-pack-to-front across four practice sessions. Qualifying went against him, as it has much of this season — a yellow flag, drivers running three abreast, and one small mistake on the lap that counted.
Sunday had everything in it. He climbed from 20th to 14th in the first heat and was closing on the group ahead when he was squeezed on the final corner of the last lap and put into the tyre wall — bent steering, bent track rods, a bruised elbow, and his race over. The team rebuilt the kart in time for the second heat, where he came through to 11th.
Then the best part of his weekend. Starting fifth in the B Final, he finished second — his highest finish in any Junior Rotax final. What impressed me was how he did it: controlling the race from the front, holding drivers behind him, and deliberately looking after his tyres because he knew another race was coming.
In the main final he started 34th and finished 19th. Fifteen places gained, in a kart he’d been sitting in for one weekend.
Because none of it happens without businesses from around here.
Ethan Guest Racing has no wealthy backer. We’re a family from Walsall doing this the hard way, funded by local companies and individuals who decided to be part of the story. We film content with AARC and with Grand Prix Racewear, where Ethan is an ambassador, and we’ve spent days at Haywards Transport, Murray & Willis, Ads Creative, Wagstaff Recruitment and Uggly & Co shooting photography and video with their teams. Meeting the people behind those businesses has been one of the real pleasures of this.
A British Championship debut is exactly the sort of moment that backing makes possible.
The Wall of #41. A page on Ethan’s website made up of 41 squares — his race number. Each one is £150, one-off, and the wall funds the end of his 2026 season. A square gets you your logo on the wall for 12 months linked to your website, your own dedicated post across all of Ethan’s channels, and a QR sticker on the kart. There are only a handful left.
www.ethanguestracing.co.uk/wall-of-41
A British weekend partner. We’re also looking for one business to back the British Championship campaign at £2,500 — your branding on the kart, a dedicated partner announcement, and shout-outs across every channel through the biggest weekends of Ethan’s year. If that sounds like your kind of thing, I’d love a conversation.
If you want to follow the Silverstone weekend, everything is on Ethan’s channels — and a message of support costs nothing and means a great deal to a 14-year-old about to race the best in the country.
Website: www.ethanguestracing.co.uk
All social channels: linktr.ee/ethanguestracing
Thanks for reading, and thanks to every Walsall business already behind him. Thursday belongs to you as much as to us.
Steve Guest, Ethan Guest Racing
