There's a 14-year-old from Walsall who spends his weekends doing something most of us only watch on TV — wheel-to-wheel racing at speeds that would make your stomach turn. His name is Ethan Guest, and this season he's stepped up into Junior Rotax karting, one of the toughest and most competitive categories on the ladder towards British Championship racing.
I'm his dad, Steve, and I'll be sharing Ethan's journey here on Best of Walsall from now on — the races, the results, and everything that goes on behind the scenes to get a kid from our town onto a starting grid.
Ethan's story started back in September 2022 with a one-to-one session at Midland Karting — no motorsport background in the family, no inherited team, no big budget. Just a boy who loved going fast and a family willing to find out how far that could go.
Since then, it's grown into a proper competitive career. Ethan was crowned Daytona Tamworth Champion in 2024, then took the Club100 North Cadet Lightweight Championship and finished Vice-Champion in the South in 2025. He placed 3rd overall in the Daniel Ricciardo Series (DRS50), and was twice selected into the final 12 out of more than 190 drivers at the X-Kart Scholarship — finishing 4th overall the second time round.
This year, now racing Junior Rotax with Jack Dex Racing across the Shenington and Trent Valley Kart Championships, Ethan is working towards British Championship competition — a genuinely big step up, against faster karts and stronger fields.
What's grown alongside the racing has surprised us as much as anyone. Ethan's story has picked up national media coverage, including BBC News and Motorsport News, and he was interviewed trackside at Daytona Tamworth for Greatest Hits Radio and the Hits Radio network. He's built a genuine online following from scratch too — tens of thousands of followers across his channels, with content regularly reaching hundreds of thousands of views a month.
None of that happens without support.
Local businesses have backed Ethan's journey — from logistic companies like Haywards Transport, motorsport specialists such as Aldridge Accident Repair Centre, Roofing Contractors, PRG Roofing & Construction to Cannock refurbishment firm Murray & Willis, who've become part of Ethans story as much as any race result. Every one of those partnerships has been built the same way: a conversation, and a genuine relationship, not just a logo on a suit.
This blog is where I'll post Ethan's race reports, milestones, and the honest bits in between — because motorsport isn't all podiums, and that's worth sharing too.
If you'd like to follow along, or find out more about Ethan and the season ahead, you can find him at www.ethanguestracing.co.uk and connect via his social channels (which I manage)
And if you're a Walsall business who'd like to be part of the journey, we'd love to hear from you — just get in touch via the website.
Here's to the season ahead. 🏁
— Steve Guest
