Four years ago I took my son Ethan to Midland Karting in Fradley for a one-off Saturday session. He was 10. Nobody in our family had ever raced, we didn't know a soul in motorsport, and I certainly didn't imagine I'd be writing this.
This year Ethan is 14 and racing Junior Rotax at PF International — one of the toughest junior categories in British karting, against the best young drivers in the country. It's been the hardest season he's had, and the one he's learned the most from.
It's also the one we're in danger of not finishing.
Where we are
There are three race weekends left in Ethan's season. As things stand, we have the budget for one.
We're £6,000 short. That's the difference between stopping two rounds early and taking the chequered flag on the final round — and it's the last piece of the £40,000 season budget we set out to raise back in January.
Eleven businesses have already put £34,000 into this season, most of them from right here in Walsall and the Black Country. Roofing, transport, property, finance, recruitment, accident repair, design. Owner-managed firms, backing a local lad they'd mostly never met. I'm not going back to them for more. They've done more than enough.
So we needed a different idea.
The Wall of #41
41 is Ethan's race number. It's been on every kart he's raced.
So we're building a wall of 41 squares on his website — a chequered flag, seven squares across and six down. Every square costs £150. Forty-one squares at £150 is £6,000, which is exactly what it costs to get him to the end of the season.
Right now most of that flag is empty black and white. As squares are claimed, each one is replaced by a business logo or a family name. When the last square goes, the flag is complete. A chequered flag you can only finish by having people on it.
What a square gets you
For £150, that's a dedicated post to a bigger audience than a day of paid social advertising would reach — and it comes with a story your customers and staff will actually want to share.
It isn't only for businesses, either. Families, friends and people who follow the racing can take a square with their own name on it. A square's a square.
What's happened so far
We floated the idea on a Friday afternoon, half expecting nothing. Within 24 hours, ten squares had sold and £1,500 was in — enough to nearly cover one of the three remaining weekends.
That wasn't clever marketing. That was a local network deciding it wanted to see a kid finish what he started.
Thirty-one squares are left, and £4,650 to find.
Built in Walsall, by people from Walsall
The page itself is being built this week by ADS Creative Solutions, who are also on the wall themselves. Our sponsor brochure was designed by another of our partners. Ethan's story has been on BBC News, BBC Midlands Today, Absolute Radio, Greatest Hits Radio, the Express & Star and Motorsport News — but the thing that has actually kept this going, every single year, is local businesses saying yes.
Walsall doesn't have many young sporting figureheads. It's got this one, and he's worth backing.
How to get involved
If you'd like a square, get in touch and I'll send you an invoice and reserve it. Send over your logo, your website address and a line about what you do, and you're on the wall.
Thirty-one squares. £150 each. Let's get him to the chequered flag.
— Steve Guest, Ethan Guest Racing
