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Bailey James: F1 Dreamer | Racing 2024 Season & Seeking Sponsors. Follow me on my karting journey!

16/10/2026

Well, that's the 2026 British Kart Championship season finished… and what a way to end it! 🏁

The final round at Silverstone was a double header, which meant two full race days, back to back, with qualifying, heats and finals on both Friday and Saturday.

We arrived knowing it wasn't going to be easy. While quite a few of the other drivers had been testing there regularly in the run-up to the weekend, I'd only had one day of testing at Silverstone, and that was way earlier in the year. So I was already playing catch-up before we'd even started!

Thursday was all about finding some pace. In the first practice session I was right at the bottom of the timing sheets, over two seconds off the fastest driver. Not exactly the start I'd hoped for!

But we kept working on the kart, looking at the data, reviewing my onboard video and finding more lap time with each session.

By Friday, things were starting to come together. I was getting quicker, feeling more comfortable with the track and making some proper progress. Two clean heats meant I managed to qualify straight into the A Final, starting in P25, my best-ever starting position in a British Kart Championship final!

But this was a double-header weekend, so Saturday wasn't just a continuation of Friday's racing. Everything reset overnight. New qualifying session, new grids, new heats and another final. Basically, a whole new race day, and everything we'd achieved on Friday had to be earned all over again!

And Saturday… well, that turned into a proper rollercoaster!

The pace was improving again and I qualified 11th in my group, which put me P14 on the grid for both heats. Things were looking pretty promising.

Unfortunately, the racing gods had other ideas!

Heat 1 lasted less than a lap. I got caught up in the chaos at Turn 1, another kart drove over mine and knocked the exhaust completely off its mounts. My kart sounded like a tractor, had no power and I was shown the technical flag before I'd even completed a racing lap.

Heat 2 wasn't much better! More chaos on the first lap, where I ended up tangled with another kart and had to get out to pull them apart. I managed to get going again, but the nosecone was pushed in and dragging, the kart was handling like a dog. I fought my way back through what I could, but a nosecone penalty didn't help either.

Two heats, two incidents, and suddenly I was starting dead last in the repechage, with only the top six going through to the final.

I managed to fight my way up the field and, although the kart still wasn't handling brilliantly, I scraped through in P6. Talk about cutting it fine!

That meant I'd made the A Final… but I was starting P36 out of 36.

Dead last. Nowhere to go but forwards!

We made a few more adjustments to the kart before the final and thankfully things were feeling better.

I kept my nose clean, picked my way through the chaos and eventually caught the group ahead. There was some luck involved in avoiding the incidents, but I still had to find the gaps, make the moves and keep pushing.

I crossed the line P17, which became P15 after penalties — my best-ever British Kart Championship result!

After starting Thursday over two seconds off the pace, struggling to get anywhere near the other drivers, to finish the weekend with my best-ever A Final starting position AND my best-ever race result… what a way to end the season!

Massive thanks to Coles Racing , my sponsors Stortec Engineering Ltd | Fort Vale Engineering LTD | Demon Tweeks Motorsport | Designer Travel by Simon Collinge | The Strategy Coach | , my family, my school Minerva Virtual Academy and everyone who has supported me through a challenging year. It means a lot to have people in my corner.

The racing might be winding down for 2026, but I'm definitely not! 😂 There's plenty to work on over the winter, with training, hours on the sim and a few things I know I need to improve. The aim is to come back faster, stronger and ready for whatever 2027 throws at me!

As for what I'll be racing next year? Well, that's still to be decided… but I've got a few ideas! 👀🏁

07/10/2026

We’re at Silverstone! 🏁

It’s the final British Kart Championship weekend of the year, and this one is a big one because it’s a double header.

Tomorrow is a full day of practice, then Friday and Saturday are going to be pretty hectic with qualifying, heats and finals both days.

The weather looks like it could make things interesting too, with a bit of everything forecast, so there’s going to be plenty to think about with setup and conditions.

It’s been a massive season, and I’m looking forward to getting out there for the final time this year and seeing what we can do.

Let’s go! 💪

Fort Vale Engineering LTD | Stortec Engineering Ltd | Designer Travel by Simon Collinge | Owkay Clothing | Demon Tweeks Motorsport |

05/10/2026

Yesterday was supposed to be a bit of a role reversal.

My Dad got persuaded by a few karting dads to join their team for former F1 driver Karun Chandhok's Karting Carnival, a charity race raising money for the Vishnu Devananda Charitable Trust.

The plan was that Dad would race and I'd be trackside for once, giving him some unfathomable hand signals, shouting random advice he wouldn't understand and generally telling him what he was doing wrong.

Basically, I was looking forward to a bit of revenge! 😂

But... that didn't quite go to plan.

After a 6am start and driving 160 miles to the track, Dad's knee decided that racing in a kart for an hour before driving another 160 miles home probably wasn't the best idea!

So instead of coaching Dad, I ended up taking his place and getting in the kart myself!

We were racing in the track's own rental karts rather than my normal kart. They're all supposed to be identical, but if you've ever raced rental karts, you'll know that some are definitely more equal than others... and some are definitely more tired than others! 😂

As my teammates hadn't done much (if any) karting before, we decided to give them most of the 30-minute qualifying session and then send me out right at the end, with just enough time for a couple of flying laps to set our qualifying time.

Unfortunately, the kart wasn't exactly helping. 😬

As soon as I got in, I knew it wasn't performing well. I tried to put a fast lap together, but by then it was too late. There wasn't enough time to get back into the pits, change the kart and get back out for another lap.

We qualified 24th out of 24, so it was straight into the race with me starting dead last!

We managed a quick kart change and decided I'd start the race and stay out as long as possible to try and make up as much ground as I could.

From the standing start, I got my head down, locked in and worked my way from 24th up to 4th before I had to come in for the driver change.

After that, we gradually slipped back down the field as the other teams made their pitstops and started taking back the places I'd won.

We even made an extra pitstop to get me back out for a few laps towards the end, but it was in vain. There simply wasn't enough time left to get back into contention.

We crossed the line in 20th and missed out on a place in the final.

Still, it was a really good day. I'm used to racing my own kart, so racing a rental as part of a team was good fun and definitely something different.

And meeting Karun Chandhok was pretty cool too!

Thanks to everyone who organised the event and helped raise money for the charity.

And as for Dad... he drove 340 miles, spent about six hours in the car, and didn't even get to drive the kart. 😂

So much for our role reversal! 🏁

20/09/2026

A couple of weeks ago, just before the British Kart Championship round at Whilton Mill, I got to do something pretty cool.

I was invited down to KartSim HQ at Silverstone to look around their workshop and spend some time in their full simulator setup.

I actually have a simulator at home using the same software, so I’m used to driving the tracks on a screen, but their setup is on another level.

The whole kart is on rails and actually moves as you drive, so you can feel what’s happening rather than just seeing it on the screen.

And WOW... that thing is good! 😂

And YES, this is real time! It looks even faster when you’re actually sat in it! 😂

They set it up for Whilton Mill and sent me out for a few laps first, then we went back through my laps with the coaches using the video and data.

They could pause the lap at different points, show me exactly what I was doing and talk through where I could improve.

That really helped me because I’m quite a visual learner. Seeing the reference points and track position makes much more sense to me than just being told what I did wrong.

After each feedback session, they sent me back out to try what we'd just worked on.

I managed to not only knock time off my lap, but actually keep that time off consistently too, which was really cool to see.

The tracks are LIDAR scanned too, so Whilton Mill felt incredibly realistic. It definitely wasn't just playing a racing game!

The best bit was being able to take what we'd worked on straight onto the real track the next day.

And, for the first time, we actually made the BKC final in the real kart. 🏁

Obviously, a simulator isn't the same as the real thing, but having that extra time to understand the track, look at my driving and work on specific areas gave me loads to take into the weekend.

Massive thank you to everyone at KartSim for having me down. I learned loads and had a brilliant time.

Now I just need to persuade Mum that my simulator at home needs an upgrade... 😂

KartSim Ltd | Fort Vale Engineering LTD | Stortec Engineering Ltd | Coles Racing

19/09/2026

Earlier this week I got to take my race kart to Fort Vale Engineering LTD and show everyone what I actually do at the weekends! 🏁

We set the kart up outside the main entrance in the car park and got it running on the trolley, which definitely gave everyone a proper idea of just how loud these things are when you're standing next to one! 😂

It was great to meet so many people from the Fort Vale team, answer loads of questions about my racing, the kart itself and let everyone have a proper nosey at it.

I even got to meet the Managing Director, Ian Wilson, which was pretty cool!

We also left one of my damaged nose cones from the last British Kart Championship round behind for the Fort Vale Wall of Fame. Hopefully it gets a good spot! 😂

A massive thank you to Kelly and everyone at Fort Vale for making me feel so welcome and for taking the time to come out and see what I do.

Having a company like Fort Vale behind me, believing in what I'm doing and trying to achieve means a huge amount.

Now it's back to work, time to strip the kart, clean it all and get everything ready for the final round of the at Silverstone in a couple of weeks! 🏁

15/09/2026

I’ve started thinking about 2027. 👀🏁

Before I get onto that though, I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has been a part of my journey so far.

Whether you’ve supported me, shared a post, watched a race, introduced me to someone or just followed along, it genuinely means a lot. ❤️

I’m 14 now and what started when I was 7 has turned into something I’m really serious about.

This year I’ve been racing in the British Kart Championship, the highest level of karting in the UK (Some would say world), learning loads and finding out just how competitive motorsport really is.

And I want to keep going.

But motorsport doesn’t happen without the people and businesses behind it.

So, as businesses start thinking about their plans, budgets, CSR and marketing for 2027, maybe it’s worth thinking about where a partnership could fit.

I’m not talking about just putting a logo on a kart either.

There are loads of ways businesses can get involved, from content and social media to employee engagement, hospitality, community projects and affiliate partnerships. And depending on the circumstances, sponsorship can potentially have tax benefits too.

I’m not going into all of that just yet though. 😉

For now, I just wanted to put the thought out there.

2027 could be a pretty exciting year.

And if you’re a business owner or someone involved in marketing, partnerships or CSR, maybe keep Bailey James Racing in mind. 👀

To everyone who is already part of my journey...

Thank you. ❤️

There’s a lot more to come. 🏁

10/09/2026

Most of my mates went back to school last week, but I got an extra week off and “came back” to Minerva Virtual Academy on Monday. 😂

And I’m not exactly complaining about my school day.

No school run.

No uniform.

No rushing around first thing.

No rules that exist just because they’ve always existed.

Just me, my laptop, breakfast and a pretty chilled out place to get my work done. 😂💻

One of the things I really like about Minerva is how flexible it is around my racing.

My timetable works around my training and racing, I can work from home, the track, the car or pretty much anywhere I have internet, and I can learn in an environment that suits me.

Sometimes that means I can eat my breakfast during a lesson, have a drink while I work, take a quick break if I need one, change where I’m working or just get comfortable and crack on.

And when we’re travelling for racing, I can take my schoolwork with me instead of having to choose between school and racing.

Basically, school fits around my life rather than my whole life having to fit around school.

And apparently my “uniform” is whatever I happen to be wearing that day... although I’m pretty sure I’ve worn the Owkay Clothing hoodie enough times for them to start calling it the official uniform. 😂

I’ve started Year 10 now and I’m already getting stuck into my new option subjects, I’ve definitely picked some that are a bit different from the usual choices.

So yeah... I might have had an extra week off.

But I’m back now.

And if this is what going back to school looks like, I think I’ll be alright. 😂👊

09/09/2026

Not everything is about going fast. 🏁

Sometimes you just need to slow down for a bit.

Race suit down, helmet off and just taking some time to switch off and clear my head.

There’s always another race, another session and something else Dad says I need to work on 😂

So yeah, these quiet moments are actually pretty important too.

And yes, that’s my OWKAY T-shirt underneath the race suit. Basically the only thing keeping me comfortable when the suit is off 😂

I’m really proud to be an OWKAY Ambassador. The gear is seriously comfy, really good quality and gets worn A LOT.

Then it’s back to racing, back to learning and trying to find those extra few tenths.

One day at a time.

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05/09/2026

So apparently this is what happens when your dad is a travel agent... 😂

All year, Dad spends his time sending people off to amazing places.

🏝️ Luxury resorts
🚢 Cruises
🍹 Cocktails by the pool
🍽️ Gourmet food
🛎️ Room service
🌍 Some seriously cool destinations

So you'd probably think we'd have some pretty amazing holidays too, right?

Wrong. 😂

My summer has been more like:

🚐 Caravan
🏎️ Kart track
🅿️ Car park
🍳 Cooking in the caravan
🌧️ British weather
👃 The lovely smell of two stroke

We've basically spent the summer touring the UK, following the karting calendar and finding increasingly creative places to park the caravan. 😂

While Dad is busy booking people into five star resorts...

We're over here treating the paddock like a holiday destination.

The caravan is our hotel.

The BBQ is our restaurant.

And apparently the smell of two stroke counts as a tropical breeze. 😂

No infinity pool.

No room service.

No cocktails by the pool.

Just karts, caravans, early mornings, late nights and a ridiculous amount of time spent in car parks.

And you know what?

I wouldn't swap it. ❤️🏁

Although Dad...

I'm still available for that luxury holiday you keep booking for everyone else as well. 😂🏝️

If your summer holidays were spent camping in car parks, stuck in traffic jams on motorways and sitting at a dusty trackside, you're part of the journey. And I'm grateful for every single one of you who follows along.

Save this if you get it.

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