Young karting champion visits ABG to say thanks for sponsorship

ABG welcomed its youngest visitor this week – a 10-year-old making his name in junior karting.

Ronnie Smart came to our meeting on Tuesday morning at The Cave, Boughton, to thank some of the members for their help, support and sponsorship as he makes his way through the grass roots of karting with dreams of reaching F3 and F1. His grandad Ian Smart is our plumber member, and told us all about his journey so far, which started with finding trophies in the loft from his dad’s (Ian’s son Nathan) karting days – and wanting to win more, bigger ones!

Since that day to this, the whole family has thrown itself into weekend karting meets, starting at local club meetings in the beginner leagues joining the Sittingbourne based Project One racing team and then moving onto more competitive national races and championships, taking them to circuits all over the UK.

In June of 2025 Ronnie was invited to move to the Kent based Jaxx Motorsport Team that have a good racing ethos and build their own race engines in house under the Maxx Engines brand, but as he moves through the ranks the cost increases – and so Ronnie and Ian have been approaching businesses for support.

At ABG, Brian Emslie, our financial advisor from St James’s Place came on-board as a sponsor two years ago, Jodi Bridger, owner of Bridger’s Law has sponsored his race suit seen in the photo and Guy Alexander from Alexander Electrical has sponsored a race meeting.

Our newest member, performance coach Alec Rasmussen from SuccessLAB, has been mentoring Ronnie on mental strength, drawing on his experience as a professional Australian hockey player, even being available last weekend on the phone when things got tough for Ronnie to help him focus on the right parts of the weekend.

Ian said: “What started as a hobby has gone beyond that and Ronnie has some amazing talent out there on the race track. “But this sport requires funding to keep going – and we are very lucky to be supported by the ABG members and as we get more well-known, by others across Kent.

“Sponsorship doesn’t have to be massive – it could be a tyre, a tank of fuel every weekend or only occasionally. But if there are sponsors who would like to make a more substantial contribution, then we’d love to speak to them. “It’s a team sport and part of that team is our sponsors who we try to promote as much as we can in return for their support.”

To follow Ronnies journey he has an Instagram account @ronnie.karts

To sponsor Ronnie, contact Ian or Lorna ronnie.karts@hotmail.com