On July 16th, 2025 Gracie Mitchell and her father Mark Mitchell sat in a studio at BBC Radio Tees to speak with Gary Philipson, the BBC’s local news and sports presenter, and advocate of all things local. So, when a young racing driver from the Teesside area appeared on his show to talk about her career to date wishing the Iberian Supercar Championships, her studies with the Motorsport UK Academy, her nomination for driver of the year and her history in karting mixed with her future aspirations for the F1 Academy, he was suitably impressed. Then Gracie dropped the bombshell on local radio, which picked up National Coverage – in less than one month from the live interview she would be attempting to achieve the World Record for the longest distance travelled – SOLO – in a 24-hour karting race, and also become the first female in history to do it solo, too – ensuring a second World Record at the same time.
There’s a reason why his jaw dropped, and the buzz around Gracie became even stronger than it already was.
This was a ‘wow radio moment’.
Cut to a week later, when Gracie is invited to test a Formula 4 car in Anglesea – two days before her World Record(s) attempt, and things keep ramping up at speed.
Gracie’s karting challenge was also being used to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation – a charity close to her heart which we’ll come to shortly. The social media buzz ensured thousands upon thousands of people were behind team GM11 Racing, Gracie’s racing brand.
After a brilliant testing day in the F4 beast, Gracie continued her training right up until the last minute: race-day on August 9th, 2025.
After 812 grueling laps through sunshine, darkness and accidents to others in the field, with Gracie’s best lap time coming in at 1:13.628 – Gracie Mitchell, at the British 24 Hour Karting event became the First Female in history to complete the 24 hour karting event, SOLO, ensuring her World Record which, according to the commentary team from the event, will stand for a long, long time.
Last year, after watching Chris Pedlingham achieve the World Record at the very same event for the longest distance travelled solo in a kart during a 24 hour event, Gracie recalls, “I just simply turned around to my dad and said ‘I reckon I could give it a go,’”A quick check revealed that no female had even attempted such a solo endurance stunt—fired by that discovery, she set her sights on becoming not just a record-holder, but a pioneer, especially for young girls looking for a role-model to follow and a route to get into Motorsport.
Gracie set her sights on being fit enough for the event, and began her training. While writing to the Guinness World Records team to secure the title and attempt, she began working with her marketing teams on merchandise, PR and website coverage, spent countless hours behind the wheel and also sim racing, setting up her GoFundMe account, (which at the time of writing has now surpassed £1400 raised for the British Heart Foundation), and preparing herself mentally too. Family friends, Ang and Dave ensured her training was thorough – she was going to need every ounce of strength to go for 24 hours.
Starting near the back of the pack, Gracie approached the beginning cautiously, using other class karts almost like a pace car to maintain consistency without overreaching.
The first 13–14 hours were a blur of seat time. The oddity of time perception—sometimes rapid, sometimes agonisingly slow—peaked around hour 12, before midnight turned into a psychological checkpoint: “Once I hit midnight… it was just a countdown from then on”
In an interview shortly after the race, Gracie said, “I didn’t actually suffer that much with tiredness… purely running off adrenaline”—though she did manage a sneaky 10-minute nap during a break!
She continued, “The beginning of the race was just about getting the start over and done with. I only did a couple laps in qualifying to scrub my tyres in so I was starting towards the back of the pack, however the start of the race I just held back to avoid getting any collisions as I had to minimise damage to my kart and myself. And just went with the flow. I would use other karts in my class as a bit of a pace car to make sure that I was doing consistent pace but not pushing too hard or not dropping off too much. I would say I did the first 13-14 hours pretty much back to back”.
“The support was unreal. I had family and friends the whole way through the night and day on my breaks with food and drink as well as anything I may have needed. The support around the paddock was amazing and everyone who contributed is deeply appreciated. And finally even other teams were a big help. They would be cheering as I’d get back into the Kart after a break and as well the final couple hours and even throughout the whole race to be honest when the other karts from my class would come past they would be motivating me to keep pushing and it really helped.”
There was also major support coming from the 24 hour Karting World Record holder for total number of laps completed by a solo driver, Chris Pedlingham. He was in Gracie’s camp before the event and throughout, showing consent support which meant so much to Gracie and the team.
Now a proud World Record holder, the first female to ever complete a 24 hour karting event solo, Gracie’s 812 laps over the span of two days ensured a huge achievement was reached, one that will live with her for a long time. The best way to wind down? A cheeky break in Paris, and why not.
With the next Iberian Supercar race just around the corner, now she is back it’s time to get are-ready again.
Gracie recently summed up the experience with her usual calm approach, “I set out to push the limits and came back with the World Record.”
