The Summer 2026 Roadster! Adventure Is Here!

When Sam came up with the idea for Roadster! back in 2022, we had no idea where it would lead.

The plan was simple: create a magazine for kids who love the road.

Four years later, we’ve published twelve issues, visited manufacturers and motorsport teams, supported young contributors, made lifelong friends and, most importantly, discovered that there are lots of other young people out there who share our enthusiasm for cars, transport, engineering and the world around them.

Issue 12 celebrates all of that.

So, what’s inside?

🚗 Nicholas has just passed his driving test. At 17 years old, he’s studying A Level Media and got in touch to ask whether Roadster! could help him gain real-world experience. We were delighted to welcome him aboard, and his story introduces our brand-new regular feature: Roadster! Approved, where young drivers review their own first cars for future first drivers.

🏁 We join Aaron as he visits the Mahindra Formula E Team. Aaron’s passion for engineering first caught our attention during the Scalextric 4 Schools competition, and Mahindra invited him behind the scenes to see how classroom engineering translates into the real world. We’ve turned everything he learned into puzzles, challenges and activities that younger readers can enjoy too.

🏎️ We meet Alfie, a 12-year-old kart racer already collecting podium finishes. His story shows where determination, family support and a love of motorsport can lead.

📸 We head to the spectacular East Riding Stages Rally, where Sam tries his hand at live motorsport photography and captures the atmosphere of one of Britain’s most exciting rally events.

🎨 Richie T returns with his twelfth Racecar Eddy comic strip – an incredible achievement for a young artist who has been part of the Roadster! journey almost from the very beginning.

🚘 We’re also delighted to introduce Shifty Sid, our newest character. Sid runs a rather unusual used toy car dealership! If you’ve got a die-cast car you’d like to swap, send Sid the details. If he likes your deal, he’ll arrange a straight swap with another reader – no money involved, just postage and plenty of fun. Better still, every car comes with one of Sid’s wonderfully dubious sales pitches!

🌍 Our Where on Earth? mystery challenge returns, with three puzzles still waiting to be solved.

Along the way you’ll also find puzzles, news, reviews, activities and plenty more to explore.

More Than Just A Magazine

Looking through Issue 12, something struck us.

For the first time, Roadster! isn’t really about Sam anymore.

That was always the plan.

Roadster! was never meant to tell the story of one child. It was meant to become a place where any young person with an interest in motoring, transport or engineering could share their experiences, build confidence and inspire others.

In this issue, Nicholas, Aaron, Alfie, Richie and Sam all appear alongside one another.

That’s the Roadster! we had always hoped to build.

Looking Ahead

Issue 12 also marks four complete years of Roadster!

We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved as a father-and-son team, but we’re also realistic. Producing a magazine like this takes an enormous amount of time, and we’ve reached the point where Roadster! needs more than the two of us can provide.

Over the coming months we’ll be taking stock and thinking carefully about what comes next.

We still believe Roadster! has something valuable to offer. Not simply as a magazine, but as a way of connecting young people with the worlds of motoring, engineering, transport and journalism through experiences they can actively take part in.

Whether that’s through future magazines, schools, new partnerships or something entirely different remains to be seen.

Thank You

If you’ve supported Roadster! over the last four years, thank you.

Every copy you’ve bought has helped make the next opportunity possible for another young person.

And if this is your first time discovering Roadster!, we hope you’ll enjoy Issue 12 as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Happy reading!