July 19, 2025 • 37 mins
Kate Turner's journey into motorsports breaks every conventional rule in the racing handbook. At 21 years old, this track instructor from Leicestershire discovered her passion for racing not as a child karting prodigy, but as a 17-year-old who simply woke up one day and decided she wanted to be a race car driver. Her refreshing candor about this unconventional path reveals that sometimes the most extraordinary journeys begin with nothing more than pure determination.
Working daily with automotive royalty - Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens, and her dream car, the Nissan GTR - Kate guides drivers around prestigious circuits throughout the UK. She shares riveting stories from the passenger seat, including heart-stopping moments with overconfident customers and the systematic dismissal she sometimes faces as a young woman in a male-dominated field. Her response to a particularly difficult customer on International Women's Day demonstrates both her quick thinking and her commitment to commanding respect in challenging situations.
Despite competing internationally in Sweden with electric Minis, financial constraints temporarily paused Kate's racing career after 2023. Now, she's actively pursuing sponsorship for a 2026 comeback in the UK's Fun Cup endurance series while balancing plans to study neuroscience at university. Her story highlights motorsport's greatest challenge - securing financial backing - while showcasing the incredible community that makes racing unique. As Kate explains, the paddock atmosphere creates friendships that cross competitive lines and national boundaries, a camaraderie unlike any other sport. Follow Kate's journey as she manifests her return to the driver's seat, proving that in motorsport, passion and persistence can overcome even the steepest obstacles.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Women's Motorsports Network
podcast, the show that puts thespotlight on the incredible
women who fuel the world ofmotorsports, from drivers to
crew members, engineers to fansand everyone in between.
We're here to celebrate thetrailblazers, dreamers and doers
shaping the sport we love.
Each episode we share inspiringstories of females of all ages,
(00:24):
from every corner of themotorsports universe past,
present and future.
It's a journey through theseasons of life filled with
heartfelt moments, laughter anda whole lot of horsepower.
So, whether you're a lifelongfan, a racer yourself or simply
curious about the extraordinarywomen behind the wheel, settle
in, relax and enjoy a fun anduplifting ride with us.
(00:47):
This is the Women's MotorsportsNetwork podcast, connecting and
celebrating women in motorsports.
One story at a time.
Let's hit the track.
Hello everyone, this is MelindaRussell, with the Women's
Motorsports Network podcast, andmy guest today is coming from a
(01:10):
long way away, but through thetechnology that we have, it's
like we're sitting in the sameroom.
So I'm gonna, kate, I'm gonnalet you tell them where you're
from, but my guest today is KateTurner, and Kate, I want to
welcome you to the show andwould you first tell us about
yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Hi, thank you.
So I'm Katie, I'm 21, I'moriginally from Manchester in
the UK, but now I live inLeicestershire, which is two
hours south of Manchester.
But I've only moved hererecently, so I'm still getting
to know the area a little bitokay, and do you have siblings,
(01:47):
pets?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
any of those things I have?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
four siblings, so I have three sisters, one brother
and I have one dog.
He's a husky, he's eight yearsold and he's a pain in my bum.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Sometimes they dogs, can be a pain, can't they?
But we love them anyway.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Oh, absolutely, I wouldn't change them for the
world yeah, absolutely for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
So okay, do you go to ?
Do you still go to school?
Do you work?
What do you do when you're notracing?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
oh, so I've not been racing since 2023, um, with
budget reasons, of course iteveryone knows it's really hard
to find them partners.
Um hopefully got some plans for2026, though, coming up, so
that would be nice.
Um, so I did one year inuniversity doing engineering,
(02:38):
but it wasn't really for me.
Um just just wasn't a fan,didn't get on with it.
I'm going back in september touniversity to do neuroscience.
So, completely different tomotorsports, um, I've always
liked medical stuff.
Um, I wanted to be a paramedicor a doctor growing up.
So, again, nothing motorsports.
(03:01):
That came to me randomly oneday For work.
At the minute I'm a trackinstructor, so I don't know if
you do them in America oranywhere else.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
But there's a few companies in the UK that do it.
I'm with one in particularcalled Everyman Driving
Experiences.
So it's a fleet of 300 cars, soit ranges from ferraris,
mclarens, lamborghinis, porsches, aston martins, and we coach
people around tracks.
So we do brands hatchdonnington park, um, we, you, we
(03:38):
did goodwood for a few years,um, but of course, hiring out a
track it's very expensive, it'sabout 20 to 25 grand.
So it's, you know, trying tofind that balance.
But we do other tracks as wellairfields, um, so I could be
with somebody, I don't know,who's been driving for either 40
years or four days.
Um, we'll be going over like100 miles an hour and I make
(04:01):
sure they have loads of fun, butdo it safely so no one gets
hurt.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
That's very cool.
I've got some questions.
I'm going to ask you about thatin just a little bit.
First, we want to know let's goback to the first of your life
how did you get involved inmotorsports in the first place?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So it's quite a weird one.
It's not your normal route intomotorsports.
So when I was in college I hada couple friends that liked
formula one.
Um, I, my stepdad, watched itevery now and then I didn't
really know much about it andthey kind of got me into
(04:41):
watching racing.
I was 17 18 at this point, soit was a couple years ago um,
and then when I started to getinto it, I really really got
into it.
Um, I became obsessed.
Then I started getting intoBritish touring cars, the GT
Corp, literally anything thatinvolved an engine and four
wheels.
Um, and then I thought I'mactually really jealous, I want
(05:06):
to do this.
I thought I don't want to dowhat I'm doing now because when
I was in college I did forensicscience.
I thought I don't want to dothis.
I thought I want to be in a car, I want to race cars.
So I passed my driving test andthen my driving instructor was
always telling me that I wasdriving a bit too fast, which is
(05:27):
quite typical really.
Um, and I found this companyonline that did like track days,
just specifically for women.
They helped you get your likerace license, do a bit of
coaching and they're not aroundanymore.
They were called formula woman,but they now have moved to
racing women.
I don't really do anything withthem anymore.
(05:48):
Um, we lost contact um, butthey really really helped me,
like getting into the car ontothe track scene, getting my
license, and then from then Iwent to sweden, did a season
over there in electric minis,which leads me to today.
But yeah, I literally just wokeup one morning I thought I'm
(06:09):
going to drive a race car and itwent from there.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
That's.
That's not your normal storythat I hear but it's a really
cool one.
It's a really cool one, forsure.
Yeah, yeah.
What do you love most about theracing part?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I like the thrill of it and like the freedom of it as
well.
Like you can't just go whateverspeed you like on a normal road
I mean you can, but there's alot of consequences to it, um,
so I like the thrill.
Thrill of it, the freedom of it.
I like how nice everybody is ona race weekend.
Like nobody had a bad word tosay about anyone, whether you
(06:49):
did really good on the weekend,whether you did very bad on the
weekend, no one put you down.
Everyone really helped you out.
That was really nice.
You don't really get that inany other sport, to be honest,
so it was really nice.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Not in any other sports, or daily life, yeah, or
daily life, yeah, I mean,motorsports is just so different
.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
The mindset and the family.
Yeah, it's like being in acompletely different world.
Yeah, it's really different.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
It really is.
So I understand the financialpart of it is very difficult,
but now you're looking to maybeget back into it.
So how?
How have you overcome?
Like you know, are you findingsome sponsors to help, or have
you what?
What are you going to do to beable to make sure you can drive
(07:38):
a car?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
I will do literally anything, anything I can.
So at the minute I'm currentlyspeaking to some companies I
won't name, drop them, just incase they dislike it, but a lot
of it is done with the help ofmy uncle.
So he's a lorry driver, so heknows a lot of contacts, people
(08:02):
in like the logistics world, andyou know they tend to sponsor
motorsports You've got like DHLplaces like that Okay.
So he's helping me out.
He knows some people in thatworld and they recently came to
him and asked if I'm stilldriving, if I still need any
(08:23):
sponsorship, basically, and Iwas like yes, oh, like, yes, oh,
my god, yes, yes, yes, likeplease get back in contact with
me, that'll be great, yeah, soat the minute we're kind of
doing some presentations, somedeals, working out what's best
for everybody to try and getthis partnership which will lead
me to again I don't know if youhave it in the uk in the uk, in
(08:46):
the us, um, we have achampionship called the fun cup,
so it's like an enduranceracing one so you can get up to,
I want to say, six hours ofseat time over the weekend and
it's also the, I would say,cheapest championship you can do
over here.
So it's £24,500, which is a lotcheaper to any other
(09:10):
championship out there.
So I think, if I start low overhere, get myself back into it.
Work my way up is probably how Iwould do it, but that's what
I'm aiming for this month.
I would aim my top goal.
It's not as high as everyoneelse.
They want to be.
You know F1 touring cars.
I'd probably go for minis again, but minis over here are very
(09:32):
expensive.
They're about 150,000 pounds todo with a team, so it's quite
expensive.
So I want to work my way up tothat.
I think.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
So when you say um 24,.
Oh, I can get you a no, that'sokay, I'll figure that out, but
it sounds like a lot yeah, it'sdefinitely a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Um, yeah, but in comparison to other
championships it's quite cheap.
I just worked out it's about 32and a US dollars.
Okay, all right.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Wow, 32,000.
I'm writing that down, and so150,000 pounds is yeah.
It'll be quite a lot, yeah,quite a lot.
But to a company who wants tosponsor, especially sponsor a
woman, that's really that's intheir budget, that's what they
do yeah, 100, I think I wouldn'tsay it's getting easier for
(10:39):
women to get sponsorships, butwe're definitely more out there
now.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
We've seen a lot more girls push their way into f3 um
mini challenge over here, yeahagain.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
In other countries in in europe particularly, you see
a lot more women and girls init, which is nice to see well,
and it's, it's not the unusualanymore, but yeah, but it's
still a small enough umdemographic that it's enticing
to companies.
Because it's not just anotherguy no offense, guys, no offense
(11:15):
.
But it's not just another guyin a car with you know, 100
other guys in cars.
It's a woman in a car with 10other women.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
And so they do get a lot more attention because of
that, because it is more of theunusual for sure.
More attention because of that,because it is more of the
unusual for sure.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
So what are?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
you, what are you looking forward to the most to
get getting back on theracetrack?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I know you said you love the speed in that, but the
competition, the atmosphere of,you know, seeing everybody.
I remember, in particular, wewent to the Nürburgring.
That was probably my favouriterace weekend.
It was crazy.
I signed my first everautograph there.
That was insane.
Yeah, I had to film the momentto send it to my mum because I
(12:04):
was like mum, you'll never guesswhat's just happened.
This is crazy.
Yeah, the atmosphere inparticular, I think, seeing
everybody, getting advice fromeverybody, meeting loads and
loads of different people um, Ithink I don't.
I just like it all.
It's.
It's different.
I I don't know if you've notbeen in a paddock, you don't
know the feeling.
It's completely different.
(12:25):
The feeling that you get it'snot like happy or joyous or sad,
it's completely different.
I don't know how to explain ityou know, I don't really either.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
It's the roar of the engines, it's the smells of the
gas and and it's.
You know.
It's even looking at a team andthey're all dressed the same
you know, it's not like yeah,yeah, it's.
And and if you can't, if youcan't get somebody to the rac
race track, you can't explain itto them yeah, exactly we know
(12:56):
that if we get someone to thetrack especially if you could
get them into the paddockthey're going to be they're
going to be race fans for lifeoh, 100.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, it happened very quickly for me.
Yeah, it was.
It was just that one day at thetrack and I was like this is it
?
Yeah, I like this is what Iwant to do now.
It was.
It just took that one day andthat was it.
When you know, you know?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah.
So tell me about the car.
Like what, what kind of car isit?
I, I'm not familiar.
You're gonna have to teach menow, so what?
Let's say that in 2026 you'regoing to be driving.
Yeah, what's the car going tobe like?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
so it almost I can't describe the look of it.
So it's a single seater, but itdoesn't look like an f1 car.
It almost looks like avolkswagen beetle on steroids
it's it's big, it's loud, it'sgot a 1.8 liter audi volkswagen
(14:01):
engine in it, petrol, um, Ithink it was pushing just over
150 brake horsepower, so not thefastest thing in the world, um,
but I've watched them live andit was probably the most
exciting racing I've everwatched in my life.
It was very close, not likeFormula 1, where you get one
(14:21):
person 20 seconds ahead and youget one person one minute behind
.
Everyone's together in a packand they're wheel to wheel right
up against each other.
It looked really fun.
I've got a friend who will begoing there in 2026 as well, so
we're kind of aiming to go intoit together, um, but we'll have
(14:42):
to see.
Uh, I'm very hopeful, I'mmanifesting it, very hopeful
that we'll do it.
It's promising.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
That's what you have to do.
You know, I had a friend whocame up with this quote and he
he always said the story in yourmind becomes the story of your
life.
Exactly at the time it was acompletely different kind of
company.
It was a greeting card andgifting company, which I'm still
a part of.
It's called uh, it was calledsend out cards, now it's called
(15:11):
Promptings.
I'm still involved with it andhe's so right.
It's what you manifest in yourmind.
Yeah, and true, and so so true.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I think if you want it enough, you'll do anything to
go and get it, and then it willwork.
You've worked so hard to get it.
It won't fail.
So I'm hoping that the workI've done in the past year or so
it leads me to another raceseason next year oh, I hope so
too.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
So, um, when you first said, okay, I don't want
to do this, I want to be a racecar driver, what did your family
say?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
um.
So I didn't really tell them Iwas going.
I just kind of went one day andthen they rang and said where
are you?
I was like, oh, I'm in Sweden.
They're like what are you doingthere?
I was like, oh, driving a racecar.
It kind of went from there andthen I said to them I don't want
to do this anymore, I want todo that.
And they were like, oh, willyou just make your mind up?
(16:11):
I was like I don't know,because they're all really into
football, they're very bigfootball fans, and I was
completely different, neverunderstood it, don't understand
it.
Doesn't matter how many timesthey explain it to me, I don't
get it.
Yeah, but racing I was like Ilike that.
So I just said I don't want todo it anymore.
(16:32):
And then I switched tomotorsport engineering.
That was my chosen degree atthe time but, like I said, I
didn't really like it that muchbecause I don't know as much as
I admire race engineers and minereally did help me out when I
was racing.
Um, I don't, I'm not built forthat.
I don't think I can do it.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
The driving part.
It's if you want to be behindthe scenes with the car, or if
you want to be the driver or acrew member, out in, out, really
in it, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, I want to be in the action.
Right, I want to be there onthe track.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yeah, that's, that's two completely different kind of
not even it's you know, twocompletely different kind of
character and and not character.
But you know some people wantto be behind the scenes and some
people want to be out front andthat it takes all of that to
make it work.
Yeah, and so it's good that youfound out that you want to be
(17:32):
the driver.
I love that part, yeah, soyou're doing a lot of things you
know you found out that youwant to be the driver.
I love that part, yeah.
So you're doing a lot of things.
You know you're gettingyourself closer.
How do you take care ofyourself?
How do you find balance in yourlife between working at the
track, which has to give you alot of adrenaline, getting the
proper sleep and all thosethings?
(17:52):
You know, a lot of times, aswomen, we don't take care of
ourselves as much as we takecare of others.
And so how does Kate take careof Kate?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Unfortunately Kate didn't take care of Kate when
she was raising.
I, you know in my head, wasdoing very bad.
I just when I went to SwedenSweden, of course it was last
minute I had no family thatcould come with me because,
again, it was last minute theycouldn't get the time off work.
So I went to every race prettymuch alone.
(18:26):
So it was my first timetraveling abroad without any
family or friends.
So that was a big step initself.
Um then, trying to figure outtheir public transport over
there and I still struggle tofigure out public transport in
England.
I've been here 21 years so thatwas difficult.
And of course I'd never been toa race weekend.
(18:49):
I jumped straight in it.
I never did karting, I did the,I did track days, but that's
different to a race weekend.
Yeah, I'd never done it before.
I didn't know what to expect.
I didn't know what I was doing.
I didn't even know how to getout the race car until three
weekends in, because it just bychance, I just went.
If this car set on fire, I went, how do I get out?
(19:09):
And he was like the door handle.
And I was like what door handle?
So you can see how little Iknew I was literally.
I was like an apprentice, I waslearning on the job.
Basically I had no idea what Iwas doing and it really showed,
I think.
But I enjoyed it.
But I spent a lot of theweekends crying because I didn't
(19:31):
.
I wasn't doing as well as Ithought I would in my head and I
feel like even more as a woman,you have higher expectations
where men are kind of like, oh,that's okay, we'll just go
bigger and better next time.
But I was like, no, why am Inot first?
Why am I not winning?
Yeah, so I did definitelystruggle a lot, but I think now,
(19:52):
definitely being a little bitolder, knowing what to expect
now and hopefully racing in theUK, I think I'll definitely have
a bigger support network andeven when I was racing abroad I
built up those friendships.
I have friends in Sweden,germany, denmark, the
Netherlands.
I have friends, I'm friendswith people everywhere now,
(20:17):
which is nice, and I get tipsand advice from them.
So I think if I went back intoit next year, I would be a lot
better like in myself.
I would have a bigger, bettersupport network.
I have family that couldactually come, friends that
could come and I think again,working at everyman, even though
we're mainly sat on thepassenger side instructing, you
(20:40):
know, you learn a lot, you learna lot.
My driving has definitelyimproved since working there
because you're telling peoplethe racing line, you know, and I
could have gone to this track.
There's some tracks where I'vegone to.
I've never even driven thetrack and I'm instructing people
, so it's like you've you know.
It's helped me a lot likevisualize the racing lines and
(21:03):
how to deal with different kindof cars, because I've done front
wheel drives, four wheel drives, rear wheel drives, in the wet,
in the snow, in the, in the dry, so it's definitely improved.
So I think now I woulddefinitely know how to look
after myself at a race weekend.
So hopefully you know.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I love listening to you tell me how you've learned,
because a lot of people wouldsay that, oh, you have to have
seat time, you have to be in thedriver's seat, but that's not
really true, because you're inthe passenger seat with the
person that's driving and youdon't have the pressure of
(21:44):
actually driving to where Ithink you can like, absorb and
study and learn where the rightline is.
And, oh, you know, know whenthey do something wrong.
You learn by what they've doneright or wrong and it's a really
interesting.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
it's almost like you've you're learning racing by
watching, yeah, where mostpeople start when they're little
and they, you know, they learnthe hard way really yeah, I mean
, I think back when I was a kidin the uk, I think you it's a
lot more difficult to get intoracing, especially as a girl.
(22:23):
Over here where I lived, therewasn't really any karting tracks
around me that I knew of and Inever knew it was a thing I
wanted to do.
So of course, I never had thatseat time growing up.
As much as I would love theseat time and I think that would
be great, I think the next bestthing that I can do is be in
the passenger seat tellingpeople what to do.
So you know, we get, we get theevery morning, we get to go for
(22:47):
a warm-up lap.
Um, there's occasionally youget to go around the track by
yourself.
So you get the seat time everynow and then.
But it's not.
You're not going at race pace,you're not.
You know you're not racing,you're instructing.
It's a different kind of thing.
But yeah, again, I kind of it'sreally weird how to explain it,
but when I'm on a track, like Ican kind of see the race line.
(23:08):
So it's almost like when you'replaying like a racing game and
you've got the line on to help.
That's kind of almost how I seethe track now because I do it
so often.
It's almost like seven days aweek.
For example, tomorrow I'm goingdown to Exeter, which is a four
and a half hour drive, which Idon't think it's that long in
(23:29):
the US because it's so massivethat it takes ages to get
anywhere, but for the UK I'mgoing from like the middle of
the country to the very bottomof the country.
Oh yeah, and I'm instructingthere.
So it you know I get to do itin cool cars.
My all-time dream car is anNissan GTR, and that's a car I'm
getting a lot of time in at theminute.
So you know I can't complain.
(23:51):
No, I'm always happy about that.
As a kid I never thought I'd beable to be in a Ferrari, let
alone drive one, and now I canjust take my pick of, you know,
cars I want to go in.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
So it's nice, you know so it's kind of a dream job
, isn't it really?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
it can be.
Yeah, obviously, like any job,it's got its ups and downs.
It's it can definitely be scaryat times.
I've got to say you get theperson in thinks they're like
michael schumacher and thinkthey're the best driver ever,
when in reality it's not.
They've only ever done roaddriving and, as anyone who's
driven on a track before knows,it's very different.
Um, I've had people stop ontrack where there's been lines,
(24:34):
thinking that we're at ajunction, and I'm like, no, no,
we've got to go, we cannot stop,keep going.
But they're like there's cars.
I'm like, no, they're notcoming at us, go.
So it can be very stressful attimes.
I've got to know where everyother car is on track.
I've got to anticipate what thecustomer's going to do.
Um, I've got to anticipate whatthe customer behind or in front
(24:54):
of me is going to do.
I've had cars stopped dead infront of me and the customer's
not really realized.
Luckily, we have a brake pedalon our side for emergencies.
Yeah, it's rare we have to usethem, but you get the odd one
that does really want to killyou.
So, but again, you learn a lotfrom those kind of people,
(25:18):
because it's like they will pushthe car beyond their limits and
I've got to be able to controlit from the passenger side.
So if I can control it from thepassenger side, I can control
it from the driver's side.
So it definitely helps driver'sside.
So it definitely helps a lotmore, like if I was getting a
car.
Now I can see my driving hasimproved massively from 2023 to
(25:38):
now.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
I'll bet.
What's the scariest?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
thing that's happened .
So I was at Bronze Hatch, I wasin a BMW i8.
And that car that car when thebattery's fully charged it's a
four wheel drive, when thebattery's not charged, it's a
rear wheel drive.
And it just so happened we'dused up all our battery, so we
were on a rear wheel drive, itwas raining and the car didn't
(26:04):
like going in a straight lineeven at 15 miles per hour.
It was trying to kick the backend out and this customer did
not want to use his brake pedal.
It doesn't matter.
You know, if I was, I wasyelling at him at one point.
Like you have to brake, becauseI know and I've seen at brand's
hatch, when it goes wrong, itgoes wrong.
(26:26):
You don't just have a littlespin, you roll the car 10 times
and you're in a barrier likeit's.
It's not the place you want tohave an accident at.
It's not fun.
I try to explain to thecustomer.
You know I've crashed, I'vebeen in a concrete wall.
It hurts.
I don't want to do it again andI promise you you don't want to
do it either.
Right, and he just would notbreak.
(26:47):
And it got to the point where wewere behind a Lamborghini
Gallardo and we were gettingvery, very close and we have a
very strict overtaking rulewhere it's done by indicators
and it's done by the instructors, so it's always, always, safe.
He completely ignored this, butit got to the point where his
accelerator was overriding mybrake.
(27:07):
Oh, but the car, because it'sgot that many sensors, because
it's quite a like a newishsupercar.
It was a 2018 um, the carliterally stopped itself and I
put the car in neutral and Isaid we cannot go any further.
I said you are not listening tome any further.
(27:33):
I said you are not listening tome and I don't like to shout at
people.
I'm not a horrible person, butthis man was going to kill the
both of us.
Yeah, he would.
Doesn't matter what I said tohim, he would not listen.
And that has got to be probablythe scariest moment I've ever
had, because I thought we'regoing to hit somebody, we're
going to injure someone else,we're going to injure ourselves
or we are going to completelywreck this car.
(27:53):
That has done nothing to us.
It's done.
He's been nothing but nice tous, this car.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
So that was definitely the scariest moment
I've had when you so you don'thave a wheel, you don't have a
wheel, you just have a break.
Yeah, I would have put my handsaround his neck it was
difficult not to.
I've got to say what you know,what it makes you wonder did he
(28:20):
think he knew more because hehad driven a race car before?
Because you were a woman and hewasn't going to listen to a
pretty young thing tell him howto drive all those things
together?
He should have never he thatcar needed to go back to the
garage and he needed to get outbecause, yeah, that's taking
advantage of a situation thatyou know he should not even be
(28:43):
in control of.
So that had to be just theworst.
Yeah, I would guess that mostof the time you have a lot of
fun with those customers oh, 100.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, I did one at a military barracks couple weeks
ago and every single customer Ithink I enjoyed it more than
they did and they were reallyenjoying it.
We're in a nissan gtr.
It was modded so it was.
I think it was running about700 brake horsepower.
It was very quick, it was nice.
But yeah, like you said, Ithink a lot of the issue most of
(29:14):
the time is I'm a woman.
I had one last year and it justso happened to be national, uh,
like international women's day,so it was quite a coincidence.
And, um, I was introduced tothe customer and he went oh,
it's a woman.
I thought I said to him, I saidon International Women's Day as
well.
(29:35):
So for his session, I drove himaround the track to show him the
different braking points,accelerating points, your apexes
, everything he needed to knowwhere the track, where it went.
Anyway, he got in this car.
We were in a Ferrari F430 atthis point.
Everything he needed to knowwhere the track, where it went.
Anyway, he got in this car.
We were in a Ferrari F430 atthis point.
So he got in the car and I wastrying to tell him how to turn
(29:57):
it on, because in a Ferrari.
You twist the key and thenyou've got to hold down a button
to turn the car on.
He went I don't need you totell me how to turn the car on.
And when I tell you, we satthere for 25 minutes, this man
trying to figure out how to turnthis car on, and I just said to
him I said if you look to theright there's a key, try, twist
(30:18):
that.
And of course it started up.
And with our brake, with mybrake pedal, I just so slightly
kept it on.
So the car was running a bitslower and he went oh, this is a
bit slower than I expected.
And I was like I said oh,people that can drive normally
get this quite quick, and I'venever seen a man's ego shatter
(30:39):
so much and I thoroughly enjoyedit because it's just like you
had.
You had no reason to say thatto me.
You don't know my experience,you don't know what I can do in
a car, so you have no reason totell me that.
So it's like you ruin my dayand I'll ruin your day.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
I love your attitude.
I absolutely love your attitude.
You're gonna be fun and you'regonna help them as much as you
can, but if they mess with you,okay I, I can mess back, right,
yeah?
Speaker 2 (31:09):
I won't have it yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
That is so fun, so fun.
So next year you're going to bein a car.
I just know you are.
I'm going to manifest it withyou, Thank you.
What is the thing that will bethe most you're?
You're going to run in a cupseries.
(31:33):
It sounds like yeah you travelto all different tracks.
You meet all different kinds ofpeople.
What is the one thing thatyou're going to take away from
your life driving being part ofmotorsports that you would never
have experienced had it notbeen for motorsports um, I think
(31:56):
it would honestly, I would saythe friendships, because, yeah,
you can make friends anywhere,yeah, but you know it's rare.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
You make friends, you know, from different countries,
you know that, although yourcompetitors will also help you
out, I think it's definitelythat.
I mean, I made a lot of friendsin Sweden that I still speak to
almost every day to this dayand it's like, yes, we were
against each other on the track,but off track there was no hard
(32:30):
feelings, even if we had a bump, you know, and we set each
other behind a little bit.
You know there was no bad bloodbetween it.
Like you know, football, forexample, they'll get off the
pitch and they'll have a fightOver here.
You just shake hands, have ahug and just be like really
sorry, it happens, you know.
I think it happens, you know, Ithink it's that.
(32:54):
I think you'll take that awaythe, the, the kindness, the
niceness to people that youdon't really get anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
I think, yeah, absolutely for sure, and that's
something that throughout life,nobody can take away from you.
Exactly, yeah, okay, you'veExactly, yeah, okay, you've been
a joy.
So, just so the peoplelistening understand so I live
in Michigan and we started thisaround 11 o'clock in the morning
(33:19):
, my time, and that was fouro'clock in the afternoon, your
time, yeah, and.
And so this just goes to showthat no matter where we live or
what time zone we're in, that wecan talk about motorsports and
be sisters in motorsports, eventhough you could be my
granddaughter that's how old youare and it's something that now
(33:42):
we've met.
We probably won't ever meet inperson I doubt if I come to the
UK, but I feel like I've met youand I feel like we have a new
friendship, and that's why I dothis is to tell you if you ever
come to the UK yeah, if you evercome to the UK, we'll make sure
we meet, because in my eyeswe're best friends now.
(34:02):
So yeah, absolutely okay.
I'm so glad that we could talktoday, so now I want you to keep
manifesting, keep working hard,keep showing those men that you
know what you're talking about.
I bet the women don't give youany crap, do they?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Not one of them.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Yeah, that's, yeah.
That's just how life isespecially in other sports and
we accept it and we love the men.
We really do.
But they have to understandthat sometimes we know as much
as they do.
Yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Yeah, well, thank you for being on with me this has
really been a joy to talk withyou and tell your story, and I
want you to promise that you'llstay in touch and let me know
when everything goes well andwhen you start racing, and
hopefully there'll be somewherethat I can watch it.
like you know, I watch so muchstreaming now because I connect
(34:57):
with women all over the unitedstates and in the past I would
have never maybe got to watchthem race because I can't go
everywhere.
But now, with with all thestreaming services, I can keep
track and watch and say, oh, youknow, peyton's racing here or
whatever, and it makes it sonice.
I feel like I really get toactually watch them race too.
(35:20):
So hopefully at one pointthat's what's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Oh yeah, I'll send you a link when I'm racing next
year.
Absolutely Maybe a ticket, whoknows?
There you go, there you go.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
That would be absolutely amazing, for sure.
Well, kate, thanks for beingwith me today, and I just want
to give you all the luck in theworld and appreciate that you
took the time, and if you'lljust hang on after I stop the
recording, we'll just finish upsome details.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Okay, that's fine.
Thank you for having me, it'sbeen fun.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
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Again, that's RacingJunkcom.
That's it for this episode ofthe Women's Motorsports Network
podcast.
We hope you've been inspired bythe stories I shared today and
feel more connected to theamazing community of women in
motorsports.
(37:00):
Remember, whether you're behindthe wheel in the pits or
cheering from the stands, yourstory matters and together we're
driving change and celebratingevery milestone.
If you enjoyed today's episode,be sure to subscribe, leave us
a review and share it withsomeone who loves motorsports as
much as you do, and don'tforget to follow us on Facebook
(37:25):
and Instagram for updates,behind-the-scenes content and
more incredible stories.
So until next time, stayinspired, stay connected and
keep racing through life.
This is the Women's MotorsportsNetwork podcast, where every
woman's story is worthcelebrating.
Welcome to the Women's Motorsports Network
podcast, the show that puts thespotlight on the incredible
women who fuel the world ofmotorsports, from drivers to
crew members, engineers to fansand everyone in between.
We're here to celebrate thetrailblazers, dreamers and doers
shaping the sport we love.
Each episode we share inspiringstories of females of all ages,
(00:24):
from every corner of themotorsports universe past,
present and future.
It's a journey through theseasons of life filled with
heartfelt moments, laughter anda whole lot of horsepower.
So, whether you're a lifelongfan, a racer yourself or simply
curious about the extraordinarywomen behind the wheel, settle
in, relax and enjoy a fun anduplifting ride with us.
(00:47):
This is the Women's MotorsportsNetwork podcast, connecting and
celebrating women in motorsports.
One story at a time.
Let's hit the track.
Hello everyone, this is MelindaRussell, with the Women's
Motorsports Network podcast, andmy guest today is coming from a
(01:10):
long way away, but through thetechnology that we have, it's
like we're sitting in the sameroom.
So I'm gonna, kate, I'm gonnalet you tell them where you're
from, but my guest today is KateTurner, and Kate, I want to
welcome you to the show andwould you first tell us about
yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Hi, thank you.
So I'm Katie, I'm 21, I'moriginally from Manchester in
the UK, but now I live inLeicestershire, which is two
hours south of Manchester.
But I've only moved hererecently, so I'm still getting
to know the area a little bitokay, and do you have siblings,
(01:47):
pets?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
any of those things I have?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
four siblings, so I have three sisters, one brother
and I have one dog.
He's a husky, he's eight yearsold and he's a pain in my bum.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Sometimes they dogs, can be a pain, can't they?
But we love them anyway.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Oh, absolutely, I wouldn't change them for the
world yeah, absolutely for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
So okay, do you go to ?
Do you still go to school?
Do you work?
What do you do when you're notracing?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
oh, so I've not been racing since 2023, um, with
budget reasons, of course iteveryone knows it's really hard
to find them partners.
Um hopefully got some plans for2026, though, coming up, so
that would be nice.
Um, so I did one year inuniversity doing engineering,
(02:38):
but it wasn't really for me.
Um just just wasn't a fan,didn't get on with it.
I'm going back in september touniversity to do neuroscience.
So, completely different tomotorsports, um, I've always
liked medical stuff.
Um, I wanted to be a paramedicor a doctor growing up.
So, again, nothing motorsports.
(03:01):
That came to me randomly oneday For work.
At the minute I'm a trackinstructor, so I don't know if
you do them in America oranywhere else.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
But there's a few companies in the UK that do it.
I'm with one in particularcalled Everyman Driving
Experiences.
So it's a fleet of 300 cars, soit ranges from ferraris,
mclarens, lamborghinis, porsches, aston martins, and we coach
people around tracks.
So we do brands hatchdonnington park, um, we, you, we
(03:38):
did goodwood for a few years,um, but of course, hiring out a
track it's very expensive, it'sabout 20 to 25 grand.
So it's, you know, trying tofind that balance.
But we do other tracks as wellairfields, um, so I could be
with somebody, I don't know,who's been driving for either 40
years or four days.
Um, we'll be going over like100 miles an hour and I make
(04:01):
sure they have loads of fun, butdo it safely so no one gets
hurt.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
That's very cool.
I've got some questions.
I'm going to ask you about thatin just a little bit.
First, we want to know let's goback to the first of your life
how did you get involved inmotorsports in the first place?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So it's quite a weird one.
It's not your normal route intomotorsports.
So when I was in college I hada couple friends that liked
formula one.
Um, I, my stepdad, watched itevery now and then I didn't
really know much about it andthey kind of got me into
(04:41):
watching racing.
I was 17 18 at this point, soit was a couple years ago um,
and then when I started to getinto it, I really really got
into it.
Um, I became obsessed.
Then I started getting intoBritish touring cars, the GT
Corp, literally anything thatinvolved an engine and four
wheels.
Um, and then I thought I'mactually really jealous, I want
(05:06):
to do this.
I thought I don't want to dowhat I'm doing now because when
I was in college I did forensicscience.
I thought I don't want to dothis.
I thought I want to be in a car, I want to race cars.
So I passed my driving test andthen my driving instructor was
always telling me that I wasdriving a bit too fast, which is
(05:27):
quite typical really.
Um, and I found this companyonline that did like track days,
just specifically for women.
They helped you get your likerace license, do a bit of
coaching and they're not aroundanymore.
They were called formula woman,but they now have moved to
racing women.
I don't really do anything withthem anymore.
(05:48):
Um, we lost contact um, butthey really really helped me,
like getting into the car ontothe track scene, getting my
license, and then from then Iwent to sweden, did a season
over there in electric minis,which leads me to today.
But yeah, I literally just wokeup one morning I thought I'm
(06:09):
going to drive a race car and itwent from there.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
That's.
That's not your normal storythat I hear but it's a really
cool one.
It's a really cool one, forsure.
Yeah, yeah.
What do you love most about theracing part?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I like the thrill of it and like the freedom of it as
well.
Like you can't just go whateverspeed you like on a normal road
I mean you can, but there's alot of consequences to it, um,
so I like the thrill.
Thrill of it, the freedom of it.
I like how nice everybody is ona race weekend.
Like nobody had a bad word tosay about anyone, whether you
(06:49):
did really good on the weekend,whether you did very bad on the
weekend, no one put you down.
Everyone really helped you out.
That was really nice.
You don't really get that inany other sport, to be honest,
so it was really nice.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Not in any other sports, or daily life, yeah, or
daily life, yeah, I mean,motorsports is just so different
.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
The mindset and the family.
Yeah, it's like being in acompletely different world.
Yeah, it's really different.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
It really is.
So I understand the financialpart of it is very difficult,
but now you're looking to maybeget back into it.
So how?
How have you overcome?
Like you know, are you findingsome sponsors to help, or have
you what?
What are you going to do to beable to make sure you can drive
(07:38):
a car?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
I will do literally anything, anything I can.
So at the minute I'm currentlyspeaking to some companies I
won't name, drop them, just incase they dislike it, but a lot
of it is done with the help ofmy uncle.
So he's a lorry driver, so heknows a lot of contacts, people
(08:02):
in like the logistics world, andyou know they tend to sponsor
motorsports You've got like DHLplaces like that Okay.
So he's helping me out.
He knows some people in thatworld and they recently came to
him and asked if I'm stilldriving, if I still need any
(08:23):
sponsorship, basically, and Iwas like yes, oh, like, yes, oh,
my god, yes, yes, yes, likeplease get back in contact with
me, that'll be great, yeah, soat the minute we're kind of
doing some presentations, somedeals, working out what's best
for everybody to try and getthis partnership which will lead
me to again I don't know if youhave it in the uk in the uk, in
(08:46):
the us, um, we have achampionship called the fun cup,
so it's like an enduranceracing one so you can get up to,
I want to say, six hours ofseat time over the weekend and
it's also the, I would say,cheapest championship you can do
over here.
So it's £24,500, which is a lotcheaper to any other
(09:10):
championship out there.
So I think, if I start low overhere, get myself back into it.
Work my way up is probably how Iwould do it, but that's what
I'm aiming for this month.
I would aim my top goal.
It's not as high as everyoneelse.
They want to be.
You know F1 touring cars.
I'd probably go for minis again, but minis over here are very
(09:32):
expensive.
They're about 150,000 pounds todo with a team, so it's quite
expensive.
So I want to work my way up tothat.
I think.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
So when you say um 24,.
Oh, I can get you a no, that'sokay, I'll figure that out, but
it sounds like a lot yeah, it'sdefinitely a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Um, yeah, but in comparison to other
championships it's quite cheap.
I just worked out it's about 32and a US dollars.
Okay, all right.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Wow, 32,000.
I'm writing that down, and so150,000 pounds is yeah.
It'll be quite a lot, yeah,quite a lot.
But to a company who wants tosponsor, especially sponsor a
woman, that's really that's intheir budget, that's what they
do yeah, 100, I think I wouldn'tsay it's getting easier for
(10:39):
women to get sponsorships, butwe're definitely more out there
now.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
We've seen a lot more girls push their way into f3 um
mini challenge over here, yeahagain.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
In other countries in in europe particularly, you see
a lot more women and girls init, which is nice to see well,
and it's, it's not the unusualanymore, but yeah, but it's
still a small enough umdemographic that it's enticing
to companies.
Because it's not just anotherguy no offense, guys, no offense
(11:15):
.
But it's not just another guyin a car with you know, 100
other guys in cars.
It's a woman in a car with 10other women.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
And so they do get a lot more attention because of
that, because it is more of theunusual for sure.
More attention because of that,because it is more of the
unusual for sure.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
So what are?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
you, what are you looking forward to the most to
get getting back on theracetrack?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I know you said you love the speed in that, but the
competition, the atmosphere of,you know, seeing everybody.
I remember, in particular, wewent to the Nürburgring.
That was probably my favouriterace weekend.
It was crazy.
I signed my first everautograph there.
That was insane.
Yeah, I had to film the momentto send it to my mum because I
(12:04):
was like mum, you'll never guesswhat's just happened.
This is crazy.
Yeah, the atmosphere inparticular, I think, seeing
everybody, getting advice fromeverybody, meeting loads and
loads of different people um, Ithink I don't.
I just like it all.
It's.
It's different.
I I don't know if you've notbeen in a paddock, you don't
know the feeling.
It's completely different.
(12:25):
The feeling that you get it'snot like happy or joyous or sad,
it's completely different.
I don't know how to explain ityou know, I don't really either.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
It's the roar of the engines, it's the smells of the
gas and and it's.
You know.
It's even looking at a team andthey're all dressed the same
you know, it's not like yeah,yeah, it's.
And and if you can't, if youcan't get somebody to the rac
race track, you can't explain itto them yeah, exactly we know
(12:56):
that if we get someone to thetrack especially if you could
get them into the paddockthey're going to be they're
going to be race fans for lifeoh, 100.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, it happened very quickly for me.
Yeah, it was.
It was just that one day at thetrack and I was like this is it
?
Yeah, I like this is what Iwant to do now.
It was.
It just took that one day andthat was it.
When you know, you know?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah.
So tell me about the car.
Like what, what kind of car isit?
I, I'm not familiar.
You're gonna have to teach menow, so what?
Let's say that in 2026 you'regoing to be driving.
Yeah, what's the car going tobe like?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
so it almost I can't describe the look of it.
So it's a single seater, but itdoesn't look like an f1 car.
It almost looks like avolkswagen beetle on steroids
it's it's big, it's loud, it'sgot a 1.8 liter audi volkswagen
(14:01):
engine in it, petrol, um, Ithink it was pushing just over
150 brake horsepower, so not thefastest thing in the world, um,
but I've watched them live andit was probably the most
exciting racing I've everwatched in my life.
It was very close, not likeFormula 1, where you get one
(14:21):
person 20 seconds ahead and youget one person one minute behind
.
Everyone's together in a packand they're wheel to wheel right
up against each other.
It looked really fun.
I've got a friend who will begoing there in 2026 as well, so
we're kind of aiming to go intoit together, um, but we'll have
(14:42):
to see.
Uh, I'm very hopeful, I'mmanifesting it, very hopeful
that we'll do it.
It's promising.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
That's what you have to do.
You know, I had a friend whocame up with this quote and he
he always said the story in yourmind becomes the story of your
life.
Exactly at the time it was acompletely different kind of
company.
It was a greeting card andgifting company, which I'm still
a part of.
It's called uh, it was calledsend out cards, now it's called
(15:11):
Promptings.
I'm still involved with it andhe's so right.
It's what you manifest in yourmind.
Yeah, and true, and so so true.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I think if you want it enough, you'll do anything to
go and get it, and then it willwork.
You've worked so hard to get it.
It won't fail.
So I'm hoping that the workI've done in the past year or so
it leads me to another raceseason next year oh, I hope so
too.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
So, um, when you first said, okay, I don't want
to do this, I want to be a racecar driver, what did your family
say?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
um.
So I didn't really tell them Iwas going.
I just kind of went one day andthen they rang and said where
are you?
I was like, oh, I'm in Sweden.
They're like what are you doingthere?
I was like, oh, driving a racecar.
It kind of went from there andthen I said to them I don't want
to do this anymore, I want todo that.
And they were like, oh, willyou just make your mind up?
(16:11):
I was like I don't know,because they're all really into
football, they're very bigfootball fans, and I was
completely different, neverunderstood it, don't understand
it.
Doesn't matter how many timesthey explain it to me, I don't
get it.
Yeah, but racing I was like Ilike that.
So I just said I don't want todo it anymore.
(16:32):
And then I switched tomotorsport engineering.
That was my chosen degree atthe time but, like I said, I
didn't really like it that muchbecause I don't know as much as
I admire race engineers and minereally did help me out when I
was racing.
Um, I don't, I'm not built forthat.
I don't think I can do it.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
The driving part.
It's if you want to be behindthe scenes with the car, or if
you want to be the driver or acrew member, out in, out, really
in it, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, I want to be in the action.
Right, I want to be there onthe track.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yeah, that's, that's two completely different kind of
not even it's you know, twocompletely different kind of
character and and not character.
But you know some people wantto be behind the scenes and some
people want to be out front andthat it takes all of that to
make it work.
Yeah, and so it's good that youfound out that you want to be
(17:32):
the driver.
I love that part, yeah, soyou're doing a lot of things you
know you found out that youwant to be the driver.
I love that part, yeah.
So you're doing a lot of things.
You know you're gettingyourself closer.
How do you take care ofyourself?
How do you find balance in yourlife between working at the
track, which has to give you alot of adrenaline, getting the
proper sleep and all thosethings?
(17:52):
You know, a lot of times, aswomen, we don't take care of
ourselves as much as we takecare of others.
And so how does Kate take careof Kate?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Unfortunately Kate didn't take care of Kate when
she was raising.
I, you know in my head, wasdoing very bad.
I just when I went to SwedenSweden, of course it was last
minute I had no family thatcould come with me because,
again, it was last minute theycouldn't get the time off work.
So I went to every race prettymuch alone.
(18:26):
So it was my first timetraveling abroad without any
family or friends.
So that was a big step initself.
Um then, trying to figure outtheir public transport over
there and I still struggle tofigure out public transport in
England.
I've been here 21 years so thatwas difficult.
And of course I'd never been toa race weekend.
(18:49):
I jumped straight in it.
I never did karting, I did the,I did track days, but that's
different to a race weekend.
Yeah, I'd never done it before.
I didn't know what to expect.
I didn't know what I was doing.
I didn't even know how to getout the race car until three
weekends in, because it just bychance, I just went.
If this car set on fire, I went, how do I get out?
(19:09):
And he was like the door handle.
And I was like what door handle?
So you can see how little Iknew I was literally.
I was like an apprentice, I waslearning on the job.
Basically I had no idea what Iwas doing and it really showed,
I think.
But I enjoyed it.
But I spent a lot of theweekends crying because I didn't
(19:31):
.
I wasn't doing as well as Ithought I would in my head and I
feel like even more as a woman,you have higher expectations
where men are kind of like, oh,that's okay, we'll just go
bigger and better next time.
But I was like, no, why am Inot first?
Why am I not winning?
Yeah, so I did definitelystruggle a lot, but I think now,
(19:52):
definitely being a little bitolder, knowing what to expect
now and hopefully racing in theUK, I think I'll definitely have
a bigger support network andeven when I was racing abroad I
built up those friendships.
I have friends in Sweden,germany, denmark, the
Netherlands.
I have friends, I'm friendswith people everywhere now,
(20:17):
which is nice, and I get tipsand advice from them.
So I think if I went back intoit next year, I would be a lot
better like in myself.
I would have a bigger, bettersupport network.
I have family that couldactually come, friends that
could come and I think again,working at everyman, even though
we're mainly sat on thepassenger side instructing, you
(20:40):
know, you learn a lot, you learna lot.
My driving has definitelyimproved since working there
because you're telling peoplethe racing line, you know, and I
could have gone to this track.
There's some tracks where I'vegone to.
I've never even driven thetrack and I'm instructing people
, so it's like you've you know.
It's helped me a lot likevisualize the racing lines and
(21:03):
how to deal with different kindof cars, because I've done front
wheel drives, four wheel drives, rear wheel drives, in the wet,
in the snow, in the, in the dry, so it's definitely improved.
So I think now I woulddefinitely know how to look
after myself at a race weekend.
So hopefully you know.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I love listening to you tell me how you've learned,
because a lot of people wouldsay that, oh, you have to have
seat time, you have to be in thedriver's seat, but that's not
really true, because you're inthe passenger seat with the
person that's driving and youdon't have the pressure of
(21:44):
actually driving to where Ithink you can like, absorb and
study and learn where the rightline is.
And, oh, you know, know whenthey do something wrong.
You learn by what they've doneright or wrong and it's a really
interesting.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
it's almost like you've you're learning racing by
watching, yeah, where mostpeople start when they're little
and they, you know, they learnthe hard way really yeah, I mean
, I think back when I was a kidin the uk, I think you it's a
lot more difficult to get intoracing, especially as a girl.
(22:23):
Over here where I lived, therewasn't really any karting tracks
around me that I knew of and Inever knew it was a thing I
wanted to do.
So of course, I never had thatseat time growing up.
As much as I would love theseat time and I think that would
be great, I think the next bestthing that I can do is be in
the passenger seat tellingpeople what to do.
So you know, we get, we get theevery morning, we get to go for
(22:47):
a warm-up lap.
Um, there's occasionally youget to go around the track by
yourself.
So you get the seat time everynow and then.
But it's not.
You're not going at race pace,you're not.
You know you're not racing,you're instructing.
It's a different kind of thing.
But yeah, again, I kind of it'sreally weird how to explain it,
but when I'm on a track, like Ican kind of see the race line.
(23:08):
So it's almost like when you'replaying like a racing game and
you've got the line on to help.
That's kind of almost how I seethe track now because I do it
so often.
It's almost like seven days aweek.
For example, tomorrow I'm goingdown to Exeter, which is a four
and a half hour drive, which Idon't think it's that long in
(23:29):
the US because it's so massivethat it takes ages to get
anywhere, but for the UK I'mgoing from like the middle of
the country to the very bottomof the country.
Oh yeah, and I'm instructingthere.
So it you know I get to do itin cool cars.
My all-time dream car is anNissan GTR, and that's a car I'm
getting a lot of time in at theminute.
So you know I can't complain.
(23:51):
No, I'm always happy about that.
As a kid I never thought I'd beable to be in a Ferrari, let
alone drive one, and now I canjust take my pick of, you know,
cars I want to go in.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
So it's nice, you know so it's kind of a dream job
, isn't it really?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
it can be.
Yeah, obviously, like any job,it's got its ups and downs.
It's it can definitely be scaryat times.
I've got to say you get theperson in thinks they're like
michael schumacher and thinkthey're the best driver ever,
when in reality it's not.
They've only ever done roaddriving and, as anyone who's
driven on a track before knows,it's very different.
Um, I've had people stop ontrack where there's been lines,
(24:34):
thinking that we're at ajunction, and I'm like, no, no,
we've got to go, we cannot stop,keep going.
But they're like there's cars.
I'm like, no, they're notcoming at us, go.
So it can be very stressful attimes.
I've got to know where everyother car is on track.
I've got to anticipate what thecustomer's going to do.
Um, I've got to anticipate whatthe customer behind or in front
(24:54):
of me is going to do.
I've had cars stopped dead infront of me and the customer's
not really realized.
Luckily, we have a brake pedalon our side for emergencies.
Yeah, it's rare we have to usethem, but you get the odd one
that does really want to killyou.
So, but again, you learn a lotfrom those kind of people,
(25:18):
because it's like they will pushthe car beyond their limits and
I've got to be able to controlit from the passenger side.
So if I can control it from thepassenger side, I can control
it from the driver's side.
So it definitely helps driver'sside.
So it definitely helps a lotmore, like if I was getting a
car.
Now I can see my driving hasimproved massively from 2023 to
(25:38):
now.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
I'll bet.
What's the scariest?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
thing that's happened .
So I was at Bronze Hatch, I wasin a BMW i8.
And that car that car when thebattery's fully charged it's a
four wheel drive, when thebattery's not charged, it's a
rear wheel drive.
And it just so happened we'dused up all our battery, so we
were on a rear wheel drive, itwas raining and the car didn't
(26:04):
like going in a straight lineeven at 15 miles per hour.
It was trying to kick the backend out and this customer did
not want to use his brake pedal.
It doesn't matter.
You know, if I was, I wasyelling at him at one point.
Like you have to brake, becauseI know and I've seen at brand's
hatch, when it goes wrong, itgoes wrong.
(26:26):
You don't just have a littlespin, you roll the car 10 times
and you're in a barrier likeit's.
It's not the place you want tohave an accident at.
It's not fun.
I try to explain to thecustomer.
You know I've crashed, I'vebeen in a concrete wall.
It hurts.
I don't want to do it again andI promise you you don't want to
do it either.
Right, and he just would notbreak.
(26:47):
And it got to the point where wewere behind a Lamborghini
Gallardo and we were gettingvery, very close and we have a
very strict overtaking rulewhere it's done by indicators
and it's done by the instructors, so it's always, always, safe.
He completely ignored this, butit got to the point where his
accelerator was overriding mybrake.
(27:07):
Oh, but the car, because it'sgot that many sensors, because
it's quite a like a newishsupercar.
It was a 2018 um, the carliterally stopped itself and I
put the car in neutral and Isaid we cannot go any further.
I said you are not listening tome any further.
(27:33):
I said you are not listening tome and I don't like to shout at
people.
I'm not a horrible person, butthis man was going to kill the
both of us.
Yeah, he would.
Doesn't matter what I said tohim, he would not listen.
And that has got to be probablythe scariest moment I've ever
had, because I thought we'regoing to hit somebody, we're
going to injure someone else,we're going to injure ourselves
or we are going to completelywreck this car.
(27:53):
That has done nothing to us.
It's done.
He's been nothing but nice tous, this car.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
So that was definitely the scariest moment
I've had when you so you don'thave a wheel, you don't have a
wheel, you just have a break.
Yeah, I would have put my handsaround his neck it was
difficult not to.
I've got to say what you know,what it makes you wonder did he
(28:20):
think he knew more because hehad driven a race car before?
Because you were a woman and hewasn't going to listen to a
pretty young thing tell him howto drive all those things
together?
He should have never he thatcar needed to go back to the
garage and he needed to get outbecause, yeah, that's taking
advantage of a situation thatyou know he should not even be
(28:43):
in control of.
So that had to be just theworst.
Yeah, I would guess that mostof the time you have a lot of
fun with those customers oh, 100.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, I did one at a military barracks couple weeks
ago and every single customer Ithink I enjoyed it more than
they did and they were reallyenjoying it.
We're in a nissan gtr.
It was modded so it was.
I think it was running about700 brake horsepower.
It was very quick, it was nice.
But yeah, like you said, Ithink a lot of the issue most of
(29:14):
the time is I'm a woman.
I had one last year and it justso happened to be national, uh,
like international women's day,so it was quite a coincidence.
And, um, I was introduced tothe customer and he went oh,
it's a woman.
I thought I said to him, I saidon International Women's Day as
well.
(29:35):
So for his session, I drove himaround the track to show him the
different braking points,accelerating points, your apexes
, everything he needed to knowwhere the track, where it went.
Anyway, he got in this car.
We were in a Ferrari F430 atthis point.
Everything he needed to knowwhere the track, where it went.
Anyway, he got in this car.
We were in a Ferrari F430 atthis point.
So he got in the car and I wastrying to tell him how to turn
(29:57):
it on, because in a Ferrari.
You twist the key and thenyou've got to hold down a button
to turn the car on.
He went I don't need you totell me how to turn the car on.
And when I tell you, we satthere for 25 minutes, this man
trying to figure out how to turnthis car on, and I just said to
him I said if you look to theright there's a key, try, twist
(30:18):
that.
And of course it started up.
And with our brake, with mybrake pedal, I just so slightly
kept it on.
So the car was running a bitslower and he went oh, this is a
bit slower than I expected.
And I was like I said oh,people that can drive normally
get this quite quick, and I'venever seen a man's ego shatter
(30:39):
so much and I thoroughly enjoyedit because it's just like you
had.
You had no reason to say thatto me.
You don't know my experience,you don't know what I can do in
a car, so you have no reason totell me that.
So it's like you ruin my dayand I'll ruin your day.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
I love your attitude.
I absolutely love your attitude.
You're gonna be fun and you'regonna help them as much as you
can, but if they mess with you,okay I, I can mess back, right,
yeah?
Speaker 2 (31:09):
I won't have it yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
That is so fun, so fun.
So next year you're going to bein a car.
I just know you are.
I'm going to manifest it withyou, Thank you.
What is the thing that will bethe most you're?
You're going to run in a cupseries.
(31:33):
It sounds like yeah you travelto all different tracks.
You meet all different kinds ofpeople.
What is the one thing thatyou're going to take away from
your life driving being part ofmotorsports that you would never
have experienced had it notbeen for motorsports um, I think
(31:56):
it would honestly, I would saythe friendships, because, yeah,
you can make friends anywhere,yeah, but you know it's rare.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
You make friends, you know, from different countries,
you know that, although yourcompetitors will also help you
out, I think it's definitelythat.
I mean, I made a lot of friendsin Sweden that I still speak to
almost every day to this dayand it's like, yes, we were
against each other on the track,but off track there was no hard
(32:30):
feelings, even if we had a bump, you know, and we set each
other behind a little bit.
You know there was no bad bloodbetween it.
Like you know, football, forexample, they'll get off the
pitch and they'll have a fightOver here.
You just shake hands, have ahug and just be like really
sorry, it happens, you know.
I think it happens, you know, Ithink it's that.
(32:54):
I think you'll take that awaythe, the, the kindness, the
niceness to people that youdon't really get anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
I think, yeah, absolutely for sure, and that's
something that throughout life,nobody can take away from you.
Exactly, yeah, okay, you'veExactly, yeah, okay, you've been
a joy.
So, just so the peoplelistening understand so I live
in Michigan and we started thisaround 11 o'clock in the morning
(33:19):
, my time, and that was fouro'clock in the afternoon, your
time, yeah, and.
And so this just goes to showthat no matter where we live or
what time zone we're in, that wecan talk about motorsports and
be sisters in motorsports, eventhough you could be my
granddaughter that's how old youare and it's something that now
(33:42):
we've met.
We probably won't ever meet inperson I doubt if I come to the
UK, but I feel like I've met youand I feel like we have a new
friendship, and that's why I dothis is to tell you if you ever
come to the UK yeah, if you evercome to the UK, we'll make sure
we meet, because in my eyeswe're best friends now.
(34:02):
So yeah, absolutely okay.
I'm so glad that we could talktoday, so now I want you to keep
manifesting, keep working hard,keep showing those men that you
know what you're talking about.
I bet the women don't give youany crap, do they?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Not one of them.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Yeah, that's, yeah.
That's just how life isespecially in other sports and
we accept it and we love the men.
We really do.
But they have to understandthat sometimes we know as much
as they do.
Yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Yeah, well, thank you for being on with me this has
really been a joy to talk withyou and tell your story, and I
want you to promise that you'llstay in touch and let me know
when everything goes well andwhen you start racing, and
hopefully there'll be somewherethat I can watch it.
like you know, I watch so muchstreaming now because I connect
(34:57):
with women all over the unitedstates and in the past I would
have never maybe got to watchthem race because I can't go
everywhere.
But now, with with all thestreaming services, I can keep
track and watch and say, oh, youknow, peyton's racing here or
whatever, and it makes it sonice.
I feel like I really get toactually watch them race too.
(35:20):
So hopefully at one pointthat's what's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Oh yeah, I'll send you a link when I'm racing next
year.
Absolutely Maybe a ticket, whoknows?
There you go, there you go.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
That would be absolutely amazing, for sure.
Well, kate, thanks for beingwith me today, and I just want
to give you all the luck in theworld and appreciate that you
took the time, and if you'lljust hang on after I stop the
recording, we'll just finish upsome details.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Okay, that's fine.
Thank you for having me, it'sbeen fun.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
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That's it for this episode ofthe Women's Motorsports Network
podcast.
We hope you've been inspired bythe stories I shared today and
feel more connected to theamazing community of women in
motorsports.
(37:00):
Remember, whether you're behindthe wheel in the pits or
cheering from the stands, yourstory matters and together we're
driving change and celebratingevery milestone.
If you enjoyed today's episode,be sure to subscribe, leave us
a review and share it withsomeone who loves motorsports as
much as you do, and don'tforget to follow us on Facebook
(37:25):
and Instagram for updates,behind-the-scenes content and
more incredible stories.
So until next time, stayinspired, stay connected and
keep racing through life.
This is the Women's MotorsportsNetwork podcast, where every
woman's story is worthcelebrating.
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