July 19, 2025

Kate Turner: Brake Pedals and Broken Egos: Tales from a Track Instructor

Kate Turner: Brake Pedals and Broken Egos: Tales from a Track Instructor

Send us a text 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 d...

Send us a text

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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00:00 - Kate Turner's Racing Journey

08:45 - Finding a Way into Motorsports

16:10 - Seeking Sponsorship for 2026

21:34 - Life as a Track Instructor

28:04 - Challenging Customer Experiences

33:53 - Manifesting Future Racing Dreams

WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, the show that puts the spotlight on the incredible women who fuel the world of motorsports, from drivers to crew members, engineers to fans and everyone in between.

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We're here to celebrate the trailblazers, dreamers and doers shaping the sport we love.

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Each episode we share inspiring stories of females of all ages, from every corner of the motorsports universe past, present and future.

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It's a journey through the seasons of life filled with heartfelt moments, laughter and a whole lot of horsepower.

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So, whether you're a lifelong fan, a racer yourself or simply curious about the extraordinary women behind the wheel, settle in, relax and enjoy a fun and uplifting ride with us.

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This is the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, connecting and celebrating women in motorsports.

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One story at a time.

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Let's hit the track.

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Hello everyone, this is Melinda Russell, with the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, and my guest today is coming from a long way away, but through the technology that we have, it's like we're sitting in the same room.

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So I'm gonna, kate, I'm gonna let you tell them where you're from, but my guest today is Kate Turner, and Kate, I want to welcome you to the show and would you first tell us about yourself?

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Hi, thank you.

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So I'm Katie, I'm 21, I'm originally from Manchester in the UK, but now I live in Leicestershire, which is two hours south of Manchester.

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But I've only moved here recently, so I'm still getting to know the area a little bit okay, and do you have siblings, pets?

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any of those things I have?

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four siblings, so I have three sisters, one brother and I have one dog.

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He's a husky, he's eight years old and he's a pain in my bum.

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Sometimes they dogs, can be a pain, can't they?

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But we love them anyway.

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Oh, absolutely, I wouldn't change them for the world yeah, absolutely for sure.

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So okay, do you go to?

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Do you still go to school?

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Do you work?

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What do you do when you're not racing?

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oh, so I've not been racing since 2023, um, with budget reasons, of course it everyone knows it's really hard to find them partners.

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Um hopefully got some plans for 2026, though, coming up, so that would be nice.

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Um, so I did one year in university doing engineering, but it wasn't really for me.

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Um just just wasn't a fan, didn't get on with it.

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I'm going back in september to university to do neuroscience.

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So, completely different to motorsports, um, I've always liked medical stuff.

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Um, I wanted to be a paramedic or a doctor growing up.

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So, again, nothing motorsports.

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That came to me randomly one day For work.

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At the minute I'm a track instructor, so I don't know if you do them in America or anywhere else.

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No, I don't think so.

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But there's a few companies in the UK that do it.

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I'm with one in particular called Everyman Driving Experiences.

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So it's a fleet of 300 cars, so it ranges from ferraris, mclarens, lamborghinis, porsches, aston martins, and we coach people around tracks.

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So we do brands hatch donnington park, um, we, you, we did goodwood for a few years, um, but of course, hiring out a track it's very expensive, it's about 20 to 25 grand.

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So it's, you know, trying to find that balance.

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But we do other tracks as well airfields, um, so I could be with somebody, I don't know, who's been driving for either 40 years or four days.

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Um, we'll be going over like 100 miles an hour and I make sure they have loads of fun, but do it safely so no one gets hurt.

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That's very cool.

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I've got some questions.

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I'm going to ask you about that in just a little bit.

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First, we want to know let's go back to the first of your life how did you get involved in motorsports in the first place?

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So it's quite a weird one.

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It's not your normal route into motorsports.

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So when I was in college I had a couple friends that liked formula one.

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Um, I, my stepdad, watched it every now and then I didn't really know much about it and they kind of got me into watching racing.

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I was 17 18 at this point, so it was a couple years ago um, and then when I started to get into it, I really really got into it.

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Um, I became obsessed.

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Then I started getting into British touring cars, the GT Corp, literally anything that involved an engine and four wheels.

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Um, and then I thought I'm actually really jealous, I want to do this.

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I thought I don't want to do what I'm doing now because when I was in college I did forensic science.

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I thought I don't want to do this.

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I thought I want to be in a car, I want to race cars.

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So I passed my driving test and then my driving instructor was always telling me that I was driving a bit too fast, which is quite typical really.

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Um, and I found this company online that did like track days, just specifically for women.

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They helped you get your like race license, do a bit of coaching and they're not around anymore.

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They were called formula woman, but they now have moved to racing women.

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I don't really do anything with them anymore.

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Um, we lost contact um, but they really really helped me, like getting into the car onto the track scene, getting my license, and then from then I went to sweden, did a season over there in electric minis, which leads me to today.

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But yeah, I literally just woke up one morning I thought I'm going to drive a race car and it went from there.

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That's.

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That's not your normal story that I hear but it's a really cool one.

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It's a really cool one, for sure.

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Yeah, yeah.

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What do you love most about the racing part?

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I like the thrill of it and like the freedom of it as well.

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Like you can't just go whatever speed you like on a normal road I mean you can, but there's a lot of consequences to it, um, so I like the thrill.

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Thrill of it, the freedom of it.

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I like how nice everybody is on a race weekend.

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Like nobody had a bad word to say about anyone, whether you did really good on the weekend, whether you did very bad on the weekend, no one put you down.

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Everyone really helped you out.

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That was really nice.

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You don't really get that in any other sport, to be honest, so it was really nice.

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Not in any other sports, or daily life, yeah, or daily life, yeah, I mean, motorsports is just so different.

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The mindset and the family.

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Yeah, it's like being in a completely different world.

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Yeah, it's really different.

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It really is.

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So I understand the financial part of it is very difficult, but now you're looking to maybe get back into it.

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So how?

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How have you overcome?

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Like you know, are you finding some sponsors to help, or have you what?

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What are you going to do to be able to make sure you can drive a car?

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I will do literally anything, anything I can.

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So at the minute I'm currently speaking to some companies I won't name, drop them, just in case they dislike it, but a lot of it is done with the help of my uncle.

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So he's a lorry driver, so he knows a lot of contacts, people in like the logistics world, and you know they tend to sponsor motorsports You've got like DHL places like that Okay.

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So he's helping me out.

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He knows some people in that world and they recently came to him and asked if I'm still driving, if I still need any sponsorship, basically, and I was like yes, oh, like, yes, oh, my god, yes, yes, yes, like please get back in contact with me, that'll be great, yeah, so at the minute we're kind of doing some presentations, some deals, working out what's best for everybody to try and get this partnership which will lead me to again I don't know if you have it in the uk in the uk, in the us, um, we have a championship called the fun cup, so it's like an endurance racing one so you can get up to, I want to say, six hours of seat time over the weekend and it's also the, I would say, cheapest championship you can do over here.

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So it's £24,500, which is a lot cheaper to any other championship out there.

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So I think, if I start low over here, get myself back into it.

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Work my way up is probably how I would do it, but that's what I'm aiming for this month.

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I would aim my top goal.

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It's not as high as everyone else.

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They want to be.

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You know F1 touring cars.

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I'd probably go for minis again, but minis over here are very expensive.

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They're about 150,000 pounds to do with a team, so it's quite expensive.

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So I want to work my way up to that.

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I think.

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So when you say um 24,.

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Oh, I can get you a no, that's okay, I'll figure that out, but it sounds like a lot yeah, it's definitely a lot of money.

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Um, yeah, but in comparison to other championships it's quite cheap.

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I just worked out it's about 32 and a US dollars.

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Okay, all right.

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Wow, 32,000.

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I'm writing that down, and so 150,000 pounds is yeah.

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It'll be quite a lot, yeah, quite a lot.

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But to a company who wants to sponsor, especially sponsor a woman, that's really that's in their budget, that's what they do yeah, 100, I think I wouldn't say it's getting easier for women to get sponsorships, but we're definitely more out there now.

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We've seen a lot more girls push their way into f3 um mini challenge over here, yeah again.

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In other countries in in europe particularly, you see a lot more women and girls in it, which is nice to see well, and it's, it's not the unusual anymore, but yeah, but it's still a small enough um demographic that it's enticing to companies.

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Because it's not just another guy no offense, guys, no offense.

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But it's not just another guy in a car with you know, 100 other guys in cars.

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It's a woman in a car with 10 other women.

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Yeah, exactly.

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And so they do get a lot more attention because of that, because it is more of the unusual for sure.

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More attention because of that, because it is more of the unusual for sure.

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So what are?

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you, what are you looking forward to the most to get getting back on the racetrack?

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I know you said you love the speed in that, but the competition, the atmosphere of, you know, seeing everybody.

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I remember, in particular, we went to the Nürburgring.

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That was probably my favourite race weekend.

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It was crazy.

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I signed my first ever autograph there.

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That was insane.

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Yeah, I had to film the moment to send it to my mum because I was like mum, you'll never guess what's just happened.

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This is crazy.

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Yeah, the atmosphere in particular, I think, seeing everybody, getting advice from everybody, meeting loads and loads of different people um, I think I don't.

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I just like it all.

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It's.

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It's different.

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I I don't know if you've not been in a paddock, you don't know the feeling.

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It's completely different.

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The feeling that you get it's not like happy or joyous or sad, it's completely different.

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I don't know how to explain it you know, I don't really either.

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It's the roar of the engines, it's the smells of the gas and and it's.

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You know.

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It's even looking at a team and they're all dressed the same you know, it's not like yeah, yeah, it's.

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And and if you can't, if you can't get somebody to the rac race track, you can't explain it to them yeah, exactly we know that if we get someone to the track especially if you could get them into the paddock they're going to be they're going to be race fans for life oh, 100.

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Yeah, it happened very quickly for me.

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Yeah, it was.

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It was just that one day at the track and I was like this is it?

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Yeah, I like this is what I want to do now.

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It was.

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It just took that one day and that was it.

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When you know, you know?

00:13:21.437 --> 00:13:23.629
yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah.

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So tell me about the car.

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Like what, what kind of car is it?

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I, I'm not familiar.

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You're gonna have to teach me now, so what?

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Let's say that in 2026 you're going to be driving.

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Yeah, what's the car going to be like?

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so it almost I can't describe the look of it.

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So it's a single seater, but it doesn't look like an f1 car.

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It almost looks like a volkswagen beetle on steroids it's it's big, it's loud, it's got a 1.8 liter audi volkswagen engine in it, petrol, um, I think it was pushing just over 150 brake horsepower, so not the fastest thing in the world, um, but I've watched them live and it was probably the most exciting racing I've ever watched in my life.

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It was very close, not like Formula 1, where you get one person 20 seconds ahead and you get one person one minute behind.

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Everyone's together in a pack and they're wheel to wheel right up against each other.

00:14:29.773 --> 00:14:32.173
It looked really fun.

00:14:32.173 --> 00:14:42.616
I've got a friend who will be going there in 2026 as well, so we're kind of aiming to go into it together, um, but we'll have to see.

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Uh, I'm very hopeful, I'm manifesting it, very hopeful that we'll do it.

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It's promising.

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That's what you have to do.

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You know, I had a friend who came up with this quote and he he always said the story in your mind becomes the story of your life.

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Exactly at the time it was a completely different kind of company.

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It was a greeting card and gifting company, which I'm still a part of.

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It's called uh, it was called send out cards, now it's called Promptings.

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I'm still involved with it and he's so right.

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It's what you manifest in your mind.

00:15:17.732 --> 00:15:21.316
Yeah, and true, and so so true.

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I think if you want it enough, you'll do anything to go and get it, and then it will work.

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You've worked so hard to get it.

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It won't fail.

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So I'm hoping that the work I've done in the past year or so it leads me to another race season next year oh, I hope so too.

00:15:40.815 --> 00:15:47.908
So, um, when you first said, okay, I don't want to do this, I want to be a race car driver, what did your family say?

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um.

00:15:49.490 --> 00:15:54.496
So I didn't really tell them I was going.

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I just kind of went one day and then they rang and said where are you?

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I was like, oh, I'm in Sweden.

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They're like what are you doing there?

00:16:01.602 --> 00:16:03.609
I was like, oh, driving a race car.

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It kind of went from there and then I said to them I don't want to do this anymore, I want to do that.

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And they were like, oh, will you just make your mind up?

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I was like I don't know, because they're all really into football, they're very big football fans, and I was completely different, never understood it, don't understand it.

00:16:22.229 --> 00:16:25.717
Doesn't matter how many times they explain it to me, I don't get it.

00:16:25.717 --> 00:16:30.553
Yeah, but racing I was like I like that.

00:16:30.553 --> 00:16:32.979
So I just said I don't want to do it anymore.

00:16:32.979 --> 00:16:36.265
And then I switched to motorsport engineering.

00:16:36.265 --> 00:16:48.885
That was my chosen degree at the time but, like I said, I didn't really like it that much because I don't know as much as I admire race engineers and mine really did help me out when I was racing.

00:16:48.885 --> 00:16:51.913
Um, I don't, I'm not built for that.

00:16:51.913 --> 00:16:53.014
I don't think I can do it.

00:16:53.636 --> 00:16:54.558
The driving part.

00:16:54.558 --> 00:17:04.272
It's if you want to be behind the scenes with the car, or if you want to be the driver or a crew member, out in, out, really in it, you know.

00:17:04.373 --> 00:17:06.250
Yeah, I want to be in the action.

00:17:06.250 --> 00:17:08.759
Right, I want to be there on the track.

00:17:09.063 --> 00:17:20.978
Yeah, that's, that's two completely different kind of not even it's you know, two completely different kind of character and and not character.

00:17:20.978 --> 00:17:27.955
But you know some people want to be behind the scenes and some people want to be out front and that it takes all of that to make it work.

00:17:27.955 --> 00:17:32.375
Yeah, and so it's good that you found out that you want to be the driver.

00:17:32.375 --> 00:17:34.583
I love that part, yeah, so you're doing a lot of things you know you found out that you want to be the driver.

00:17:34.604 --> 00:17:35.025
I love that part, yeah.

00:17:35.025 --> 00:17:37.810
So you're doing a lot of things.

00:17:37.810 --> 00:17:40.217
You know you're getting yourself closer.

00:17:40.217 --> 00:17:42.265
How do you take care of yourself?

00:17:42.265 --> 00:17:52.621
How do you find balance in your life between working at the track, which has to give you a lot of adrenaline, getting the proper sleep and all those things?

00:17:52.621 --> 00:17:58.777
You know, a lot of times, as women, we don't take care of ourselves as much as we take care of others.

00:17:58.777 --> 00:18:01.734
And so how does Kate take care of Kate?

00:18:03.704 --> 00:18:07.135
Unfortunately Kate didn't take care of Kate when she was raising.

00:18:07.135 --> 00:18:11.395
I, you know in my head, was doing very bad.

00:18:11.395 --> 00:18:22.596
I just when I went to Sweden Sweden, of course it was last minute I had no family that could come with me because, again, it was last minute they couldn't get the time off work.

00:18:22.596 --> 00:18:26.612
So I went to every race pretty much alone.

00:18:26.612 --> 00:18:31.666
So it was my first time traveling abroad without any family or friends.

00:18:31.666 --> 00:18:34.132
So that was a big step in itself.

00:18:34.993 --> 00:18:41.766
Um then, trying to figure out their public transport over there and I still struggle to figure out public transport in England.

00:18:41.766 --> 00:18:45.792
I've been here 21 years so that was difficult.

00:18:45.792 --> 00:18:49.425
And of course I'd never been to a race weekend.

00:18:49.425 --> 00:18:50.628
I jumped straight in it.

00:18:50.628 --> 00:18:56.627
I never did karting, I did the, I did track days, but that's different to a race weekend.

00:18:56.627 --> 00:18:58.174
Yeah, I'd never done it before.

00:18:58.234 --> 00:18:59.420
I didn't know what to expect.

00:18:59.420 --> 00:19:00.765
I didn't know what I was doing.

00:19:00.765 --> 00:19:07.069
I didn't even know how to get out the race car until three weekends in, because it just by chance, I just went.

00:19:07.069 --> 00:19:09.900
If this car set on fire, I went, how do I get out?

00:19:09.900 --> 00:19:11.144
And he was like the door handle.

00:19:11.144 --> 00:19:14.653
And I was like what door handle?

00:19:14.653 --> 00:19:17.830
So you can see how little I knew I was literally.

00:19:17.830 --> 00:19:21.143
I was like an apprentice, I was learning on the job.

00:19:21.143 --> 00:19:24.932
Basically I had no idea what I was doing and it really showed, I think.

00:19:24.932 --> 00:19:26.294
But I enjoyed it.

00:19:27.355 --> 00:19:31.210
But I spent a lot of the weekends crying because I didn't.

00:19:31.210 --> 00:19:45.613
I wasn't doing as well as I thought 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.

00:19:45.613 --> 00:19:47.717
But I was like, no, why am I not first?

00:19:47.717 --> 00:19:48.726
Why am I not winning?

00:19:48.726 --> 00:20:07.684
Yeah, so I did definitely struggle a lot, but I think now, definitely being a little bit older, knowing what to expect now and hopefully racing in the UK, I think I'll definitely have a bigger support network and even when I was racing abroad I built up those friendships.

00:20:07.684 --> 00:20:12.617
I have friends in Sweden, germany, denmark, the Netherlands.

00:20:12.617 --> 00:20:21.015
I have friends, I'm friends with people everywhere now, which is nice, and I get tips and advice from them.

00:20:21.556 --> 00:20:26.898
So I think if I went back into it next year, I would be a lot better like in myself.

00:20:26.898 --> 00:20:29.487
I would have a bigger, better support network.

00:20:29.487 --> 00:20:44.108
I have family that could actually come, friends that could come and I think again, working at everyman, even though we're mainly sat on the passenger side instructing, you know, you learn a lot, you learn a lot.

00:20:44.108 --> 00:20:53.355
My driving has definitely improved since working there because you're telling people the racing line, you know, and I could have gone to this track.

00:20:53.355 --> 00:20:54.657
There's some tracks where I've gone to.

00:20:54.657 --> 00:21:00.397
I've never even driven the track and I'm instructing people, so it's like you've you know.

00:21:00.397 --> 00:21:14.974
It's helped me a lot like visualize the racing lines and how to deal with different kind of 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.

00:21:14.974 --> 00:21:19.971
So I think now I would definitely know how to look after myself at a race weekend.

00:21:19.971 --> 00:21:23.116
So hopefully you know.

00:21:23.557 --> 00:21:53.540
I love listening to you tell me how you've learned, because a lot of people would say that, oh, you have to have seat time, you have to be in the driver's seat, but that's not really true, because you're in the passenger seat with the person that's driving and you don't have the pressure of actually driving to where I think you can like, absorb and study and learn where the right line is.

00:21:53.540 --> 00:21:55.933
And, oh, you know, know when they do something wrong.

00:21:55.933 --> 00:22:01.355
You learn by what they've done right or wrong and it's a really interesting.

00:22:01.876 --> 00:22:23.258
it's almost like you've you're learning racing by watching, yeah, where most people start when they're little and they, you know, they learn the hard way really yeah, I mean, I think back when I was a kid in the uk, I think you it's a lot more difficult to get into racing, especially as a girl.

00:22:23.258 --> 00:22:31.471
Over here where I lived, there wasn't really any karting tracks around me that I knew of and I never knew it was a thing I wanted to do.

00:22:31.471 --> 00:22:34.538
So of course, I never had that seat time growing up.

00:22:34.538 --> 00:22:42.092
As much as I would love the seat time and I think that would be great, I think the next best thing that I can do is be in the passenger seat telling people what to do.

00:22:42.092 --> 00:22:48.112
So you know, we get, we get the every morning, we get to go for a warm-up lap.

00:22:48.112 --> 00:22:51.247
Um, there's occasionally you get to go around the track by yourself.

00:22:51.247 --> 00:22:54.273
So you get the seat time every now and then.

00:22:54.513 --> 00:22:55.076
But it's not.

00:22:55.076 --> 00:22:56.900
You're not going at race pace, you're not.

00:22:56.900 --> 00:22:59.786
You know you're not racing, you're instructing.

00:22:59.786 --> 00:23:00.808
It's a different kind of thing.

00:23:00.808 --> 00:23:08.693
But yeah, again, I kind of it's really weird how to explain it, but when I'm on a track, like I can kind of see the race line.

00:23:08.693 --> 00:23:13.990
So it's almost like when you're playing like a racing game and you've got the line on to help.

00:23:13.990 --> 00:23:18.078
That's kind of almost how I see the track now because I do it so often.

00:23:18.164 --> 00:23:20.794
It's almost like seven days a week.

00:23:20.794 --> 00:23:36.882
For example, tomorrow I'm going down to Exeter, which is a four and a half hour drive, which I don't think it's that long in the US because it's so massive that it takes ages to get anywhere, but for the UK I'm going from like the middle of the country to the very bottom of the country.

00:23:36.882 --> 00:23:40.067
Oh yeah, and I'm instructing there.

00:23:40.067 --> 00:23:43.780
So it you know I get to do it in cool cars.

00:23:43.780 --> 00:23:49.310
My all-time dream car is an Nissan GTR, and that's a car I'm getting a lot of time in at the minute.

00:23:49.310 --> 00:23:51.861
So you know I can't complain.

00:23:51.861 --> 00:23:53.786
No, I'm always happy about that.

00:23:53.786 --> 00:24:03.693
As a kid I never thought I'd be able to be in a Ferrari, let alone drive one, and now I can just take my pick of, you know, cars I want to go in.

00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:09.589
So it's nice, you know so it's kind of a dream job, isn't it really?

00:24:10.351 --> 00:24:10.912
it can be.

00:24:10.912 --> 00:24:13.362
Yeah, obviously, like any job, it's got its ups and downs.

00:24:13.362 --> 00:24:15.807
It's it can definitely be scary at times.

00:24:15.807 --> 00:24:23.821
I've got to say you get the person in thinks they're like michael schumacher and think they're the best driver ever, when in reality it's not.

00:24:23.821 --> 00:24:29.751
They've only ever done road driving and, as anyone who's driven on a track before knows, it's very different.

00:24:29.751 --> 00:24:39.473
Um, I've had people stop on track where there's been lines, thinking that we're at a junction, and I'm like, no, no, we've got to go, we cannot stop, keep going.

00:24:39.473 --> 00:24:40.297
But they're like there's cars.

00:24:40.297 --> 00:24:42.222
I'm like, no, they're not coming at us, go.

00:24:42.222 --> 00:24:44.709
So it can be very stressful at times.

00:24:44.769 --> 00:24:47.041
I've got to know where every other car is on track.

00:24:47.041 --> 00:24:50.692
I've got to anticipate what the customer's going to do.

00:24:50.692 --> 00:24:55.471
Um, I've got to anticipate what the customer behind or in front of me is going to do.

00:24:55.471 --> 00:25:01.412
I've had cars stopped dead in front of me and the customer's not really realized.

00:25:01.412 --> 00:25:04.604
Luckily, we have a brake pedal on our side for emergencies.

00:25:04.604 --> 00:25:12.095
Yeah, it's rare we have to use them, but you get the odd one that does really want to kill you.

00:25:12.095 --> 00:25:24.950
So, but again, you learn a lot from those kind of people, because it's like they will push the car beyond their limits and I've got to be able to control it from the passenger side.

00:25:24.950 --> 00:25:29.263
So if I can control it from the passenger side, I can control it from the driver's side.

00:25:29.263 --> 00:25:30.726
So it definitely helps driver's side.

00:25:30.726 --> 00:25:34.089
So it definitely helps a lot more, like if I was getting a car.

00:25:34.089 --> 00:25:38.674
Now I can see my driving has improved massively from 2023 to now.

00:25:39.234 --> 00:25:39.776
I'll bet.

00:25:39.776 --> 00:25:44.104
What's the scariest?

00:25:44.124 --> 00:25:44.685
thing that's happened.

00:25:44.685 --> 00:25:49.481
So I was at Bronze Hatch, I was in a BMW i8.

00:25:49.481 --> 00:25:57.169
And that car that car when the battery's fully charged it's a four wheel drive, when the battery's not charged, it's a rear wheel drive.

00:25:57.169 --> 00:26:07.702
And it just so happened we'd used up all our battery, so we were on a rear wheel drive, it was raining and the car didn't like going in a straight line even at 15 miles per hour.

00:26:07.702 --> 00:26:13.810
It was trying to kick the back end out and this customer did not want to use his brake pedal.

00:26:13.810 --> 00:26:15.053
It doesn't matter.

00:26:15.053 --> 00:26:19.123
You know, if I was, I was yelling at him at one point.

00:26:19.182 --> 00:26:26.842
Like you have to brake, because I know and I've seen at brand's hatch, when it goes wrong, it goes wrong.

00:26:26.842 --> 00:26:31.689
You don't just have a little spin, you roll the car 10 times and you're in a barrier like it's.

00:26:31.689 --> 00:26:34.673
It's not the place you want to have an accident at.

00:26:34.673 --> 00:26:35.834
It's not fun.

00:26:35.834 --> 00:26:37.981
I try to explain to the customer.

00:26:37.981 --> 00:26:40.167
You know I've crashed, I've been in a concrete wall.

00:26:40.167 --> 00:26:41.049
It hurts.

00:26:41.049 --> 00:26:44.685
I don't want to do it again and I promise you you don't want to do it either.

00:26:44.685 --> 00:26:47.373
Right, and he just would not break.

00:26:47.472 --> 00:27:00.106
And it got to the point where we were behind a Lamborghini Gallardo and we were getting very, very close and we have a very strict overtaking rule where it's done by indicators and it's done by the instructors, so it's always, always, safe.

00:27:00.106 --> 00:27:07.851
He completely ignored this, but it got to the point where his accelerator was overriding my brake.

00:27:07.851 --> 00:27:16.065
Oh, but the car, because it's got that many sensors, because it's quite a like a newish supercar.

00:27:16.065 --> 00:27:26.309
It was a 2018 um, the car literally stopped itself and I put the car in neutral and I said we cannot go any further.

00:27:26.770 --> 00:27:33.221
I said you are not listening to me any further.

00:27:33.221 --> 00:27:36.390
I said you are not listening to me and I don't like to shout at people.

00:27:36.390 --> 00:27:38.695
I'm not a horrible person, but this man was going to kill the both of us.

00:27:38.695 --> 00:27:39.076
Yeah, he would.

00:27:39.076 --> 00:27:42.285
Doesn't matter what I said to him, he would not listen.

00:27:42.285 --> 00:27:53.877
And that has got to be probably the scariest moment I've ever had, because I thought we're going to hit somebody, we're going to injure someone else, we're going to injure ourselves or we are going to completely wreck this car.

00:27:53.877 --> 00:27:55.261
That has done nothing to us.

00:27:55.261 --> 00:27:55.983
It's done.

00:27:55.983 --> 00:27:57.932
He's been nothing but nice to us, this car.

00:27:58.554 --> 00:28:06.386
So that was definitely the scariest moment I've had when you so you don't have a wheel, you don't have a wheel, you just have a break.

00:28:06.386 --> 00:28:14.977
Yeah, I would have put my hands around his neck it was difficult not to.

00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:24.083
I've got to say what you know, what it makes you wonder did he think he knew more because he had driven a race car before?

00:28:24.083 --> 00:28:30.941
Because you were a woman and he wasn't going to listen to a pretty young thing tell him how to drive all those things together?

00:28:30.941 --> 00:28:44.442
He should have never he that car needed to go back to the garage and he needed to get out because, yeah, that's taking advantage of a situation that you know he should not even be in control of.

00:28:44.442 --> 00:28:46.545
So that had to be just the worst.

00:28:46.545 --> 00:28:53.765
Yeah, I would guess that most of the time you have a lot of fun with those customers oh, 100.

00:28:53.825 --> 00:29:04.151
Yeah, I did one at a military barracks couple weeks ago and every single customer I think I enjoyed it more than they did and they were really enjoying it.

00:29:04.151 --> 00:29:05.401
We're in a nissan gtr.

00:29:05.401 --> 00:29:07.465
It was modded so it was.

00:29:07.465 --> 00:29:10.010
I think it was running about 700 brake horsepower.

00:29:10.010 --> 00:29:11.821
It was very quick, it was nice.

00:29:11.821 --> 00:29:16.632
But yeah, like you said, I think a lot of the issue most of the time is I'm a woman.

00:29:16.632 --> 00:29:26.624
I had one last year and it just so happened to be national, uh, like international women's day, so it was quite a coincidence.

00:29:26.624 --> 00:29:31.173
And, um, I was introduced to the customer and he went oh, it's a woman.

00:29:31.173 --> 00:29:35.111
I thought I said to him, I said on International Women's Day as well.

00:29:35.660 --> 00:29:46.522
So for his session, I drove him around the track to show him the different braking points, accelerating points, your apexes, everything he needed to know where the track, where it went.

00:29:46.522 --> 00:29:47.163
Anyway, he got in this car.

00:29:47.163 --> 00:29:48.964
We were in a Ferrari F430 at this point.

00:29:48.964 --> 00:29:50.204
Everything he needed to know where the track, where it went.

00:29:50.204 --> 00:29:51.246
Anyway, he got in this car.

00:29:51.246 --> 00:29:53.788
We were in a Ferrari F430 at this point.

00:29:53.788 --> 00:29:59.172
So he got in the car and I was trying to tell him how to turn it on, because in a Ferrari.

00:29:59.172 --> 00:30:02.835
You twist the key and then you've got to hold down a button to turn the car on.

00:30:02.835 --> 00:30:06.096
He went I don't need you to tell me how to turn the car on.

00:30:09.779 --> 00:30:18.221
And when I tell you, we sat there for 25 minutes, this man trying to figure out how to turn this car on, and I just said to him I said if you look to the right there's a key, try, twist that.

00:30:18.221 --> 00:30:20.246
And of course it started up.

00:30:20.246 --> 00:30:26.042
And with our brake, with my brake pedal, I just so slightly kept it on.

00:30:26.042 --> 00:30:31.541
So the car was running a bit slower and he went oh, this is a bit slower than I expected.

00:30:31.541 --> 00:30:44.093
And I was like I said oh, people that can drive normally get this quite quick, and I've never seen a man's ego shatter so much and I thoroughly enjoyed it because it's just like you had.

00:30:44.093 --> 00:30:46.422
You had no reason to say that to me.

00:30:46.422 --> 00:30:52.290
You don't know my experience, you don't know what I can do in a car, so you have no reason to tell me that.

00:30:52.290 --> 00:30:55.234
So it's like you ruin my day and I'll ruin your day.

00:30:58.146 --> 00:30:59.250
I love your attitude.

00:30:59.250 --> 00:31:00.653
I absolutely love your attitude.

00:31:00.653 --> 00:31:09.190
You're gonna be fun and you're gonna help them as much as you can, but if they mess with you, okay I, I can mess back, right, yeah?

00:31:09.349 --> 00:31:11.073
I won't have it yeah.

00:31:11.073 --> 00:31:12.355
Oh my gosh.

00:31:13.401 --> 00:31:15.167
That is so fun, so fun.

00:31:15.167 --> 00:31:20.490
So next year you're going to be in a car.

00:31:20.490 --> 00:31:21.392
I just know you are.

00:31:21.392 --> 00:31:23.848
I'm going to manifest it with you, Thank you.

00:31:23.848 --> 00:31:31.835
What is the thing that will be the most you're?

00:31:31.835 --> 00:31:33.339
You're going to run in a cup series.

00:31:33.681 --> 00:31:37.189
It sounds like yeah you travel to all different tracks.

00:31:37.189 --> 00:31:39.252
You meet all different kinds of people.

00:31:39.252 --> 00:32:06.608
What is the one thing that you're going to take away from your life driving being part of motorsports that you would never have experienced had it not been for motorsports um, I think it would honestly, I would say the friendships, because, yeah, you can make friends anywhere, yeah, but you know it's rare.

00:32:06.648 --> 00:32:17.911
You make friends, you know, from different countries, you know that, although your competitors will also help you out, I think it's definitely that.

00:32:17.911 --> 00:32:34.326
I mean, I made a lot of friends in Sweden that I still speak to almost every day to this day and it's like, yes, we were against each other on the track, but off track there was no hard feelings, even if we had a bump, you know, and we set each other behind a little bit.

00:32:34.326 --> 00:32:36.446
You know there was no bad blood between it.

00:32:36.446 --> 00:32:42.282
Like you know, football, for example, they'll get off the pitch and they'll have a fight Over here.

00:32:42.282 --> 00:32:46.910
You just shake hands, have a hug and just be like really sorry, it happens, you know.

00:32:46.910 --> 00:32:54.383
I think it happens, you know, I think it's that.

00:32:54.383 --> 00:32:58.049
I think you'll take that away the, the, the kindness, the niceness to people that you don't really get anywhere else.

00:32:58.069 --> 00:33:04.722
I think, yeah, absolutely for sure, and that's something that throughout life, nobody can take away from you.

00:33:04.722 --> 00:33:11.826
Exactly, yeah, okay, you've Exactly, yeah, okay, you've been a joy.

00:33:11.826 --> 00:33:24.275
So, just so the people listening understand so I live in Michigan and we started this around 11 o'clock in the morning, my time, and that was four o'clock in the afternoon, your time, yeah, and.

00:33:24.275 --> 00:33:42.691
And so this just goes to show that no matter where we live or what time zone we're in, that we can talk about motorsports and be sisters in motorsports, even though you could be my granddaughter that's how old you are and it's something that now we've met.

00:33:42.691 --> 00:34:02.371
We probably won't ever meet in person I doubt if I come to the UK, but I feel like I've met you and I feel like we have a new friendship, and that's why I do this is to tell you if you ever come to the UK yeah, if you ever come to the UK, we'll make sure we meet, because in my eyes we're best friends now.

00:34:02.641 --> 00:34:05.107
So yeah, absolutely okay.

00:34:05.107 --> 00:34:13.349
I'm so glad that we could talk today, so now I want you to keep manifesting, keep working hard, keep showing those men that you know what you're talking about.

00:34:13.349 --> 00:34:16.949
I bet the women don't give you any crap, do they?

00:34:18.282 --> 00:34:18.945
Not one of them.

00:34:19.347 --> 00:34:21.885
Yeah, that's, yeah.

00:34:21.885 --> 00:34:27.322
That's just how life is especially in other sports and we accept it and we love the men.

00:34:27.322 --> 00:34:28.184
We really do.

00:34:28.184 --> 00:34:32.710
But they have to understand that sometimes we know as much as they do.

00:34:32.710 --> 00:34:34.132
Yeah, right.

00:34:34.793 --> 00:34:35.235
Yeah, yeah.

00:34:35.795 --> 00:34:52.103
Yeah, well, thank you for being on with me this has really been a joy to talk with you and tell your story, and I want you to promise that you'll stay in touch and let me know when everything goes well and when you start racing, and hopefully there'll be somewhere that I can watch it.

00:34:52.204 --> 00:35:06.403
like you know, I watch so much streaming now because I connect with women all over the united states and in the past I would have never maybe got to watch them race because I can't go everywhere.

00:35:06.403 --> 00:35:17.346
But now, with with all the streaming services, I can keep track and watch and say, oh, you know, peyton's racing here or whatever, and it makes it so nice.

00:35:17.346 --> 00:35:20.730
I feel like I really get to actually watch them race too.

00:35:20.730 --> 00:35:23.894
So hopefully at one point that's what's going to happen.

00:35:24.679 --> 00:35:27.934
Oh yeah, I'll send you a link when I'm racing next year.

00:35:27.934 --> 00:35:31.146
Absolutely Maybe a ticket, who knows?

00:35:31.146 --> 00:35:32.670
There you go, there you go.

00:35:34.222 --> 00:35:36.250
That would be absolutely amazing, for sure.

00:35:36.250 --> 00:35:50.768
Well, kate, thanks for being with me today, and I just want to give you all the luck in the world and appreciate that you took the time, and if you'll just hang on after I stop the recording, we'll just finish up some details.

00:35:51.469 --> 00:35:52.291
Okay, that's fine.

00:35:52.291 --> 00:35:53.893
Thank you for having me, it's been fun.

00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:15.487
If you're looking to buy, sell or trade the stuff that strokes your engine anything from truck parts to classic and muscle cars, rvs to hot rods and everything in between then check out our official classifieds at RacingJunkcom.

00:36:15.487 --> 00:36:26.246
Racingjunkcom is the world's number one online racing and performance marketplace, the ultimate one-stop shop where you'll find what you need to rock your ride.

00:36:26.246 --> 00:36:32.981
If it belongs in your garage, need to rock your ride.

00:36:32.981 --> 00:36:34.244
If it belongs in your garage, it's for sale on RacingJunkcom.

00:36:34.244 --> 00:36:35.829
Log on to RacingJunkcom to find the gear you're looking for.

00:36:35.829 --> 00:36:40.983
Sell your extra stuff, keep up on racing news and tech tips and more.

00:36:40.983 --> 00:36:43.670
Again, that's RacingJunkcom.

00:36:49.260 --> 00:36:53.271
That's it for this episode of the Women's Motorsports Network podcast.

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We hope you've been inspired by the stories I shared today and feel more connected to the amazing community of women in motorsports.

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Remember, whether you're behind the wheel in the pits or cheering from the stands, your story matters and together we're driving change and celebrating every milestone.

00:37:12.391 --> 00:37:30.394
If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review and share it with someone who loves motorsports as much as you do, and don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, behind-the-scenes content and more incredible stories.

00:37:30.394 --> 00:37:36.170
So until next time, stay inspired, stay connected and keep racing through life.

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This is the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, where every woman's story is worth celebrating.