Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Screen to Speed No.39: Sarah Hawkie: Deciding the right path for 2025

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Screen to Speed No.39: Sarah Hawkie: Deciding the right path for 2025 · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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Welcome to Screen to Speed powered by INIT Esports.
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In this podcast, we dive into the journeys of remarkable individuals,
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making waves in sim racing and bridging the virtual with the real.
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From the thrill of digital circuits to the roar of real life racetracks, we explore
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the passion, Dedication and innovation that drives the world of motor sports.
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We'll hear from athletes, creators, and pioneers sharing their stories,
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insights, and the powerful ways sim racing is connecting communities and
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creating pathways into motorsports.
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So buckle up.
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Screen to speed starts now.
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Hi everyone.
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Welcome to Ineed Talks.
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Welcome everybody.
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Happy to see you here.
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We got, uh, today, Saira Hawkey.
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Uh, she is a co founder of, uh, Nighthawk Racing and also a podcaster.
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For first, we're going to talk about sim racing, racing, and he is also, uh,
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she's also the, um, uh, supercar coach.
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Uh, so let's start.
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Saira, welcome.
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Happy to see you here.
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Thank you.
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Thank you very much for having me.
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Yeah.
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Uh, so let's start, uh, talk about your job and, uh, how you
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get into coaching, how you get into like the supercar coaching.
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So let's start from this.
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Yeah, okay, cool.
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So, um Happens up just before I got that job.
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I uh got invited by porsche gb to go to brands hatch to test I think at the
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time it was four brand new porsches.
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Obviously, there'd be a couple years old now Um, but I got
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kind of got picked out of 12.
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I don't know if anyone knows of esme hawkey She used to
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race in the porsche 9 11.
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Um Kind of cup and she held like a competition where I think 12 uh,
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women got invited to do this We Drive event, um, and lucky enough
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as one of the 12 that got picked.
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I don't know how, but I was very lucky and um, obviously I was very thankful for that
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opportunity because before that I'd never really kind of done any on track driving.
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I'm used to doing like sim driving and sim racing, but that was kind of my first.
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on track experience and, uh, obviously to drive Porsches was quite a, a jump
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from going nothing to doing driving the Porsches around my, uh, my favorite track.
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But, uh, after that I had, well, my parents actually
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bought me, um, an experience day package for my 21st birthday.
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And at the time I think it was to drive another Porsche, uh,
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an Aston Martin, a Nissan GTR.
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And I can't quite remember the last one, but, um, I had that experience and at the
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end of the day, um, I don't know if it's obviously because a couple of days before
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I had coaching myself and I must have kind of, I guess it kind of ingrained in me.
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They, um, offered me the job, um, at the time I was about to finish a uni degree.
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So I was at that kind of point in my life where I was like,
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I want to take the next jump.
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into, you know, a career.
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It just so happened that that came at the right time, because
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I was wondering what should I do?
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I was at that stage of life where I was like, I wasn't quite sure if I
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wanted to use my degree in something, because I did sport and exercise
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science, and I was do I carry on?
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Do I go for a job?
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Uh, and this was kind of the perfect opportunity because it was self employed.
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I could kind of choose my own hours, choose what tracks that I worked at.
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So, um, I now obviously work with a couple of companies, um, but it's a very cool
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job and trying to explain it to someone else is always the hardest bit because
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when you say I'm a super cool instructor, they're like, Whoa, what's that?
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Um, I try and say that obviously I'm the person sat next to the person driving,
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you know, talking through breaking points, when to accelerate, trying to learn, we're
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trying to teach them basic kind of track terms like apexes, um, obviously, when
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to Put the front one, like I say, when to brake, trying to show them parts of
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the track, um, where, you know, I would brake And lap by lap trying to push them
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a little bit more so, you know, they feel comfortable in themselves driving
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these, you know really fast cars, but also Um, they get the experience of a
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lifetime like I did when I was sat in the driving seat Um, so I try and give
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them, you know a good experience Also, like I say, at the end of the day, not
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many people get those opportunities to drive those really fast cars.
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So I really want to, you know, make sure that they have fun and they
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would come back and do it again.
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Um, so I was very lucky to get an opportunity, like I say, um, and it
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was like the perfect time in my life.
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But that's how I fell into the supercar stuff and I've been doing
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that for about two years now.
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This is awesome.
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You know, I worked also as a super car instructor.
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So we, uh, I was, uh, um, like on my own also.
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Uh, so we had some sessions on the racing track with a Porsche Carrera.
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So I had a really beautiful girl was nine 11 and, uh, been doing,
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uh, some track days with her.
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Uh, so.
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This, uh, this thing is kind of popular, so if people doesn't know
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about this, uh, so now they got, uh, some information that, uh, people work
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in, uh, as you said, uh, to give, uh, good emotions of driving the car and,
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uh, great experience on the track.
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Um, what actually sparked your passion to motorsport?
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Like, uh, that happened before twenty, uh, one year old, uh, so maybe in childhood?
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Yeah, I've always, I've always been car mad as I call it.
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Whenever I start talking about cars, I can never really shut up because I'm,
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I'm always talking about it and the job definitely helps because I can kind of
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talk about it for as long as I want.
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Um, but from when I was young, my parents, um, obviously when I learned to drive,
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I was very passionate about trying to get on the roads as quick as I could.
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Just because I've always had that kind of.
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drive and passion that I want to pass as soon as I can.
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So when I turned 17, I was like, yep, booking the test, going for that.
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And luckily I passed that first time.
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So I didn't have to wait too long, but, um, I also set up a car online club.
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And that was obviously during, mostly during the pandemic when,
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you know, the world just shut down, I created that so that it.
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With a friend, um to bring like like minded car people together Because
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obviously you went through a time in the world where everything just shut down
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car meets stopped Um, you couldn't go out and see your friends So I kind of created
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this online community so that you know people are feeling lonely, but um, they
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could talk to People maybe with similar cars or the same passion and I found that
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really brought people closer together.
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Um, but yeah, I've always been into cars and racing.
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I'm always watching.
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I'm always trying to go to local tracks.
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My local track is Brands Hatch.
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So even when I was little, I was like, I want to go to, it
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doesn't matter what's on track.
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I just wanted to go there, kind of feel that environment.
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And that's, I've always enjoyed that.
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That's awesome that you're living next to the Brands Hatch, uh, absolutely
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legendary track and, uh, in my opinion, one of the best, uh, which, which
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we, which we got because of the, this, uh, high and down changes, uh,
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absolutely incredible on this track.
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Um, so how's actually, uh, transition from, like, you, you
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did a lot of, uh, in real life.
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Yeah.
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And, uh, how did you dive into sim racing?
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Um, probably like everyone else, it's kind of that, um, when you're at home,
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you know, you want to kind of carry on doing what you love, which is driving.
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And that's kind of the next best thing, or in my opinion, one of the best things
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to, you know, when you're not on track, you've got this set up at home that
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you can practice whenever you want.
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Um, that really, that sim racing passion probably, um, sparked mostly when I was
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Was in lockdown because I think like everyone else is like, what do I do?
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Um, and that's when I really kind of invested a little bit more time into
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it before that It was kind of just playing with friends Like I said, just
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playing a few games here and there.
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Um, I started on I think gt sport Um, that was kind of my first experience of you
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know competitiveness racing sim racing Um, I haven't quite gone up to iRacing yet.
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I don't have the whole the setups and stuff But that's in the future.
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I'd like to give that a go as well Um, but yeah, i'd say that although lockdown
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was a very difficult time for the world That's where I kind of like homed in on
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sim racing and really wanted to try and give it a go And recently obviously, um
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I'd say in the last year or so, I set up Nighthawk Racing with a friend to
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kind of, again, bring, you know, like minded people together in a community
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where we're all playing this one game.
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We all kind of met through GT7 and GT Sport, so it just brought us a lot
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closer as a a friendship group, but also now we're four seasons in, and um,
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we've, season on season, we're learning things, we're changing things, and we're
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getting more and more people in, because obviously, GT, when you're on consoles,
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it's kind of that entry level, so it's a good kind of, place for everyone to
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kind of begin their journeys as well.
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Um, so like I said, that's where I began my journey with sim racing.
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This is awesome.
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Yeah, I think that many people started sim racing during pandemic times because
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just racing tracks didn't work and many in real life drivers also jump in here and
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actually So many people discover that, oh, we got some racing, we got like a racing
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and, you know, some other, uh, simulators as well, like, uh, Gran Turismo.
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I think Gran Turismo is really good, uh, entry level for many
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people because, uh, not everybody got, uh, PCs and they just, uh.
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You know, can buy a PlayStation and, uh, play it right from the start, and yeah,
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that's a great opportunity, definitely.
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Um, so how did you start your own, uh, team in, uh, Gran Turismo?
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How did that happen, and, uh, like, how many people you got right now here?
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Yeah, um, like I say, when GT Sport was my kind of first experience of the
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GT franchise and I was lucky enough to meet really good friends from it.
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Um, which obviously my co founder, uh, I call him Midnight,
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but his real name is Luke.
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Um, but it's always that thing when you know someone's online kind of
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name, you always refer him to as that.
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But, um, we just sat down one day and thought, what can we do to
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kind of help people that we need?
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We're in our position, which is like you want to race with friends, but you
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also want to be competitive You might not want to do kind of the daily races.
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Um, you want to kind of start, you know Learning with people and then you
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might venture into a little bit more kind of other leagues or the dailies
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Like I say, um, and we sat down we kind of uh planned Our first season.
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It was a learning curve season one because obviously we'd never we've
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been in loads of leagues before but we never held one ourselves So it's
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kind of what do people expect from us?
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What do we expect from people?
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Obviously we learned a lot for during that season one.
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Um, and Yeah, like I say, the reason we set up was to bring everyone
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together, um, through people that we've met in other leagues.
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Um, obviously I did the, in eSports, the, I think the Winter Cup last
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year, um, where I raced along kind of Sharon, Sophie, Yvonne,
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and that was a great experience.
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And it's, again, you bring people that you know from other leagues
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and stuff, uh, together, and it's a learning, uh, kind of, environment for
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people that might want tips, tricks.
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We have training videos.
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Pedro, one of our training admin, he likes to really kind of film the
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videos where he's training people on certain tracks, showing them where,
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you know, um, breaking points are, apexes are, where to accelerate.
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And people really kind of find that helpful when they're trying to learn
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a track on the game, because it can be quite a difficult game to try and get
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used to, if you're not, you know, used to.
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How the gt7 physics work sometimes it can be in your favor or
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sometimes they're really tricky.
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Um, so It's just about kind of helping people learn, also having fun and a bit
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of competitive racing at the same time.
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Yeah, that's awesome that you're doing this, uh, investment from your
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site to community of Gran Turismo.
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Um, I think that's a good thing about simracing also that when you come in
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as a newbie here, uh, you got like a bunch of videos on YouTube, you got
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good, uh, leaks, good, uh Uh, like, uh, teams, uh, which you can join.
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And, uh, that's definitely help, uh, sim racing grow at the same time.
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Um, so can you tell me what was the biggest challenge, uh,
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when you started sim racing?
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Um, I'd say for me, it's the consistency because one lap I'll
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be, you know, I'll feel amazing.
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I feel like I've done a really good lap time and then the next
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something else will just happen.
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And I don't know what I'm doing.
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I don't know where I am on track and I kind of all lose it in that one corner.
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And for me, I've been trying my best to try and, you know,
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improve that consistency.
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And I think it's the hardest thing because One lap pace, obviously, for
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qualifying is quite helpful, but when you're doing a long race, like an hour
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long, you've really got to kind of improve that consistency if you want
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to fight with the people at the top.
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And that's the thing that I think is the most difficult bit for me at
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the minute, is trying to set that consistent kind of base for me.
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Mm hmm.
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Yeah, consistency is really hard to Uh, to reach, especially when you're just
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starting, and, uh, with a new car, so you need more time to adapt, to also,
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uh, like, get used to the car, to the track, uh, so fully understand you.
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Uh, what is your favorite combo in Gran Turismo?
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Like, what do you like, uh, drive the most here?
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Probably the group 3 cars, um, that's the one I've probably
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got the most experience in.
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Um, I'm a little bit biased.
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I like driving the Porsche because in real life, that's
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one of my favorite cars as well.
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And obviously, I kind of relate that thing back to Brands Hatch
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and driving real life Porsches.
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It, I say the games don't do Brands Hatch justice because I always
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say to anybody that I meet, Brands hatch is a lot better in real life.
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You can, like you said earlier, you feel kind of the undulations when you go down
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Paddock Hill, and I'd recommend anyone to go to Brands hatch in real life.
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But, um, yeah, I'd probably say Brands hatch and a Porsche is my all
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time favorite, um, combo, but Um, I like just learning different tracks.
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Um, currently in the season that we're doing now, I'm driving the BMW M6.
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It's very difficult when you get that rear end facing the wrong way.
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Sometimes I put a little bit too much acceleration down and
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temporarily I'm facing sidewards.
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Um, but yeah, I just kind of like that practicing, you know, with friends,
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friends trying to help each other improve.
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And that's what we're Nighthawk Racing at the moment.
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Do you prefer sprint races or endurance races?
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Like, uh, did you ever, uh, do any endurance races with your team?
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Maybe
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I'd say personally, I'm a little bit better at sprint races.
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Like I said earlier, I can kind of with that one lap pace.
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I might be able to.
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You know do a sprint race better than a feature or an endurance race I think the
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longest i've done is a couple of hours um But our feature race is an hour long
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and even that I find kind of hard doing, you know, multiple laps a consistent Uh
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lap time but um, i'd like to obviously give endurance racing a little bit more
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of a Kind of an effort from my side because I've always kind of my experience
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is more sprint races So i'm i'm able to kind of you know getting it Into it
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quickly because I know obviously you've not got enough time in a sprint race
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to kind of climb up the grid Um, I just I like that kind of quick fast paced
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racing where the kind of endurance side Obviously, it's a lot more concentration
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It's a lot more like I said improving that consistency and that's kind of i'm
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at that Kind of pivotal point where I'm nearly there, but I'm not quite there when
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it comes to endurance racing All right.
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So, uh, I hope that in the future maybe you're going to do some endurance races,
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uh, because they are so exciting Because you're working with a team and it's always
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a pleasure Yeah, especially when you You know, maybe racing with your friends or
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just racing with faster people because you're learning a lot from them as well.
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Uh, so that's always a great opportunity.
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Uh, can you tell me what is your current, uh, setup looks like for some racing?
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Like what, what will you use in pedals?
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Yeah.
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Uh, well, I recently bought a, a play seat evolution one.
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I was on just an office chair with a kind of a wheel and pedal stand.
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Uh, but I've.
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Managed to find a secondhand one that was quite local to me and currently I only
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have a logitech g29 but i'm i'm trying to save up to like a other fanatech or
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kind of a One of the new kind of logitech or frost master models, but they're very
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expensive and And they have to work a lot of events to be able to afford one of
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them at the minute Yeah, I think so many people started with, uh, like G27, G29.
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I personally started with G27, uh, during pandemic, had only a single screen.
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Uh, so moved to the D recently.
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Uh, so yeah, everything in the future, don't worry about equipment.
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I think you just have to focus on practice and on races, on your
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driving skills, first of all, and then think about equipment because
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even some pro, some racers, uh, they.
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Running with G27, G29, so yeah.
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Um, I think that, uh, Setup overall not really important, like, it's
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important, but, uh, More important, your driving skills, definitely.
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Um, let's talk about, uh, how do you feel, like, To be female sim racer in
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the Gran Turismo community, how they treat you, uh, because, uh, Me as a
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sim racer in the iRacing, I'm feeling quite comfortable and, uh, community
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on Twitch really welcome to me.
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Well, sometimes you meet some toxic people, but they're just
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like one, two people and the rest of the community absolutely
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amazing and, uh, welcome everybody.
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Yeah, like yourself, I think kind of on Twitch and kind of when you
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Especially in eSports, obviously, it kind of empowers women and we
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all kind of stick together in a way.
18:58
Um, I've always had a positive experience on Twitch.
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Uh, not so much on kind of GT7 when you're racing, you know,
19:05
random people in the world.
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I have had the occasional, you know, What are you doing here?
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Why are you racing?
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You know the stereo the stereotypical thing that they want to say to a
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woman like, you know Go and you know, push a pram or something.
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I've had that before and that was quite shocking.
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I was like, okay, um, all right but yeah Kind of a stereotypical kind of comments
19:28
Uh across on the game when they don't really know obviously the person behind
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the steering wheel But i've got to say on twitch and uh on social media in general.
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I've had quite a positive I guess relationship with it.
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Um, but I'd say on the game itself when you're not with friends and you're
19:45
trying to improve just, you know, by doing kind of those daily races or
19:48
racing random, that's when it becomes a little bit, um, I'd say a little bit
19:53
more kind of, I don't want to say sexist, but in a way, obviously, sometimes
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when you're, say, the only women, the only woman racing in that lobby, then.
20:04
It's almost you put a little bit of a target because they're like obviously
20:08
that's one thing that they've noticed and that's one thing that they can
20:11
comment on but most of the time they're not actually commenting on like how
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I've done in a race or like if I if they if I've beaten them and you know
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they don't say congratulations or anything like that but um all in all
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I've had I'd say More positive kind of experience negative, but you always
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unfortunately with anything you get that kind of one person that wants to comment
20:35
But yeah, I'd say positive and negative Yeah, I I don't like it when those
20:42
comments appear I kind of try and shrug it off, but sometimes it will
20:45
get to me a little bit My friends will know on the twitch side whenever
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I've been Kind of streaming and one of those comments have come up.
20:52
I've tried to ignore it not going to give it the attention But yeah, I try and shrug
20:57
it under the carpet because I I don't feel like in this day and age Especially
21:02
they need to comment about that.
21:04
Uh, it's more obviously if they said I was a really bad driver then I'd I'd be
21:09
like, okay, uh, i'll try better but when they kind of bring, you know that you're
21:13
a woman Uh in this I don't think it's really deserved in that respect Yeah, you
21:19
know, some people just, uh, don't change, so, uh, you just, uh, you know, like, uh,
21:26
have to accept, like, uh, they exist here, and, uh, sometimes they are part of the
21:31
communities, like in shooters and gaming and sim racing as well, um, the funnest
21:37
thing which happened with me in iRacing, uh, I was driving ovals, and, uh, ovals,
21:42
uh, a little bit more, uh, You know, like, who's powerful man and all this stuff.
21:48
Uh, so not a lot of girls driving here, uh, compared to road races.
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And, uh, they just, uh, started to laugh that, uh, I'm a 12
21:56
years old, uh, uh, kid, a boy.
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And I, I said to, to them, like, I'm a girl and they like, Oh, I'm sorry.
22:04
And you know, just.
22:05
It was really funny.
22:08
Uh, so yeah, you know, most of the time, uh, community really friendly
22:12
and, uh, people supporting you, people, uh, so happy for you, uh,
22:17
for wins and, uh, for good races and trying to support you when you got,
22:21
uh, like some crashes and bad racing.
22:23
Um, do you see that, uh, actually some racing community changed for the years,
22:28
like you started during pandemic and, uh, how do you see a community right now?
22:32
So maybe they have.
22:33
Like more friendly to girls, uh, also for this times.
22:38
Yeah, I think that's a good question.
22:39
I think when I started, it was kind of that initial, like.
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It was probably more apparent back then, uh, the comments of, like, being a woman
22:48
and racing and, like, what are you doing?
22:50
But through the years, I think it's got, it's got better.
22:53
There's less comments and less comments.
22:55
It's kind of like you say, more about kind of empowering, you know,
22:58
women, uh, sim racing in motorsport.
23:01
Especially, obviously, these days, you've got kind of more, kind of, uh,
23:05
I'll call them influencers, but role models in motorsport and sim racing
23:09
that you can look up to that are women.
23:11
Um, obviously.
23:14
I'd say kind of more than a few years ago There wasn't those role models that
23:17
people could kind of look up to but i'd say now There's definitely a lot more kind
23:22
of female role models in the you know, the sim racing and motorsport World and
23:28
that's why I think obviously more there's less and less comments and kind of more
23:32
like I say people supporting each other um, I did have a Going into real life.
23:37
I did have a funny experience that I just remembered when I was supercar instructing
23:42
Where I was um Instructing this man.
23:45
He was, I think, he was a little bit older.
23:48
I'd say probably 60 to 70 age range and we were behind another car.
23:55
And normally at that point otherwise I'd kind of review how,
23:59
you know, fast they're going.
24:00
If we got enough room to overtake because on some of the tracks they
24:04
put kind of man made chicanes where you've got to try and, you know.
24:08
Get the customers through safely.
24:10
It tests their driving skills a little bit when you've got kind of more the
24:14
I'd say an easier track Um, but we were around Lydden Hill, which is kind
24:20
of like a rallying track here, uh in the UK Um, we're behind another car.
24:24
We're following it for about a lap Because they weren't giving
24:27
us enough space to overtake.
24:28
So I was just saying, you know, off a little bit off the accelerator,
24:32
we'll keep behind them and then we'll overtake on the next straight.
24:35
And I think he completely forgot in his head, but he said, Oh, women drivers.
24:40
And I just looked at him.
24:41
It was like, okay,
24:45
he looked at me.
24:46
And I think he realized he was like, Oh, I'm really sorry.
24:49
That wasn't meant to you.
24:50
I was like, okay, that better not have been because he was
24:53
going quite fast at that point.
24:54
I didn't need to really give him any kind of tuition, a little bit.
24:58
Because obviously people that age, they think they can drive amazingly when most
25:01
of the time they've picked up bad habits.
25:04
So I was trying to kind of comment on those bad habits.
25:06
But yeah, I found that funny because it was that kind of moment of realisation
25:11
when he looked at me and he was like I'm really sorry that I said that.
25:17
Well, that's the best moment which could happen, actually.
25:21
Yeah, I laugh about it to this day, because I don't think he meant it,
25:25
but obviously he had that initial thought, and I was like, oh, okay.
25:30
Yeah, that's a really funny moment which you had.
25:33
Also, how do you compare the sim racing to real life?
25:37
Uh, as you drove cars in real life and in Gran Turismo.
25:40
So, uh, what do you think, uh, how close in racing to real
25:44
life, uh, racing experience?
25:47
Um, I'd probably say a little bit if I was on more kind of ACC or I
25:53
racing a little bit more than the.
25:57
It's more kind of realistic, I think, those games in general.
26:00
I think, obviously, GT7 kind of borders that sim racing slash arcade game.
26:06
Because, obviously, it's not, probably, it's not one of the
26:08
most realistic ones out there.
26:10
But, especially, you know, for tracks that I've never been to before, if
26:14
they're on the game, then I will give it, you know, more attention.
26:17
I will go for a few laps, kind of, or watch, like, say, some YouTube videos
26:21
of other people driving around that track in a game to kind of gauge.
26:25
where people break or where people kind of find that speed.
26:29
Um, I think it helps in that respect when, like I say, when I've not been
26:32
to a track or driven it myself, I will give it kind of a five, ten
26:36
minutes trying to, trying to learn it.
26:38
Um, but I'd probably say for me, I think ACC and iRacing are kind of
26:44
the games on the market or the sim racing games on the market that really
26:48
have that kind of more realistic feel and probably, uh, would kind of
26:52
translate to More speed in real life.
26:55
Obviously you've got the max staffs, the landowner, Norris.
26:58
Mm-hmm . You know, um, driving on I racing when they're not, you know,
27:02
traveling around the world with F1.
27:04
And obviously I think they find it helpful to kind of keep that competitive
27:08
edge when they're not racing.
27:10
Mm-hmm . Yeah, and I absolutely agree with you.
27:14
So, I mean, racing and I race, uh, some open wheelers, uh, before, uh,
27:19
definitely can tell that, uh, form four is really close to what, uh.
27:22
You feel in real life, uh, in terms like force feedback and
27:26
how a car also feels on track.
27:29
I can't tell about the other cars because I didn't drive them in real life, but
27:33
I really like Porsche Cup in iRacing.
27:35
It's so cool to drive.
27:38
Um, so yeah, I hope you're going to get the opportunity in the future to jump into
27:42
iRacing, jump maybe into ACC and AC Evo.
27:48
Kind of interesting as well in terms of, uh, how car feels on a
27:52
track and, uh, feedback as well.
27:55
So I really like it, uh, personally.
27:57
Um, don't know if you tried it, uh, but it looks, uh, really promising
28:02
right now, even on, uh, started.
28:05
the start of the early access.
28:09
Yeah, I've not tried the Evo.
28:11
I've tried ACC before.
28:12
Um, but like, yeah, I've kind of been interested in watching, you know,
28:15
other people play Evo and kind of, it looks pretty interesting, like you
28:19
say, and hopefully I get the chance to have a, an experience on it soon.
28:24
I think, obviously, I've got a lot of wish lists.
28:26
You know items on my wishlist like a pc kind of a more built up rig Um,
28:32
that's kind of my goals i'm trying to work towards because I do want to make
28:35
that kind of transition from you know console gaming to you know Proper sim
28:40
racing and kind of more, I'd say more time that I could set aside to practice
28:46
and kind of, um, try and expand my, my skills on that a little bit more.
28:52
Um, as well, obviously real life, I want to try and go for my race
28:55
license, hopefully this year.
28:57
Um, if not next year, cause I want to make that jump from kind
29:01
of supercar instructing to then instructing kind of inspiring or
29:06
trying to inspire, um, you know, the next generation of racing drivers.
29:10
Yeah.
29:10
Um, and that's what I try, I'm trying to make my job into.
29:14
It's very hard trying to make that transition from kind of a self employed
29:19
supercar driving instructor to then, you know, trying to teach racing drivers,
29:24
um, you know, in, in different cars.
29:27
That's, that's where I want to be, but that's quite far
29:29
away from me at the minute.
29:31
So I understand you want to be also like racing drivers instructor, yes,
29:36
or do you want to maybe race in real life some series like in I think in UK
29:45
you got a lot of racing series which are absolutely great and competitive as
29:50
well Yeah, I would, I would never say no to having an opportunity to race.
29:56
I think I want to make that transition, um, at some point, give racing a go and
30:02
kind of support like the instructing and instructing race drivers.
30:06
on the side.
30:07
Um, but it's just, um, budgeting and sponsorships at the minute.
30:11
I'm not, I need to learn a little bit more about that and kind of like how
30:15
to approach, uh, sponsorships, um, if I want to kind of make a real go for it.
30:20
Um, that's the bit that at the moment I'm kind of finding the
30:25
hardest is obviously driving.
30:27
If you've got a lot of driving skills, that's one thing, but obviously
30:29
you've got then think of it as kind of more of a business opportunity.
30:33
For yourself and the companies that you're trying to approach and I'm trying to
30:37
make you know Trying to learn that a bit at the minute But I like I say I would
30:41
never say no to to racing in real life and at some point Hopefully, um, i'd like
30:46
to lose a little bit of weight before that as well because obviously I want to
30:50
put myself in kind of the best position possible Uh, while I have the opportunity.
30:56
Yeah, that's awesome that I got, uh, these dreams and, uh, actually got
31:00
a good plan, uh, to reach all this.
31:03
Uh, hopefully you'll get racing, uh, license in the future.
31:08
Yeah.
31:08
Um, what do you think?
31:10
How, uh, can we encourage, uh, more girls, uh, to To jump into some racing and,
31:16
uh, racing as well, um, like, you know, we all trying definitely like I'm doing
31:20
streaming and, uh, just people coming and they're like, oh, like girls racing.
31:25
Yeah.
31:25
Uh, so what's, uh, can be done in your opinion?
31:30
Yeah, I agree with you kind of being a On online platforms, especially these days,
31:35
obviously everyone's kind of got a mobile phone or a laptop or a tablet if they're
31:39
seeing, you know females in this industry And you know, they're sitting behind the
31:44
screens thinking well, I might want to do that myself obviously kind of people like,
31:49
you know ourselves in e sports, obviously They can contact them if they're at that
31:55
point where they're not quite sure which route to go down What they don't know what
31:58
to you know, sim racing equipment to buy or something like that Or if they, they
32:03
really want to give it a go, they've got people like ourselves that they can just
32:08
have a, you know, a chill chat with and say, um, I want to maybe give this a go.
32:12
What should I do?
32:13
What do you recommend?
32:14
Because obviously we've all kind of got our, our things, our
32:17
mistakes that maybe when we started out, we would do differently.
32:21
And obviously saying that to someone, you could say, I did it this way.
32:25
But on the road I found I had, you know, a couple of mistakes.
32:29
I would recommend maybe going for this first um, because I know myself obviously
32:33
like um, Like I said earlier, obviously i'm quite I say entry level sim racing at
32:39
the minute But i'd say, you know, it's a great place to start You'll build a lot
32:43
of friendships um, and you'll kind of get that community feel and then when you're
32:48
ready to make that jump and you feel like You want to make that jump into kind of
32:51
more professional sim racing like iRacing ACC, um, obviously the different kind of
32:57
championships, like I know Porsche, they have a big, uh, iRacing, uh, Porsche Cup,
33:04
obviously, um, where you can actually win, you know, real money out of it as well.
33:09
Um, and obviously that's kind of, to someone that's behind a screen and
33:13
they're not kind of sure which way to go down, that might be something
33:16
that they want to try in the future.
33:18
Um, I'd say doing a lot of research I think has helped as well, because,
33:24
like I say, when I first started out.
33:28
I think it was that point where a lot of other girls were
33:30
trying to get into it as well.
33:32
Um, and I think Innit Esports you know, um, valuable place.
33:37
They're empowering women and to see that, obviously, from where I started, like I
33:42
said earlier, where a few comments were said here and there, where Innit Esports,
33:46
you know, really kind of empower women.
33:48
You know, we're talking about issues.
33:50
We're talking about You know recommendations and stuff like
33:53
that for people that want to get into those kind of, you know
33:56
Real life racing or sim racing.
33:58
So I think we're on the right step.
34:00
Um And, like I say, I'd hope with some of the things, some of the experiences
34:06
I had, I could help someone else.
34:08
Because, you don't kind of see a lot of women making that jump, um,
34:13
to sim racing from, from sim racing to, like, In real life racing.
34:18
I've seen a lot more recently make kind of that big jump Um, but it's just the kind
34:24
of the sponsorships the money aspect I always thought that you know, maybe it's
34:29
a silly part of my brain where I thought oh, you know sim racing is Not cheap, but
34:34
it's like, it's kind of easy to access.
34:37
And whenever I tripped at the first hurdle, shall we say, I was like, Oh,
34:41
you know, I'll get my race license.
34:43
I'm gonna go and try and compete in something.
34:46
Then it was like, Oh, my race license is this much.
34:49
You know, the track experience is this much.
34:52
And you've got to kind of add all of them up.
34:54
And it is a very expensive kind of, um, career to go down.
34:59
And obviously the first couple of years when you're trying out, there will be kind
35:03
of a lot of expenses, a lot of learning, um, Yeah, I'd say just help someone else.
35:10
It would just be kind of being online, being honest about it as well, um, and
35:14
giving recommendations where possible.
35:17
And just being there, you know, if they've got any struggles or any questions
35:20
that they want to ask, being kind of that person that they can ask and you
35:25
can give that honest feedback to them.
35:28
Yeah, as you said, uh, Enita sports, uh, doing real good stuff for women, uh, in
35:33
sim racing and, uh, in, in racing as well.
35:36
Uh, so we got, uh, good, uh, championships and, uh, on different platforms.
35:41
And, uh, here's a good community with, uh, with girls and, uh, good people overall.
35:48
And I think that sim racing is a good base, uh, to start with.
35:51
Uh, as you said, it's, uh, like more open.
35:54
It's, uh, in my opinion, more.
35:57
Uh, compared to real life racing for sure, because real life racing,
36:01
uh, so expensive to get in and, uh, you definitely need a big budget on
36:07
the start just to spend on practice sessions and to get into consistent
36:12
lap times and, uh, do all this stuff.
36:15
And I'm pretty sure that social media can help, uh, because when I did, uh, formulas
36:20
I had on the Instagram and I. Had no clue about streaming and all this stuff.
36:25
Um, and right now I see that, uh, streaming gave me a lot of,
36:30
um, good contacts and, uh, good people, uh, supporting me, uh,
36:35
free my way in simracing content creation, and that's a good thing.
36:39
So on like on Twitch, on YouTube, you can find a good community
36:44
and, uh, audience and as well, uh, people who can be interested.
36:48
in you and probably push you from sim racing to real life racing in the future.
36:55
So yeah, and speaking about streaming and especially
37:01
podcasting, we got podcasts here.
37:03
How did you start this?
37:04
And can you tell me more about your podcast first?
37:09
What is it about?
37:11
Yeah, of course.
37:12
Um, I was gonna go back to the lockdown again.
37:16
That's when I really kind of Explored a little bit more about it on Twitch
37:19
because obviously we had a lot of time to kind of sit around and
37:23
play games or, you know, sim racing and I thought Oh, what's Twitch?
37:28
What is it all about?
37:29
Uh, I've kind of heard people talking about it.
37:32
I've never really, I never really went on it or watched much of it.
37:35
But when I did, I was kind of, it opened up a whole nother kind of world of
37:40
social media where, you know, you're, you're live streaming, you're having
37:44
people talk to you, and at the same time, you know, you're not talking to them
37:47
face to face, but you feel like you're talking to them face to face on a stream.
37:51
Because uh, you've got kind of those supportive people that are watching you,
37:55
you know They're asking you questions.
37:57
They're kind of rooting for you when you're racing or you're playing a game
38:01
So through streaming i've made quite a lot of friendships I'd say quite a lot
38:04
of my best friends are people that i've met through twitch, which obviously i'm
38:09
very grateful for for that Um, but I I think I started off actually Not playing
38:15
a racing game just playing some random kind of Um, kind of Call of Duty, stuff
38:21
like that, and then I found GT Sport, um, and then I went on to GT7, and that's
38:26
when, at the time, I explored a little bit more, kind of, sim racing games, or
38:31
kind of, arcade y games, um, and Yeah, I then found out there's a kind of a
38:37
really big community when it comes to, you know, uh, GT Sport and GT7 in particular.
38:43
And, um, again, when I started doing that, um, I got obviously, like I said
38:49
earlier, a few people were just like, you know, not much to do about it.
38:54
But when I found that kind of supportive base and my supportive friends.
38:58
I really tried to give streaming a lot more attention and Um, I started a kind
39:04
of a podcast with my friend Who's also the friend that I set up nighthawk racing
39:09
with where we just simply watch the formula one talk about it a little bit
39:13
Um, as we're watching it and kind of give our, you know, thoughts and feelings, our
39:17
opinions and obviously at the same time, we'd have people talking to us about,
39:22
you know, their favorite drivers, their favorite circuits, and we noticed that
39:27
people kind of like that interaction when they're watching, you know, their favorite
39:32
sport, we're watching our favorite sport.
39:34
You get kind of a passionate people kind of speaking about their favorite subjects.
39:38
You can sometimes obviously you can ignite a little bit of debate when
39:42
it comes to when you say something about a driver and they might not
39:45
agree or they might agree with you but give a slightly different opinion.
39:49
Obviously there's a lot of debate that goes back and forwards.
39:51
Um, We haven't done that last year because of the supercar stuff.
39:56
It's very based on like a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, so unfortunately
40:00
last year we couldn't do as much.
40:03
Um, but nowadays we're kind of, we're always talking about, you know,
40:07
motorsport in general and, um, we kind of transitioned from The podcast into
40:14
more of the championship stuff, but I'd like to kind of give it a go at
40:17
some point and I haven't streamed for about, I'd say two to three months now.
40:23
I had a little bit of kind of a health scare, but last year I, um,
40:29
got anemic and I didn't feel very well and kind of, I lost that confidence.
40:32
I'd like to kind of build it up again, uh, as I'm feeling a little bit better
40:36
now, but, um, yeah, I miss streaming.
40:39
I will get back to it at some point, like I say, um, But I found out that
40:44
actually playing alongside my mum We play gt, uh gta, which is obviously gta
40:51
is kind of like a A character that goes around you can do different missions and
40:56
stuff like that And because obviously she gamed on previous kind of playstations
41:01
bringing her back to the Like the ps5 showing her the controls people find
41:05
that quite funny because obviously you're watching my mom try and explore
41:09
a game She might not know the controls.
41:10
So i'm sat next to her going do this.
41:13
The person's right in front of you quick, you know um, and sometimes it's
41:16
quite funny when you you know, she accidentally, you know gets the wrong
41:20
person or Um something like that.
41:22
I found that quite funny But like I say I haven't streamed for quite
41:26
a few months, but I will go back to it Yeah, that would be awesome
41:29
to see you back online, definitely.
41:31
Uh, yeah, streaming can be hard, so you need that confidence, and
41:35
sometimes you can be a little bit shy.
41:37
So when I started streaming, I was, like, a little bit shy, close.
41:41
Uh, but right now I'm feeling, like, comfortable and confident.
41:45
But every time, you know, when you're starting the first stream after a
41:49
little break, like, you had two, three days off, you're, like, streaming,
41:52
uh, starting from the scratch, like, you're getting nervous a little bit.
41:57
So yeah, that definitely can be a thing.
41:59
And, uh, that's cool that your mom actually sharing your passion
42:03
to some racing and also, uh, trying it together with you.
42:07
That's awesome.
42:09
I say try, she's, she's not, sometimes when I say break, break,
42:13
break, she'll press the wrong, the wrong pedal and she'll end up flying
42:16
into a bar or something, but it's quite funny watching her do it.
42:20
But, um, yeah, I think like you, I was quite shy when I started and once
42:24
I kind of found that confidence and the people that were supporting me on
42:27
the other end of the screen, that's when I've kind of, I kind of delved
42:31
a little bit more into streaming and I got a little bit more confidence.
42:34
Um, but like you say, when you take a quite a big break that I have, trying
42:37
to build up that confidence again when you've not done it for quite a while.
42:41
Kind of like driving or, you know, motorsport in general, when you've not
42:44
done it for a while and you jump back into it, it's always that nerve wracking.
42:48
Am I as good as what I used to be?
42:50
You know, have I not practiced?
42:52
Um, so yeah, um, I was a little bit nervous before today, but
42:56
I kind of just remembered, you know, just calm down, you know.
43:00
It's okay.
43:01
You know, we all get nervous when we get in online or with the stream with
43:06
all this stuff and we're like recording the videos and doing such a stuff.
43:10
So it's absolutely fine.
43:11
Like that's a part of this.
43:14
It's okay.
43:15
Can you tell me about your Insta community?
43:18
And also, I know that you're part of, uh, Ravencom's team.
43:22
Uh, what are you doing in this team?
43:24
Like, are you a driver?
43:26
And, uh, actually let's talk about your plans for this year in Simracing
43:30
and in content creation as well.
43:33
Yeah, so, uh, Razor and Comms, it's, John's the guy behind it, um, he kind
43:40
of more focuses on providing commentary for racing, um, he usually does, I
43:45
think, ACC, so that was kind of my first delve into ACC a little bit more
43:49
when he offered me, uh, kind of a job.
43:52
a role alongside him as kind of a co commentator on these races, um, he really
43:57
taught me a lot about kind of, you know, talking about people that are racing, what
44:01
cars they're driving, you know, talking a little bit more about the things that
44:05
people don't realize, trying to convey to people, you know, they may be driving,
44:10
what, how are they driving, what are they driving like if you see when it's wet
44:14
conditions, you see people drive obviously a little bit slower because they're trying
44:18
to be a little bit more careful, but.
44:20
Trying to be, you know, as fast as they can, trying to, you know, talk to people
44:24
about different techniques and providing that kind of commentary, but also a
44:28
driver's perspective at the same time.
44:31
Um, and like I say, he, he was very valuable in the kind of teaching me
44:35
that commentary side, and that's what I kind of use, uh, for the Nighthawk
44:39
race, and when we do the commentary for those races, I kind of use a bit
44:43
of tips and tricks that he taught me.
44:44
I haven't been able to do any commentary with Raven for quite
44:48
a while, but I recommend anyone.
44:50
watching Raven.
44:51
He's, uh, very passionate about commentary, kind of like, uh, you know,
44:55
the Moray Walkers and stuff like that.
44:56
He's very, very passionate about it.
44:58
Um, and intercommunity, um, that's a slightly different, I said that,
45:05
well, my friend set it up, uh, during lockdown and then decided to give it
45:11
to me, and obviously then I took over, but the aim of it, is to what was to
45:17
and still is to bring kind of people together on Instagram, um, normally
45:22
about kind of talking about car stuff.
45:25
So some people in the car community, especially in the UK, they like to
45:29
kind of modify the cars a little bit.
45:31
So you may have someone, you know, with their first car that wants to maybe
45:35
change the wheels, paint the wheels a different color, put some body kits on it.
45:39
And obviously.
45:40
They can ask someone in the community, have you done this?
45:43
Did you find, you know, using a certain product better than another one?
45:48
So it provides that kind of back to back conversation between people.
45:52
And especially in lockdown, I noticed that it really brought people closer
45:56
together, because like I said earlier, The world just kind of shut down.
46:00
It was a tough time for literally everybody in the world.
46:03
We didn't know kind of what to do.
46:04
So the the next best thing was to talk online, you know, Skype, FaceTime, trying
46:10
to see your friends through a screen.
46:12
Uh, so that's kind of the What I kind of thought with that is that the car
46:17
community doesn't have to die because obviously no one's Going out with their
46:20
cars to to meet and talk in person.
46:22
We can still do it, but just online Um, so the page kind of started off as
46:27
people getting to know people showing people Other people their cars, you know
46:32
giving a personal fact about them Some people don't always like to give kind
46:36
of you know a fact about themselves.
46:38
That's not car related um, but we try and kind of Show people's cars and the
46:44
person behind the driving wheel as I say to get to know both people So we
46:48
like to kind of do profiles on them.
46:51
So you may have I don't know Someone with a Ford Fiesta you learn a little bit
46:57
about them because they say oh they do tap dancing so you can kind of Tapping
47:03
a little bit more to that non cath fact, get to know the person a little bit more
47:06
and then that's obviously when People start to open up a little bit because
47:10
they feel a little bit more comfortable They're given, you know a fact about
47:13
themselves that they don't normally or wouldn't normally in a conversation So it
47:18
again it opens up conversations between people which is often the hardest bit
47:22
kind of trying to start that conversation.
47:24
Sometimes, you know, you might get a frosty reception, but sometimes
47:28
they kind of warm up to you a little bit, and then they start talking to
47:31
you about other things, you know, projects with the cars, projects
47:34
for their, you know, their ongoing.
47:38
kind of projects that they've got going on and yeah, I've got some,
47:42
I've got some plans for that.
47:43
Um, especially car shows in the UK, kind of car meets has got,
47:50
I'd say a little bit, I don't know the right word to say it, but the,
47:55
it's not very welcomed as such.
47:57
Cause obviously you think six people meeting in a car, an old lady might come
48:01
by and say that's antisocial behavior because you know, people are sitting in
48:05
their cars and they're all in a group and.
48:08
That old lady might think it's quite, you know, threatening.
48:10
There are people in their nice cars just sitting together.
48:13
So it's kind of, like I said earlier, frosty reception when it comes to cars,
48:16
especially with older generations.
48:19
But organized car shows, when you go into like Brands Hatch, it's a good place.
48:23
They always try and Put on car shows for us, you know car enthusiasts Um, and we
48:29
take our cars to those shows show off our our babies as I call them Because
48:34
obviously we put a lot of time effort money into kind of cleaning and making
48:38
our cars look You know the best that they can so other people, you know Take
48:42
pictures and kind of again start the conversation of I like your car and then
48:47
you can say I like your car, too Uh, and again, it's just about building kind of
48:51
Friends in that community because it can be quite hard, but it can be quite also an
48:57
isolating world when you're not sure where to go Um, so that's why I try and provide
49:03
kind of communities in like sim racing or the car world that people if they're
49:06
feeling a little bit lonely or they feel like they need kind of a place to meet
49:11
friends meet people then I try and provide that kind of Place for someone to go to.
49:18
About myself, I, I'm at that stage where I'm not quite
49:21
sure what steps to take next.
49:25
I've got a lot of kind of plans running around in my head and
49:28
um, you know, stuff written down.
49:30
But I'd say, at some point I'd, I'd like to go and get that race licence
49:35
because it opens kind of the key.
49:37
To the rest of the plans I want to do, but it's just about kind of learning a
49:43
bit more about motorsport in general, kind of budgeting, uh, sponsorships, what
49:48
kind of the first road to go down because.
49:52
When you get your race license, obviously, then you've, it opens up a whole world of
49:56
like, what category do you want to race?
49:58
You know, what's your budget?
50:00
How much sponsorship do you need?
50:02
Um, then when you want to go for your Arts Instructors course, you have to
50:06
have completed a certain amount of racing to then go for that course.
50:09
At that point, it's again another outlay of money where you have to go
50:13
and Kind of find a racing school which can provide that course of becoming an
50:18
ARDS instructor and then at that point is when you can kind of teach racing
50:23
drivers or kind of experienced day people the track and obviously you've
50:29
got a qualification behind you that you can say, you know, you know how to race
50:32
cars, you know how to drive cars, you know how to show people around this, uh,
50:36
this track, but it's quite a big jump.
50:39
And like I say, um, I think obviously That's a long way off for me at the
50:43
moment, but hopefully not too far off, maybe by the end of the year, hopefully.
50:49
All right, uh, so wish you good luck in your future plans, uh, hopefully.
50:53
Once again, I'm going to tell this, uh, that you're going to get your racing
50:57
license and, uh, we'll, um, go to one step forward, uh, within racing.
51:04
Um, we'd like to know about, uh, car community in, uh, in UK actually,
51:10
uh, because we've been talking about with, uh, other guests.
51:13
Uh, let it be about, uh, car culture in, uh, Thailand because she visited, uh, Van
51:18
Gogh recently and, uh, been talking about also car community here in Kazakhstan.
51:24
So here are people, uh, really, uh, crazy about BMWs and I think JDM
51:31
culture is really popular as well.
51:33
Uh, so what is the most popular, uh, in, in UK for you?
51:38
Like maybe JDM or BMWs, maybe something else.
51:43
I'd say it's very similar.
51:44
Um, the BMWs have got a lot of following over here, kind of that German cars
51:49
as well, like Volkswagen and, uh, kind of Porsche and those sort of cars.
51:53
It's got a big kind of following in the UK.
51:56
I'd say also the JDM, you kind of got your different kind of sub
52:00
groups of the, the car culture, but it all kind of brings you together.
52:04
Um, so the, yeah, the JDM culture is quite big here as well.
52:08
uh, BMWs.
52:10
I'd say, I hear you've kind of got your, kind of, I don't know what the
52:16
right group would be cool to call them, but I call them boy racers.
52:20
They kind of buy, you know, the um, you know, older cars, kind of mod them
52:24
up, and you're hearing from about a mile away because the exhaust is so
52:28
loud, but um, They kind of buy, kind of, cheaper cars to, to then mod up,
52:33
um, and that's why I call them the, the boy racers because they're always
52:36
kind of in car parks revving their cars up, um, but yeah, I'd say BMW and JDM,
52:43
but, um, I'd say it's usually German versus Jap here, uh, in terms of kind
52:48
of cars, I'd say they're equally as big.
52:52
Um, but yeah, I, I'm more kind of the German cars myself.
52:57
I own a Volkswagen, uh, Sirocco R. So I'm kind of more on the German side,
53:02
but also I've got a lot of friends that, you know, like the the Japanese cars,
53:06
kind of, um, you know, modding them up.
53:08
Um, yeah, I'm trying to think of any other cars that are popular here.
53:13
I'd say it's, I'd say it's similar to kind of, like you said.
53:17
BMWs and JDMs.
53:19
They kind of rule the car culture.
53:22
Yeah, it seems like it's, uh, like the same trend on all planets.
53:26
Yeah, kind of like, it's really funny because, you know, GDM is so crazy.
53:31
We actually, uh, get a lot of Uh, cars here in Kazakhstan from
53:36
Japan in like two thousands.
53:38
And, uh, here are so many cool projects, uh, which people running like so many
53:43
Subarus, so many Mark two Toyota's and, uh, yeah, and BMW, one of the
53:48
biggest, uh, community we got here.
53:50
So the gods, you know, really old BMW is modern BMWs and,
53:56
uh, yeah, that's really cool.
53:58
Uh, so what about, uh, Cars, uh, like Lotus or something else because, uh,
54:04
you know, when I worked as a, um, racing instructor, uh, we had, uh, good
54:10
community with, uh, some esprits, uh, they had some elite Lotus Elise and,
54:17
uh, I think TTSR or something like this.
54:20
So they've been really crazy about all this, uh, British cars.
54:24
And I still remember this beautiful Lotus esprit and, uh,
54:27
you know, Emerald green color.
54:28
It was really cool.
54:31
Yeah, I've got to say they're pretty cool.
54:33
You don't actually see that many kind of lotuses on the roads in the UK anymore.
54:39
Uh, you see a few and obviously then you really appreciate
54:42
how, kind of, when you see one.
54:44
Because like I said, there's not many on the roads at the minute.
54:47
Um, I know, obviously, kind of, Jaguar recently in the the news, especially
54:52
they kind of went through that Controversy with their new logo, you
54:55
know, some people really liked it.
54:57
Some people really hated it um, obviously they're kind of waiting for
55:00
that new car reveal to see if they kind of really love it, but the Kind
55:05
of the old jags, especially they're very kind of popular with uh I'd
55:10
say probably the older generations, because obviously they're a bit more
55:14
kind of popular, um, back especially when like my mum and dad, um, grew up.
55:20
I think also at the time, um, kind of, I'd say, I'm trying to think of more British
55:27
brands that, I'd say they're not as popular over here as what they used to be.
55:34
But you still kind of appreciate them when you see them, uh, especially kind of like
55:38
they say the, the TVRs and the Lotuses.
55:42
I don't know if it might be just a Britain thing, but I don't think we appreciate
55:46
them as much as we probably should.
55:48
Uh, we kind of more appreciate, like I said, the BMWs and the JDMs.
55:51
Um, so yeah, I mean, I, I like the, you know, the old Jags and stuff.
55:56
Um, but yeah.
55:59
We should probably like our own cars a little bit more, but we don't
56:04
really, we just kind of, like you say, choose to kind of import cars
56:08
in or kind of go for different cars.
56:12
I don't know if it's obviously because our government don't
56:14
give them enough funding anymore.
56:16
Um, especially obviously, I think our government at the moment are trying to
56:20
bring in more kind of electric cars.
56:22
So you've got different kind of.
56:24
Car brands trying to start up but they don't quite get the the funding
56:28
kind of the support from from our government to really You know
56:32
make a big dent in the car market.
56:33
Mm hmm I understand this.
56:36
Uh, thanks for correcting me with, uh, TVR.
56:38
Uh, it's, uh, you know, it's really a small manufacturer, actually.
56:43
And, uh, I saw one car.
56:44
It was, uh, like, in beautiful purple color.
56:47
It was really beautiful inside with, uh, aluminum, uh, desk and all this stuff.
56:52
It was really cool to see.
56:54
Yeah.
56:55
They're so beautiful.
56:57
Um, do you have any plans for your Volkswagen, uh, Scirocco?
57:02
Like maybe you would like to take a part in some car shows or something like this
57:08
Yeah, I would I would love to definitely take it to some more car shows this year
57:12
Unfortunately last year with work and stuff whenever they were on a weekend.
57:16
I'd always be working and below I can't go to the the car shows that I love.
57:20
Um I'm trying to really this year kind of go back into more going to car shows maybe
57:26
going to some Some race meetings with it.
57:29
Um I'd like to probably When a few friends want to go but kind of take
57:33
it over to the Nuremberg ring, kind of go on a really kind of big road trip.
57:37
I've never been to Wales or Scotland but I'd love to do the, you know, those very
57:42
kind of beautiful road trips where you step off on the way, get some pictures.
57:46
Um, I'd say the car itself, I kind of bought it already.
57:51
Kind of modded to to my taste so it has kind of bigger breaks on it um some body
57:57
kits bits Probably more delve into more of the power side eventually, but i'm kind
58:03
of happy how it is at the minute Um, i've probably got a few plans of kind of Trying
58:08
to mod or trying to change up a little bit of how it looks but um, yeah, I kind
58:13
of I had a another Volkswagen beforehand a little polo that I bought, you know
58:18
with nothing on I started from scratch on that one and kind of Modified it.
58:23
Um as I went and I really kind of enjoyed that process of you know,
58:26
putting a splitter on a side skirt, you know a diffuser exhaust and kind of
58:33
really teaches you how you know, these brands make their cars and how they
58:38
can Especially, you know, it's open to adaptation when you buy a car you want
58:43
to make it to your liking And I really enjoy that kind of process of making it
58:48
my own Um, i'd say i'm not quite there.
58:50
It was just for okay Like I said, I bought it with kind of someone else
58:54
doing it up and i'm still in that process of making it my own But um,
58:58
yeah, I love I love my uh my little wall.
59:01
Um, I shouldn't, I probably should drive it a little bit more than I should,
59:04
but I've kind of like, I've got to that stage where I just love it so much.
59:08
I'm just like, I don't want to hurt you.
59:09
Like, I told you to stay there, look pretty.
59:14
Yeah, you know, it truly is one of my favorite Volkswagen's ever.
59:18
And it's so beautiful, actually really sad that they stopped to Make them, uh, so we
59:24
don't have any new models of, uh, Sirocco.
59:26
It's really, really sad, uh, but this, uh, like second generation,
59:32
it looks really beautiful.
59:33
I love it personally.
59:35
So yeah, wish you good luck with your, uh, Volkswagen.
59:38
So probably we're going to see you in some car shows as well.
59:42
Um, So the last one will be what is your advice to girls and to
59:47
women who would like to dive into some racing and to racing and maybe
59:52
be a part of the some car shows?
59:56
Yeah, obviously, I'd say that there is platforms out there that you can kind of
1:00:01
reach out and discuss, you know, potential ideas, kind of what you You think you
1:00:08
want to get into and like I said earlier some people may give you recommendations
1:00:11
as to start with this work up to this Um, and along the way maybe learn about
1:00:17
kind of different processes that go on behind the scene um, I definitely I would
1:00:22
tell people as well just to to give it a go the I think the worst thing is kind
1:00:27
of thinking about it and I know from myself I tend to overthink about things
1:00:31
and when I get around to actually doing it It's not as bad as what I initially
1:00:34
thought so i'd always try and recommend someone to just you know just give it
1:00:38
a go if it's not just just dipping your toes in you know a little tester that's
1:00:42
better than not doing it and then at that time you you know if you like or if you
1:00:46
don't um so i'd always say if you want to give something a go just do it um you
1:00:52
might be really scared but once you've done it it's not as scary as you think
1:00:57
um and that's what my kind of parents have always taught me that at least
1:01:00
give it a go once you know try your best if you don't like it after you've done
1:01:04
it Then you don't have to do it again.
1:01:06
But if you love it, then you'll see you then kind of
1:01:09
go back to the planning board.
1:01:11
You think, all right, how can I do more of this?
1:01:13
What do I need to buy?
1:01:15
What do I need to learn?
1:01:17
So yeah, I'd, I'd say try and find a kind of a community or,
1:01:21
you know, some friendships as well that like similar things.
1:01:25
So you can always kind of support each other going through that process.
1:01:30
And yeah, just, just give it a go once.
1:01:34
And there's loads of, you know, women out there that want to support each other,
1:01:38
want to support, you know, new people coming in, trying to, you know, uplift
1:01:42
them, and show you that it's not as a bad place as what you might have thought of.
1:01:46
And like I said earlier, there's people, especially on the other side of the
1:01:50
screen, that hopefully can either be role models or inspire someone to do it.
1:01:57
Uh, and like I said, I think it's good that there's a lot more kind of
1:02:00
women, especially in real motorsport, like kind of the F1 Academy, um, the
1:02:06
Iron Dames especially, they're kind of ones that I think, well, if they can
1:02:10
do it, well, other people can do it, like myself, um, It's just obviously
1:02:16
that jump and sometimes you just have to make that jump to realize that
1:02:20
it's something you really love doing and that you wanna continue doing.
1:02:23
Yeah, that's, uh, great advice from your side.
1:02:25
Like, just give it a go.
1:02:27
And if you don't like it, you can stop, uh, like some racing or uh, racing
1:02:32
and, uh, maybe if you like it, you can continue and you always, uh, can find
1:02:37
people who's going to support you.
1:02:39
We've got a bunch of communities, uh, a lot of different like social medias.
1:02:45
And, um, also I think people can follow Ineedisports and, uh, jump
1:02:51
into some screen to speed races, uh, on different platforms as well.
1:02:56
So, yeah.
1:02:56
And, uh, Sarah, thank you so much for talking with me.
1:02:59
It was a pleasure.
1:03:00
Uh, you're amazing.
1:03:02
We wish you good luck to your future with some racing and racing.
1:03:06
Uh, and, uh, thank you so much guys for watching.
1:03:10
Thank you so much for having me and uh, yeah, you're amazing too.
1:03:13
Thank you.
1:03:15
Bye bye guys.
1:03:15
See you.
1:03:40
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