Three-time W Series Champion and Indy NXT competitor Jamie Chadwick spoke to Motorsport Week regarding the launch of her all-new, all-female UK karting programme.
The year-long programme, created in collaboration with Daytona Motorsport is designed to help improve female participation in motorsport at grassroots levels by mitigating financial barriers.
Kicking off with complimentary karting sessions for females aged eight and over across Daytona’s karting venues on International Women’s Day (March 08), the programme will then continue with ‘The Jamie Chadwick Series,’ an all-female karting championship which will see competitors race across Daytona’s three venues (Sandown Park, Milton Keynes, Tamworth).
Chadwick will mentor the championship competitors throughout the year and the Williams Academy Driver will offer the young girls a behind-the-scenes look at the F1 team’s Grove headquarters before offering one-to-one mentorship for the title winner. Ahead of the announcement, Chadwick spoke at length with Motorsport Week regarding the programme’s inception and the impact it will have on aspiring female racers.
“It’s always been something that we’ve spoken about, and it was just trying to find time when I had capacity to kind of fill or do the best job with it,” Chadwick began. “When you look at all the initiatives that are in place for female talent in the sport, – it’s incredible to see how far it’s come in the last few years -but we’re really yet to tackle the grassroots level and I started in this kind of ‘Arrive and Drive’ style karting from no racing background. I was not aware of the pathway, how to progress through the sport and what opportunities there were. So really trying to tackle that and see, you know, what we can do with this kind of level and give them the opportunity to progress to the next step.”
Daytona, a UK-based outdoor karting operator founded in 1990, is a collaborator that Chadwick believes will “provide a good opportunity to really be able to almost talent spot and nurture the next step through.”
More initiatives are getting behind female racers
The next step for female racers is of paramount importance and that is reflected in the influx of initiatives forged in recent times to encourage female participation in motorsport. Along with Chadwick’s programme, the likes of F1 Academy Discover Your Drive and the More than Equal Female Driver Development Programme are all aiming to reduce the gender participation gap in racing.
Research indicates that just 13% of karters are female and that figure reduces dramatically in single-seaters and GT racing, but Chadwick hopes the likes of her programme will increase the number of girls at the grassroots level and beyond.
“13%, it was a lot lower than that when I started,” Chadwick admitted. “But then you look at the amount of F4 drivers and then F3 and F2, and then the percentage goes to zero quite quickly. So it’s understanding we’re now really looking at tackling that kind of higher level, but what can we do at the grassroots level just to increase participation beyond anything? Creating a culture and environment that has more young girls, more women is going to hopefully have a domino effect and encourage more and more to get involved.”
The domino effect is getting more female racers into single-seaters and a series having a big part to play in that arena is the all-female F1 Academy championship – designed to give female racers a platform to progress up the junior formula ladder with the support of all 10 Formula 1 teams, plus major brands such as Charlotte Tilbury and Puma.
Jamie Chadwick: A racing driver and mentor
Chadwick knows all too well the impact F1 Academy has, as she is mentoring fellow Williams Academy Driver Lia Block, who is set to embark on her inaugural campaign. It will be a tough transition for Block with the American’s career being focussed off-road up to this point, but Chadwick spoke highly of her Williams peer and of F1 Academy’s role in furthering female participation in motorsport.
“I’m really enjoying the [mentoring] role with Lia [Block] so far,” Chadwick said. “I was out in Jeddah for the first day of testing and yeah, it’s really fun to work with her. It’s a big transition for her and she’s under no illusions that it’s going to be quite a big step really in the first year especially but she’s lucky she’s got great support from Williams and she’s in a really great position. She’s keen to learn and eager to make sure that she can make the most of the opportunity which is great.
“[F1 Academy is] the next or a realistic step,” Chadwick continued. “If you’re looking at motorsport previously and you’re looking at ‘right I want to be able to make money in the sport and I want to progress to the highest level’ and you look at Formula One and you work backwards, the investment that’s required to get to that level, or even just Formula Three is huge. Whereas if you work backwards from F1 Academy, actually, you know, it’s still significant, but a lot less. And I think F1 Academy is giving that step. That’s a lot more realistic for people to try and achieve. And after that, it gives the opportunity to, if you have success, to get the funding and the support to go to the next step.”
Jamie Chadwick ‘excited’ by looming IndyNXT campaign
Chadwick is well accustomed to success and how the platform of an all-female racing series on the world stage can progress a career. The only female driver to win a race in British Formula 3 and the first female to win a British GT Championship, Chadwick’s three consecutive titles in the W Series gave her the springboard to contest her maiden campaign in the Indy NXT series, the final step on the ladder toward IndyCar.
After learning the ropes with Andretti in 2023, Chadwick is excited to press on and have a good sophomore season in Indy NXT stateside but is committed to helping the girls make their first steps in racing via ‘The Jamie Chadwick Series’ programme in the UK.
Yeah, personally, [I’m] really excited about this year from a racing point of view, second year in the [Indy NXT] series,” said Chadwick. “Yeah, I think learning year under my belt, going into the second season with that experience, I really feel confident we can, we can push for some good results and have a strong season.”
“I want to be as personally involved as I can,” she added in regards to the new karting programme. “I’ve not promised the world in terms of time, just because obviously my focus is still on myself to a degree. But yeah, I want to be as involved as I can.
“I was lucky enough when I was starting in the sport, I could send an email to the likes of Susie [Wolff] and get a response and get advice. And I want to be able to offer that to whoever’s coming through as well. So there’s enough time in the world to be able to send anyone to support. And even if it’s not everything, I want to be able to provide some opportunity for them to have that.”
