Jamie Chadwick is confident the evolution of a pathway for women into motorsport will continue to help provide access to more opportunities, both on and off the track.

Former three-time W-Series champion Chadwick is set to return to action in the UK this weekend when the European Le Mans Series heads to Silverstone for the first time in six years.

As part of the activities on Friday, girls from local primary schools will participate in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) workshop.

The workshop will also take place at Silverstone Museum, as well as at the Kart Silverstone facilities, which are set to open later this year.

There will also be an opportunity to watch Chadwick, 27, during the first practice session on the track for the penultimate round of the ELMC series.

Chadwick, who has recently expanded her own all-female karting series into a junior category, hopes such events might inspire the next generation of drivers or engineers.

“For me, when I was the only girl out of hundreds of boys at my local kart track, it was not the most inviting environment initially, but now that is changing.

“Whenever you do these different events, you really notice quite a big uptake; the level of interest has increased massively,” Chadwick said.

She said, “I have the karting series in the UK that has had a lot more interest than I would have expected, so it is kind of trying to grow that. It is just trying to broaden people’s perceptions of motorsport, to show the different opportunities that are available.”

More than 450 girls have been part of the Jamie Chadwick Series events.

In 2024, Daytona saw a 400 per cent increase in casual session participation from female racers at its outdoor go-karting venues.

Chadwick added, “It is a great sort of evolution of what we are seeing; the industry is changing so much. We are seeing so many more women, just in different roles across the board, that I don’t think it has maybe got that male dominance or bias that we have seen for so long. I think young girls are more encouraged by it, but also the fan base is changing; the kind of culture of the sport is changing.”

She said that aside from the girls and boys, it showed what opportunities there were in our sport; there was so much more to it than just driving on track.

“There are so many different roles and so many great elements of the sport, and just giving that kind of opportunity for the girls to see that is really important,” Chadwick said.

(dpa/NAN)