Rush

If you haven’t watched it, Rush is a film about the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda as they fight against each other to become F1 world champion.

It’s a great film. Go and watch it. Or more likely, stream it. (It came out 13 years ago.) Hunt and Lauda have completely different styles. Hunt is brash and self-confident, and Lauda is cool and calculating. Watch the film and decide which camp you’re in, or maybe you’re a bit of both.

Rush. That’s what it feels like at the moment with Kate’s transition from karting to cars. We were at Brands Hatch on Monday, along with the other girls in the Racing Women team. And the girls were wearing their new ARC racing suits, which they’d literally picked up the day before (without the usual bespoke fitting service). So, some suits were too short, some had logos missing, and some were too tight. All because the seamstresses were very, very pushed on time. Not a problem though. They’re bespoke suits, so Kate’s going back to ARC this Friday afternoon to get the suit adjusted and to have the missing logos put on. All part of the ARC bespoke service.

The suits though, look amazing. And, given that they have three layers of fireproofing, they are suprisingly light. But, I guess that’s what you get when you’re buying a suit at this level.

Rush. So, everyone was suited and booted for the photoshoot at Brands. Tick. Testing happened. Tick. And then Kate was told she needed to be at Snetterton on 12 May for more testing. Rush. It is very exciting, but it would be nice to have a bit more notice!

The testing was scary. It was the GP circuit. Which, according to Google’s AI, is “open sparingly”. The neighbours complain about the noise. Consequently, there were loads of people testing, with all manner of extremely fast race cars.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/594a2d_a51407e0e1654f5caddaa81201b548e1/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Graeme Glew did some sighting laps with Kate, and came off the track looking frazzled. “It’s not a circuit for novices”, he said. Then it was Kate’s turn, and she came off the track looking frazzled too. “It’s hard”, she said. “It’s so busy.” Kate was learning the circuit in the Racing Women’s BMW M2 Sport, and as she headed into Hawthorn Bend flat out at 130 mph, the Radicals would scream past her at 160 mph. Scary stuff.

The 666BHP per tonne Global Lights GT2, which Kate will be testing at Snetterton

So, testing at Brands Hatch. And then a whole host of other racing stuff coming in thick and fast. Rush, rush, rush. The Racing Women staff team is expanding rapidly to accommodate the Talent Management Programmes for all Racing Women team drivers, and it will take a little while for Kate’s programme to get mapped out.

Sam Fletcher is interviewing Kate on BBC Radio Stoke

The 12 May at Snetterton is just for Kate. So, loads of track time, driving prototype cars by Global Lights, specifically their 666BHP per tonne GT2.

Before that, though, she’ll be racing her Senior Rotax kart at Kimbolton in the second round of the UKC. Oh, and she’s got the radio interview with BBC Radio Stoke on Wednesday. She's being interviewed by Sam Fletcher on Sam's weekly 'Sports at Six' programme. It'll be interesting to see whether she comes across as a Hunt or a Lauda. Rush, rush, rush.