At a crossroads, with Sarah Hawkie

Crew Chief Brad: [00:00:00] Welcome to Screen to Speed powered by INIT Esports. In this podcast, we dive into the journeys of remarkable individuals, making waves in sim racing and bridging the virtual with the real. From the thrill of digital circuits to the roar of real life racetracks, we explore the passion, Dedication and innovation that drives the world of motor sports.

We’ll hear from athletes, creators, and pioneers sharing their stories, insights, and the powerful ways sim racing is connecting communities and creating pathways into motorsports. So buckle up. Screen to speed starts now.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Hi everyone. Welcome to Ineed Talks. Welcome everybody. Happy to see you here. We got, uh, today, Saira Hawkey. Uh, she is a co founder of, uh, Nighthawk Racing and also a podcaster. For first, we’re going [00:01:00] to talk about sim racing, racing, and he is also, uh, she’s also the, um, uh, supercar coach. Uh, so let’s start.

Saira, welcome. Happy to see you here. Thank you. Thank you very much for

Sarah Hawkie: having me.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Yeah. Uh, so let’s start, uh, talk about your job and, uh, how you get into coaching, how you get into like the supercar coaching. So let’s start from this.

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, okay, cool. So, um Happens up just before I got that job. I uh got invited by porsche gb to go to brands hatch to test I think at the time it was four brand new porsches.

Obviously, there’d be a couple years old now Um, but I got kind of got picked out of 12. I don’t know if anyone knows of esme hawkey She used to race in the porsche 9 11. Um Kind of cup and she held like a competition where I think 12 uh, women got invited to do this We Drive event, um, and lucky enough as one of the [00:02:00] 12 that got picked.

I don’t know how, but I was very lucky and um, obviously I was very thankful for that opportunity because before that I’d never really kind of done any on track driving. I’m used to doing like sim driving and sim racing, but that was kind of my first. on track experience and, uh, obviously to drive Porsches was quite a, a jump from going nothing to doing driving the Porsches around my, uh, my favorite track.

But, uh, after that I had, well, my parents actually bought me, um, an experience day package for my 21st birthday. And at the time I think it was to drive another Porsche, uh, an Aston Martin, a Nissan GTR. And I can’t quite remember the last one, but, um, I had that experience and at the end of the day, um, I don’t know if it’s obviously because a couple of days before I had coaching myself and I must have kind of, I guess it kind of ingrained in me.

They, um, offered me the job, um, at the time I was about to finish a uni degree. So I was [00:03:00] at that kind of point in my life where I was like, I want to take the next jump. into, you know, a career. It just so happened that that came at the right time, because I was wondering what should I do? I was at that stage of life where I was like, I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to use my degree in something, because I did sport and exercise science, and I was do I carry on?

Do I go for a job? Uh, and this was kind of the perfect opportunity because it was self employed. I could kind of choose my own hours, choose what tracks that I worked at. So, um, I now obviously work with a couple of companies, um, but it’s a very cool job and trying to explain it to someone else is always the hardest bit because when you say I’m a super cool instructor, they’re like, Whoa, what’s that?

Um, I try and say that obviously I’m the person sat next to the person driving, you know, talking through breaking points, when to accelerate, trying to learn, we’re trying to teach them basic kind of track terms like apexes, [00:04:00] um, obviously, when to Put the front one, like I say, when to brake, trying to show them parts of the track, um, where, you know, I would brake And lap by lap trying to push them a little bit more so, you know, they feel comfortable in themselves driving these, you know really fast cars, but also Um, they get the experience of a lifetime like I did when I was sat in the driving seat Um, so I try and give them, you know a good experience Also, like I say, at the end of the day, not many people get those opportunities to drive those really fast cars.

So I really want to, you know, make sure that they have fun and they would come back and do it again. Um, so I was very lucky to get an opportunity, like I say, um, and it was like the perfect time in my life. But that’s how I fell into the supercar stuff and I’ve been doing that for about two years now.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: This is awesome. You know, I worked also as a super car instructor. So we, uh, I was, uh, um, like on my own also. Uh, so we had some [00:05:00] sessions on the racing track with a Porsche Carrera. So I had a really beautiful girl was nine 11 and, uh, been doing, uh, some track days with her. Uh, so. This, uh, this thing is kind of popular, so if people doesn’t know about this, uh, so now they got, uh, some information that, uh, people work in, uh, as you said, uh, to give, uh, good emotions of driving the car and, uh, great experience on the track.

Um, what actually sparked your passion to motorsport? Like, uh, that happened before twenty, uh, one year old, uh, so maybe in childhood?

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, I’ve always, I’ve always been car mad as I call it. Whenever I start talking about cars, I can never really shut up because I’m, I’m always talking about it and the job definitely helps because I can kind of talk about it for as long as I want.

Um, but from when I was young, my parents, um, obviously when I learned to drive, I was very passionate about trying to get on the roads as quick as I could. Just because I’ve always had that [00:06:00] kind of. drive and passion that I want to pass as soon as I can. So when I turned 17, I was like, yep, booking the test, going for that.

And luckily I passed that first time. So I didn’t have to wait too long, but, um, I also set up a car online club. And that was obviously during, mostly during the pandemic when, you know, the world just shut down, I created that so that it. With a friend, um to bring like like minded car people together Because obviously you went through a time in the world where everything just shut down car meets stopped Um, you couldn’t go out and see your friends So I kind of created this online community so that you know people are feeling lonely, but um, they could talk to People maybe with similar cars or the same passion and I found that really brought people closer together.

Um, but yeah, I’ve always been into cars and racing. I’m always watching. I’m always trying to go to local tracks. My local track is Brands Hatch. So [00:07:00] even when I was little, I was like, I want to go to, it doesn’t matter what’s on track. I just wanted to go there, kind of feel that environment. And that’s, I’ve always enjoyed that.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: That’s awesome that you’re living next to the Brands Hatch, uh, absolutely legendary track and, uh, in my opinion, one of the best, uh, which, which we, which we got because of the, this, uh, high and down changes, uh, absolutely incredible on this track. Um, so how’s actually, uh, transition from, like, you, you did a lot of, uh, in real life.

Yeah. And, uh, how did you dive into sim racing?

Sarah Hawkie: Um, probably like everyone else, it’s kind of that, um, when you’re at home, you know, you want to kind of carry on doing what you love, which is driving. And that’s kind of the next best thing, or in my opinion, one of the best things to, you know, when you’re not on track, you’ve got this set up at home that you can practice whenever you want.

Um, that really, that sim racing [00:08:00] passion probably, um, sparked mostly when I was Was in lockdown because I think like everyone else is like, what do I do? Um, and that’s when I really kind of invested a little bit more time into it before that It was kind of just playing with friends Like I said, just playing a few games here and there.

Um, I started on I think gt sport Um, that was kind of my first experience of you know competitiveness racing sim racing Um, I haven’t quite gone up to iRacing yet. I don’t have the whole the setups and stuff But that’s in the future. I’d like to give that a go as well Um, but yeah, i’d say that although lockdown was a very difficult time for the world That’s where I kind of like homed in on sim racing and really wanted to try and give it a go And recently obviously, um I’d say in the last year or so, I set up Nighthawk Racing with a friend to kind of, again, bring, you know, like minded people together in a community where we’re all playing this one game.

We all kind of met through GT7 and GT [00:09:00] Sport, so it just brought us a lot closer as a a friendship group, but also now we’re four seasons in, and um, we’ve, season on season, we’re learning things, we’re changing things, and we’re getting more and more people in, because obviously, GT, when you’re on consoles, it’s kind of that entry level, so it’s a good kind of, place for everyone to kind of begin their journeys as well.

Um, so like I said, that’s where I began my journey with sim racing.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: This is awesome. Yeah, I think that many people started sim racing during pandemic times because just racing tracks didn’t work and many in real life drivers also jump in here and actually So many people discover that, oh, we got some racing, we got like a racing and, you know, some other, uh, simulators as well, like, uh, Gran Turismo.

I think Gran Turismo is really good, uh, entry level for many people because, uh, not everybody got, uh, PCs and they just, uh. You know, can buy a [00:10:00] PlayStation and, uh, play it right from the start, and yeah, that’s a great opportunity, definitely. Um, so how did you start your own, uh, team in, uh, Gran Turismo? How did that happen, and, uh, like, how many people you got right now here?

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, um, like I say, when GT Sport was my kind of first experience of the GT franchise and I was lucky enough to meet really good friends from it. Um, which obviously my co founder, uh, I call him Midnight, but his real name is Luke. Um, but it’s always that thing when you know someone’s online kind of name, you always refer him to as that.

But, um, we just sat down one day and thought, what can we do to kind of help people that we need? We’re in our position, which is like you want to race with friends, but you also want to be competitive You might not want to do kind of the daily races. Um, you want to kind of start, you know Learning with people and then you might venture into a little bit more kind of other leagues or the dailies Like I say, um, and we [00:11:00] sat down we kind of uh planned Our first season.

It was a learning curve season one because obviously we’d never we’ve been in loads of leagues before but we never held one ourselves So it’s kind of what do people expect from us? What do we expect from people? Obviously we learned a lot for during that season one. Um, and Yeah, like I say, the reason we set up was to bring everyone together, um, through people that we’ve met in other leagues.

Um, obviously I did the, in eSports, the, I think the Winter Cup last year, um, where I raced along kind of Sharon, Sophie, Yvonne, and that was a great experience. And it’s, again, you bring people that you know from other leagues and stuff, uh, together, and it’s a learning, uh, kind of, environment for people that might want tips, tricks.

We have training videos. Pedro, one of our training admin, he likes to really kind of film [00:12:00] the videos where he’s training people on certain tracks, showing them where, you know, um, breaking points are, apexes are, where to accelerate. And people really kind of find that helpful when they’re trying to learn a track on the game, because it can be quite a difficult game to try and get used to, if you’re not, you know, used to.

How the gt7 physics work sometimes it can be in your favor or sometimes they’re really tricky. Um, so It’s just about kind of helping people learn, also having fun and a bit of competitive racing at the same time.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Yeah, that’s awesome that you’re doing this, uh, investment from your site to community of Gran Turismo.

Um, I think that’s a good thing about simracing also that when you come in as a newbie here, uh, you got like a bunch of videos on YouTube, you got good, uh, leaks, good, uh Uh, like, uh, teams, uh, which you can join. And, uh, that’s definitely help, uh, sim racing grow at the same time. Um, [00:13:00] so can you tell me what was the biggest challenge, uh, when you started sim racing?

Sarah Hawkie: Um, I’d say for me, it’s the consistency because one lap I’ll be, you know, I’ll feel amazing. I feel like I’ve done a really good lap time and then the next something else will just happen. And I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know where I am on track and I kind of all lose it in that one corner. And for me, I’ve been trying my best to try and, you know, improve that consistency.

And I think it’s the hardest thing because One lap pace, obviously, for qualifying is quite helpful, but when you’re doing a long race, like an hour long, you’ve really got to kind of improve that consistency if you want to fight with the people at the top. And that’s the thing that I think is the most difficult bit for me at the minute, is trying to set that consistent kind of base for me.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Mm hmm. Yeah, consistency is really hard to Uh, to reach, especially when you’re just starting, and, uh, with a [00:14:00] new car, so you need more time to adapt, to also, uh, like, get used to the car, to the track, uh, so fully understand you. Uh, what is your favorite combo in Gran Turismo? Like, what do you like, uh, drive the most here?

Sarah Hawkie: Probably the group 3 cars, um, that’s the one I’ve probably got the most experience in. Um, I’m a little bit biased. I like driving the Porsche because in real life, that’s one of my favorite cars as well. And obviously, I kind of relate that thing back to Brands Hatch and driving real life Porsches. It, I say the games don’t do Brands Hatch justice because I always say to anybody that I meet, Brands hatch is a lot better in real life.

You can, like you said earlier, you feel kind of the undulations when you go down Paddock Hill, and I’d recommend anyone to go to Brands hatch in real life. But, um, yeah, I’d probably say Brands hatch and a Porsche is my all time favorite, um, combo, but Um, I like just learning different tracks. Um, currently in the season that we’re doing now, [00:15:00] I’m driving the BMW M6.

It’s very difficult when you get that rear end facing the wrong way. Sometimes I put a little bit too much acceleration down and temporarily I’m facing sidewards. Um, but yeah, I just kind of like that practicing, you know, with friends, friends trying to help each other improve. And that’s what we’re Nighthawk Racing at the moment.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Do you prefer sprint races or endurance races? Like, uh, did you ever, uh, do any endurance races with your team? Maybe

Sarah Hawkie: I’d say personally, I’m a little bit better at sprint races. Like I said earlier, I can kind of with that one lap pace. I might be able to. You know do a sprint race better than a feature or an endurance race I think the longest i’ve done is a couple of hours um But our feature race is an hour long and even that I find kind of hard doing, you know, multiple laps a consistent Uh lap time but um, i’d like to obviously give endurance racing a little bit [00:16:00] more of a Kind of an effort from my side because I’ve always kind of my experience is more sprint races So i’m i’m able to kind of you know getting it Into it quickly because I know obviously you’ve not got enough time in a sprint race to kind of climb up the grid Um, I just I like that kind of quick fast paced racing where the kind of endurance side Obviously, it’s a lot more concentration It’s a lot more like I said improving that consistency and that’s kind of i’m at that Kind of pivotal point where I’m nearly there, but I’m not quite there when it comes to endurance racing

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: All right.

So, uh, I hope that in the future maybe you’re going to do some endurance races, uh, because they are so exciting Because you’re working with a team and it’s always a pleasure Yeah, especially when you You know, maybe racing with your friends or just racing with faster people because you’re learning a lot from them as well.

Uh, so that’s always a great opportunity. Uh, can you tell me what is your current, uh, setup looks like [00:17:00] for some racing? Like what, what will you use in pedals?

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah. Uh, well, I recently bought a, a play seat evolution one. I was on just an office chair with a kind of a wheel and pedal stand. Uh, but I’ve.

Managed to find a secondhand one that was quite local to me and currently I only have a logitech g29 but i’m i’m trying to save up to like a other fanatech or kind of a One of the new kind of logitech or frost master models, but they’re very expensive and And they have to work a lot of events to be able to afford one of them at the minute

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Yeah, I think so many people started with, uh, like G27, G29.

I personally started with G27, uh, during pandemic, had only a single screen. Uh, so moved to the D recently. Uh, so yeah, everything in the future, don’t worry about equipment. I think you just have to focus on practice and on races, on your driving skills, first of all, and then think about equipment because even some [00:18:00] pro, some racers, uh, they.

Running with G27, G29, so yeah. Um, I think that, uh, Setup overall not really important, like, it’s important, but, uh, More important, your driving skills, definitely. Um, let’s talk about, uh, how do you feel, like, To be female sim racer in the Gran Turismo community, how they treat you, uh, because, uh, Me as a sim racer in the iRacing, I’m feeling quite comfortable and, uh, community on Twitch really welcome to me.

Well, sometimes you meet some toxic people, but they’re just like one, two people and the rest of the community absolutely amazing and, uh, welcome everybody.

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, like yourself, I think kind of on Twitch and kind of when you Especially in eSports, obviously, it kind of empowers women and we all kind of stick together in a way.

Um, I’ve always had a [00:19:00] positive experience on Twitch. Uh, not so much on kind of GT7 when you’re racing, you know, random people in the world. I have had the occasional, you know, What are you doing here? Why are you racing? You know the stereo the stereotypical thing that they want to say to a woman like, you know Go and you know, push a pram or something.

I’ve had that before and that was quite shocking. I was like, okay, um, all right but yeah Kind of a stereotypical kind of comments Uh across on the game when they don’t really know obviously the person behind the steering wheel But i’ve got to say on twitch and uh on social media in general. I’ve had quite a positive I guess relationship with it.

Um, but I’d say on the game itself when you’re not with friends and you’re trying to improve just, you know, by doing kind of those daily races or racing random, that’s when it becomes a little bit, um, I’d say a little bit more kind of, I don’t want to say sexist, but in a way, obviously, sometimes when you’re, [00:20:00] say, the only women, the only woman racing in that lobby, then.

It’s almost you put a little bit of a target because they’re like obviously that’s one thing that they’ve noticed and that’s one thing that they can comment on but most of the time they’re not actually commenting on like how I’ve done in a race or like if I if they if I’ve beaten them and you know they don’t say congratulations or anything like that but um all in all I’ve had I’d say More positive kind of experience negative, but you always unfortunately with anything you get that kind of one person that wants to comment But yeah, I’d say positive and negative Yeah, I I don’t like it when those comments appear I kind of try and shrug it off, but sometimes it will get to me a little bit My friends will know on the twitch side whenever I’ve been Kind of streaming and one of those comments have come up.

I’ve tried to ignore it not going to give it the attention But yeah, I try and shrug it under the carpet because I I don’t [00:21:00] feel like in this day and age Especially they need to comment about that. Uh, it’s more obviously if they said I was a really bad driver then I’d I’d be like, okay, uh, i’ll try better but when they kind of bring, you know that you’re a woman Uh in this I don’t think it’s really deserved in that respect

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Yeah, you know, some people just, uh, don’t change, so, uh, you just, uh, you know, like, uh, have to accept, like, uh, they exist here, and, uh, sometimes they are part of the communities, like in shooters and gaming and sim racing as well, um, the funnest thing which happened with me in iRacing, uh, I was driving ovals, and, uh, ovals, uh, a little bit more, uh, You know, like, who’s powerful man and all this stuff.

Uh, so not a lot of girls driving here, uh, compared to road races. And, uh, they just, uh, started to laugh that, uh, I’m a 12 years old, uh, uh, kid, a boy. [00:22:00] And I, I said to, to them, like, I’m a girl and they like, Oh, I’m sorry. And you know, just. It was really funny. Uh, so yeah, you know, most of the time, uh, community really friendly and, uh, people supporting you, people, uh, so happy for you, uh, for wins and, uh, for good races and trying to support you when you got, uh, like some crashes and bad racing.

Um, do you see that, uh, actually some racing community changed for the years, like you started during pandemic and, uh, how do you see a community right now? So maybe they have. Like more friendly to girls, uh, also for this times.

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, I think that’s a good question. I think when I started, it was kind of that initial, like.

It was probably more apparent back then, uh, the comments of, like, being a woman and racing and, like, what are you doing? But through the years, I think it’s got, it’s got better. There’s less comments and less comments. It’s kind of like you say, more about kind of empowering, you know, women, uh, sim [00:23:00] racing in motorsport.

Especially, obviously, these days, you’ve got kind of more, kind of, uh, I’ll call them influencers, but role models in motorsport and sim racing that you can look up to that are women. Um, obviously. I’d say kind of more than a few years ago There wasn’t those role models that people could kind of look up to but i’d say now There’s definitely a lot more kind of female role models in the you know, the sim racing and motorsport World and that’s why I think obviously more there’s less and less comments and kind of more like I say people supporting each other um, I did have a Going into real life.

I did have a funny experience that I just remembered when I was supercar instructing Where I was um Instructing this man. He was, I think, he was a little bit older. I’d say probably 60 to 70 age range and we were behind another car. And normally at that point otherwise I’d kind of review how, you know, fast [00:24:00] they’re going.

If we got enough room to overtake because on some of the tracks they put kind of man made chicanes where you’ve got to try and, you know. Get the customers through safely. It tests their driving skills a little bit when you’ve got kind of more the I’d say an easier track Um, but we were around Lydden Hill, which is kind of like a rallying track here, uh in the UK Um, we’re behind another car.

We’re following it for about a lap Because they weren’t giving us enough space to overtake. So I was just saying, you know, off a little bit off the accelerator, we’ll keep behind them and then we’ll overtake on the next straight. And I think he completely forgot in his head, but he said, Oh, women drivers.

And I just looked at him. It was like, okay, he looked at me. And I think he realized he was like, Oh, I’m really sorry. That wasn’t meant to you. I was like, okay, that better not have been because he was going quite fast at that point. I didn’t need to really give him any kind of tuition, a little bit.

Because obviously people that age, they think [00:25:00] they can drive amazingly when most of the time they’ve picked up bad habits. So I was trying to kind of comment on those bad habits. But yeah, I found that funny because it was that kind of moment of realisation when he looked at me and he was like I’m really sorry that I said that.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Well, that’s the best moment which could happen, actually.

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, I laugh about it to this day, because I don’t think he meant it, but obviously he had that initial thought, and I was like, oh, okay.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Yeah, that’s a really funny moment which you had. Also, how do you compare the sim racing to real life? Uh, as you drove cars in real life and in Gran Turismo.

So, uh, what do you think, uh, how close in racing to real life, uh, racing experience?

Sarah Hawkie: Um, I’d probably say a little bit if I was on more kind of ACC or I racing a little bit more than the. It’s more kind of realistic, I think, those games in [00:26:00] general. I think, obviously, GT7 kind of borders that sim racing slash arcade game.

Because, obviously, it’s not, probably, it’s not one of the most realistic ones out there. But, especially, you know, for tracks that I’ve never been to before, if they’re on the game, then I will give it, you know, more attention. I will go for a few laps, kind of, or watch, like, say, some YouTube videos of other people driving around that track in a game to kind of gauge.

where people break or where people kind of find that speed. Um, I think it helps in that respect when, like I say, when I’ve not been to a track or driven it myself, I will give it kind of a five, ten minutes trying to, trying to learn it. Um, but I’d probably say for me, I think ACC and iRacing are kind of the games on the market or the sim racing games on the market that really have that kind of more realistic feel and probably, uh, would kind of translate to More speed in real life.

Obviously you’ve got the max staffs, the landowner, Norris. Mm-hmm . You know, um, [00:27:00] driving on I racing when they’re not, you know, traveling around the world with F1. And obviously I think they find it helpful to kind of keep that competitive edge when they’re not racing. Mm-hmm .

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Yeah, and I absolutely agree with you.

So, I mean, racing and I race, uh, some open wheelers, uh, before, uh, definitely can tell that, uh, form four is really close to what, uh. You feel in real life, uh, in terms like force feedback and how a car also feels on track. I can’t tell about the other cars because I didn’t drive them in real life, but I really like Porsche Cup in iRacing.

It’s so cool to drive. Um, so yeah, I hope you’re going to get the opportunity in the future to jump into iRacing, jump maybe into ACC and AC Evo. Kind of interesting as well in terms of, uh, how car feels on a track and, uh, feedback as well. So I really like it, uh, personally. Um, don’t know if you tried it, [00:28:00] uh, but it looks, uh, really promising right now, even on, uh, started.

the start of the early access.

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, I’ve not tried the Evo. I’ve tried ACC before. Um, but like, yeah, I’ve kind of been interested in watching, you know, other people play Evo and kind of, it looks pretty interesting, like you say, and hopefully I get the chance to have a, an experience on it soon. I think, obviously, I’ve got a lot of wish lists.

You know items on my wishlist like a pc kind of a more built up rig Um, that’s kind of my goals i’m trying to work towards because I do want to make that kind of transition from you know console gaming to you know Proper sim racing and kind of more, I’d say more time that I could set aside to practice and kind of, um, try and expand my, my skills on that a little bit more.

Um, as well, obviously real life, I want to try and go for my race license, hopefully this year. Um, if not next year, cause I want to [00:29:00] make that jump from kind of supercar instructing to then instructing kind of inspiring or trying to inspire, um, you know, the next generation of racing drivers. Yeah. Um, and that’s what I try, I’m trying to make my job into.

It’s very hard trying to make that transition from kind of a self employed supercar driving instructor to then, you know, trying to teach racing drivers, um, you know, in, in different cars. That’s, that’s where I want to be, but that’s quite far away from me at the minute.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: So I understand you want to be also like racing drivers instructor, yes, or do you want to maybe race in real life some series like in I think in UK you got a lot of racing series which are absolutely great and competitive as well

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, I would, I would never say no to having an opportunity to race.

I think I want to make that transition, um, [00:30:00] at some point, give racing a go and kind of support like the instructing and instructing race drivers. on the side. Um, but it’s just, um, budgeting and sponsorships at the minute. I’m not, I need to learn a little bit more about that and kind of like how to approach, uh, sponsorships, um, if I want to kind of make a real go for it.

Um, that’s the bit that at the moment I’m kind of finding the hardest is obviously driving. If you’ve got a lot of driving skills, that’s one thing, but obviously you’ve got then think of it as kind of more of a business opportunity. For yourself and the companies that you’re trying to approach and I’m trying to make you know Trying to learn that a bit at the minute But I like I say I would never say no to to racing in real life and at some point Hopefully, um, i’d like to lose a little bit of weight before that as well because obviously I want to put myself in kind of the best position possible Uh, while I have the opportunity.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Yeah, that’s awesome that I got, uh, these dreams and, [00:31:00] uh, actually got a good plan, uh, to reach all this. Uh, hopefully you’ll get racing, uh, license in the future. Yeah. Um, what do you think? How, uh, can we encourage, uh, more girls, uh, to To jump into some racing and, uh, racing as well, um, like, you know, we all trying definitely like I’m doing streaming and, uh, just people coming and they’re like, oh, like girls racing.

Yeah. Uh, so what’s, uh, can be done in your opinion?

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, I agree with you kind of being a On online platforms, especially these days, obviously everyone’s kind of got a mobile phone or a laptop or a tablet if they’re seeing, you know females in this industry And you know, they’re sitting behind the screens thinking well, I might want to do that myself obviously kind of people like, you know ourselves in e sports, obviously They can contact them if they’re at that point where they’re not quite sure which route to go down What they don’t know what to you know, sim [00:32:00] racing equipment to buy or something like that Or if they, they really want to give it a go, they’ve got people like ourselves that they can just have a, you know, a chill chat with and say, um, I want to maybe give this a go.

What should I do? What do you recommend? Because obviously we’ve all kind of got our, our things, our mistakes that maybe when we started out, we would do differently. And obviously saying that to someone, you could say, I did it this way. But on the road I found I had, you know, a couple of mistakes. I would recommend maybe going for this first um, because I know myself obviously like um, Like I said earlier, obviously i’m quite I say entry level sim racing at the minute But i’d say, you know, it’s a great place to start You’ll build a lot of friendships um, and you’ll kind of get that community feel and then when you’re ready to make that jump and you feel like You want to make that jump into kind of more professional sim racing like iRacing ACC, um, obviously the different kind of championships, like I know Porsche, [00:33:00] they have a big, uh, iRacing, uh, Porsche Cup, obviously, um, where you can actually win, you know, real money out of it as well.

Um, and obviously that’s kind of, to someone that’s behind a screen and they’re not kind of sure which way to go down, that might be something that they want to try in the future. Um, I’d say doing a lot of research I think has helped as well, because, like I say, when I first started out. I think it was that point where a lot of other girls were trying to get into it as well.

Um, and I think Innit Esports you know, um, valuable place. They’re empowering women and to see that, obviously, from where I started, like I said earlier, where a few comments were said here and there, where Innit Esports, you know, really kind of empower women. You know, we’re talking about issues. We’re talking about You know recommendations and stuff like that for people that want to get into those kind of, you know Real life racing or sim racing.

So I think we’re on the right [00:34:00] step. Um And, like I say, I’d hope with some of the things, some of the experiences I had, I could help someone else. Because, you don’t kind of see a lot of women making that jump, um, to sim racing from, from sim racing to, like, In real life racing. I’ve seen a lot more recently make kind of that big jump Um, but it’s just the kind of the sponsorships the money aspect I always thought that you know, maybe it’s a silly part of my brain where I thought oh, you know sim racing is Not cheap, but it’s like, it’s kind of easy to access.

And whenever I tripped at the first hurdle, shall we say, I was like, Oh, you know, I’ll get my race license. I’m gonna go and try and compete in something. Then it was like, Oh, my race license is this much. You know, the track experience is this much. And you’ve got to kind of add all of them up. And it is a very expensive kind of, um, career to go down.

[00:35:00] And obviously the first couple of years when you’re trying out, there will be kind of a lot of expenses, a lot of learning, um, Yeah, I’d say just help someone else. It would just be kind of being online, being honest about it as well, um, and giving recommendations where possible. And just being there, you know, if they’ve got any struggles or any questions that they want to ask, being kind of that person that they can ask and you can give that honest feedback to them.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Yeah, as you said, uh, Enita sports, uh, doing real good stuff for women, uh, in sim racing and, uh, in, in racing as well. Uh, so we got, uh, good, uh, championships and, uh, on different platforms. And, uh, here’s a good community with, uh, with girls and, uh, good people overall. And I think that sim racing is a good base, uh, to start with.

Uh, as you said, it’s, uh, like more open. It’s, uh, in my opinion, more. Uh, compared to real life racing for sure, because [00:36:00] real life racing, uh, so expensive to get in and, uh, you definitely need a big budget on the start just to spend on practice sessions and to get into consistent lap times and, uh, do all this stuff.

And I’m pretty sure that social media can help, uh, because when I did, uh, formulas I had on the Instagram and I. Had no clue about streaming and all this stuff. Um, and right now I see that, uh, streaming gave me a lot of, um, good contacts and, uh, good people, uh, supporting me, uh, free my way in simracing content creation, and that’s a good thing.

So on like on Twitch, on YouTube, you can find a good community and, uh, audience and as well, uh, people who can be interested. in you and probably push you from sim racing to real life racing in the future. So yeah, and speaking about streaming and [00:37:00] especially podcasting, we got podcasts here. How did you start this?

And can you tell me more about your podcast first? What is it about?

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, of course. Um, I was gonna go back to the lockdown again. That’s when I really kind of Explored a little bit more about it on Twitch because obviously we had a lot of time to kind of sit around and play games or, you know, sim racing and I thought Oh, what’s Twitch?

What is it all about? Uh, I’ve kind of heard people talking about it. I’ve never really, I never really went on it or watched much of it. But when I did, I was kind of, it opened up a whole nother kind of world of social media where, you know, you’re, you’re live streaming, you’re having people talk to you, and at the same time, you know, you’re not talking to them face to face, but you feel like you’re talking to them face to face on a stream.

Because uh, you’ve got kind of those supportive people that are watching you, you know They’re asking you questions. They’re kind of rooting for you when you’re racing or you’re [00:38:00] playing a game So through streaming i’ve made quite a lot of friendships I’d say quite a lot of my best friends are people that i’ve met through twitch, which obviously i’m very grateful for for that Um, but I I think I started off actually Not playing a racing game just playing some random kind of Um, kind of Call of Duty, stuff like that, and then I found GT Sport, um, and then I went on to GT7, and that’s when, at the time, I explored a little bit more, kind of, sim racing games, or kind of, arcade y games, um, and Yeah, I then found out there’s a kind of a really big community when it comes to, you know, uh, GT Sport and GT7 in particular.

And, um, again, when I started doing that, um, I got obviously, like I said earlier, a few people were just like, you know, not much to do about it. But when I found that kind of supportive base and my supportive friends. I really tried to give streaming [00:39:00] a lot more attention and Um, I started a kind of a podcast with my friend Who’s also the friend that I set up nighthawk racing with where we just simply watch the formula one talk about it a little bit Um, as we’re watching it and kind of give our, you know, thoughts and feelings, our opinions and obviously at the same time, we’d have people talking to us about, you know, their favorite drivers, their favorite circuits, and we noticed that people kind of like that interaction when they’re watching, you know, their favorite sport, we’re watching our favorite sport.

You get kind of a passionate people kind of speaking about their favorite subjects. You can sometimes obviously you can ignite a little bit of debate when it comes to when you say something about a driver and they might not agree or they might agree with you but give a slightly different opinion.

Obviously there’s a lot of debate that goes back and forwards. Um, We haven’t done that last year because of the supercar stuff. It’s very based on like a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, [00:40:00] so unfortunately last year we couldn’t do as much. Um, but nowadays we’re kind of, we’re always talking about, you know, motorsport in general and, um, we kind of transitioned from The podcast into more of the championship stuff, but I’d like to kind of give it a go at some point and I haven’t streamed for about, I’d say two to three months now.

I had a little bit of kind of a health scare, but last year I, um, got anemic and I didn’t feel very well and kind of, I lost that confidence. I’d like to kind of build it up again, uh, as I’m feeling a little bit better now, but, um, yeah, I miss streaming. I will get back to it at some point, like I say, um, But I found out that actually playing alongside my mum We play gt, uh gta, which is obviously gta is kind of like a A character that goes around you can do different missions and stuff like that And because obviously she gamed on [00:41:00] previous kind of playstations bringing her back to the Like the ps5 showing her the controls people find that quite funny because obviously you’re watching my mom try and explore a game She might not know the controls.

So i’m sat next to her going do this. The person’s right in front of you quick, you know um, and sometimes it’s quite funny when you you know, she accidentally, you know gets the wrong person or Um something like that. I found that quite funny But like I say I haven’t streamed for quite a few months, but I will go back to it

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Yeah, that would be awesome to see you back online, definitely.

Uh, yeah, streaming can be hard, so you need that confidence, and sometimes you can be a little bit shy. So when I started streaming, I was, like, a little bit shy, close. Uh, but right now I’m feeling, like, comfortable and confident. But every time, you know, when you’re starting the first stream after a little break, like, you had two, three days off, you’re, like, streaming, uh, starting from the scratch, like, you’re getting nervous a little bit.

So yeah, that definitely can be a thing. [00:42:00] And, uh, that’s cool that your mom actually sharing your passion to some racing and also, uh, trying it together with you. That’s awesome.

Sarah Hawkie: I say try, she’s, she’s not, sometimes when I say break, break, break, she’ll press the wrong, the wrong pedal and she’ll end up flying into a bar or something, but it’s quite funny watching her do it.

But, um, yeah, I think like you, I was quite shy when I started and once I kind of found that confidence and the people that were supporting me on the other end of the screen, that’s when I’ve kind of, I kind of delved a little bit more into streaming and I got a little bit more confidence. Um, but like you say, when you take a quite a big break that I have, trying to build up that confidence again when you’ve not done it for quite a while.

Kind of like driving or, you know, motorsport in general, when you’ve not done it for a while and you jump back into it, it’s always that nerve wracking. Am I as good as what I used to be? You know, have I not practiced? Um, so yeah, um, I was a little bit nervous before today, but I kind of just remembered, you know, just calm down, you know.[00:43:00]

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: It’s okay. You know, we all get nervous when we get in online or with the stream with all this stuff and we’re like recording the videos and doing such a stuff. So it’s absolutely fine. Like that’s a part of this. It’s okay. Can you tell me about your Insta community? And also, I know that you’re part of, uh, Ravencom’s team.

Uh, what are you doing in this team? Like, are you a driver? And, uh, actually let’s talk about your plans for this year in Simracing and in content creation as well.

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, so, uh, Razor and Comms, it’s, John’s the guy behind it, um, he kind of more focuses on providing commentary for racing, um, he usually does, I think, ACC, so that was kind of my first delve into ACC a little bit more when he offered me, uh, kind of a job.

a role alongside him as kind of a co commentator on these races, um, he really taught me a lot about kind of, you know, [00:44:00] talking about people that are racing, what cars they’re driving, you know, talking a little bit more about the things that people don’t realize, trying to convey to people, you know, they may be driving, what, how are they driving, what are they driving like if you see when it’s wet conditions, you see people drive obviously a little bit slower because they’re trying to be a little bit more careful, but.

Trying to be, you know, as fast as they can, trying to, you know, talk to people about different techniques and providing that kind of commentary, but also a driver’s perspective at the same time. Um, and like I say, he, he was very valuable in the kind of teaching me that commentary side, and that’s what I kind of use, uh, for the Nighthawk race, and when we do the commentary for those races, I kind of use a bit of tips and tricks that he taught me.

I haven’t been able to do any commentary with Raven for quite a while, but I recommend anyone. watching Raven. He’s, uh, very passionate about commentary, kind of like, uh, you know, the Moray Walkers and stuff like that. He’s very, very passionate about it. [00:45:00] Um, and intercommunity, um, that’s a slightly different, I said that, well, my friend set it up, uh, during lockdown and then decided to give it to me, and obviously then I took over, but the aim of it, is to what was to and still is to bring kind of people together on Instagram, um, normally about kind of talking about car stuff.

So some people in the car community, especially in the UK, they like to kind of modify the cars a little bit. So you may have someone, you know, with their first car that wants to maybe change the wheels, paint the wheels a different color, put some body kits on it. And obviously. They can ask someone in the community, have you done this?

Did you find, you know, using a certain product better than another one? So it provides that kind of back to back conversation between people. And especially in lockdown, I noticed that it really brought people closer together, because like I said earlier, The world just kind of shut down. [00:46:00] It was a tough time for literally everybody in the world.

We didn’t know kind of what to do. So the the next best thing was to talk online, you know, Skype, FaceTime, trying to see your friends through a screen. Uh, so that’s kind of the What I kind of thought with that is that the car community doesn’t have to die because obviously no one’s Going out with their cars to to meet and talk in person.

We can still do it, but just online Um, so the page kind of started off as people getting to know people showing people Other people their cars, you know giving a personal fact about them Some people don’t always like to give kind of you know a fact about themselves. That’s not car related um, but we try and kind of Show people’s cars and the person behind the driving wheel as I say to get to know both people So we like to kind of do profiles on them.

So you may have I don’t know Someone with a Ford Fiesta you learn a little bit about them because they say oh they do tap dancing [00:47:00] so you can kind of Tapping a little bit more to that non cath fact, get to know the person a little bit more and then that’s obviously when People start to open up a little bit because they feel a little bit more comfortable They’re given, you know a fact about themselves that they don’t normally or wouldn’t normally in a conversation So it again it opens up conversations between people which is often the hardest bit kind of trying to start that conversation.

Sometimes, you know, you might get a frosty reception, but sometimes they kind of warm up to you a little bit, and then they start talking to you about other things, you know, projects with the cars, projects for their, you know, their ongoing. kind of projects that they’ve got going on and yeah, I’ve got some, I’ve got some plans for that.

Um, especially car shows in the UK, kind of car meets has got, I’d say a little bit, I don’t know the right word to say it, but the, it’s not very welcomed as such. Cause obviously you think six people meeting in a car, [00:48:00] an old lady might come by and say that’s antisocial behavior because you know, people are sitting in their cars and they’re all in a group and.

That old lady might think it’s quite, you know, threatening. There are people in their nice cars just sitting together. So it’s kind of, like I said earlier, frosty reception when it comes to cars, especially with older generations. But organized car shows, when you go into like Brands Hatch, it’s a good place.

They always try and Put on car shows for us, you know car enthusiasts Um, and we take our cars to those shows show off our our babies as I call them Because obviously we put a lot of time effort money into kind of cleaning and making our cars look You know the best that they can so other people, you know Take pictures and kind of again start the conversation of I like your car and then you can say I like your car, too Uh, and again, it’s just about building kind of Friends in that community because it can be quite hard, but it can be quite also an isolating world when you’re not sure [00:49:00] where to go Um, so that’s why I try and provide kind of communities in like sim racing or the car world that people if they’re feeling a little bit lonely or they feel like they need kind of a place to meet friends meet people then I try and provide that kind of Place for someone to go to.

About myself, I, I’m at that stage where I’m not quite sure what steps to take next. I’ve got a lot of kind of plans running around in my head and um, you know, stuff written down. But I’d say, at some point I’d, I’d like to go and get that race licence because it opens kind of the key. To the rest of the plans I want to do, but it’s just about kind of learning a bit more about motorsport in general, kind of budgeting, uh, sponsorships, what kind of the first road to go down because.

When you get your race license, obviously, then you’ve, it opens up a whole world of like, what category do you want to race? You know, what’s your [00:50:00] budget? How much sponsorship do you need? Um, then when you want to go for your Arts Instructors course, you have to have completed a certain amount of racing to then go for that course.

At that point, it’s again another outlay of money where you have to go and Kind of find a racing school which can provide that course of becoming an ARDS instructor and then at that point is when you can kind of teach racing drivers or kind of experienced day people the track and obviously you’ve got a qualification behind you that you can say, you know, you know how to race cars, you know how to drive cars, you know how to show people around this, uh, this track, but it’s quite a big jump.

And like I say, um, I think obviously That’s a long way off for me at the moment, but hopefully not too far off, maybe by the end of the year, hopefully.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: All right, uh, so wish you good luck in your future plans, uh, hopefully. Once again, I’m going to tell this, uh, that you’re going to get your racing license and, uh, we’ll, [00:51:00] um, go to one step forward, uh, within racing.

Um, we’d like to know about, uh, car community in, uh, in UK actually, uh, because we’ve been talking about with, uh, other guests. Uh, let it be about, uh, car culture in, uh, Thailand because she visited, uh, Van Gogh recently and, uh, been talking about also car community here in Kazakhstan. So here are people, uh, really, uh, crazy about BMWs and I think JDM culture is really popular as well.

Uh, so what is the most popular, uh, in, in UK for you? Like maybe JDM or BMWs, maybe something else.

Sarah Hawkie: I’d say it’s very similar. Um, the BMWs have got a lot of following over here, kind of that German cars as well, like Volkswagen and, uh, kind of Porsche and those sort of cars. It’s got a big kind of following in the UK.

I’d say also the JDM, you kind of got your different kind of sub [00:52:00] groups of the, the car culture, but it all kind of brings you together. Um, so the, yeah, the JDM culture is quite big here as well. uh, BMWs. I’d say, I hear you’ve kind of got your, kind of, I don’t know what the right group would be cool to call them, but I call them boy racers.

They kind of buy, you know, the um, you know, older cars, kind of mod them up, and you’re hearing from about a mile away because the exhaust is so loud, but um, They kind of buy, kind of, cheaper cars to, to then mod up, um, and that’s why I call them the, the boy racers because they’re always kind of in car parks revving their cars up, um, but yeah, I’d say BMW and JDM, but, um, I’d say it’s usually German versus Jap here, uh, in terms of kind of cars, I’d say they’re equally as big.

Um, but yeah, I, I’m more kind of the German cars myself. I own a Volkswagen, uh, Sirocco R. [00:53:00] So I’m kind of more on the German side, but also I’ve got a lot of friends that, you know, like the the Japanese cars, kind of, um, you know, modding them up. Um, yeah, I’m trying to think of any other cars that are popular here.

I’d say it’s, I’d say it’s similar to kind of, like you said. BMWs and JDMs. They kind of rule the car culture.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Yeah, it seems like it’s, uh, like the same trend on all planets. Yeah, kind of like, it’s really funny because, you know, GDM is so crazy. We actually, uh, get a lot of Uh, cars here in Kazakhstan from Japan in like two thousands.

And, uh, here are so many cool projects, uh, which people running like so many Subarus, so many Mark two Toyota’s and, uh, yeah, and BMW, one of the biggest, uh, community we got here. So the gods, you know, really old BMW is modern BMWs and, uh, yeah, that’s really cool. Uh, so what [00:54:00] about, uh, Cars, uh, like Lotus or something else because, uh, you know, when I worked as a, um, racing instructor, uh, we had, uh, good community with, uh, some esprits, uh, they had some elite Lotus Elise and, uh, I think TTSR or something like this.

So they’ve been really crazy about all this, uh, British cars. And I still remember this beautiful Lotus esprit and, uh, you know, Emerald green color. It was really cool.

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, I’ve got to say they’re pretty cool. You don’t actually see that many kind of lotuses on the roads in the UK anymore. Uh, you see a few and obviously then you really appreciate how, kind of, when you see one.

Because like I said, there’s not many on the roads at the minute. Um, I know, obviously, kind of, Jaguar recently in the the news, especially they kind of went through that Controversy with their new logo, you know, some people really liked it. Some people really hated it um, [00:55:00] obviously they’re kind of waiting for that new car reveal to see if they kind of really love it, but the Kind of the old jags, especially they’re very kind of popular with uh I’d say probably the older generations, because obviously they’re a bit more kind of popular, um, back especially when like my mum and dad, um, grew up.

I think also at the time, um, kind of, I’d say, I’m trying to think of more British brands that, I’d say they’re not as popular over here as what they used to be. But you still kind of appreciate them when you see them, uh, especially kind of like they say the, the TVRs and the Lotuses. I don’t know if it might be just a Britain thing, but I don’t think we appreciate them as much as we probably should.

Uh, we kind of more appreciate, like I said, the BMWs and the JDMs. Um, so yeah, I mean, I, I like the, you know, the old Jags and stuff. Um, but yeah. [00:56:00] We should probably like our own cars a little bit more, but we don’t really, we just kind of, like you say, choose to kind of import cars in or kind of go for different cars.

I don’t know if it’s obviously because our government don’t give them enough funding anymore. Um, especially obviously, I think our government at the moment are trying to bring in more kind of electric cars. So you’ve got different kind of. Car brands trying to start up but they don’t quite get the the funding kind of the support from from our government to really You know make a big dent in the car market.

Mm

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: hmm I understand this. Uh, thanks for correcting me with, uh, TVR. Uh, it’s, uh, you know, it’s really a small manufacturer, actually. And, uh, I saw one car. It was, uh, like, in beautiful purple color. It was really beautiful inside with, uh, aluminum, uh, desk and all this stuff. It was really cool to see. Yeah.

They’re so beautiful. Um, do you have any plans for [00:57:00] your Volkswagen, uh, Scirocco? Like maybe you would like to take a part in some car shows or something like this

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, I would I would love to definitely take it to some more car shows this year Unfortunately last year with work and stuff whenever they were on a weekend.

I’d always be working and below I can’t go to the the car shows that I love. Um I’m trying to really this year kind of go back into more going to car shows maybe going to some Some race meetings with it. Um I’d like to probably When a few friends want to go but kind of take it over to the Nuremberg ring, kind of go on a really kind of big road trip.

I’ve never been to Wales or Scotland but I’d love to do the, you know, those very kind of beautiful road trips where you step off on the way, get some pictures. Um, I’d say the car itself, I kind of bought it already. Kind of modded to to my taste so it has kind of bigger breaks on it um some body kits bits Probably [00:58:00] more delve into more of the power side eventually, but i’m kind of happy how it is at the minute Um, i’ve probably got a few plans of kind of Trying to mod or trying to change up a little bit of how it looks but um, yeah, I kind of I had a another Volkswagen beforehand a little polo that I bought, you know with nothing on I started from scratch on that one and kind of Modified it.

Um as I went and I really kind of enjoyed that process of you know, putting a splitter on a side skirt, you know a diffuser exhaust and kind of really teaches you how you know, these brands make their cars and how they can Especially, you know, it’s open to adaptation when you buy a car you want to make it to your liking And I really enjoy that kind of process of making it my own Um, i’d say i’m not quite there.

It was just for okay Like I said, I bought it with kind of someone else doing it up and i’m still in that process of making it my own But um, yeah, I love I love [00:59:00] my uh my little wall. Um, I shouldn’t, I probably should drive it a little bit more than I should, but I’ve kind of like, I’ve got to that stage where I just love it so much.

I’m just like, I don’t want to hurt you. Like, I told you to stay there, look pretty.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Yeah, you know, it truly is one of my favorite Volkswagen’s ever. And it’s so beautiful, actually really sad that they stopped to Make them, uh, so we don’t have any new models of, uh, Sirocco. It’s really, really sad, uh, but this, uh, like second generation, it looks really beautiful.

I love it personally. So yeah, wish you good luck with your, uh, Volkswagen. So probably we’re going to see you in some car shows as well. Um, So the last one will be what is your advice to girls and to women who would like to dive into some racing and to racing and maybe be a part of the some car shows?

Sarah Hawkie: Yeah, obviously, I’d say that there is [01:00:00] platforms out there that you can kind of reach out and discuss, you know, potential ideas, kind of what you You think you want to get into and like I said earlier some people may give you recommendations as to start with this work up to this Um, and along the way maybe learn about kind of different processes that go on behind the scene um, I definitely I would tell people as well just to to give it a go the I think the worst thing is kind of thinking about it and I know from myself I tend to overthink about things and when I get around to actually doing it It’s not as bad as what I initially thought so i’d always try and recommend someone to just you know just give it a go if it’s not just just dipping your toes in you know a little tester that’s better than not doing it and then at that time you you know if you like or if you don’t um so i’d always say if you want to give something a go just do it um you might be really scared but once you’ve done it it’s not as scary as you think um and that’s what my kind of parents have always taught [01:01:00] me that at least give it a go once you know try your best if you don’t like it after you’ve done it Then you don’t have to do it again.

But if you love it, then you’ll see you then kind of go back to the planning board. You think, all right, how can I do more of this? What do I need to buy? What do I need to learn? So yeah, I’d, I’d say try and find a kind of a community or, you know, some friendships as well that like similar things. So you can always kind of support each other going through that process.

And yeah, just, just give it a go once. And there’s loads of, you know, women out there that want to support each other, want to support, you know, new people coming in, trying to, you know, uplift them, and show you that it’s not as a bad place as what you might have thought of. And like I said earlier, there’s people, especially on the other side of the screen, that hopefully can either be role models or inspire someone to do it.

Uh, and like I said, I think it’s good that there’s a lot [01:02:00] more kind of women, especially in real motorsport, like kind of the F1 Academy, um, the Iron Dames especially, they’re kind of ones that I think, well, if they can do it, well, other people can do it, like myself, um, It’s just obviously that jump and sometimes you just have to make that jump to realize that it’s something you really love doing and that you wanna continue doing.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: Yeah, that’s, uh, great advice from your side. Like, just give it a go. And if you don’t like it, you can stop, uh, like some racing or uh, racing and, uh, maybe if you like it, you can continue and you always, uh, can find people who’s going to support you. We’ve got a bunch of communities, uh, a lot of different like social medias.

And, um, also I think people can follow Ineedisports and, uh, jump into some screen to speed races, uh, on different platforms as well. So, yeah. And, uh, Sarah, thank you so much for talking with me. It was a [01:03:00] pleasure. Uh, you’re amazing. We wish you good luck to your future with some racing and racing. Uh, and, uh, thank you so much guys for watching.

Sarah Hawkie: Thank you so much for having me and uh, yeah, you’re amazing too. Thank you. Bye bye guys.

Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya: See you.

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