This Mental Health Awareness Week is a great opportunity to showcase the motorsport community. Our sport is not just powered by motors but by its people through a shared passion and enthusiasm.
Charlie Martin recently spoke about her mental health via a social media post. It’s a subject she has always been aware of and recalls switching from hill climb competition in 2018, when setting high ambitions to become the first transgender driver to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. “I’ve always had to find my own sponsorship and partnerships and the level of pressure that can put you under can be challenging,” she says.
“Every driver has ambitions about what they would love to achieve, and where they want to race in their career. You’re trying to marry those things up with what feels attainable,” adds Charlie, who pushed herself hard to ascend the ranks with a move to the Le Mans Cup feeder series the following season. Despite a good start, racing in a higher-profile international series on a small budget meant “the pressure of trying to drive competitively sucked all the fun out.”
Having since rediscovered her love of racing in a variety of professional-level sportscar series including Britcar, VLN and Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Charlie is currently looking for her next drive and missing the support of the paddock community. “As much as I love driving and the adrenaline, it’s also about the people that you share those experiences with,” she says.
Charlie has always been honest and open about her identity but recent cultural discussions have compounded her feelings of isolation as she explains: “I’ve always tried to win people over by being positive, how much better my life is now I’m able to live it as me [but] I don’t really feel confident being the person that I perhaps used to be online. I consider myself to be quite a mentally strong and resilient person, but I think that sometimes you’re not aware of how these things have a cumulative effect on you.”
Having seen others talk about mental health on social media inspired a different direction for her own social posts and Charlie has been heartened by the support received. “Making yourself a bit vulnerable and sharing can be very cathartic,” she says, making “quite a lot of people either comment or message. Reminding yourself that support network is out there is really vital, because it’s so easy to just bottle it up and think you can handle this.”
Having that online support is important, but Charlie also advises that “there’s nothing like sitting down with a good friend, just to focus on the here-and-now things in our lives that we’re all working on. One of the toughest things with mental health is that we can end up in a situation where we can spend so much time on our own. The best thing we can do is to be with people and to open up. Whenever we see people sharing their own vulnerabilities, it makes everything feel a lot easier.”
Mental health is all too often left undiscussed because we all feel that we should be in control of our lives. But there are times when we all struggle to stay on track – and this is where the power of the motorsport community can bring everyone together. Next time you are at an event or club meeting, take time to check in with your competitors or colleagues as just the opportunity to chat can make all the difference.
The next edition of Revolution magazine will include a feature on how our community can provide a positive influence on mental health. Find your community using our Club Finder tool here and click here for a list of organisations that can assist with mental health