So, hello, for those who don’t know me (which is probably most of you) my name is Scarlet Hallett. I’m currently 16 years old and have been karting now for just over a year. Two days ago, I was inspired by an old friend, who told me that I should write about my experiences in the sport so far. Of course, I told my friend they were crazy but here I am now. Me writing a blog, who would have thought?
My journey into the world of motorsport was a very strange one. I didn’t grow up in this world and honestly if you had asked me this time last year what a differential in a car was or who drives for Maclaren in F1, I would have told you to ask someone else. I wouldn’t have had a clue. So how did I first get in a kart? Two words: gravity karts. I was on holiday in wales when I saw a leaflet with Zip World being advertised on it; before I knew it my dad and I were booked on, suited up, and ready to start the course.
Now you’re probably expecting me to say it was absolutely life changing, flying down the track. If so, I’m sorry, that didn’t happen. I was undoubtedly slow and the majority of my time was spent pushing the kart; but those moments where I was moving (at the time I didn’t know why), it had me hooked. Later that day I said to my parents that I would love to give actual karting a try. They agreed but well…
6 months later…
Yep, you read that correctly. Finally, 6 months later in September 2022 before year 11 started (last year of Senior School/GCSE year). I went karting at Teamsports in Bristol. The race consisted of my dad, me and about 10 other blokes. Trust me when I say that being scared was not an overstatement but something stuck with me. I just wanted to go again.
4 months later…
Now it’s December and off we went, once more. I was still slow but my general confidence was better, probably as I knew what to expect. Over the Christmas holiday we went a couple more times as a present for doing well in my GCSE mocks. Going more allowed me to better my times (which was currently 59 seconds at Bristol) and to get to know some of the staff, who later convinced me to join the Teamsport race academy. I was getting too old as the cut of point was 16 and it was almost my birthday. So, with help from the team I got fast-tracked through beginner, intermediate and advanced, gaining my race academy license on the 6th of March 2023.
Little did I know that 2 weeks later I would be on the Castle Combe track participating in the SRK (Southern Rental Kart Championship) season prologue as a wild card.
Yeah.
Not only was it my first outdoor race, first time in an outdoor kart, first SRK and first competitive championship ever. I was one of the only girls.
Yeah.
So, with just over 4 months of karting experience as you can probably expect I came last. Though with that being the actual definition of throwing yourself into the deep end, I learnt a lot as well. It taught me how karting has a lot to do with resilience and perseverance. It also taught me that I definitely needed more practice, so that’s what I did. I started trying out new tracks and doing more outside training on and off track to improve my general fitness too. This allowed me to get my times down and I started to see rapid improvements.
One weekend I went up to Herefordshire Raceway (just for a bit of fun), but ended up coming back with a team offer to join HRKT (Herefordshire Raceway Kart Team). Which after the little time I’d been karting and my limited experience, I was beyond happy to accept. I think it helped a lot with confidence as it allowed me to see how my improvements were being noticed by others. With this team it opened up new opportunities such as Herefordshire Raceway training programs over the holiday and championships racing under the team name. Later in the year it also helped me to gain access to a pro-kart, reaching speeds of up to 60mph. Which was certainly a new challenge but so bloody cool!
Later I also entered the Summer CCC (Castle Combe Championship) to get some more practice in on that track. Over the season I gradually progressed and made large improvements in both my times and my race craft. Though there were times I certainly felt like quitting, I stuck to my guns and held out. At the time I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to do it again as some of the driving towards the end of the season was a little questionable (but that’s racing).
In the meantime, I worked on my indoor karting skills, trying to get my qualifying time down for the BIKC (British Indoor Karting Championship) locals at Bristol. At this point I was running at 38 seconds but I knew I needed to be in the 37s to get in the top 5 on the leader board. In the end I qualified 9th place which I was pleased with for my first attempt.
A couple of months later… BIKC had finally arrived.
Scary!
After messing up my heats, I managed to save it all on the last one, putting me in pole for the B final, which was great! Soon after the race had started though I lost my position and sat in second for the majority of it. However, on the final lap I took the opportunity to regain my position, winning the B final in my weight category. From there it was straight into the back of the A final, where I finished in 9th making up no real positions, but I was still happy with how far I had improved on this track in less than a year.
More recently racing in the Winter CCC (which I am currently, as I write this still participating in), I’m in 3rd place for the Jamie Chadwick Trophy. This is a separate championship within the main one which aims to get more females into the sport (More to come on a later blog). This season of the CCC has been a lot better for me showing once more how much a couple of months progress can make. My main struggle is the wet weather causing me to have to learn (and fast) the skill of driving on the wet line.
Though it’s not all bad. This season I’ve managed to get driver of the day a few weeks ago, which helped me to keep my head up, even with struggling in the wet. I also, to my surprise received another team offer form Vertice racing kart team.
Like what?
Vertice competes in lots of racing all over the country and are well known in the world of rental kart racing and well renowned in the south. Though still being a part of HRKT I decided to move over as Vertice were based closer to me and participated in championships I was interested in getting into like SRK and CLUB100. So, after saying a good farewell to my old team I couldn’t wait for the new opportunities that awaited. With the new teams support I have managed to get into the low 37s at Bristol and they have helped and guided me in the CCC and as I’ve decided to do a full season of SRK next year they have offered their support in that too.
All in all, it’s been a pretty full on year for my first year of karting, and I’ve certainly come a long way from where I was. I’ve also been looking at lots of other types of motorsports such as drifting, rally, drag racing and loads more. After getting a chance to help out with building a drift car, helping at events and being invited to be a passenger in all manner of competition vehicles. It has allowed me to see how amazing and diverse the sport can be. When I first started everyone told me F1 was the pinacol of the sport and should be the aim. Part of which is true but little did I know how many other awesome and insane parts of the sport there are.
I plan to write more about my experiences of these in other blogs (if anyone is interested). As I really do feel that sometimes people forget how big the world of motorsport really is as a whole.
To wrap it all up, this year has been a long one. Going from never hearing about this sport to where I am now. It all seems a little crazy. I do also get asked a lot about how it feels being a woman in the sport. My honest reply is it can be a challenge. Sometimes I turn up to places like I did at the SRK at Red Lodge where I ended up being the only girl at the track, which I’d never seen or driven before. Even at the Club100 try outs I was the only girl, but I managed to pass that by persevering because when the helmets down it really doesn’t matter what your gender is. I think it’s true to say that’s all part of what makes you a good racing driver, being able to adapt to new situations and rise above it all. So yes, it can be difficult but I want to make sure that one day if another girl turns up to a race, she can see me and see that she is not alone.
So that pretty much sums up my year. If you’ve read this far, wow! Thank you for the support I appreciate it. If you want to follow my journey and find out more, please feel free to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or my LinkedIn. Hope to catch you in the next one.
Scarlet
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