Charlie Martin (racing driver)

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Charlie Christina Martin (born August 24, 1981 in Leicester ) is a British racing car driver , vlogger and transgender activist .

Career

Charlie Martin first came into contact with motorsport when she accompanied a friend and his father to a hill climb when she was a teenager. In 2001, she and one of her brothers attended the Le Mans 24-hour race for the first time . After her impressions in France, she decided to become a racing driver herself. Today she is pursuing the goal of being the first transsexual participant in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The motorsport activities of Charlie Martin began in 2004. From then on, took it in a self-prepared Peugeot 205 in mountain races of the British Championship in part. In order to be able to afford this sport, she also worked as a gardener and in a restaurant. After four years, she replaced the Peugeot with a Westfield SEi with a Ford Zetec engine and around 225 hp, which she drove until 2014. In 2014 she took part in the first rounds of the French hill climb championship, the Championnat de France de la Montagne . In her first race in Saint-Gouéno , she beat the track record in her class by two seconds and won the race three seconds ahead of the runner-up. From 2015 she took part in a formula vehicle, a Formula Renault 2.0 from Tatuus , in the French and European hillclimb championships. Without the support of a team, she traveled alone from Leicestershire to the races on mainland Europe in a Renault Master with a box body , which she had converted herself and equipped with a lifting device, living area and shower . She also prepared the vehicle on her own without the help of mechanics. After two years in her own Formula Renault, in 2017 she drove a Norma M20 FC prepared by the team of European Champion Simone Faggioli . In the same year in November she took part - together with Nicholas Schatz - in the Norma M20 in a 3-hour race as part of the Trophee Tourisme Endurance on the Bugatti circuit and in other circuit races such as the Race of Remembrance on the Anglesey Circuit . During this time, she made the decision to switch from mountain racing to circuit racing.

In 2018 she drove for Richardson Racing in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge . The races with identical Ginetta G40s were held as part of the British GT Championship. Also in 2018 graduated from Martin the first tests in a LMP3 vehicle of Ligier for Racing Experience .

In the 2019 season she drove for Racing Experience in the Michelin Le Mans Cup in a Norma M30 LMP3.

On March 18, 2020, Charlie Martin announced that she will compete in the VLN in the 2020 season and that she is also scheduled to take part in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring . She will start for adrenaline motorsport in a BMW M240i .

Personal

Charlie Martin is the great-granddaughter of Percy Martin, a British engineer and automobile manufacturer of American descent. She grew up in Leicestershire and studied graphic design . In addition to her studies and her motorsport career, she works for the family company Percy Martin Ltd. in the sale. The company deals in used machines for metal processing . Martin knew from early childhood that she was born in the wrong body. After reading a newspaper article about transsexual model Caroline Cossey at the age of seven , Martin knew that she "had to do that too".

In 2012 she did not take part in any motorsport events in order to devote herself to her transition . She has lived as a woman since the beginning of 2012 and underwent gender reassignment and plastic surgeries. In 2013 she took part in motorsport events again.

Between 2016 and 2017 she took part in the third edition of Ninja Warrior UK and reached the semifinals, where she narrowly failed to make it to the final.

Today Charlie Martin is committed to the LGBT movement and wants to use its popularity to promote greater acceptance - especially towards transsexual people.

Charlie Martin is fluent in French and creates designs for clients as well as for their own vehicles and helmets. In her free time, she goes snowboarding , surfing and running. You already took as the several running events Half Marathon Leicester or Trailrun on Hardergrat in Switzerland part.

Web links

Commons : Charlie Martin  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Charlie Martin on electricgt.co, accessed August 28, 2019
  2. ↑ a b Charlie Martin wants to make history on ngkntk.com, accessed on August 28, 2019
  3. ↑ a b Charlie Martin: Transgender driver chases Le Mans 24 Hour race dream on edition.cnn.com, accessed on August 28, 2019
  4. ↑ a b c d e Charlie Martin - Racer at influx.co.uk, accessed August 28, 2019
  5. ↑ a b About at gocharlie.co.uk, accessed August 28, 2019
  6. ↑ Welcome Charlie Martin on autosprint.ch, accessed on August 28, 2019
  7. ↑ GoCharlie: How do I learn the Nürburgring? on youtube.com, accessed March 21, 2020
  8. ↑ a b Exclusive interview: How trailblazing transgender driver Charlie Martin put her life on track on telegraph.co.uk, accessed on August 28, 2019
  9. ↑ Media on gocharlie.co.uk, accessed August 28, 2019
  10. ↑ Charlie's Leicester Half Marathon 2013 page on justgiving.com, accessed August 28, 2019
  11. ↑ Charlie Martin on twitter.com, accessed August 28, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Martin, Charlie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Martin, Charlie Christina (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British racing car driver
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1981
PLACE OF BIRTH Leicester , UK