INTERVIEW: Jade Edwards on her Goodwood debut and growing up in motorsport

“It's a very different weekend to a normal competition weekend,” she admitted, when we caught up with her after Official Practice for the Gordon Spice Trophy on Saturday morning, which marked her first time ever properly racing at the Goodwood Motor Circuit. “It was a bit of a baptism of fire.”

Not only was this the first time Edwards has raced at Goodwood, but also her first time in a historic car, a 1979 Ford Capri, for which she shared driving duties with Mike Whitaker. She had a couple of practice laps in the car a few weeks ago, but for all intents and purposes she was “straight in at the deep end.”

“I love the circuit, I love the car I was in. I'm obviously very lucky to be with Mike Whitaker in his Ford Capri, it's been a joy to be around him all weekend. He's a great guy, full of character and really relaxed and allowed me to just enjoy driving.”

To be a successful racing driver is the only ambition Edwards ever had. Her first visit to a race track came at two weeks old, courtesy of the fact that the year she was born, 1990, was the same year her father Jim won the Renault 5 Turbo Championship.

While most budding drivers begin their careers in karting, Edwards “never did much of that” as Jim was still racing when she was of that age. Instead, she went straight into car racing, competing in the Ginetta Junior Championship aged 16, in 2006. Appearances in the British GT Championship followed in 2014 and ‘15, but it wasn’t until 2017 that Edwards was able to do a full season of racing, in the Renault UK Clio Cup. Not from a lack of wanting, though, “just due to budgets.”

“I come from no family money at all, no company money, so everything I've done, from the first day I got in a racing car – you have a little bit of family help in the earlier stages, but once the motorsport becomes too expensive, everything I've done is sponsor based.”

In 2020, Edwards did a one-off race at Silverstone in BTCC with the intention of generating a way to be able to do a whole season. “I made a huge media frenzy over it, pushed the sponsorship, did as many interviews as I could. That then led to me doing three full seasons in 2021, ’22 and ’23.

“Considering that I've come from no financial background, I'm actually very proud of what I've achieved. I actually always aimed to get to British touring cars, but there were points where I never thought it would happen just because of the money factor.”

“The fact that I've kept putting one foot in front of the other, and chasing the sponsors, and looking after them and doing three full seasons, it's a really proud moment for me.”

Having been “thrown into a race track” as a child, Edwards never had a sense that being a woman in the world of motorsport was a rarity. “I didn’t know any different,” she reflected. “When I first started there were next to no women directly involved in the driving or the prep of the car. But as the years have gone on, there's more and more women [involved].”

Still, Edwards is cognisant of the particularities of navigating being heralded as a source of inspiration when motorsport is simply her life’s passion. “This whole ‘female in motorsport’ thing, I obviously am an advocate for it, but I also think there's an element of which I've grown up in this industry and I love it for what it is.”

“I'm a big advocate for educating people rather than ridiculing them,” she said, on the odd occasion she’s encountered negativity. “I never assume that they're being malicious. The comments I think are always just naïve or something that's said in the moment and that's what I think we need to take note of, educating language rather than just taking it as an insult straight away.”

“There's plenty of the touring car drivers that I've raced with here today, and they still come up to me, they still treat me as a driver on track, we still compete and there's full respect there.”

When it came to qualifying for the Gordon Spice Trophy, Edwards felt it “went as well as it could have done.” She put the Capri 17^th, ahead of the likes of Tiff Needell and Max Chilton. Her 11^th place finish in Part 1, combined with Whitaker taking fourth on Sunday afternoon saw the pair finish 14^th in a field of 22 starters.

Edwards has been attending events at Goodwood for a few years now, but racing here is something she described as a “bucket list event,” one she can now check off. “You're never really sure if you're going to be able to [take part], but to be here this weekend with the sun shining, driving a Ford Capri, there's not many better motorsport events to be part of.”

And with a self-professed love for all sorts of racing, we’re sure it won’t be too long before Edwards is back at the Motor Circuit for more.

Tickets for the 83^rd Members’ Meeting will be available for a limited time immediately after this year’s event for Members and Fellows of the GRRC. Admission and Grandstand tickets will go on sale on Monday 14^th April for Members, and Wednesday 16^th April for Fellows.

Photography by Toby Whales, Jordan Butters and James Gregory.