The Reality of Freelancing in Motorsport & Automotive

Five months ago, I decided to pursue Motorsport & Automotive as a career.

Since then, I’ve poured myself into track days, car shows, and long nights of editing. It’s been one of the best decisions of my life, but also one of the toughest.

Freelancing in this space is rewarding, but it’s not glamorous. Here’s what I’ve learned so far.

Free Work: The First Step

When you start out, free work almost feels unavoidable. You need a portfolio, connections, and proof you can deliver.

For me, offering my skills for free helped me get into paddocks and capture content I’d never have been trusted with otherwise.

The thing is, free work has an expiry date.

At some point, all the filming, editing, and travelling adds up.

Exposure doesn’t pay bills.

“Opportunities” and “Exposure” don’t cover the cost of petrol, food, board, and equipment.

Free work helped me open doors, but staying free forever would have shut them again.

Exploitation and Scope Creep (This 100% happens)

Some people in the industry will take advantage of your eagerness.

They’ll leave you on read when you bring up budgets, then suddenly reappear when they want clips edited.

Others push you outside the original agreement: “Can you possibly also do x y z?”

All without any thought that those are extra services.

What freelancing has taught me is that I get to choose who I work with and how I work.

The people who respect your boundaries and value your craft are worth keeping.

The rest aren’t.

The Financial Strain

Even when people do agree to pay, freelancing can hit your wallet.

Travel, food, boarding and equipment costs all come out of your pocket long before an invoice clears.

Sometimes you wait weeks to be paid for work you turned around in days.

That gap between effort and reward is one of the hardest parts of this career.

No Qualification? No Worries!

One of the biggest myths is that you need formal qualifications to succeed.

I don’t have a media degree. My background is in a completely different subject and a completely different job.

All it took was waking up one day and deciding: I’m going to pursue my dream.

My neurodivergence helped me hyperfocus on learning and that became my biggest advantage.

Unless you want to be a race engineer or design aerodynamics, qualifications aren’t what matter.

Work ethic, creativity, and persistence are.

Let’s Not Beat Around the Bush – Being a Woman Makes This Much Harder!

Breaking into Motorsport and Automotive media is challenging enough, but being a woman of mixed white and Asian heritage makes it harder again.

Motorsport is still a male-dominated industry, and it often feels like I must work three times harder to be taken seriously.

It hasn’t been easy, but it’s shaped me. It’s made me more resilient, more determined, and more certain of the value I bring.

Why It’s Still Worth It Though

For every person who tries to take advantage, there are plenty more who remind me why I chose this path.

Drivers with inspiring stories, pit crews who live and breathe the sport, fans who bring energy to every weekend.

These are the people who make the long hours worth it.

When I see my work boosting a team’s visibility, connecting with audiences, or capturing moments that might otherwise have been forgotten, I know the effort was worth it.

The Truth

Freelancing in motorsport and automotive media is unpredictable, tiring, and sometimes unfair. But it’s also exciting, fulfilling, and addictive.

In less than five months I’ve achieved more than I thought possible, just by working hard, staying persistent, and refusing to let people take advantage.

I’m grateful for how far it’s already taken me.

I relied on nobody. I made opportunities appear. I opened my own doors, instead of waiting around for permission.

And now, the next chapter begins.

There’s a full-time role in Motorsport on the horizon, and I can’t wait to share more about it in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!