There are hobbies that exist purely as relief from work. And then there are the ones that reveal something about who you are when the stakes are entirely self-imposed. For Rachel Buscall, getting behind the wheel of a GT car on track falls firmly into the second category.
Rachel Ann Buscall is early into her journey in motorsport. Track days, GT cars, the kind of driving that requires real focus and zero distraction. She is not chasing a championship. She is chasing something harder to name and, by her own account, considerably more useful.
We asked her about it.
Who Is Rachel Buscall Behind the Wheel?
Most people who know Rachel Buscall know her through her professional life. What tends to surprise them is the motorsport.
GT and touring car driving at track day level is not a casual pastime. It requires car control, spatial awareness, the ability to read a circuit under pressure, and a particular kind of mental composure that either comes naturally or has to be earned. Rachel Ann Buscall is at the beginning of building all of that. What she brought with her from day one was the mindset.
R.B.: “The first time I was on track properly, in a GT car with real performance behind it, I understood immediately why people get addicted to this. It is one of the only environments I have ever been in where you cannot think about anything else. Your mind has no choice but to be completely present. That is rarer than people realise.”
Why GT Cars? Rachel Buscall on Choosing Her Category
Track days cover a wide range of machinery. The choice to drive GT cars rather than something more accessible is a deliberate one. These are vehicles with serious performance, built around a driving experience that rewards precision over bravado.
What pulled you toward GT specifically rather than something more entry-level?
R.B.: “I did not want to ease into it so gently that I never really felt it. GT cars have proper performance. They respond to what you do and they punish what you do wrong. That felt honest to me. I am not interested in a version of anything that is so forgiving it teaches you nothing. I wanted to learn properly, and that means being in something that demands respect.”
Was there a moment that confirmed this was something you wanted to pursue?
R.B.: “The first clean lap. When everything you have been told about braking points and turn-in and throttle application actually clicks and the car does what it is supposed to do. It is a very specific feeling. You know immediately when you have got it right because the car tells you. There is no ambiguity in it. I find that incredibly satisfying. In most parts of life, feedback is delayed and complicated. On track, it is instant.”
What Rachel Ann Buscall Is Learning From Motorsport
Rachel Buscall talks about her track driving the way serious people talk about any discipline that genuinely stretches them. Not as an escape from her professional life but as something that runs parallel to it, sharpening things that matter elsewhere.
A lot of high performers are drawn to motorsport. What is it actually teaching you?
R.B.: “Patience, which is not what most people expect me to say. When you are new to circuit driving, every instinct you have built up on the road works against you. You want to brake later than you should, turn in early, get back on the throttle before the car is ready. All of it makes you slower. The fastest drivers are the ones who have learned to override their instincts with technique. That process, learning to trust a method over a feeling, transfers to almost everything.”
Do you think about risk differently when you are on track?
R.B.: “Yes, but not in the way people assume. Motorsport is not reckless. The people who approach it recklessly do not last long or do not enjoy it. Real track driving is about understanding the margins precisely. Knowing exactly where the limit is, not guessing at it. I find that I respect the discipline more the more I understand it. It is a serious pursuit. I treat it that way.”
Rachel Buscall Racing: What the Next Chapter Looks Like
Rachel Ann Buscall is clear that she is at the start of this. Track days are the foundation. The goal is to build skill methodically, understand the machinery properly, and develop the kind of circuit craft that takes time and seat time to accumulate. There is no shortcut to it.
Where do you want to take this?
R.B.: “Further than I am now. I want to become genuinely competent behind the wheel of a GT car, not just comfortable. Those are different things. Comfortable means you are managing the experience. Competent means the car becomes an extension of what you are thinking. I am working toward the second. How far that takes me, I am not going to predict. I have learned not to put ceilings on things before I know what I am capable of.”
What would you say to other women who are curious about track driving but have not started?
R.B.: “Do it sooner than feels sensible. The reasons not to start are mostly noise. It is more accessible than it looks, the community on track is genuinely welcoming, and there is nothing quite like being in an environment where performance is the only currency. No one cares what you do for work. They care whether you can drive. I find that refreshing. Start. Figure out the rest from the seat.”
Why Rachel Buscall Racing Matters Beyond the Track
The thread that connects Rachel Buscall’s professional life, her work with Buscall Boo, her ownership of F45 Chelmsford, and now her track driving is not ambition in the conventional sense. It is a refusal to stay only in territory she has already mastered.
Motorsport is the newest frontier. She arrived at it as a beginner, in a car that demands precision, on circuits that do not forgive complacency. That is a deliberate choice from someone who has spent a career building things that require exactly those qualities.
R.B.: “I am a beginner at this and I am completely fine with that. Being a beginner at something difficult is one of the most honest places you can put yourself. You find out very quickly what your instincts are actually worth and where your real work is. I think everyone should have at least one thing in their life where they are genuinely starting from scratch. It keeps you real.”
Rachel Buscall Racing is in its early stages. Follow her journey as it develops.
