Blancpain GT Endurance Series winner Abbie Eaton on breaking her back and racing again
Abbie Eaton has built her name in one of the hardest environments in sport.
A championship-winning British racing driver, she became the first female winner of the Blancpain GT Endurance Series, raced in W Series, and later co-founded Rebelleo Motorsport to challenge some of the barriers that still shape entry into the sport.
What makes her stand out among female inspirational speakers is that her perspective has been earned the hard way.
Eaton’s career has run through elite competition, funding setbacks, male-dominated paddocks and public visibility, including her work as a test driver and The Stig on The Grand Tour.
That gives this interview real substance, from resilience and performance to the wider question of who gets access to motorsport in the first place.
In this exclusive interview with the London Keynote Speakers Agency, Abbie Eaton reflects on the setbacks that tested her, the mindset required to compete at the highest level, and why confidence, diversity and accountability matter just as much off the track as they do on it.
Q1. You suffered a major setback with the back injury you sustained in Texas in 2021. Looking back, is that the moment that best captures your resilience as a driver?
Abbie Eaton: “There is one really obvious career moment that absolutely, I think, defines resilience, and it's when I broke my back at the end of 2021.
“I was racing in a series called W Series, which is a Formula 3 car, and we raced alongside the Formula 1 calendar. It was a race in COTA in Texas, in America, and a bit of a freak accident, really.
“I ended up jumping off a sausage kerb, which, in the States, is absolutely massive. It's like a really aggressive speed bump, and I ended up breaking my back in two places.
“Luckily, it was the last race of the season, so as soon as it happened, I knew straight away that I'd broken my back. I kind of heard the noise and obviously felt the pain.
“And before I even landed, I was thinking, right, okay, how many months have I got to be able to fix myself? Have I got time to fix myself before the next race? Can I get back on the grid next year?
“It was never a thought process of this might be the end of my racing career, and it could be the end of a lot of other things. I never allowed myself to think that. It was just right, okay, I've hurt myself. ‘What are the next steps? What is it that I need to do? And it was kind of mind over matter.’
“And it became my job, really, to recover as efficiently and as quickly as possible because I was aware that pre-season testing and so on would start in the March, April time.
“It was pretty difficult, certainly the first part of the recovery process, because obviously when you break your back, I was in a back brace and a neck brace quite uncomfortably for four months.
“And the first part of it was actually getting comfortable with doing nothing because the pain was so extreme, and it's obviously such a sensitive area to break. You have to be really, really careful with things.
“The first part, I just had to be horizontal for like six weeks and, as a very motivated athlete, it was quite tricky to do that. The first part helped because it was so blooming painful that I had to just stay there.
“But as soon as I was able to start looking into the rehab and the recovery side of things, and I felt like I could start moving my body and doing those things to try and, I suppose, speed up my recovery, that's when I really felt like the frustration was going a little bit.
“The first part of it was just making sure that I was sleeping well, eating well, all that kind of stuff that wasn't me physically moving, but it was me physically putting energy into, or good energy into, my body.
“I managed to recover, and I was back in a car, I think it was, five and a half months later, albeit six kilos lighter because I'd lost all my muscle.
“But I think the most satisfying part of that was obviously the fact I was able to do what I loved again, but also there were quite a few people who doubted the recovery and whether it was sensible and whether it was actually doable to get back in a car in that short space of time.
“As soon as someone throws doubt at me, then that just gives me more motivation to succeed.”
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Q2. Motorsport has long been criticised for how narrow its talent pipeline can be. From your perspective, how can greater diversity improve innovation and decision-making both on the track and across the wider sport?
Abbie Eaton: “To me, diversity is super important and especially the stuff I've been doing the last couple of years. I kind of set up a platform to try to tackle a little bit of the lack of diversity in the sport.
“And I've seen it firsthand that the more diverse and inclusive a system or an industry can be, you get more varied experiences and more varied backgrounds. With that comes more perspective on things, and it also brings various problem-solving styles.
“So, you put all those together, and you get a much more successful batch of outcomes. An example of that could be in my situation with a driver-engineer situation. My engineer is my number one go-to person when I'm racing, whether that's talking on the radio or asking for setup changes or anything like that.
“It's really important that you feel you can also challenge someone's beliefs, but equally that they can challenge yours. And I think growth comes from sometimes having your own beliefs challenged. And that's where we get the better results.
“And equally, if the challenge happens from someone with a different background and you don't quite agree with them still, well, that's great because then it only reaffirms your own beliefs and your own thought process that you have, which builds confidence in your decision-making.
“I think it's a similar case whereby we say maybe the cure for cancer is in someone that can't afford an education. Well, a similar kind of skewed pool of the people that can enter into motorsport.
“Ultimately, it's always been an elite, wealthy sport to get into. So, potentially the best drivers, engineers, mechanics, media strategists, maybe they can't access the sport because they haven't got the money or funds to be able to, or they haven't got the opportunities.
“So, I think any diversity and inclusivity programmes that are put together, I just think are going to end in so much more positive outcomes. And I think it will help speed up how quickly we get to those outcomes as well.”
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Q3. Elite performance depends on clarity and consistency as much as raw pace. What keeps you mentally sharp and properly focused, both in the car and away from the circuit?
Abbie Eaton: “I think that this is a really individual process and I think to understand where you are and what the best process is for you.
“I think you need to be really honest with yourself and you need to sit down and look at yourself and say, ‘Right, okay, yeah, in an ideal world, I'd love to get up at 5:00 a.m. in the morning and go to the gym and train then...’ But if that's never going to happen, then don't make yourself those promises.
“Some people prefer routines. Some people prefer having a really varied day every day or a very varied week. And it's about finding what works for you.
“For me personally, I have to have goals, and I have to have accountability for me to be able to keep on track. If I haven't got a goal, it's very difficult to keep focused on fitness and all that kind of other stuff that is necessary for my job.
“And the three non-negotiables that I always try to stick to, it's not easy all the time, but sleep is really important. And it's the same old story.
“You'll hear this so often that sleep is probably one of the most difficult ones to be consistent with because obviously life gets in the way.
“There's lots of things on the go, and you can only do so much to try and help yourself make sure that you're getting to sleep at a consistent time, you're waking at a consistent time, and that your sleep quality is good.
“But there are a lot of things you can do to help maximise that and also keep accountable for it.
“So, I wear a fitness tracker 24/7, so sometimes I'll feel great in the morning when I wake up, and it will say my recovery is not very good. Sometimes you can ignore it. If you feel good, then go on what you feel.
“But it just means that I'm thinking, right, okay, what time is it? Oh, yeah. I want to make sure again because I'm competitive, I'm getting in bed at this time, and I'm going to make sure I get a good recovery in the morning.
“Another non-negotiable is fitness, which kind of goes hand in hand with that element of it. It's very obvious to me when I am lacking in my fitness, and I'm also lacking in my third point, which is food and nutrition, because my body will tell me straight away.
“I'll know when I'm not training properly. I'll know when I'm not eating properly because I'll end up being sore. I'll end up being lethargic and tired, and I won't feel motivated to focus on the stuff that I need to do.
“So those three non-negotiables are hard to stick to all the time. But if you can stick to them, let's say you're currently at 50%, if you can stick to it 60% of the time or 70% and you just incrementally increase it, the pay that you'll get afterwards will be huge.
“And that's whether you're racing a car for a living, you're kicking a football for a living, or you're at a laptop or a PC all day. It's all very much directed to what you're doing.
“Sitting at a computer all day, you're going to be sitting hunched over all the time. So, your fitness is going to be making sure your posture and everything else support what you're doing every day. But I think it is super important to be honest and be accountable for that as well.”
This exclusive interview with Abbie Eaton was conducted by Tabish Ali of the Motivational Speakers Agency.
