Racing driver Abbie Eaton is the latest guest on series 10 of the award-winning podcast Fuelling Around.
Eaton has been racing professionally for more than two decades in competitions such as the British GT Championship and the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain.
The 33-year-old sat down with hosts Jason Plato and Dave Vitty to discuss her career so far, what it takes to be a pro driver and the true cost of motorsport in 2025.
Abbie Eaton and Jason Plato bemoan the rising cost of karting for kids
During her chat with the boys, Eaton and Plato gave their views on the rising cost of entry into motorsport.
āItās getting harder and harder and harder,ā Eaton revealed.
āTo do a European season in karting for like a 12-year-old, I could race in Porsche Carrera Cup for a season (for a similar price). Itās absolutely bonkers.
āWeāre talking Ā£200-300k being spent on go-karting. Itās just bonkers. And the problem is I donāt think itās ever going to change now.
āI think itās just on that (upwards) movement and itās only gonna get worse. I think back in the day, motorsport always had to succeed as a business because ultimately people need wages and paying.
āBut I think there was still quite a big element that it was still a sport. Whereas now itās getting more and more that actually it is purely a business, an entertainment business, and the sport is just getting kind of less and less, which is a real shame.
āAs I say itās a runaway train now and itās in that direction.ā
Plato interjected and added: āI would agree, totally agree.
āItās so expensive and itās totally cost prohibitive for anything other than very, very wealthy families. Or families that have got great connections with business.
āIn fact I would say itās probably cost prohibitive for even the wealthy families because itās just telephone numbers isnāt it?ā
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