Autosport – 22 August 2019

Charlie Broughton’s career

could have taken a very

diff erent route. She started

her working life as a

beauty therapist, but the

motorsport passion had

already been lit – she had a

mother with an obsession

with Formula 1, and that

set young Broughton in

a new direction.

Aft er meeting some

resistance – “even my

friends told me it was a

stupid idea and I couldn’t

do it” – Broughton used

persistence to muscle her

way in. When MSD was

running the Peugeot British

Touring Car Championship

team in the late 1990s,

Broughton made a

nuisance of herself:

“I badgered them, and

wherever they went I was

• even Knockhill. I would

Broughton spurred

on by desire to prove

she could do the job

Francesca Valdani

Charlie Broughton

Francesca Valdani is team

coordinator for the DS

Techeetah ABB FIA Formula

E Championship squad,

which won the drivers’ and

teams’ championships in

the 2018-19 season. 

Aft er working at Monza,

her local track, in roles from

carpark traff ic coordinator

to chief paddock security

off icer at the Italian Grand

Prix, she joined her first

team in Italian Formula

Renault in 2009. She

then moved into the

International Formula

“I had to fight

against the people

that maybe didn’t

trust in what I

wanted to do”

Role Team coordinator, DS Techeetah

Series FIA Formula E

Role #2 mechanic, Power Maxed Racing

Series British Touring Cars

“I badgered them,

and wherever they

went I was – even

Knockhill. I’d offer

my help for free”

off er my help, trying to do

this job or that for free.”

An unpaid spell helping

a team in the BTCC-

supporting Vauxhall Vectra

Challenge led to a full

education in motorsport,

and eventually to a fully

fledged job at Triple Eight

Race Engineering, which

ran the series and the

media guest car, which

Broughton oversaw. Then

she switched to the BTCC

side of Triple Eight in 2000.

From there, Broughton

moved to Prodrive to work

on the Subaru rally team

and that’s where things

ramped up. “I worked back

in the factory, but I was

desperate to go on events

• I wanted to get out there
  and get my hands dirty,”
  she says. “But the boys said
  I didn’t have the strength –

you need to be able to lift

things like gearboxes on

your own. They had a way

of doing it and they showed

me that, but I just couldn’t

manage it. But aft er a while,

and doing it my way, I did

manage it. It was another

of those instances where

you do something because

people think you can’t.”

When Subaru withdrew

from rallying in 2009,

Broughton went back

to the BTCC with Triple

Eight, and then she

followed her partner (and

now team manager) Martin

Broadhurst to Power Maxed

Racing, where she works as

a number two mechanic

• ironically on the Vauxhall
  of Jason Plato, a driver
  she first worked with in
  the BTCC 19 years ago.
  MJ

Master series before joining

the ROAL Motorsport World

Touring Car Championship

squad, where she worked

as team manager.

Valdani began working

in FE in its 2015-16 season

and her role for DS

Techeetah means being the

“glue between diff erent

parts of the team”.

“During the race week

I care about the drivers,

I prepare all the stuff that

they need, so they focus on

driving and find everything

ready for them – helmet,

overalls, etc,” she explains.

“Before the race, I prepare

all the logistic stuff – so I

need to be sure everything

is ready for the race.”

On her experience of

working as a woman in

motorsport, Valdani says:

“It was quite hard in the

beginning because no one

knows you, so you have to

explain to them that you are

there for work and not just

for fun. And if you want to

focus and reach a good

result in your career, you

should be focused on what

you want to really do,

because motorsport from

outside [can look diff erent]

with everything – parties,

champagne – but it’s not

like this. For me, it’s what

I wanted to do in my life

and I’m very proud that

I’m in Formula E, a really

a good championship. 

“It was not so easy in the

beginning because I wanted

to work in a high level, and

I had to fight against the

people that maybe in some

ways didn’t trust in what

I wanted to do. But aft er

many years it’s diff erent

because motorsport is a

small world – everyone

more or less knows each

other and now it’s easier.”

AK

Valdani is proud

to be working

in Formula E

JE

P

S^ B

LO

XH

AM

34 AUTOSPORT.COM 22 AUGUST 2019

A WOMAN’S WORLD