Depending on your interest and, perhaps, your age, you might recognise Catie Munnings from a few different places. First and foremost, she is a successful rally driver with a sparkling career to date. Munnings took the title of 2016’s Ladies European Rally Championship when she was just 18 years old, becoming the first Brit to win a European Rally title in 49 years. That same year, she was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Sportswoman of the year.

Elsewhere, Munnings was host to CBeebies’ Catie’s Amazing Machines TV show, which introduced a variety of vehicles to children under 6. These days, she is a columnist for Top Gear magazine, races for the Andretti United team in the off-road electric racing series, Extreme E, and is an ambassador for Zenith Watches.

How did you get into racing in the first place?

It was always a hobby because my parents had a motorsport entertainment company. My dad was a talented rally driver, but he’d never had the budget to go the whole way. Then he opened up some rally schools and my first experience was sitting next to him as a passenger at age five. I think that’s what gave me a taste for the adrenaline.

I started competing when I was 14 in grass autotesting, which involves things like slalom [zig-zagging] and handbrake turns in a normal car, and it’s not very expensive.

Then I went to a test with Peugeot when I was 17. They were looking for drivers of different levels, and so I started working with them in the rally academy. I had to bring budget to that, and I chose to do the European Championship instead of the British one, as it meant getting double the coverage and finding it easier to get sponsorship, but at the same cost. But it did mean I was going in at the deep end, you know.

Was there a specific moment when you realised driving was what you wanted to do?

Well, I just loved it. Quad biking was my thing, but I think the real “moment” was at that Peugeot test. I was a passenger with the French champion at the time, and I remember thinking how talented he was, how in control of the car he was. I wanted to see if I could do that because it really blew me away.

Where is your favourite place in the world to drive?

Probably Greenland [with Extreme E]. It’s really unique – not just the race, but the landscape and the local people. It’s such a small area, and you can see climate change happening right in front of you, with ice melting and things.

Extreme E focuses on climate change and racing in places affected by it – what has been the most eye-opening experience from this?

With Extreme E, the locations are chosen by scientists, and there is genuinely work happening. It wasn’t just us standing next to the tree and taking a photo.

When I spoke to the local people, their lives had been changed by the funding that the championship was bringing them. I felt like, ‘OK, this is actually legit’. And I really like that about it. Learning from scientists at the races is still one of my favourite things. They dedicate their whole lives to it. We see such a glamorised version of it for a day or two, but they’re the ones putting the work in all the time. So it’s nice to be involved with amplifying their voices in a different community.

As a racing driver in general, how do you feel about the use of polluting petrochemicals in the industry?

To be honest, since I’ve been racing electric I haven’t really gone back to internal combustion racing. Because most championships, like rallycross, that I do are also moving to electric now. I mean, longer rallies like the Dakar aren’t yet because it’s not yet possible. I think it’s a gradual change. And so for drivers, it’s just something that we adapt to.

The thing with Extreme E is that it’s raising awareness. OK, we’re probably not saving the world by just driving battery cars instead of petrol ones, but it’s more about the message and how we convey that to people.

What has been the biggest challenge in your career?

Finding a way to compete. The budgets to race are enormous. Even when I was in the European Championship, I was taking the used tires off of my teammate’s car when they had finished with them, and then using them on my car as new tires because I didn’t have the budget.

There are always drivers with more budget, who are able to test more, practise more, train more, and then ultimately, they get to the races and they’re better prepared. So it’s really hard when you’re starting out, but at the same time, you have to work with what you’ve got because some people can’t do it at all.

Extreme E is great because it’s giving professional seats to women and that has raised their visibility, so a lot of opportunities have come from that.

Making motorsport more accessible not just to girls, but talent, in general, is so important to me. I don’t want to have female seats in motorsport for the sake of it. I’d love to create a level where someone who’s got talent has an opportunity to train as much as the best guy can train to see if they can get to the same level. And if they can, then brilliant.

Women consistently struggle to be included in mainstream motorsport series. Can this change, and how?

I think it’s a money thing, to be honest. And it’s not a lot of money compared with the budgets that are floating around in motorsport.

I speak to women who have done Formula 2 and friends that I train with, and they are really talented, but they’re still fighting for opportunities to race. And that doesn’t just mean one test in a Formula 1 car – you have to look at what the most competitive guys are doing and then say, OK, let’s put that amount of training into a programme for a woman.

I appreciate the W Series but I’m much more for combined races, and giving women the support to race and test properly so that they can race with the guys. I know it’s a complicated way, and it will take some time unless big decisions are made at the management level in the big championships. It’s a slow burner, unfortunately.

Being a racer can be really tough. How do you stay resilient throughout it all?

I always stay grateful for how much I’ve got and focus on that, even if others around me seem to have more.

As for resilience – I have a really good support network, I rely on my family a lot. Maintaining a good, stable mindset is also important. Having a grounded place means you don’t take every decision that’s made around you personally. Because it is business at the end of the day.

What advice would you give to women wanting to get into motorsports?

It is so hard. Connect with others. Social media is amazing for that. There are a lot of communities now like Women in Motorsport and Girls on Track, events that you can go to, and mentoring programmes. Zenith is creating a mentoring programme as well – it’s not motorsport-specific but I’ll be doing some sessions next year.

Also, go to your local motoring club and meet people. There are often passionate motorsport people there who could help – you never know who you’ll meet.

Start where you are, and use what you have. And then be really efficient with the budget that you do raise and think – how can I make this last and how can I get the most experience from this?

catiemunnings.com; instagram.com/catiemunnings