How Bathurst got Jess Yates into motorsport
Supercars TV presenter Jess Yates delves into origins of motorsport passion
Yates revealed children's book in early August
Let's Go Racing will hit shelves on Monday
Supercars TV presenter Jess Yates has revealed what sparked her passion for motorsport, which has seen her become the long-standing face of Supercars television, and for the first time, an author.
Yates became the lead presenter for Supercars as part of the landmark broadcast deal struck with Fox Sports for the 2015 season, and has remained a popular member of the broadcast team since.
Yates has become a prominent ambassador for women in motorsport, including becoming an FIA Girls on Track Ambassador, and hosting Supercars' Women in Motorsport Breakfasts.
Now Yates turns her hand to writing children's books, with Let's Go Racing set to hit shelves on Monday, September 1.
“Let's Go Racing is all about giving kids and parents the opportunity to come to the race track and experience how dynamic that environment is,” Yates said.
“It was inspired by my kids who of course, watch me on TV every other week that I'm at a race track, and they absolutely love it.
"And so this was an opportunity for me to share that with them, but also give a bit more insight into what actually happens at the track and explore some of the language that you hear on TV all the time."
Yates has been in broadcast media for two decades, and is also a regular host of Fox Sports' NRL coverage alongside her Supercars commitments, and won the Supercars Media Award in 2016.
Before becoming a prominent broadcaster, Yates studied at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, located at the foot of Mount Panorama.
Seeing the Supercars Championship take over the NSW Central Tablelands city sparked an interest in the sport for Yates, with the interest now becoming an all-consuming passion.
"I'm a journalist first and foremost, and I followed my nose to the opportunities that presented themselves,” Yates said.
"I’ve been at Fox Sports now for nearly 20 years. They said to me, ‘What do you know about bike racing or car racing?’
“My experience had been the Bathurst 1000. I went to university in Bathurst. That is of course where the holy grail lives for motor racing. It's such an important part of the fabric of Australian sport. And I said, 'I don't know a great deal. But I'd love to learn’.
“And now for 20 years I've been front and centre of our motor racing coverage on Fox Sports, which has been amazing.
"It's such a dynamic experience. I think it's so sensory when you come to the track, you can feel it, you can smell it, you can almost taste it.
"This is another extension of that and trying to give everyone a bit of an experience at home.”
Yates also hopes to inspire the latest generation of young girls to pursue careers in motorsport through her new book, and has been encouraged by the increase in the number of women working in the sport over the past two decades.
"I would say it's a fabulous, fabulous industry to be part of, and the game has really changed over the last 20 years,” Yates said.
"I think when I first started, I was one of very few women in the pit lane. It’s fantastic to be able to say today that there are so many more women that take up lots of important roles, whether it's on TV, behind the scenes, running teams, racing.
"We've got so many more girls coming through the ranks, which is really exciting on a global scale too. We can see that with the F1 Academy, a whole championship dedicated to just women, to give them an opportunity to really hone their race craft."
