There are many wonderful things about being part of the motorsport community.

From witnessing the camaraderie of the thousands of Motorsport Australia volunteer officials week-in-week-out to the raw emotion experienced through teams and drivers at every race meeting.

For Charise Bristow, she has been part of many areas in the sport and had a career that many motorsport lovers could be envious of.

Over the past 12 years, Bristow has worked for Motorsport Australia, The Bend Motorsport Park and now Triple Eight Race Engineering, giving her experiences in all forms of the sport – governing body, racetrack and race team.

In addition to her full-time working life, Bristow has also found herself as a highly respected category manager – first for the GC Marine Australian Prototype Series before switching up to the Radical Cup Australia ahead of the 2022 season.

With all of the travelling, time spent running the team logistical operations at Triple Eight and the non-stop work of managing a national category, a life like this could get overwhelming for some.

Instead, the South Australian embraces the challenge of working across multiple facets of the sport, working in the high-pressure environment and continuing to develop in a similar fashion to how she has for more than a decade. 

“I have been lucky enough to have been involved in quite a bit over the few years, but I kind of just fell into it,” Bristow said.

“I grew up as sort of the tomboy in the family and even though I didn’t come from a competing family, I loved watching racing and Bathurst with my dad, who is a big fan to this day.

“When I was younger, all I wanted was a HRT Mark Skaife remote control car for Christmas, which I still have, so I guess motorsport has played a part in my life for a long time.

“However, it wasn’t until I started at Motorsport Australia (then CAMS) when I got to experience motorsport first hand and that I got to appreciate it and understand why people love it so much.

“I definitely caught the bug and just loved the atmosphere and how fantastic the people were. I was lucky enough to stay and experience a whole bunch of amazing opportunities while at CAMS.

“This enabled me to gain the skills required to effectively manage events, which enabled me to get the job at The Bend and experience another field.

"After four years of working at The Bend, I was able to grab an opportunity to move into team land and work with a successful Supercars outfit, which in itself has been another amazing experience and opportunity to learn and grow in the sport.  

“Of course, all three jobs have been entirely different, but I have been able to incorporate a variety of transferable skills from each, which in turn has helped me as a category manager, and I am thankful to Triple Eight for allowing me to continue with that work.”


Having been in the sport for more than a decade, Bristow has seen it grow significantly – part of which has been the participation of women.

However, as someone who has worked in all parts of the industry, Bristow believes women have always played a big role in the sport.

"I feel like there are definitely more women as a whole getting involved now, which is really wonderful to see, however I feel there have always been strong, passionate women involved, especially in grassroots motorsport and across the officiating community, where I was lucky enough to spend a long portion of my early career,” Bristow explained.

“I guess if you look around, it is still a male dominated industry, but it is evolving and I have been lucky enough to have never thought of it as being an issue. I have always been treated as an equal in the paddock, and have found that those involved in venues, teams and organisations are supportive of the right person for the right job, regardless of gender”.

“I think the biggest advice I can give any women coming through the sport would be to try and find someone in the sport that you can lean on a mentor, reach out and start making connections, the journey isn’t as intimidating if you have someone you can ask questions, perhaps gain some experience alongside and bounce ideas off.

“There are some wonderful programs for women starting the motorsport journey at the moment and plenty of involvement in these from wonderful women in the sport willing to help.”

This feature is part of a series of stories celebrating International Women's Day, which took place on Tuesday 8 March.