All Around Britain: Meet the motorsport marshal breaking down barriers

Kalie Plant has been working in the motorsport industry for more than 10 years, but she’s not your typical race marshal.

As an Asian woman in her fifties, she says that people can sometimes question what she’s doing on the track.

"Everybody assumes you've got to be... Mainly boys" explains Kalie, who is from Willenhall.

Her motorsport journey began when she started going along to race days with her husband, who was a driving standards officer at the time.

She gradually got more involved - doing catering and marketing for various events - until one day someone at the track suggested that she would make a great marshal. 

In All Around Britain this Sunday Ria Hebden and Alex Beresford visit Silverstone, the home of British motorsport racing.

Kalie admits that, because the industry is “male dominated”, she hadn’t really thought about marshaling before.

But ten years on she’s now worked at some of the world’s biggest motoring events, including the F1 Grand Prix and Motor GP.

She says she's “never looked back” and wants to send the message that motorsport is for everyone.

She says it’s important to encourage people “from all backgrounds and all colours and shapes and sizes” to be able to do what they love.

Meet the brothers working to make motorsport more inclusive

In this week’s episode of All Around Britain Alex Beresford and Ria Hebden try their hand at some marshaling duties with Kalie - as well as some other exciting activities at the iconic Silverstone race track.

Ria Hebden is taken for a spin with Silverstone driving instructor, Chaz Small. Watch more on ITV on Sunday at 11:55.

The pair go head to head in a drifting time trial and Alex is put to the test as he takes to the track in an Aston Martin Vantage - hitting speeds of 150mph! 

This week the show also heads to Cambridge where a retired army major is rowing hundreds of miles for charity in a tin boat and to Northumberland where water voles are being rereleased into the wild.

Watch the next episode of All Around Britain on ITV on Sunday at 11:55am - Or catch up on ITV Hub.