Had someone written the story of Jodie Sloss’ life over the past couple of years, it would have been tossed in the bin for being too fantastical.
Sloss herself is well aware of how unlikely her rise from being a waitress on the west coast of Scotland to one of this country’s brightest motorsport talents has been.
Yet, having demonstrated a rare natural talent as a driver over the past two-and-a-half years, the 23-year-old now has her sights set on racing one of the world’s most famous races.
As a kid growing up in Oban, Sloss’ passion was horses, not cars.
And with no family involvement or even interest in motorsport, it was a discipline that barely crossed her mind.
But, entirely organically, an interest in cars developed and she began dabbling in customising her own four wheels.
Still, however, motorsport seemed like an alien world to the Scot.
“I got my driving licence as soon as I turned 17 but that was to give myself independence more than anything,” she says.
“Motorsport intrigued me but I didn’t have anyone around who was involved and to me, it seemed like an elitist sport and something that was pretty much impossible to get into unless you had a load of funding behind you.”
Entirely by chance, though, Sloss happened across a post on Facebook looking for women who had the potential to become an elite driver.
Clicking on the link has, as it’s turned out, changed the course of Sloss’ life entirely.
“I can still remember the moment I saw the post – I was sitting on my couch in my croft on the west coast of Scotland and I thought yeah, this sounds exciting,” she says.
“The assessment day was at Knockhill and the morning of it, I wasn’t even sure I was going to go because I had to get up at 5am.
“But I forced myself to go and we got tested on a load of things – it was my first time ever on a track. Afterwards, I was thinking that was cool but really, I just forgot about it because there was 1000 girls from 35 different countries so I never expected anything to come from it.”
However, aged 21 at the time and against the odds, Sloss won that Formula Woman competition as it was called, with the prize being to race a McLaren 570FGT4 in the UK’s 2022 GT Cup championships.
From there, Sloss’ life has been, she says, “a complete whirlwind and entirely surreal”, with the Scot having shown in 2024 that she has the talent to progress to the very top of the sport.
Having been selected for the 2024 Aston Martin Racing Driver Academy, highlights of the first half of the season were podium places in the GT Cup at Donington Park and Brands Hatch.
On the face of it, Sloss’ life is enviably glamerous but, she admits, it’s far more testing than many may imagine.
“I do feel like my life is surreal. So many of the opportunities I’m having I’m like wow, this is crazy,” she says.
“Motorsport is hard, though.
“People often don’t realise how much work goes in behind the scenes. I’m constantly working to try to build my brand and get myself out there to make sure I can continue being in a race seat. I’ve learnt so much over the last two years but it’s constant. I’ve had really challenging times but it’s shaped me as a driver.
“And when you get that fastest lap or a place on the podium, all the hard work seems worth it.”
It’s an astonishing coincidence that Sloss hails from the same town as one of Scotland’s most well-known motorsport exports, Susie Wolff, who, in 2014 at the British Grand Prix, became the first woman to take part in a Formula One race weekend in over two decades. Wolff is now the managing director of the F1 Academy.
And despite Wolff being almost 20 years Sloss' senior, the younger of the Oban natives admits the 42-year-old trailblazer has long been an inspiration for her.
“She’s the main person I’ve looked up to in motorsport,” Sloss says.
“We went to the same high school and to have seen what she’s done as a driver and what she’s doing for females in motorsport is incredible.”
And, with her sights set on racing Le Mans 24 Hour in the future, Sloss is desperate not to waste any time in advancing her career further.
“When I first got into motorsport, I went into GT racing and I fell in love with that. That’s where the goal of Le Mans stemmed from so, for me, it’s not F1 that’s the goal, it’s Le Mans,” she says.
“There’s a lot of things on the table for next year so I’m excited to see what I can do in 2025.”
