Every driver knows the value of a well-timed pit-stop. I learned mine the hard way.
I'm Clare - JDMClare across the automotive community since around 2012... I founded PITSTOP.Social in 2021 with a simple belief: that the car world is full of people quietly running on empty, and that the scene itself could be the place they refuel.
It began with events. Bringing people together, side by side, around the thing we all love - because connection rarely needs forcing when there's an engine between you. That was the spark: gather the community, open the conversation, see where it led.
Where it led, for a while, was a stop of my own. My mental health reached a point I couldn't drive through, and the momentum we'd built slowed right down. Looking back, I see it less as a setback and more as the brand learning, in real time, the very lesson it was created to teach - that everyone needs to pull in sometimes.
A recent ADHD diagnosis, with an autism assessment still on the calendar, has brought a great deal into focus since. The late drives that have always helped clear my head, the projects that pulled me into hours of hyperfocus, the way a meet feels easier than almost any other room - none of it was random. For a neurodivergent mind, the automotive world isn't only a passion. It's a place to regulate, to belong, and to breathe.
That understanding sits at the heart of everything PITSTOP.Social does today. We're not a brand that discovered mental health and reached for a slogan. We're built from lived experience and shaped by what genuinely helps the people in our community, especially those whose minds work a little differently.
None of it happens alone - everything I do is supported by my partner and creative partner, Ricky at Carfectionery, who helps keep the whole thing on the road.
The mission is the same one I started with, just clearer now: to spark open conversations across the car scene, to help neurodivergent enthusiasts feel seen and supported, and to keep a steady line back to real help - which is why everything we create fuels our commitment to SHOUT 85258.
We've travelled a long way from where we began, and we're proud of every mile - bumps included. Five years in, I'm still figuring it out in public, and that feels like the most useful thing I can offer.
Stop. Refuel. Carry on. 🏁
#DONOTOVERINFLATE 💚
