Martin was on the verge of becoming the first transgender driver to take part in the gruelling 24 Hours of Le Mans race before the coronavirus pandemic got in the way.
But dealing with setbacks and adversity is part of the 38-year-old British driver’s identity.
"I have faced plenty of challenges growing up," said Martin, who lost both of her parents to cancer, first her dad when she was about 10 and then her mum when she was 23.
Martin believes these early losses forced her to be more “resilient and independent”, but she was also coming to terms with being transgender.
"I guess what I struggled at the most was the realisation at a very young age that I am transgender," recalls Martin as she remembers the days before support or information was easily available. "The only time I saw somebody was when they were presented in a very negative context,” she adds.
"So you can imagine how incredibly damaging that is for someone growing up and understanding who she is, because you feel there is something wrong with you and people won’t accept you for who you are."
Since then, Martin has become a Stonewall Champion and uses her platform in motorsport to improve acceptance, awareness and visibility for the LGBT community.
"One of the things that I find frustrating is that idea of unfulfilled potential, I feel that I had a lot of potential when I was growing up but I didn't know how to channel my energy because I wasn't living as the person that I am, I didn't know how to be me," she says.
That frustration was what pushed Martin to succeed in motorsports: "I couldn’t see that I would ever be accepted in a lot of the careers I was interested in, especially motorsport.
“This is one of the reasons why I am so passionate now about using my visibility and my role within motorsport to inspire other people and just to increase the awareness, acceptance and empathy in society, by sharing my story."
This position also allows Martin to share her mantra of “your mountain is waiting, so get on your way” - a positive message that she uses to encourage both herself and her fans to “seize the day” and pursue their dreams. "You'll never know what you're capable of unless you put your heart into it and try," she adds.
Growing up in the 80s and the era of Top Gun, like most children Martin dreamed of donning aviator sunglasses and piloting a fighter jet. That was until a visit to the racetrack with her friend's dad shifted her fantasy to that of a racing driver, as a young Martin was enthralled by the paddock and being surrounded by fast cars.
One of the key milestones in her motorsport journey was when she broke the record at a French hillclimbing event in 2014, winning her class by three seconds, an unheard-of gap in hill climbs. In 2017, she started the move into circuit racing, coming third in her first-ever endurance race around the Le Mans Bugatti circuit and then in the following year she reached the podium in three rounds of the Ginetta GT5 Challenge.
However, driving for inclusivity in the motorsport hasn't been without its difficulties, as Martin explains: "I have faced quite a bit of adversity with being transgender in motorsports."
"It's not like I go into situations and I want to just tell everyone I'm transgender, but I have raced in teams where that was very much the elephant in the room."
With real-world racing on hold, Martin is now a regular driver in the ABB Formula E Race at Home Challenge in support of UNICEF.
"I never got to do any karting or anything like that," explains Martin. "So my introduction to racing was, actually, all on PlayStation and Xbox consoles and long before I got behind the wheel that’s where it all began for me.
"And it is kind of funny to come full circle right now!"
For her, that's going from gaming to the real world, and back again, as Martin finds herself lining up for the Challenge grid races, going up against some of the world's fastest sim racers for the chance to drive the real Formula E Gen2 car.
But she has taken this challenge in her stride, and once again demonstrated her resilience in the event. In the last virtual race around the fictitious Electric Docks circuit, Martin took some damage to her car but rather than give up, her determination kept her in the race whilst her more experienced sim racing rivals crashed out one-by-one and were eliminated around her.
"I’m loving being part of it," says Martin on relishing the frantic competition in the Race at Home Challenge, "It’s such a great opportunity for someone who comes from racing in the real world and have the chance to race against some of the most talented sim racers out there."
It's this determination and willpower that is pushing Martin towards her dream of racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
"When I was younger it felt like a lottery win as it is arguably the biggest race in the world, but I have always worked towards achieving that,” she said. “It is a kind of long-term project for me."
Martin continues to push in both motorsports and her work in the LGBT community. As she puts it: "I am just trying to change the world a little and make it a better place."