When I was growing up, I remember being told not to disturb Mum on a Sunday afternoon while she was watching Formula 1 (F1), so I would sit with her and watch until I too became a huge fan.
In 1995, I went to Donington with some friends to watch the Network Q RAC rally and I remember the feeling I got watching the Subaru of Colin McRae blasting through the darkness, leaving such an impression. When I said I wanted to go and work for the team, I was met with the comment: “You’ve got no chance, you’re a girl!” That was the moment that spurred me on.
How I got in the motorsport industry
I had already qualified from college as a beauty therapist and make-up artist, so there was no chance of me going back to college to study, and at the time there were no college courses specifically designed for careers in motorsport.
So I made a nuisance of myself and went to as many race meetings as possible and pestered teams to let me help them so I could learn. I offered to wash wheels, clean cars, sweep floors, anything I could to get myself a chance of learning. Eventually, one team competing in the BTCC allowed me into their garage so I could watch, and through that, I managed to get an opportunity to work with one of the mechanics.
The following year, the team moved on to the Vectra SRi Challenge, which was one of the BTCC support races, and that year, 1998, was my first full season.
Getting promoted
In 1999, I remained with the Vectra SRi Challenge but moved to Triple Eight Race Engineering which was running the championship. We had two cars: the media car, which would have a different driver every round to help promote the series; and the gas car, which was possibly the first race car to be fuelled by gas.
The following year I was promoted to the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) team, where I worked on the Super Touring Vectra driven by Jason Plato, winning my first race at the very first round at Brands Hatch.
At the end of 2000, I was fortunate to get a job at Prodrive, which was the team behind the Subaru World Rally Team in the World Rally Championship. I worked my way up to becoming the technician responsible for the sub-assembly for the main rally team. After a few years, I moved departments to become a car build, test and event technician and spent the next five years travelling around the world on tests and events.
In 2010 I came back to the BTCC with Triple Eight Race Engineering after a 10-year break, and spent five years with them as an independent entry running a Super 2000 Vectra, and also the MG works team where I was reunited with Jason Plato, who joined the team alongside Sam Tordoff.
In 2015, I moved to Power Maxed Racing, firstly with Chevrolet, and then with the Vauxhall Astras as a manufacturer team. I’m currently No.1 mechanic for Árón Taylor-Smith who returns to the team alongside Mikey Doble for their second successive season, and the team’s tenth in the BTCC.
In addition, I’ve also worked in the European Touring Car Championship, on the East African Safari Classic Rally and several seasons of TCR UK amongst other events.
What I love about BTCC
Although the BTCC is considered as the pinnacle of British Motorsport, the budgets are nowhere near those of F1, therefore there aren’t as many staff per team to specialise in certain areas. I see this as an advantage though, as it means that we have to be more flexible and knowledgeable in all areas of car prep. It makes the role much more varied and interesting as you could be expected to do anything from basic service of a car, such as replacing brakes, to rebuilding a gearbox, changing an engine or resolving electrical issues.
There’s also the time-critical element as there are three races on a Sunday and only approximately 1.5 hours between each. This can add a lot of pressure to re-prep the car in time for the start of each race. There’s a great deal of satisfaction when the Evans Halshaw PMR cars roll out of the garage looking brand new after a hectic re-prep.
When there’s a lot of work to be done, there’s also a challenge to identify the techs that are best placed to carry out each individual task ensuring that the work is completed correctly but in the quickest manner possible, so it’s rewarding when you understand the strengths of your team and can co-ordinate the re-prep successfully when there are time constraints.
Being a woman in motorsport
It is improving for women in motorsport, but certainly not as quickly as it could. When I returned to the BTCC after working in the World Rally Championship for almost 10 years, I was expecting to see the pitlane full of women, but in reality it hadn’t changed much at all. I was still one of the few women working in a team.
That was almost 15 years ago now and I am pleased to see that there’s been an increase of women in the industry in the last few years. There are many more college courses available now, specifically tailored to motorsport, which weren’t available when I started out. This makes it more accessible to everyone.
I still think that the biggest difference needs to be made at primary school age to teach both girls and boys that any job or career is accessible to everyone, and you don’t need to follow the stereotypical roles that were taught in the past.
My advice
There are many different roles in motorsport, not just as a technician working on the cars, but as a data engineer, PR and marketing, media, etc. Go to circuits and talk to teams and anyone that already works in the industry. Investigate the different roles and what they involve to find out which appeals to you the most.
Don’t be put off by a lack of knowledge or experience. I had no relevant qualifications when I decided to change careers from working as a beauty therapist, but I was determined that I wanted to work in motorsport. I volunteered at weekends until I gained some experience, and was then given an opportunity to work with a team. It’s a great way to make contacts and to get yourself known around the paddock and pitlane and can open doors into a full-time role.