Woman vs The Mountain

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This weekend the second annual Challenge Bathurst event is being held at the world famous Mt Panorama circuit in the central west NSW town of Bathurst. Entrants in the event can drive their own road or race cars around the awesome 6.2km circuit.

For the first two days the Supersprint Event takes places. This is reserved for experienced motor sport competitors in their race cars and enables fine tuning for other events such as the Bathurst 1000, Bathurst 12 hour and Bathurst 6 hour.

Over the weekend the Regularity Event is held and this is where it gets a bit more interesting for us mere mortals dreaming of taking on the Mountain. Anybody with a performance engineered car and circuit or tarmac rally driving experience with CAMS Level 2 Speed License or higher can apply to take part.

Under the rules of Regularity you have to nominate a lap time and this determines what group you are placed in. Once the event commences you are not racing against other competitors, but rather challenging yourself to hit your nominated lap time every lap you complete.

In total Regularity competitors receive 120 driving minutes on the Mountain over six 20 minute sessions, there are five groups with each group having a grid capacity of 55 cars. There is one familiarisation, one practice, and four timed regularity sessions.

The event is dominated by men, but there are also a handful of women who are taking on Mt Panorama. Two of these women are, Dana who is competing for the second time at the event and Kelly Anne who is getting her first taste of the circuit this weekend.

Dana is driving her 1987 Toyota Supra, which has had the brakes upgraded, coilover suspension added and a 2JZ motor fitted with a turbo bolted on to that.

Kelly Anne will run her 1987 Porsche 944 Turbo that she has owned for 16 years. Over that time it has received engine reliability and power mods and was stripped to bare metal and gutted to save weight. This year the car has had a turbo rebuild, shorter ring and pinion gears installed, the limited slip differential has been rebuilt and Kelly Anne rebuilt the noisy torque tube as well.

I asked Kelly Anne and Dana a few questions before they headed to Bathurst for this weekends event.

What or who got you into cars and motorsports?

Kelly Anne: I was posted to America in 2001 and I felt like I needed some kind of project to keep me busy. I subsequently saw a cheap and neglected 1987 Porsche 944 Turbo by the side of the road so I decided to make that my project. I knew basic mechanical stuff but nothing about Porsches or turbo charged cars so things got interesting pretty quickly. I acquired tools and knowledge along the way.

Whilst that was happening I ended up buying parts from a local Porsche guy who happened to be a Porsche Club of America club racer. Through him I became involved in track days at Texas World Speedway and rebuilding my car to suit. I benefited from the PCA track day tuition and progressed through the ranks there. I subsequently did track days in Australia and then in the UK (Silverstone, Donington, Cadwell, Oulton, Bedford, Snetterton), Netherlands (Zandvoort) and Belgium (Spa) when I was posted to the UK 2010-2012. In the UK I was fortunate enough to receive driver coaching from talented drivers like Tim Harvey, Mike Wilds and Andy Walsh. In the UK I bought and built a 996 Carrera as my road legal track car. 

Dana: My husband asked me to join a team for a fun day that he was competing in at Oran Park. I went along, thinking that I’d be a pretty lame gap filler in the team, but ended up doing really well! From then, it didn’t take too much effort for him to convince me that our family needed a track car.

What do you love most about driving?

Kelly Anne: It’s a thrill, it’s a sense of reward from the challenge of building a car and from the competition where I challenge myself to overcome my limits and go faster.

Dana: I love the focus. Life is so hectic, and I feel like I’m usually thinking of seven things at once. When I’m driving I can only focus on exactly what I’m doing. It’s great for clearing my head.

Do you know what your target lap time will be yet for your Challenge Bathurst sessions?

Kelly Anne: I’m in the process of working that out. I’m talking to a few drivers who I know from other tracks where I understand what they and their cars are capable of. I’ve also put together a simulator so I can begin to learn about Bathurst and I will invite some of my racing friends to spend time with me on the sim to point out some of the things I’ll need to know. At the end of the day I am mindful that Bathurst has little room for error and many a talented driver has come unstuck there. Hence I will treat my first trip to the mountain with the respect that it deserves … as I plan to be back there racing with more vigour in the not too distant future.

Dana: Last year I was doing 3 minutes 12 seconds, but I have a lot more horsepower on board this year, so I’m not sure. I would love to do anywhere below 3 minute 05 seconds.

What are you looking forward to the most about driving around Mt Panorama?

Kelly Anne: Bathurst is a bucket list item for me, being there, having the opportunity to drive such an iconic, famous track at race speed is all the thrill I am after at this point. I will find my benchmark, I will study how I went and consider how I will do it better and when I subsequently return it will be with my usual driven intent to do better.

Dana: The sense of achievement. You have to pinch yourself as you’re scooting along down Conrod [Straight].

What are you looking forward to the least?

Kelly Anne: Rain.

Dana: The nerves. The nerves are terrible.

How have you found the reaction of men to your involvement at track days/racing events?

Kelly Anne: Reactions from men have been mostly positive. I like to think I know how to hold my own at the track. I have mechanical aptitude, I do my own work on the car, I have some driving skill and I am organised and analytical. At the same time, I enjoy being a woman and I chose not to blend in too much! Most men I’ve met and gotten to know in the track environment have become friendly and accepting. I expect racing to be somewhat different given the competitive nature of what is involved.

Dana: They’re used to me being around by now. Thinking back to a few years ago, it was much more surprising to have women competing, and wherever I went I’d search around desperately trying to find another woman driver, but now I think it’s just the norm to have women competing at events.  

We will catch up with Kelly Anne and Dana after the Challenge Bathurst event to find out how they went driving around one of the most famous racetracks in the world.

Good luck to you both!