Female Single-Seater Drivers Around the World: Australia & New Zealand

Chelsea Angelo

Lauren Gray, Robyn Hamilton, Caitlin Wood, Chelsea Angelo, Helene Bittner and Christina Orr now have their own profiles.

Clara Bond – raced Formula Fords and saloons in New Zealand. Her first races were in the Super Six saloon championship. In 2009, she won at least one race in Super Six, driving a Holden Commodore, at the Teretonga circuit. For the 2008-2009 season, she raced in the MTA and South Island Formula Ford championships, for most of the season. Her best result was an eleventh place at Timaru; she could not quite make the top ten. Her final championship position in the MTA series was fifteenth. Although she announced that she was moving back to touring cars afterwards, she does not look to have raced again. She now appears to be competing in equestrianism.

Jeanette Collier - raced Formula Vee in Australia in the 1970s. She started in 1973 after meeting another Formula Vee driver at work; she was a research engineer. In 1978, she took part in the Encel Stereo Vee Nationals, the biggest Formula Vee meeting in the country, held at Calder. In 1977, she was third in an all-female race at Oran Park, using a Renault 12. Robyn Hamilton and Caroline Hewitt were in front of her.

Bernadette Dixon - raced in Australia in the early 1970s. Her car was a Nimbus FV single-seater, presumably a Formula Vee, which she raced in the SCC Trophy. She normally competed in Formula Libre-style Racing Car  events, which were sometimes run as handicaps. Helene Bittner was one of her regular rivals in 1970 and both seemed to race a lot at Mallala. Very little further information seems to exist about Bernadette or her car.

Belinda Ferrier – raced in Formula Vee in New South Wales in the early and mid-1990s. She was from a racing family, and followed her father, Mark, into Formula Vee, possibly in a car he had built. Her sister is Leanne Tander, who started racing after Belinda had retired. Further details of her racing career are not forthcoming.

Jessica Golding – had one season in Australian Formula Ford, in 2008. It was not a full season, and she did not score championship points. Her best finish was fourteenth, at Queensland. After 2008, she returned to karting for several years. Her motorsport career is currently on hold, while she represents Australia in the skeleton bobsleigh in the Winter Olympics.

Taryn Kugener - New Zealand driver who raced in Formula Ford between 2005 and 2007. She first appears in the 2005 New Zealand Grand Prix, in which she finished twelfth. This was preceded by several years of junior karting. Two years in the New Zealand Formula Ford championship followed, and gave her a fourteenth and nineteenth place overall. She contested the South Island championship during the 2006-07 season and was eleventh. As well as single-seaters, she also raced Minis in 2003 and 2004, and came third in a national championship in 2004. After 2007, she seems to have returned to karting.

Debbie Lester – raced single-seaters in New Zealand in the 1980s. During the 1985-1986 Formula Vee season, she won a race, and the following year, she finished on the podium three times, in the same championship. In 1987, she moved up to Formula Ford. In 1986, she won an Endurance Production Car championship, sharing a car with her brother, Richard. She is part of the Lester motorsport dynasty; current racer, Jono Lester, is her nephew, and her own son, Jaxon Evans, also races.

Bree Morris - races in Formula Ford in New Zealand. She has been racing in both the North and South Island championships since the 2020-2021 winter season, plus a year in the NZ championship itself in 2021. This followed a season and a half in Formula First.  She was third in the 2020-21 North Island championship, then followed that up with six races in the NZ championship, with a best finish of fifth at Hampton Downs. In early 2022, she won three races in the North Island championship. In 2023, she moved into sportscar competition, entering the South Island Endurance series in a Mercedes-AMG GT4. She and Christina Orr-West were sixth. For 2024, she signed up for the New Zealand Toyota 86 championship.

Janet Pudney - raced in Formula First in New Zealand between 2002 and 2006. Of her three championship seasons, only the 2005-06 one was a full season. She was fifteenth overall. Her previous two seasons were only three-race guest slots. Her best individual performance was probably her run in the 2006 Formula First One Hour Endurance race. She was sixth overall from sixteen drivers. Janet is also known as an actress and model.

Amy Smith – one of New Zealand’s youngest-ever female drivers. She began racing in Formula First during the 2014-2015 season, and was only thirteen years old when she started. In addition to this, she was the only female driver. Her final championship position was thirteenth. Between seasons, she took part in the Formula First One Hour Endurance race, and was sixth. Her second full season in Formula First was interrupted by serious engine problems with her car, necessitating a full engine rebuild. At the beginning of 2016, she was back on the circuits, and was fourteenth in Formula First. The 2016-17 season was her third as a Formula First driver. She improved her final position to twelfth, and also came eighth in the Winter Series. She was sixth in the 2017-18 main series, picking up two podium positions, a second and a third. She returned to Formula First for the 2018-19 season and finished fifth, with one third place at Hampton Downs. She raced in Formula First again for the 2019-20 season. Her final championship position was seventh and she was fourth in most of her races. In 2021, she scored another podium, a third at Pukekohe, on her way to championship thirteenth.

Bronwyn Taylor - raced in Formula 5000 in a Repco Holden-engined Matich A50 in 1978. Her biggest race was the 1978 Australian Grand Prix, run that year as a Formula 5000 race, However, she did not actually qualify. Previously, she seems to have done some touring car races. Driving a Honda Civic, she was 17th in the 1976 Rover 500km Group C endurance race. She was sharing the car with Frank Brewster.

(Image from http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/)