The fastest woman on four wheels?

Lily

B.R
Staff member
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In a dusty classroom in Karachi, Pakistan, a group of schoolgirls sits transfixed, listening to a stranger in their midst.

"You may be told that it is silly to follow your dreams and that there are things you cannot do, but with will, determination and hard work it is possible to fulfil your dreams," the stranger says. And she should know. Burcu Çetinkaya had been told her dreams were fanciful. The discouragement only made her more determined and today the Turkish adrenaline-sports junkie is a professional rally driver, a TV presenter and one of the fastest women on four wheels.

Her recent trip to Pakistan was organised by her sponsor, energy drinks firm Red Bull, and during her time in the country she visited five educational institutions to talk to children. "I spoke about the role of women in sports," explains Burcu, 30. "It was important for me to go there to be an example to the younger generation. I fought a big battle to be able to come as far as I have in my chosen profession. Some people didn't believe in me but I always believed in myself and if I can pass that determination on to others and inspire them, I will.

"Everyone should have ambitions, but often people tell you your dreams are impossible. I heard all this myself. People told me I couldn't be a professional racing driver. It is too dangerous; it is a man's sport. It nearly stopped me, but in the end I fought for what I wanted. Now I try to tell this to people - if you have a dream and you really work hard for it, you can achieve it."

Burcu's interest in motorsport began when she was 12 and her father, who owns a motor transport business, took her to a rally. She was hooked on the adrenaline and became an instant fan.

Uniquely in motorsport, rally spectators are free to walk around the race course and stand as close to the action as they dare. Diehard fans sometimes try to touch the cars as they roar past at over 160 kilometres per hour. Veteran drivers recount stories of returning from course stages with severed spectator fingers stuck in their radiator grills after a fan has got too close. Although safety in the sport has been tightened in recent years this fanaticism still leads to fatalities and the proximity between fan and competitor is what makes rallying the ultimate white-knuckle spectator sport.

Where there's a will…

When a young Burcu told her family she wanted to enter this testosterone-fuelled world, they dismissed the idea. She says, "They did not want me to do it. They felt it was dangerous. My father wanted me to go into the family business and my mum was scared about the danger of the sport. So I did what I wanted to do and I went my own way."

Burcu had already proven herself as a capable young sportswoman by becoming a snowboard champion and never lost sight of her rally dream, competing as an amateur in her early twenties. In 2003, her career almost ended when she was involved in a horrific skiing accident in which her arm was shattered in six places. She severed her radial nerve and surgeons had to perform a nerve transplant to give her back feeling in her left arm.

"After that people told me: ‘you are not able to have full control of your left arm so you will never get to a higher level in racing,' she recalls. "I lost my hopes for rallying for a time after the accident. But I made my arm stronger, and although I still have small problems it is now almost back to normal."

At the age of 24, she decided to become a professional racer. Without sponsorship this meant bank loans. Rallying is an expensive sport. Although cars are standard road models, they are stripped out and modified and the most expensive can be worth £300,000 (around Dh1.8 million). Burcu had to start small.

"I sold the road car I owned and managed to secure bank loans for €60,000 (around Dh300,000). It was a brave thing to do. I went to a few different banks and somehow I managed to get all this money. The bank managers were fine because I paid them all back," she laughs. "Then I went to a Turkish ex-champion and asked him to teach me. It became an obsession."

For a driver, a rally is a series of incredible adrenaline peaks interspersed with long drives on public roads between the stages. Cardiovascular fitness, controlled aggression and concentration are vital. During a stage the driver is guided by the co-driver who gives coded pace notes about the course over the in-car intercom.

"The thing that hooked me about rally driving was working together with a team for a common goal with nature working against you," she says. "I love cars, first of all, I grew up with them and I love every part of them. And I love competition. I have been competing all my life. In a rally these things come together; nature, competition, teamwork and cars.

Pushing the limits

"My speciality is driving fast on gravel tracks where you can push the limits really hard. On roads the surface doesn't change much but on gravel you have to calculate all the time."

Those calculations went dangerously awry in 2010 when Burcu, who races with her female co-driver, Çiçek Güney, crashed out of the Ypres rally in Belgium. She recalls: "Ypres is my unlucky rally, every year there I have a problem. I've crashed there three times and they are the only crashes I've had.

"In 2010 I pushed my limits too hard. I tried to go faster than I was capable of. There wasa small bump in the road I hadn't noticed. The car jumped and we were airborne. In the split second we were in the air I knew we were going to have a big accident so I just prayed. In life there are times when you can interact and try to prevent events, but other times when you don't have a chance. That was one of those occasions."

In her homeland today, Burcu has a huge fan base of young people. She has won the Turkish Ladies Rally championship five times and races internationally in a Skoda car sponsored by the Turkish Tourist Board and the Turkish Ministry of Sport. They stepped in to help out when her former sponsor, Peugeot, dropped out last year.

"Strong female figures are supported in Turkey. In the beginning most men didn't believe I could be faster and still today if I am faster than them they are surprised. And if I make a mistake they say ‘what do you expect, she is a girl'. They easily accept my failure but when they see my success they are supportive.

"When I have a failure people can tend to give up on me easily because I am a girl and it is frustrating, especially with sponsors because sometimes you need a hand. But ultimately it is not important, what matters is what is inside you."

Her latest passion is ballroom dancing. As well as presenting two Turkish television shows, one about cars and the other about sport, she has also starred as a contestant in a television celebrity dance contest.

"I find it relaxing," she laughs. "It takes your mind off everything else and you can concentrate totally on one thing for a few days. It is completely regenerating.''

Burcu's achievements

2003: Won Turkish Ladies Snowboard Championship in both Slalom and Giant Slalom
2005: Istanbul Ladies Rally Champion
2005-2006: Raced in the Volkswagen Polo Ladies Cup
2006: Raced as a Castrol Fiesta Rallye Cup pilot; won the Turkish Ladies Rally Championship; took second place in the Turkish Hill Climb Championship in category 1
2007: Raced as a Castrol Fiesta Rallye Cup Pilot; won the Turkish Ladies Rally Championship
2008: Won the Castrol Fiesta Rallye Cup Championship; won the Turkish Rally Championship Ladies Driver and Class 3; runner-up in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy International
2009: Won the Turkish Ladies Championship; placed first in Grade A
2010: Won the Turkish Ladies Championship

Rally Facts


  • The car accelerates from 0-60mph as fast as a Porsche 911 turbo.
  • A driver wears a fireproof suit under his racing jumpsuit and can lose 12 litres of fluids a day.
  • IRC cars have to be standard four-wheel-drive cars with the same specifications and wheel systems. They have no turbo chargers, no traction control and no electric differentials.
  • After each rally the car is disassembled and each component is checked and weighed by race organisers to make sure it meets strict criteria.


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