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Sussex lady Sue Jeffery's
main discipline is rallycross, the invented-for-TV
racing formula that pits competitors against both
rough and tarmac surfaces. The cars are powerful;
up to 700 bhp, and the races are short and fiercely
competitive.
Sue's first forays into
motorsport were mixed-surface club Minicross races
in 1991. Like so many racers in many disciplines,
the Mini proved a good starter car for her. In 1994
she broke into the top ten of a championship for
the first time when she came tenth in the Grass
Minicross championships. Grasstrack racing is one
of the most popular entry-level motorsports in the
UK.
A move up to rallycross
proper beckoned in 1995, still with the Mini, and
Sue was up there with the best of them. She ended
the season in fourth place. The following year she
swapped her Mini for a more powerful Talbot Sunbeam
in the now-defunct Colway class. She was sixth in
the Croft track's Colway championship. it was now
time to branch out a little more and the next
season was a vintage one. She was fourth in the
BTRDA's National Colway Championship and won the
Lydden Colway competition outright, making her the
first woman to win a rallycross crown in the
UK.
Her career was really
progressing and for the 1998 season she purchased
an ex-Rolf Neilson European Rallycross-spec Porsche
911. She was now ready to take on rallycross's
biggest class: Supercars. It was another female
first as no woman had ever attempted Supercar
competition before. Speeds in this class are high
and this is where the established stars like Dermot
Carnegie and Pat Doran ply their trade.
After a learning year, Sue
was fourth in Supercars in 1999 after some very
strong performances. As well as being the only
woman she was also the highest-placed English
driver in the division. She sat the following year
out while she and partner Barry Stewart worked on
developing the car. (Barry also drives it on
occasion). It is capable of running on both two and
four-wheel drive. For her return, Sue moved down to
the Modified division in 2001, where horsepower is
slightly lower but competition is still intense.
The Modified campaign was
being fought on two fronts - the BRDA National
Rallycross championship and the BARC Championship.
Sue was competitive in both and came away from the
season with a second and third in class
respectively. For 2002, the multi-pronged attack
continued and she was second in class in BRDA
again, as well as thirteenth out of 67 in the
overall standings for all classes. She also tackled
the BTRDA series and was eighth in class one, the
top class for Modified cars over 1650cc.
In 2003, Sue was
everywhere. She improved on her BRDA scores and
came eighth overall, with the Porsche now back to
two-wheel drive permanently. She was seventh in the
BTRDA standings and third in the BARC points, with
an overall class win. The MSA British Rallycross
Championship had been resurrected the previous year
and Sue entered the Blyton round. She came
thirteenth in a large, mixed Supercar and Modified
field. Throughout the year the Porsche had always
made at least the "B" Final or better, apart from
one round where Sue had to settle for fourth in the
"C" Final. The system of small heats and multiple
finals in rallycross means that a driver has
several chances of qualifying for the "A" Final or
the mixed-class Superfinal, which award the most
points.
After thirteen years of
rallycross, Sue decided on a change of tack for the
2004 season and switched to circuit racing in the
Uniroyal Fun Cup series, a set of endurance races
for Audi-powered Volkswagen Beetle silhouette cars.
She became part of the all-female CO Racing team,
alongside drivers Natalie Tomsett, Claire Mayo,
Rebecca Morrell and Becky-Beth Cox, plus female
engineers and managers. The team competed in one
race, and Sue hoped that it would lead to others,
and maybe a switch to full-time circuit
racing.
I have been unable to
track down any more details of the Uniroyal race
and it seems that Sue herself has not been active
in motorsport in 2005.
Source:
speed-queens.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/sue.html
Related Issue:
Women
Racers
Directory,
Women
in Racing,
Women
Racers,
More
Women in
Racing,
Race
Schedules,
Notable
Women
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