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Vicky socks it to stock car status quo
Vicky Thorpe has smashed the stereotype of stock
car racers on her way to winning the Classic Stock
Car championship.
Think of a stock car racing driver and the image
of a tattooed, hefty fellow with grease permanently
ingrained in his skin springs to mind. However,
Vicky Thorpe, the newly crowned Classic Stock Car
champion at Angmering Raceway, West Sussex, could
not be further from that image.
For an obvious start, she is the only female on
a grid full of the aforementioned drivers and
certainly lacks the usual ink and oil-begrimed
appearance so beloved of the stock car racing
fraternity.
However, Castrol R and four-star leaded petrol
would appear to run in the veins of the newly
crowned, and to date only, female Classic Stock Car
champion. Her father Mick Thorpe started racing at
the age of 17 in the sport's very early years and
her cousin is a former Ministox champion.
Five years ago, she joined the "family business"
behind the wheel of a 1956 MG Magnette, with which
she amassed a considerable collection of trophies
and the respect of any male stock car racer who
tangled with her on the track.
"I don't feel it is any more difficult
succeeding at stock car racing as a woman," she
says. "I'm treated just the same on race day and
wouldn't want it any other way."
After a close season's racing which, in keeping
with the strong family element on the track, saw
Vicky beat her father to the championship and along
the way remove her boyfriend Paul Axell's Anglia
from contention with judicious use of her 1964
Volvo's front bumper, Vicky feels she has proved
that stock car racing is not just for the
macho.
As for future racing plans, 28-year-old Vicky
says she is happy racing classic stock cars but
would not mind trying her hand at rallying in the
future. That's an advance warning to the male
drivers in that discipline.
Vicky runs Oval Legends Go Out Racing (OLGOR)
vintage stock car club and would be happy to help
any other women (or men) who are interested in
experiencing the thrills of stock car racing as it
was in the 1950s and 1960s. She may be reached at
07833 744 955 or victhorpe@hotmail.co.uk or go
along to Angmering Raceway which runs regular
events for classic stock cars.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motorsport/9252373/Vicky-socks-it-to-stock-car-status-quo.html
Results
Vicky Thorpe, a classic stock car racer
Vicky Thorpe was not born when her classic stock
car left the assembly line, but none the less the
25 year old girl racer can pilot the old beast
around the track with the same kind of skill that
the ‘old boys’ who grew up racing the
classics first time around find hard to keep up
with.
25 year old Vicky got into stock car racing
watching her Dad Mickey Thorpe from an early age.
Racing is definitely in the family genes as her
cousin was British Ministox champ, so it was only a
matter of time before she got behind the wheel.
Now piloting her 1800cc MGB powered 1956 MG
Magnette Vicky mixes it up with the classic stock
car pilots, including her dad, who in true stock
car style does not let a little thing like family
get in the way of being first under the chequered
flag.
In fact, Vicky rates her best win as one against
the old man after a bumper to bumper and neck to
neck race over the last three laps. “I managed
to squeeze up the inside and took the win,”
she recalls, “it is not often that I beat him
and it was a really good battle.”
On the other side of the stock car racing coin,
Vicky recalls her worst crash as the one when her
steering rack broke and she hit the very
unforgiving safety fence at Angmering head on at
about 40mph. “There’s no give to that
fence and it stopped me dead,” she remembers,
“besides the bent car my shoulders and neck
certainly knew about it!”
Vicky rates Angmering Raceway, West Sussex as
her favourite track, loving the long, fast and wide
straights and sweeping top bends. However, she is
quick to recall the perils of the pit bend.
“No matter how many times you go round it the
dreaded bottom corner (which is very sharp and
tight) it always catches you out and what ever
plans you had about your racing lines go right out
of the window.”
Vicky plans to get some seat time in the Front
Wheel Drive Saloon Rods at Angmering in the near
future to see what it is like to drive a modern car
around the track and how that compares with her
“old 1956 beast.” On the classic stock
car front, she is working with the rest of her team
Oval Legends Go Out Racing (O.L.G.O.R.) to grow the
club and get as many people on the circuit having
as much fun as she clearly is. “I think
classic stock car racing will grow,” she says,
“as it becomes better known. There are still
plenty of suitable cars out there, from abandoned
classic restoration projects to retired stock cars
and once you have the car built and keep it well
maintained it is for life.”
Vicky has a few words of encouragement for any
girl racers considering taking to the track behind
the wheel of one of these ironed up old track
warriors; “Go for it,” she says, “it
is not as scary as you may think and the buzz is
great and once you have done it you will have the
bug for more. Plus, we’re just as good as the
chaps out there and it’s great to give them a
run for their money.”
To learn more about Oval Legends Go Out Racing
contact them on 01435 863811 07833 744955
Angmering Raceway (www.ovalraceclub.co.uk)
runs classic stock cars regularly, so do go along
and see the bumper being put in classic style.
Source: www.girlracer.co.uk
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