Evo Ladies Profiles
We going to focus on the ladies in this section and the first navigator we're profiling is Linda Cariss
Evo Ladies: Linda Cariss
Name: Linda Cariss
Profession: Civil Service
How long have you been in motorsport?
“As far back as the early 70’s, we took a short break due to work commitments, but have always been involved in one way or another, marshalling, competing or organising.”
How did you first get into it?
“When I first met my husband he was competing in rallies. Our first date was a blind date, and we went to Newton Aycliffe to a motor sports event. We spent our honeymoon following the Scottish Rally, so I really did enjoy it from the word go.”
What have been the best bits?
“Highs are when you’re a flying on forest stage, and your adrenaline really flows and once you finish you think wow that was really great! But more specifically, winning the Kirby Lonsdale North of England Historic and the Wigton Northern Historic Championships in 2004 in our RS 2000 for the first time, winning the Berwick Classic Rally in 2005 and of course winning the Historic Class on the Lombard Rally in 2007.
Would you say there are any lows?
“Yes, well I suppose when you’re competing there are. On the 2008 Lombard, having fought our way into the lead at half way on the Historic Event, we had problems with the newly rebuilt gear box and a brand new manifold which cracked and we couldn’t get them repaired. We were in Scotland at the time, came back to York carried out the repairs ourselves and then returned to continue. It’s frustrating when it’s not your fault. On organising there’s a lot of work involved, there’s a lot of time and effort put into the events, sometimes people don’t really appreciate it and you don’t get the recognition, I mean you don’t do it for the recognition but it would be nice”
Do you ever argue in the car with your driving partner? (Does he provoke road rage?)
“Not often! We do sometimes have words, but it’s over and done with pretty fast. Sometimes we have a flare up, but we never fall out over it, if we make an error we admit it, say its history and carry on. “
Is there anything in motor sports that could be improved to get ladies involved?
Erm...that is tricky. I know quite a few wives who aren’t interested in motorsport, if there not interested it is a shame, but how do you make them interested? I don’t know. If you have a wife and husband team you are lucky, because there are so many women who are not interested.
My brother was into motorbikes and that sort of drew me into that type of thing. But it was my husband who really got me interested. I mean our hobby really is cars, marshalling, observing, competing, organising.
Maybe it’s the image, it is male dominated, maybe if there were more opportunities for women to compete. Just getting them interested in the first place is important, socially, we are a member of York Motor Club, and there are quite a lot of female members but few who actually participate.
How do you find the female/male ratio? After all it is about 1:10 in rallying.
Yes it is very low. It doesn’t bother me. Everyone’s very friendly you get on with each other and it’s a good crowd.
Love shopping / Hate shopping ?
Food shopping – The supermarkets are too busy and too big. I don’t enjoy that
Clothes shopping I enjoy – but only when I can find something I like
George Clooney / Daniel Craig/ Other, please state
Hard to pick I think it would have to be Daniel , James Bond. Mind you there is only one and that’s Sean Connery.
So who’s the Sean Connery of the Rallying world?
The French one, Sebastian something, I can’t think of his name, he is World Rallying Champion.
What’s you’re favourite?
Film? 1940’s Brief Encounter
Book? Murder Mysteries - especially those set in the medieval period & based in the world of horse racing..
Music? Katherine Jenkins
Food? Any ….just nicely cooked food.
Thanks Linda!!
___________________________________________
Clare Donovan
Since starting her motorsport career, Claire has worked up through the ranks taking both the Welsh Ladies Rally Title and Speed Title and an outright rally championship Group N victory along the way
Claire was born in Cardiff, South Wales and currently lives in the small seaside town of Penarth, just outside the capital city. She is 35 years old and finished her academic education with a BSc. Hons and Masters Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice. She now has a career as a Business Director in the NHS in Wales.
Claire is no stranger to horsepower – starting out with the real thing and riding horses from the age of 4 before moving onto cars in the 1990s. This move was no surprise - she was brought up in a rallying environment, with her father Terry running the Howells Garages Austin Rover Rally Team in the 1970s and 80s. She was voted the ‘Newcomer of the Year’ by her local motor club in 1997, and hasn’t looked back since!
The highs have been matched with the lows – a high-speed accident on the notorious Belgian tarmac rally stages in 2001 served as a painful reminder of the dangers of motorsport and later a lack of budget resulted in a couple of years away from the driver’s seat.
Last year saw the build and testing of a new Subaru Impreza rallycar alongside the development of an endurance specification Nissan Micra designed for forest and road rallying. Keep an eye on www.claire-donovan.com to see how both cars get on in 2009!
Claire Donovan's career highlights include
1999, 2000 & 2001 Welsh Tarmac Rally: Championship Class Podiums
2000 Millennium Rally Challenge: Team Champions
2003 Welsh Speed Championship: Class Podium
2004 Rallysport Challenge: N4 Class Champion & 8th Overall
2005 Wales Rally GB: Promotional Crew
2008 Welsh Sprint & Hillclimb Championship: Class Podium
Evo Ladies Profiles Statistics: 0 click throughs, 1044 views since 01-Mar-2009
