Autosport – 22 August 2019

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One of the UK’s oldest amateur categories always seemed

to be the domain of jolly chaps having fun at a low cost.

Until Michelle Hayward took a class title in 2018

PAUL LAWRENCE

The clubwoman

of Clubmans

C

nowadays, most are self-run and a Clubmans paddock is a place

of fettling and friendship rather than artics and awnings. In some

ways, the blokey bonhomie that conjours might seem to make it

an unusual choice for a female racer, but Hayward has broken

that particular mould.

Now 38 years old and living in Wrexham, Hayward can trace her

passion for speed back to university, where she was fi rst exposed

to karting. She competed at a fairly serious level and then started

riding motorbikes for fun on the road. The fun was rather short-

lived, however, and ended with a stay in hospital.

The injuries sustained failed to dampen her enthusiasm, and

while lying in a hospital bed she saw an advert for the fl edging

Formula Woman – entrepreneur Graeme Glew had created

the fi rst all-female race series, with a bold plan to off er fully

funded seasons for the best 16 novice racers.

Hayward got through to the fi nal at Bruntingthorpe for

lubmans racing is not an obvious place for a talented

female racer to make her mark and win a national

championship. But that’s just what Michelle

Hayward did in 2018 when she raced her Mallock

Mk27 to the CSP2 title in the Clubmans Cup.

Clubmans has been around for well over 50 years now and

remains as valid as ever. Mainly in front-engined sports-racing

cars designed or inspired by the late Arthur Mallock, countless

racers have enjoyed a largely unrivalled bang-for-buck ratio. It

may be inexpensive in racing terms, but the cars are blindingly

quick and generate great gobs of downforce with which to

reward the committed.

The category has its roots in the self-build generation, which

proliferated in the 1960s. Gifted and enthusiastic racers toiled in

draughty sheds to design, build and prepare their cars and that

ethos remains strong today. While Mallocks tend to dominate

38 AUTOSPORT.COM 22 AUGUST 2019