Hayward has also
had success in Fun
Cup endurance racingWALKERI could not have done it without Mike.”
As the 2018 season ended, more change was coming as Hayward
and Evans parted company after 15 years together: “We intend
to remain friends. It was a really diffi cult decision and we’re
both involved in the running of the Clubmans Register.”
For now, one Clubmans chapter has closed but a return is still a
signifi cant option for the future. “I defi nitely see me getting back
to Clubmans but I’d want to upgrade the car into the CSP1 category
because I want to be able to win races outright,” she says. The CSP1
category, home to 200bhp projectiles, off ers even quicker racing
yet retains the timeless Clubmans mantra of aff ordable motor
racing in a great atmosphere.
Alongside the Clubmans campaign, Hayward has raced in the
Fun Cup: “I had a fantastic couple of years racing in the Fun Cup.
I was really fortunate to meet a guy called Chris Webster who
essentially funded my Fun Cup years. I really loved the endurance
aspect of the racing and competing with a team. We did the Spa 25
hours and fi nished on the class podium, and then we went one
better and took our maiden victory at Portimao in the night race:
such good times and unforgettable memories.”
The personal hiatus has put a temporary hold on racing and it
seems likely that she will see out 2019 on the sidelines. “It’s only
a sabbatical, for sure,” she says. “I’m working on getting fi nancially
stable and will then start working on going racing again. It is a
time of change and racing is on hold at the moment.”
When she moved to Chester in 2008 to be with Evans she
requalifi ed as a personal trainer and that fi tted well with the racing.
But a switch back to project management is an option for the future.
While Hayward has carved a place in national racing history as
the fi rst woman to win a Clubmans title, clearly winning against
whoever is on the grid is what matters and she does not see the
gender issue as a big deal. “I don’t think gender has made any
diff erence to my racing,” she says. “I’ve always been pretty used
to being in a man’s world and I’m naturally very competitive.
You are very much equal on the track, but you do feel that you
have to get your elbows out a little bit and show that you’re
not going to be a pushover.
“I do wonder if the guys have a bit more of a pride/ego thing
and don’t want to be beaten by a woman. But Clubmans is
extremely friendly and people are very supportive of each other.
After a race, they all go up and congratulate each other on a good
drive and you don’t get that feeling of, ‘Oh God, I’ve just been
beaten by a woman’.”
And her success has sparked the interest of other women in
An all-women
Formula Ford race
“Snetterton in
October 1985 saw
what is thought to be
the first all-female
single-seater race”History was made at Snetterton in October 1985, when
18 female drivers took to the track in Van Diemen RF78s
for what is believed to be the first all-female single-seater
race in the UK, if not the world.
The Jim Russell Racing School-run Esso All-Ladies’ Race
was won by 20-year-old Anita Latham, ahead of Linda Keen,
who was then a motorsport journalist at Motoring News
(now Motorsport News) and Virginia Murray.
Racewear designer Wendy Hobday was behind the idea,
persuading the Jim Russell school to organise an all-female
driving course and the race itself. The drivers were recruited
from the world of motorsport, with some additions brought
in from TV and the press – “the media girls”, according to
Keen. Latham reckons that “around half a dozen” were
actively involved in motorsport, with the rest just interested.
Keen had been racing on short ovals for several seasons
and Latham had competed in rallies. Hazel Clements worked
for a racewear company, Sue McLernan worked for the
Jim Russell school as a secretary, Susan Osman was a TV
newsreader and Julie Brown presented the music slot
on TV-am. While Osman
went on to become a
screenwriter, Brown
became famous as MTV VJ
‘Downtown’ Julie Brown.
“We had such a laugh
with the instructors,” says
Keen. “John Kirkpatrick
[a boss at the school for
many years] was called ‘The Kilt’, and he was a great
instructor. If you speak to John Pratt [then one of the UK’s
leading junior single-seater talents], he’ll probably be
terribly uncomplimentary! He was one of the instructors.”
Despite the instructors being “terrorised” by a gang
of women, Latham remembers them taking what they
were doing seriously, although “they didn’t know what
to make of us”.
The race itself was run over six laps. Keen freely admits
that lap times were: “Rubbish! Two to three seconds off
the pace of the time.” She also admits that a penalty for
exceeding the maximum permitted revs dropped Murray
below her to third in the final results, just ahead of Belgian
Isobel Joset. Brown was fift h – she did not particularly
enjoy the race and put her pace down to being scared
to use the brakes properly.
Rachel Harris-Gardiner“You are very much an equal but you do feel
you have to get your elbows out a little bit to
show that you’re not going to be a pushover”
a category that has never had many female participants. “Even
in Clubmans, we’ve got a couple of women racing now and they
say they were inspired by what I’ve done,” she says. “It is very
good that there are more women in motorsport, and seeing
women competing does inspire others to have a go. It’s getting
more and more accepted.”
But this has never been just about being on the grid for Michelle
Hayward. She is determined, competitive and has excellent natural
pace: “It’s not just about taking part. There are a growing number of
women at the front of the fi eld fi ghting for podium positions and
winning championships. We’re proving ourselves to be equal!”22 AUGUST 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 41MICHELLE HAYWARD