Her father, John, was the 1968 European Touring Car champion and successfully raced Mini- Coopers. “All of my childhood memories are of race circuits and going to race meetings,” she said. She is just as sure that they have a distinct advantage in temperament “Men are a lot more hot-headed,” she said. “They feel that they have so much more to prove, but women were put on this earth to reproduce, so when they are put in a dangerous situation they don’t always want to take the risk.
“Women are much more careful drivers because they think more. Once they get to a certain level in competitive driving they can push themselves on by going step by step, whereas a young male driver will push himself over the edge before he knows what his skill levels are.”Over the past three years, driving a 1600cc red Vauxhall Corsa bought in kit form, she has risen quickly to become one of Britain’s leading rally drivers, winning the national women’s section twice.

Gilly Handley, one of only four British women in the event, has strong views on taking care of No 132. Although this 5ft 4in, 28-year-old was almost born into motor sport, and is intimately involved with it through her job as secretary to the Benetton Formula One team, she feels that women are still not fully accepted in rallying and racing. SELF-PRESERVATION is not the most obvious priority for the drivers who hurtle through the forests and drive on after crashes that would give most of us recurring nightmares, but at least one competitor in the Network Q Rally Great Britain, which starts in Cheltenham this morning, will see it as a priority. His works-supported Toyota will certainly be up to the job but he must control the temptation to overcook on today’s first stage if he is to reach the Welsh forest tracks which on the last occasion, he says, gave him the thrill of his career.NORMAN FOX. He has previous rally experience, having driven the 1996 RAC event, but admits that road racing and spreading the dust and mud are vastly different techniques. He has always enjoyed the special demands offered by the event and, with nothing to lose, could be the foreign driver with the best chance of beating Burns and McRae.MARTIN BRUNDLEThe 40-year-old television pundit and ex-Formula One driver remains quick and alert enough to surprise a lot of people with a place in the top 20.

Now 37, the Spaniard has won 22 World Championship events and has twice won the British Rally. His attitude to this year’s rally is that it is almost certainly going to be a straight fight between himself and Richard Burns, especially on the second and third days. “When it comes to the Welsh forests, home advantage is definitely going to be a big advantage,” he said. No doubt his co-driver, Nicky Grist, is in for some “moments”. Ford have not won a domestic rally since 1979, but that could be about to change.CARLOS SAINZToyota, who will end their factory involvement after this closing event of the championship, have already lifted the manufacturers’ world title this season, but Sainz comes to Britain determined to avenge his frustrating memories of last year, when failure to finish cost him the world title. His confidence has never been in doubt and the Subaru has always reacted well to the demands of the British Rally.COLIN McRAEWith wins in the Kenyan and Portuguese rallies, the three-times winner of the British Rally has shown that while the Ford Focus has had teething troubles, in his hands it is fast.