This season’s Toyota 86 series will make history with three female drivers lining up in a top national racing competition for the first time ever.
It’s a huge contrast for Christina Orr-West who for years has been one of the only females on track.
She told 1News it's often been a tough time.
“I've been ripped out of my car, I've been abused, I've even had champagne on the podium snatched off me, saying I didn't deserve it,” Orr-West said.
“You’ve got to be a special type of female to stick around.”
The 34-year-old has raced IndyLights, endurance and almost every category in between but last year she became the first female in Toyota 86 history to finish on the podium.
Next season, there could be more who do the same with Rianna O'Meara-Hunt - one of the country's top karters - making a transition to a car to join the series.
The 29-year-old told 1News she’s not getting ahead of herself though.
“It's quite frustrating, you think you should be better than you are because I've come from quite a successful background,” O’Meara-Hunt said.
“But I've just got to remind myself it's all learning and I need to slow down a little bit in myself.”
Chelsea Herbert knows all about that, coming back after a crash in the single seater TRS series last January.
“It was a couple of broken bones, it did happen to be in my back which makes it sound scarier but at the end of the day, I was in a brace for a couple of months and I'm back stronger than ever,” she said.
“I’m ready to go racing.”
The trio plan not only to race but to perform so that one day there's many more than three and perhaps even an entire second generation.
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