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Personality profile


Now, in her second


early reality checks on the high cost of her ambitions. "I spent my university grant on that," said Louise, who was taking a diploma in car design at Coventry. "I could not afford to keep doing that." At the time, she had the seed of an idea that later


bore fruit. "There were 20,000 students at uni and I thought if they all gave me one pound it would be the answer to my funding problems! Of course, that was never going to happen but Promotion50 developed from that in 2009. Basically, I went round companies asking them to support me with £50, for which they got a sticker on my car and a link from my website. My target was 500 companies and I managed to get 300, which was good." Prior to that, Louise funded a two-week trip to Finland from her savings. Stefan and her trailered a Peugot 205 to the frozen lakes, where temperatures were as low as minus 30. With so little adhesion on the ice, it was the perfect place for Louise to hone her driving skills. But on a second visit there the following year, Louise crashed into a frozen snow bank at 85mph. She broke her collarbone and nine ribs.


Amazingly, Louise, with one arm in a sling, went out the next day and beat everyone, driving one-handed. "They presented me with a trophy and had managed to change


the title on it from Ice King to Ice Queen. "But we had to cut the trip short. I was in a lot of


pain. I still have trouble driving, My collarbone sticks out slightly and I have to drive wearing a special HANS [head and shoulders support] device." In fact, 2008 turned out far worse for Louise when her inspirational father, Bob, died of cancer. However, she showed true grit by getting to grips with her funding plan. The 300 pledges of £50 meant she could start her first full season in the British Rally Championship Challenge in a modified Fiesta. "I won my RC4 class and finished in the top 10 overall, which was the goal for my first season," said Louise, a former pupil of Maidstone’s Maplesden Noakes School.


season, she has stepped up to the BR Championship itself. She’s done five rounds, with two more left - the Trackrod Rally in Yorkshire on September 23/24 and the Isle of Man in late October. She suffered a big disappointment in August when she failed to complete the Ulster rally. "The engine had been running lean this year but we got it sorted for Ulster. I was looking forward to it. I felt I could battle for a podium finish." But a slight misjudgement resulted in her hitting a tree stump and bending the rear suspension. Prior to Ulster, Louise was in fourth place overall, following a successful Jim Clark rally in Scotland. Now she has slipped to fifth and, under the rules, faces dropping one of her better scores at the end of the season. Annoyingly, if she had got the result she had hoped for in Ulster she would have moved up to second place. She now aims to do well enough in this month’s


Trackrod event to secure the women's title and then head to the Isle of Man more relaxed. But what does the long-term future hold? "My ultimate goal is to be the first female to become world rally champion. I'd like to get into the World Rally Championship as soon as possible but the finances needed are incredible - £120,000 a year. And that's a lot of fifty pounds!” In the meantime, she is delighted to have made the


step up to the British Rally Championship, but it has meant finding double the amount of money, compared to the BRC Challenge. “I managed to raise £25,000 but I'm really struggling


to get the next £25,000,” said Louise who has featured twice this season on Sky Sport’s Rally Zone.


Mid Kent Living 5


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