Fast lane has room for a day job

Rally driver Emma Gilmour keeps her motor running at her Dunedin Suzuki dealership. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Clad in overalls and helmet, her aim is to drive as fast and accurately as she can around the gravel roads of New Zealand this winter.

But in a car dealership in Dunedin, you'll find a very different Emma Gilmour - forget speed, it's all about service and gone are the overalls, replaced with skirt and high heels.

Gilmour is one of New Zealand's top rally drivers and a woman leading the way internationally in the sport.

For more than 10 years, Gilmour has competed in the rally seasons in New Zealand and Australia plus raced in the Asia Pacific championship. Her other "work" was as a driving instructor plus an AA road safety ambassador while being based for a while in Hamilton to establish her rally career. But in October last year, Gilmour and partner Glenn Macneall (who is also her co-driver) headed back to her hometown of Dunedin.

The couple had the opportunity to open a Suzuki dealership alongside her father's used car yard with 30-year-old Gilmour involved in selling new vehicles.

"I am really, really enjoying it, it's a challenge ... we want to get a strong market share in Dunedin and grow the brand," she says.

But one weekend a month this winter, she leaves the warmth of the dealership to compete in her Subaru Impreza in the national rally championships, with her focus on finishing the season in top spot.

Gilmour's rally career began when she was 19, co-driving for her sister Monica and cousin Gwynn. But at that stage her interest was in a horsepower of a different kind - competing in equestrian events with a dream of representing New Zealand at the Olympics in the three-day event. But in her early 20s a stroppy horse put an end to her equestrian aims, and instead she thought she'd move from the passenger seat in the rally car to behind the steering wheel.

In 2002 Gilmour bought her cousin's Mitsubishi Evo 3, approached Macneall, then just a rally colleague, to team up with her and moved from racing on tarmac to gravel.

Under the guidance of Macneall, a professional co-driver with at least six years' international experience, Gilmour realised she had the ability to drive at a top level.

"Glenn knew I had the ability [to drive professionally] - and I knew that I couldn't afford to do rally as just a hobby," she said.

Her career highlight so far is competing in the 2009 Asia Pacific championship, driving in diverse conditions in Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan. It's an experience that Gilmour loved.

"You get out among the people, in their communities and the countryside, racing on their roads and taking in the scenery ... we'd have lunch in the small villages," she says.

The recession ended her stint internationally with her team losing its main sponsor - so now it's back competing nationally, but Gilmour's ambition is still to drive in world rally championships. For now though, it's retail not rally that's on her mind.

The wind has picked up at Gilmour Suzuki in Dunedin and our top female driver has a wayward flag to rescue.

Fast women

If you're a woman who is keen to become a rally driver, Gilmour suggests you get involved in a car club. You could also volunteer at rally events. Gilmour started out by doing autocross events in her own road car, so you don't always need a purpose-built rally car to get started.

Helmet hair, be gone

For the novice, rally driving seems like a sedate sport - you're just sitting behind a steering wheel. But Gilmour knows rally driving can take a toll on your body.

"You have to be fit," she says, "It's not as bad on your body in New Zealand as our roads are pretty smooth, but overseas there are some rough conditions."

And for the slim blonde, there can also be the post-rally trauma of literally having helmet hair.

But, as Gilmour reveals, a shorter haircut and using recently purchased GHD hair irons, gone are days of a wayward locks as she whips off her helmet for post-racing interviews.