The Albany Senior High School year 11 student soon found the rough and tumble of saloon car racing was a bit different to that of karting, and thought she had a target painted on her car.
"Moving into tin top racing was part of my plan to becoming a professional race car driver and it was a big change from karting," said Herbert.
"Everything was so much bigger with a lot more stuff hanging off in front and behind me.
"It was a big learning curve for a lot of us and there were a few rounds where I was just always in the wrong place at the wrong time and kept being hit. It didn't have anything to do with me being a girl, well, I hope it didn't, anyway."
The biggest hit, though, came at round five of the series when Herbert was punted from pillar to post, receiving a pretty bad concussion, which put her out of action for the rest of the championship on medical grounds.
The knock to the head not only put her racing on hold, but also affected just about everything else for the next three months.
"It was really frustrating not being able to do what I love the most [racing]. I understand that everyone was concerned about me and that I had to be completely cleared and back to my best before I could race.
"I learned a lot about myself and how to deal with the lows and I know the experience will help me further down the track.
"The care I received was brilliant, but it was a hard few months. I salute the occupational therapist who had to put up with me complaining all the time.
Chelsea Herbert has resumed kart racing after her concussion. Photo / Supplied
"It [concussion] not only stopped me from racing, but also affected my schooling and fitness. It felt like I was living in someone else's body for three months. It scared me at the time but not so much now.
"I'm working as hard as I can to catch up on my school work, fitness and I want to be better by the end than I ever was at the beginning of the year."
Finally given the all-clear after a long wait, and rightly so, Herbert leaped back into her kart and resumed racing again.
Having been cleared to race also meant she could attend the yearly, seven-day Elite Motorsport Academy boot camp down in Dunedin.
The academy has produced the best and brightest of New Zealand's young motorsport stars who are competing internationally, including Le Mans 24 Hour winner Earl Bamber, WRC podium finisher Hayden Paddon and works drivers Brendon Hartley and Richie Stanaway, to name but a few.
"The whole week was such a massive eye-opener. People ask me what my favourite part was but I can't tell them. The whole time was amazing. The experience was everything I wanted, even when I felt like being sick on the bike, it's everything I want be as a professional, international racecar driver.
"There were things at that camp that were absolutely priceless. I learned so much and will be using every bit of information I gained from now on and have my folder out every day. There was so much information crammed into just seven days - amazing."
Women may be a minority in motorsport, but their passion and drive to be the best is just as fanatical as the blokes, if not more so.
• The annual CRC Speedshow is under way this weekend at the ASB Showgrounds and this year the organisers are focusing on women in motorsport.
Like most things involving an engine of some sort, motorsport is dominated by men both on the track and behind the scenes.
The organisers of the Speedshow have decided to shine the spotlight on the women who participate in all aspects of motor racing and they have managed to lure the fastest woman, American Jessi Combs, to Auckland for the event.
In 2013 Combs steered her 34,000kW car to 708km/h on a dry lake bed in the Alvord Desert in Oregon.
Also included in the 20-woman line-up are New Zealand's most successful rally co-driver, Sara Mason, who has 25 New Zealand Rally Championship rounds to her name, former world number one woman rally driver Emma Gilmour, road racer Avalon Biddle (leading the women's cup in the European Junior Cup), international motocrosser Courtney Duncan and the youngest in the field, 14-year-old Amy Smith, who competes in Formula First.
