Natural ability

Name, Kate Broadbent. Track, PFI. Date, 20/09/24. OMS Racing. Formula Woman. That's how the Driver Feedback Sheet started. Kate was up at PFI on a training day with OMS Racing as part of a Formula Woman initiative. And it was awesome! Kate had so much fun.

Considering she had never driven this track before (PF International), never driven this chassis type before (Kart Republic), never driven this engine type before (X30 IAME), she just flew. And Alicia Barrett, Kate's OMS coach for the day had nothing but praise for her. "Really good sense of speed", "you have all the techniques", "your speed gets quicker and quicker" and "really impressed" were some of the comments that peppered her feedback sheet. But the comment that really brought a smile to Kate's face was "natural ability ". And it showed. She just flew. All smooth and flowing and not afraid to go for that millimetre precision on the apex (which didn't always work, with a spectacular clip of the barrier on the final turn into the finishing straight, a big spin and an ungainly reverse into the pit wall - I really felt for our OMS mechanics; this looked like a brand new kart!). But Kate was having a hugely fun time, pushing and pushing the kart and going flat out where the other drivers of the day were not. I imagine Kate was simply grinning from ear to ear for the whole time.

So natural ability is what Alicia was saying. And I think she might be right. Kate's only been karting for 11 months.

We're planing to do regular trips up to PFI with Kate's Rotax Evo kart. I'm hoping she'll enjoy the Rotax as much as the X30, otherwise we might have to go to the dark side. And Matt from OMS already has an engine just waiting for us...

Kate Broadbent training with OMS Racing at PFI