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Barnabas Masimba, Online Reporter

SHE can make a car do eye-popping antics that make many men drool with envy.

Her gifted hands are a blur as she changes gears with lightning speed to streak across a race track.

Meet Mrs Paula white (44) the racing maverick who has carved a niche for herself in the male-dominated world of car racing.

Chronicle Online caught up with the “wonder woman” who is all the buzz at Bulawayo Motoring Club (BMC) race tracks and had a brief chat with her.

Her passion for cars and racing is evident from her tone and the way her face lights up as she narrates her experiences on the track.

“I have been Married for 14 years and have been driving for 5 years.”

“I drive a black Nissan Silvia S15

2L Turbo petrol vehicle,” she says as her whole demeanour crackles up when she touches on probably her most favourite subject, cars.

The mother of two children- a boy and a girl- radiates affection as she speaks about her husband who she says is her biggest cheerleader.

“My Husband Aiden White is the driving force behind my racing.

I only started racing because my husband asked me to come try.”

“Aiden pushes me to race even when I have had a long week driving the kids to school and all the extra sports and just don’t feel like driving that day.  I think he knows once I am there I have a blast,” she says.

Mrs white feels racing is a gender neutral sport.

“Like any sport, it’s fun to win.  For me personally I don’t see men I see what car I am competing against,” she says.

She exudes contagious excitement, like a kid in a candy shop, as she relives her favourite moments on the track.

“My best moments in racing is when I beat someone by less than a inch.  I am sitting at the edge of my seat willing my car to go faster…”

She says she started racing five years ago in an automatic transmission White Nissan 300zx.

She drove the atoumatic transmission car, she says with a nostalgic smile, for a few years until she had the confidence to race in a manual car.

The glamazon of the race track says she now only races in the Nissan Silvia  because that’s the car she’s comfortable with.  “I could use one of my husband’s skylines but at the moment I   just want to be confident in the car I am using,” she explains.

Mrs white says she has never met a man who tried to disuade her from racing.

“I have never had any man telling me I should not be racing.  In fact there are many who keep racing me even though my car is faster than theirs,” she chuckles.

As a parting shot, she encouraged more women to try their hand at car racing.

“If I could say anything to women in Bulawayo and anywhere for that matter it would be, come and just try  a few runs. You can come in a Honda Fit or Mustang it’s all about the adrenaline rush.  I am no where near being the fastest car but the crowd still supports me.”

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