As one of the few women working in the pits of Australia's peak motorsport competition, Romy Mayer not only had to prove herself but also develop a relationship of trust, data, and language with her driver.
Key points:
- Romy Mayer is the only full-time female race engineer in the Supercars competition
- Ms Mayer's Nulon Racing team is competing in the GC 500 race on the Gold Coast
- Nulon Racing's co-owner Carmen Xiberras would love to see a ratio of 50-50 of women in pit lane
The German-born race engineer is part of the Nulon Racing team at the Supercars Gold Coast 500 in Surfers Paradise this weekend.
"As a woman working with men, having a role telling guys what they need to do … I just can't rock up and run the show," Ms Mayer said.
"You need to prove yourself — that you know what you are doing.
"You cannot just be average, you need to be better than average. You need to be really good so you get accepted."
But Ms Mayer is among a growing cohort of young women entering the sport on the track and off.
'Speak the same language'
Ms Mayer is the Supercars competition's only full-time female race engineer and the GC 500 is her fifth race with driver Tim Slade.
"You need to speak the same language," she said.
"Some drivers work really logical and structural, some much more 'the feeling' of how they drive their cars.
"As an engineer you need to adjust to the driver — it's him putting the performance into the car on the track."
Tim Slade says "trust is everything" in the relationship between driver and engineer.
"An integral part of the relationship is understanding what each other is saying, especially as sometimes it might come across a little bit different in the heat of the moment," he said.
"Different engineers have different philosophies with set up, so if you have the same problem with one engineer they'll do one thing to fix that and another engineer will do something different."
Mr Slade said he had notice no difference in racing with Ms Mayer compared to male engineers.
"If you're passionate about motor racing, whether you're male or female, if you're capable of doing the job you're capable of doing the job," he said.
'You get accepted'
Nulon Racing's co-owner Carmen Xiberras is a self-confessed "rev head".
"I love how it's a team effort," she said.
"When we get those wins, it's a great feeling."
Ms Xiberras has been a supporter of Motorsport Australia's Girls on Track initiative — a project aimed at opening pathways into the professional sport for young women.
"I just never thought that was for women, and I don't know why," she said.
"The Girls on Track project says to girls 'No, you can do this'. I wish it had been around 10, 20, 30 years ago because I might have considered it."
Ms Xiberras said she had noticed more enthusiasm for women getting roles off the track, but that people like Ms Mayer working in pit lane should "inspire other girls to look at it and think 'I can do that'."
"Wouldn't it be great in 10-15 years time that it was a 50-50 of women in our pits?" she said.
While Ms Mayer said "boys are much more exposed to the sport", her experience shows it was more than possible for women to get involved.
"You face more scepticism when you rock up at first, but once you're in the team, understand you're doing your job, you get accepted."