Chelsea Herbert races V8 stock cars in New Zealand. She is the first woman to win a V8 Series race.
Chelsea is a former junior karter who took her first steps in senior competition in the 2014-2015 season, aged 15. She raced in the SsangYong Actyon Ute Racing Series, but was unable to complete the season due to receiving a concussion in round five. She admitted in an interview in the NZ Herald that the jump from karts to cars had been steeper than she expected and that she had often found herself “in the wrong place at the wrong time” on track. That said, she started the fifth round from pole position.
After a three-month recovery, she returned to kart racing, at least temporarily.
Later in 2015, she was part of a 20-woman strong celebration of women in all areas of motorsport at the CRC Speedshow.
She returned to Utes for the 2015-16 season and had an up and down year, although she was getting to grips with driving a much larger vehicle at speed. Her reward was two podium finishes, including a second place at Manfeild.
For the 2016-17 season, she began racing in BNT NZ Touring Cars, in a Ford Falcon. This is a V8 series in the vein of Supercars in Australia. She was fourth in the championship, with one second place at Manfeild and two thirds at Pukehohe and Hampton Downs.
In 2017, she was third in the BNT V8 Series Class 2 Championship, driving a Falcon. She scored two wins at Taupo and Ruapana and led the championship for much of the season. Her Taupo victory was the first for a female driver in this category. She kept up the momentum for most of the season, earning another win and eleven more podium finishes. A disappointing fifth and sixth place at Hampton Downs at the end of the season dropped her down the order a little; Brock Timperley had a late surge and finished fourteen points ahead of her.
Chelsea did her first sportscar races at the end of 2017. She joined former Ute rival Christina Orr in an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 run by Mike Racing for the last rounds of the South Island Endurance Championship. They raced at Ruapana and Timaru. The second time out for the team led to a seventh place overall.
She stuck with V8s for the 2018-19 season, although she moved up to Class 1. Her car was a Toyota Camry. She scored her first podium in it, a third place at Teretonga, in January. This was part of a long list of top-five finishes that left her sixth in the championship.
For the 2020 season, she tried out single-seaters for the first time in the Toyota Racing Series. She had to leave after crashing out of qualifying for the fourth race at Teretonga. She hit a wall on her opening lap on cold tyres and broke vertebrae. Although she remained conscious and was able to recover without surgery, she was advised to drop out of the F3-based championship.
She stuck with V8s for the 2018-19 season, although she moved up to Class 1. Her car was a Toyota Camry. She scored her first podium in it, a third place at Teretonga, in January. This was part of a long list of top-five finishes that left her sixth in the championship.
For the 2020 season, she tried out single-seaters for the first time in the Toyota Racing Series. She had to leave after crashing out of qualifying for the fourth race at Teretonga. She hit a wall on her opening lap on cold tyres and broke vertebrae. Although she remained conscious and was able to recover without surgery, she was advised to drop out of the F3-based championship.
During the 2023-24 season, she raced a BMW E46 in a one-make series. It was a part-season and she averaged sixth place for most of the six races she did. Often, she improved on her grid position.
(Image copyright Simon Chapman)
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