Kerryn Brewer

Kerryn Brewer took part in Australian Touring Car races in the 1990s, including the Bathurst 24 Hours. 

Her earliest motorsport success was a championship win in the Australian Superkart championship, when she was 20. She won the 100cc non-gearbox class of the full-circuit karting series before moving on to cars. 

In 1996, she was fourth in the all-female Mazda 121 Challenge. Her first race in the one-make series was eventful; she finished fourth despite spinning twice and tangling with other drivers at Eastern Creek. The third round at Symmons Plain gave her another fourth. She was quick and aggressive but unable to match the pace of leaders Paula Elstrek and Tania Gulson. Unfortunately, the rest of the race results are not forthcoming. 

After her 1996 performances she was picked up by the Castrol Cougars team, run by Larry Perkins. Supported by Castrol in order to promote its products to female drivers, it was originally meant to be a two-car effort, with a four-woman line-up of Kerryn, Melinda Price, international netballer Michelle Fielke and TV presenter Kim Watkins. Despite her two wins in the celebrity race that supported the Australian Grand Prix, Michelle was prevented from racing by her other sporting commitments and Kim also dropped out. 

The team made its debut in the latter part of the V8 Supercar season, with Kerryn and Melinda alternating in the team’s Holden Commodore. Kerryn was the first Cougar to take the wheel at Lakeside. She was fourteenth and last in the first race, which was a dramatic one with a first-lap crash. The other three races resulted in safe but unspectacular fourteenth places, although she did finish ahead of Mike Conway in the last race. When it was her turn in the car again at Mallala, things panned out in a similar manner, with a 15th and 17th place, but she was unable to start the third.

The Cougars entered the 1997 Bathurst 1000 and it turned out to be their best run of the year. They were twelfth overall, the highest finish for an all-female team. Forty-one cars started and 21 finished. 

They also entered in 1998, and came eleventh, beating their own female team record. This time, 45 cars made the start and 20 finished. It was a hard race with several crashes and spins by experienced drivers. 

Her Supercars season was quite similar to 1997. Melinda was the main driver for the Cougars car and entered nine races to Kerryn’s six. Kerryn raced at Launceston and Lakeside, picking up a best result of 16th at Launceston. This was probably her best meeting in the Commodore; she did not run as well at Lakeside after a spin in the first race. Her best finish was 21st.

The Cougars project was retired for the 1999 season. Kerryn attempted to return to Supercars with Owen Parkinson’s team but this only amounted to a single appearance. She did not finish in another Commodore.

Kerryn tended to leave most of the promotional chat to Melinda, so we hear less about her than her team-mate. 

She made some appearances in the Shell Australian Touring Car Championship in 1999. She appeared in a “Beauties and their Beasts” calendar of glamorous female racing drivers in 2000, but does not appear to have competed. 

After this, Kerryn faded from the scene. In 2011, she tweeted that she missed racing cars.

Melinda Price

Melinda in 2017

Melinda Price is an Australian saloon car racer. She has completed five Bathurst 24 Hour races and jointly holds the record for the highest all-female team finish.

She was 12th in the 1997 event, driving a “Castrol Cougar” Holden Commodore with Kerryn Brewer. During the 1997 and 1998 seasons, the pair competed together on and off.

She has raced in a number of saloon championships in the 1990s, beginning in 1992. Her first major race was the 1992 Bathurst 12 Hours, the second running of the race. She had her first experience of an all-female team, driving a Nissan Pulsar run by Garry Rogers Motorsport with Michelle Callaghan and Tracey Taylor. They were fifth in Class B.

That year, she also contested the Sandown 500 with Steven Richards. They were driving a Garry Rogers Pulsar.  

Melinda was part of the Garry Rogers setup for another season, and drove the team’s Pulsar in the 1993 Sandown 6 Hour race. She was was 17th, sharing the car with Paul Fordham and Steven Richards.

She moved teams to Inspired Racing for 1994, driving their Toyota Corolla. The team entered her into that year’s Bathurst 1000, with Garry Jones and Andrew Reid. They did not finish.

Driving solo in 1995, she tackled the first rounds of the Australian Super Touring Championship in the Corolla, although she was unable to start one of her races. She was twelfth in one race at Calder Park. Earlier in the year, the team had run her in a couple of rounds of the Gold Coast Super Touring series. This yielded a thirteenth place and a DNF at Surfers’ Paradise.

In between top-line Australian Touring Car drives, Melinda took part in the Mazda 121 Challenge in 1996. This was a one-make series for female drivers. She was second in the championship, behind Tania Gulson. Her future team-mate Kerryn Brewer was one of her rivals.

The team that hosted the Castrol Cougars had been a feature of Australian racing for a few seasons before 1997, managed by Larry Perkins and usually running under the Perkins Engineering banner. The idea for an all-female team came from Castrol’s marketing department and Perkins, who usually raced for the team himself, got on board.

The Cougars car was a third Perkins Engineering entry for the Australian Touring Car Championship. It had won the 1995 Bathurst 1000, driven by Perkins and Russell Ingall.  

The Cougars were originally a four-woman team consisting of Melinda and Kerryn, plus Michelle Fielke, an international netballer, and Kim Watkins, a TV presenter. Michelle was prevented from racing by her prior sporting commitments and Kim also dropped out. Melinda and Kerryn alternated driving duties.

Melinda did six of the ATCC races, competing at Wanneroo and Oran Park. The latter was the better circuit for her, and she earned her best finish there: a thirteenth place.

The two Cougars drove together for the big V8 Supercar races. They were a twelfth at Bathurst, just behind former F1 world champion Alan Jones in a Ford. The pair were also 17th in the Sandown 500.

Melinda took on nine rounds of the ATCC in 1998, with Kerryn taking a small step back and doing six. Her best result was 18th at Melbourne, and she was 41st in the championship.

Again, she did better in the longer endurance races, sharing the car with Kerryn. They were fourteenth in the Sandown 500, and a career-best eleventh in the Bathurst 1000.

In 1999, she drove in the Production category of V8 Supercars, using a K-Mart-sponsored Holden Vectra. The Castrol Cougars team had now been disbanded, having run as “Castrol Perkins Racing” in 1998. Driving solo, she was second in Class D.

She also had a couple of runs in the main V8 Supercar draw, now running as the Shell Championship. She drove a Holden Commodore for Clive Wiseman Racing and partnered Dean Lindstrom for the two races, the Queensland 500 and the Bathurst 1000. They were 20th and 17th respectively.

Clive Wiseman’s team gave her another drive for the Bathurst 1000 in 2000. Her car was a Holden Commodore, shared with her 1999 team-mate, Dean Lindstrom. They were 20th overall.

Melinda also drove a Holden Vectra for Gibson Motorsport in the Production Car Championship. She was fourth in Class E. At one point, she shared Peter Boylan’s Honda Integra Type-R for the Supercheap Showroom Showdown 3 Hours. They were 32nd overall.

In 2002 and 2003, she entered the Bathurst 24 Hours, driving two different cars. She used a Honda S2000 in 2002, and was third in class, with Peter Hansen and Hermann Tilke. The Porsche 996 she drove in 2003, along with Tilke and Jonathan Rowland, did not get to the finish.

After 2003, she retired from the circuits for a long time. She became a mother in 2011 and was diagnosed with breast cancer during her pregnancy. This meant she had to prioritise her health and personal life for a long time.

In 2014, she made a comeback, after eleven years. She raced a classic Lotus 20/22 single-seater in the Phillip Island Classic series, finishing 21st in the championship.

She continued to race this car for a couple of seasons and was 21st in the 2016 Phillip Island Classic. The year before, she was thirteenth in the Australian Formula Junior championship.

Saloons were still on her agenda. At the 2016 Ken Leigh 4-Hour Classic Enduro, she joined Team Brock and raced a Holden HQ Kingswood, but did not finish.  

In 2017, she raced a Ford Falcon in the Touring Car Masters series and earned a third and fourth place. She picked up the same at Sandown in the GT Trophy Series, driving a Mazda 3 with Liam McLellan.

She took another year out in 2018 to complete a degree, but plans to return.

(Image copyright Dirk Klynsmith)