THIS GIRL CAN

An altruistic dream and a display of incredible fortitude saw this eight-year- old and her pedal car set a new Goodwood lap record

- Daniel Bevis

‘I LOVE CARS, and I love racing. I really look up to Stirling Moss, he’s my favourite racing driver.’ A sentiment shared by many an Octane reader, but perhaps not something you'd expect to hear from the average eight-year-old girl. It’s fair to say, however, that Alyssa is very far from the average eight-year-old, having recently pedalled her way into motorsport history by setting a new Goodwood lap record in an Austin J40.

Of course, a record attempt like this doesn’t exist in a vacuum; you don’t just turn up to a race circuit with a pedal car and hope they’ll let you out on track. No, there was a huge amount of preparation and buildup leading to this momentous occasion and it all began with a letter, which feels like an appropriately traditional and Goodwood-ish approach to things.

‘This started when I was writing a Christmas letter to Goodwood,’ Alyssa explains. ‘My dad had told me about this charity, Mission Motorsport, and the amazing work they do, and I really wanted to help. I came up with lots of ideas of how I could use my pedal car to raise money for the charity, and Goodwood said that I could use the circuit for a record attempt.’