DRIVE to SURVIVE

CAITLIN WOOD IS INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION OF FEMALE DRIVERS

- Courtney Greatrex

Racing driver Caitlin Wood feels a rush of adrenaline as she waits for the lights to indicate ‘Go’. Everything around her slows down, she can hear her heart beat in her chest. Suddenly she’s off, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust in her wake. “It’s addictive,” Caitlin tells WHO of her chosen career as a racing driver.

For 26-year-old Caitlin, from Newcastle, NSW, racing is what she grew up destined to do. Ever since she can remember, she’s spent her weekends around the race track with her dad and brother. Desperate to get involved, she was given a race around a go-kart track for her 7th birthday. Since then, she’s been hooked on motor racing and has never given it up.

“You get really high highs in motorsports and feel on top of the world. But you can also have the lowest of lows. How you get through those lows and come back makes a good racing driver. It’s a roller coaster that keeps you hanging on,” she shares.

For many, motorsports is thought to be a man’s world. That was certainly true of Caitlin’s experience growing up. “If there was another girl at a race, that would be exciting to me,” she recalls.