From Photographer to Driver: Women Rev Up in Motorsport

Less than two years ago, Georgia Tillyer would watch high-octane motorsport drifting from the sidelines, snapping pictures as a track photographer.

Now, she is the one in the driver's seat.

"As soon as I flicked the car out for the first time and just that pure adrenaline, I was like 'this is awesome'," the 21-year-old said.

The Sydney resident picked up the high-octane sport after another spectator asked her why she was not on the track.

"It's like the penny dropped, I was like, 'What's stopping me from doing this?'," she said.

The next week she bought her car, lovingly-named Night Fury, learnt how to drive manually and entered her first event at Sydney Motorsport Park.

In drifting, drivers intentionally oversteer their car, causing the wheels to lose grip while they take corners at high speeds.

"A lot of people are surprised when I tell them that I'm a drifter, they wouldn't pick it," she said.

Ms Tillyer told the ABC shewas often competing as the only woman on the track.

"It's sad that it's still a thing nowadays that men think women don't want to do this, or women can't drive."

Women racing to learn motorsport

Amelie Parsley is in the same position Ms Tillyer was two years ago.

The budding motorsport enthusiast is still on her P-plates, and was one of a handful of women being taught basic car control skills at Sydney Motorsport Park in Eastern Creek.

"It's very new for me, but you get a lot of happiness from being able to do it for the first time. You feel very proud of yourself," Ms Parsley said.

She has been interested in cars since she was four years old, and dreams of going professional as a driver or engineer.

The Motorsport Australia program, which is touring the country for the third year, is aimed at women looking to try out motorsport for the first time.

It has already taught 124 women this year at seven events across the country, with two more planned this month.

Stephen Doherty drove down from Newcastle with his daughter Lily, whose love of Formula 1 and Supercars inspired her to take part in the program.

"It's awesome, something I haven't done, but each time I've seen her come back she's got a great big grin on her face," Mr Doherty said.

Rising star Alice Buckley debuted in the Super2 Series earlier this year.

At 18, she is only the fourth woman in Supercars history to make it to that level.

After competing for over a decade, the Gold Coast-born driver is used to being surrounded by men both on and off the track.

"I have my moments when I do walk into a room, the older I get, and go I'm the only female," Ms Buckley said.

"It's a bit, not awkward, but it is a bit weird at times."

However, she praised the Supercars' community for welcoming her into the sport.

One of those changes is viewership, with women making up over 46 per cent of people attending last year's Supercars' NTI Townsville 500 event.

But at the sport's biggest race of the season, the Bathurst 1000, female ticketholders were just below 30 per cent.

In Formula 1, women made up nearly half the fans going to watch this year's Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

That comes after Australian teenage racers, Joanne Ciconte and Aiva Anagnostiadis, competed in the all-female F1 Academy series last year.

Launched in 2023, it is a Formula-4 level series designed to foster female drivers.

It has been more than five decades since Lella Lombardi, the last woman to compete in a F1 Grand Prix, raced in Austria in 1976.

Ms Tillyer hoped that would not be the case for much longer.

She encouraged anyone curious about motorsport to jump behind the wheel.

"It's just getting past those nerves and getting past the fact that people aren't judging you," she said.

"Everyone's coming here to learn, everyone's coming here to have fun."