New Zealand’s Emma Gilmour has built quite a reputation over the past decade as one of the fastest female rally drivers in the world—in fact, she earned the title of “World’s Best Female Rally Driver” in 2010 after earning a runner-up finish in the New Zealand Rally Championship. Between 2009 and 2012, she earned an incredible 22 podiums between the NZRC and the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, as well as an impressive 14th place finish in the 2012 Rally New Zealand.
Gilmour’s skill behind the wheel attracted the attention of Rhys Millen, who hired her to be his teammate at Millen’s factory-backed Hyundai operation as it returns to full-time competition in the 2014 Red Bull Global Rallycross season. In an exclusive interview, Gilmour discusses working with her new teammate, transitioning from stage rally to rallycross, and becoming Red Bull GRC’s first female driver in Barbados:
First things first—for our US-based fans who may not know you well yet, tell us a little about yourself and how you first got into racing?
I got into car racing quite late compared to some of my competitors. I was horseback riding through my teenage years and into my early 20s. Then I had a go at driving—I’d always enjoyed driving, and I was hooked. I enjoyed the speed and driving a car fast on gravel, and most of my driving has been gravel rally driving. From there I’ve always been chasing the dream of becoming a professional driver.
You’ll be part of the Hyundai factory team alongside Rhys Millen, whose exploits are already well known in the States. How did your deal come together? What has it been like working with Rhys so far?
I’d always wanted to come and race in America—it was something I had always wanted to do, but I didn’t know where to start. The call I got from Rhys was totally out of the blue. He was putting a program together and wanted a female in the second car, and we’d met and raced against each other in New Zealand at his father’s event called the Leadfoot Festival. And I think he was impressed with the job I’d done there when I was racing against him, and I think he sort of kept that in the back of his mind with what he was doing.
He rung me up and asked if I was interested, and naturally I jumped at the chance. We had a little bit of interaction over email until I finally came over and met him and the team in March. The opportunity with Hyundai has been fantastic, but I feel doubly blessed because of the opportunity I’ve got (working) with Rhys—he’s just the nicest guy, very down to earth, and talented at what he does. So it’s great to be able to work with a team that will help me get up to speed as quickly as possible, and I’m getting into a good team environment.
When you tested for the first time we heard you took laps in both the GRC Lites car (to get up to speed) and the Supercar. How different are each of those cars to what you’re used to in stage rally, and how quickly were you able to adjust?
It was great getting in the Lites car and doing some laps in that, because it’s left hand drive, which I have to adapt to, and a sequential gearbox. So I was able to pick those up and get some mileage in that, which was fantastic. But honestly, I felt a little bit more at home once I got into the Supercar because of the horsepower—the car I’m rallying in New Zealand now is 400 horsepower. It’s not like night and day, if that makes sense. The Hyundai is definitely a step up, but I felt surprisingly at home in it, just for the fact that it’s a proper race car, everything’s quite solid about it, and it’s what I’m used to in what I race.
What’s the most important skill that you’ll be able to take out of stage rally and apply to rallycross? How is running in both series this year going to help you when you jump from car to car?
It’s going to be a busy year, but I think just having seat time will be really good. There’s nothing like being able to be driving all the time. Being an amateur here in New Zealand, I don’t really get to have that opportunity. You’ve got to work five days a week and then jump in the car, and it’s quite hard sometimes to get into rally mode when you’ve been busy.
But you have to be pretty adaptable in a rally car. You have to deal with changes, your car’s always changing, there are lots of things like that. I think where rallycross will potentially help me as a driver is that you’re actually seeing your competitors. You see somebody going through a corner fast and you know exactly how fast you should be going through it. In rally you’re out there on your own, and you’ve only got yourself as a meter. So it will be cool going the racetrack stuff and dicing with other guys and girls!
You’ll be visiting a lot of new race markets and competing against a lot of the world’s biggest racing stars for the first time. Where are you most excited to race, and who are you most looking forward to competing against?
Good question! I’m just excited to be seeing so much of America. We’ll be going to so many cool places, and that’s exciting. My trip to LA, when I first met Rhys and the team, was my first trip to America, so everything’s going to be new this year. It’s cool that we go to so many places.
I’m especially buzzed to be taking part in X Games—everybody knows about X Games, so taking part is a huge honor. In terms of the guys I’ll be racing against, I know a lot of the names, but probably Travis Pastrana (stands out). I look up to him a lot for what he does, and he’s a pretty cool character, so it’ll be cool to race against him at X Games.
When you take to the track in Barbados for the first time, you’ll become the first female driver in Red Bull GRC history. What does it mean to you to have that honor?
I do always just think of myself as just another competitor, and I definitely don’t expect any special treatment—I’m just a racer. But the thing that’s great about it is it gets the media interested, and it helps the profile of the sport when all of a sudden, whether it’s the spectators or the girlfriends or the daughters, they have an interest when there’s a girl out there competing. And it shows the girls that they can do this if they want to, which is really cool. So I like the fact that I am seen as a role model, in a way, but really I’m just there to compete.
Have you set any goals for yourself in your first rallycross season? What will it take for you to consider 2014 a success?
I honestly do not know what to expect. Rhys, with his experience, will have a better idea of what the expectations should be, and I guess we’ll get a better idea after my first event. But it’s going to be a really steep learning curve, and I’m definitely not underestimating that. There’s so much to learn about, so I really just want to keep improving during the season and be doing a good job, matching Rhys and that sort of thing. He’s going to be the benchmark, being in the same car. I feel a bit naive if I set a goal now because I really don’t know what I’m in for, if that makes sense, but I definitely want to keep on improving and be competitive.
Images via Rhys Millen Racing (1, 2, 4); Emma Gilmour (3)