RallySport Magazine August 2016

FIVE MINUTES WITH ....
5
minutes with ...
EMMA GILMOUR
New Zealand’s fastest lady rally driver is
more than a match for her male rivals.
Age: 36
Marital status: Single
Children: Do cats count? Two Burmese
cats - Harri and Millie
Occupation:
Business owner and Dealer Principal -
Gilmour Motors Suzuki
Place of birth:
Dunedin, New Zealand
Where do you live:
Dunedin, New Zealand
Does your spouse / partner like rallying?
The cats are only bothered by it when
I travel lots :-)
Any other hobbies?
Trail bike riding, gym, reading,
shopping, baking, horse riding, water
sports
Favourite food:
Italian pizza
Favourite drink:
Freshly made juice
Favourite sports person (other than
rallying):
Sir Mark Todd - NZ Olympic
Equestrian
Favourite film:
Forrest Gump
Emma driving a Ford Fiesta ST
in the 2006 Deutschland Rally.
(Photo: Maurice Selden)
Favourite holiday destination:
Somewhere warm.
How did you start out in rallying?
I started navigating for my sister
Monica and my cousin Gwynn. I really
enjoyed co-driving and ended up codriving
for Stumpy Holmes, and also
Alistair Cavanagh at Rally of Canberra
one year.
At the same time I started doing
some Otago Sports Car Club events like
autocrosses and tarmac sprints in my
road car. I thoroughly enjoyed driving,
but never thought to have a go at it
seriously as I couldn’t afford to do it as
a hobby.
First event:
Targa Bambina 2002. Finished 6th
overall and 1st in class out of 96 entries.
First car:
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3
Which car club do you belong to?
I belong to two - Otago Sports Car
Club and Eastern Southland Car Club.
Do you ever officiate on events?
Unfortunately I haven’t yet.
Have you competed overseas? Where and
when?
I’ve been very lucky to rally all over
the world. I competed in the 2009
Asia-Pacific series which included
Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and China.
I have also competed in Australia,
Finland, Germany, UK, Qatar, Italy, and
I competed In the Red Bull Global Rally
Cross series in America in 2014.
Favourite rally car:
Naturally I’m going to say our Suzuki
Swift AP4 rally car. Now that we are
starting to get the best out of the set-up
it’s really enjoyable to drive.
Favourite rally driver:
Possum Bourne.
Favourite forest or event:
Otago Rally. Amazing roads
whichever direction it is run, and
it is my home event.
Things you dislike about rallying?
The unnecessary cost of certain
aspects of it. I appreciate that it is
always going to be an expensive
sport, but I feel some things
could be done differently to save
costs for competitors.
Best result:
Winning the Canterbury Rally
this year. It was hugely satisfying
for our team to get the win in
our Suzuki, which we’ve built and
developed from scratch.
16 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - AUGUST 2016