Hardy breaking the stereotype
BREAKING the stereotype in a male-dominated sport, driver Sarah Hardy proved girls can do anything when she competed in the Independent Race Series held at Morgan Park at the weekend.
Miss Hardy – who lives in Redcliffe – has been pushing the limits while competing in motorsport for the past 11 years and attributes her love of racing to growing up around racing and watching her dad race Toranas.
“I did laps of Lakeside when I was 11 in a Commodore and I have never forgotten it,” she said.
“I just felt home – it just felt like the place I was meant to be.”
The talented driver quickly picked up the required skills but said it wasn’t always easy being a woman competing in a sport that had only about 30 women competing Australia-wide.
Miss Hardy said female drivers were often overlooked and worked much harder to secure sponsorship.
During her career Miss Hardy has been on the receiving end of some nasty and deliberate attempts to push her out of racing but she said it only represented a small portion of her experience.
Despite being involved in an accident last May, in which she tore a bicep muscle and suffered a shoulder compression injury, Miss Hardy said to this day “she attacks every corner as if I’ve never had one”.
“Accidents are a part of motorsport and you accept at some stage you will have one,” she said.
“But I think it is a learning experience and if it’s your fault you at least learn something.”
