Kiwi rally driver Emma Gilmour has found a way home after scoring the drive of a lifetime. But she's filling in time by making herself at home with the legendary McLaren team.
Emma Gilmour will completely miss Christmas this year – flying across time zones in her much-anticipated journey from England back home to New Zealand.
But the history-making rally driver is not too concerned. Instead, she’s thrilled to finally be coming home to Dunedin after five months in the UK, having battled the MIQ lottery and missed out on several chances before Sport New Zealand gifted her a spot.
And, anyway, her Christmas present came early this year, in the form of a souped-up electric SUV with the name McLaren written on it. She just has to wait till next year to race it.
The 41-year-old Gilmour has lost count of how many Covid tests she’s had to take this year. She left New Zealand shores in July to fill her role as a reserve driver for Veloce Racing in the inaugural Extreme E championship series.
Extreme E is an off-road racing series where all teams have one male and one female driver who share equal driving duties. Along with promoting gender equality, the series also focuses on raising awareness for climate change; the vehicles they drive are the electric off-road SUV. Spark Odyssey 21.
Gilmour made her race debut in Greenland in August, round three of the series, with co-driver Stéphane Sarrazin.
And then in November, she was named the first female driver to sign up with the McLaren team – and will race for them in the 2022 Extreme E series, on courses in remote corners of the world with American rallycross and stunt driver Tanner Foust.
Gilmour is used to making history, becoming the first woman to win an event in the NZ Rally Championship, dominating the Rally of Canterbury.
The British-based McLaren team, of course, was founded by Kiwi motorsport legend, the late Bruce McLaren.
Originally holding a place in MIQ for September, Gilmour decided to give up her spot when she had the chance to race with Veloce again, this time in Italy for the fourth round.
Gilmour can see the bright side of the decision now, especially with New Zealand in various stages of lockdown. It also gave her the chance to be at the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow when her signing was announced.
And to spend valuable time working with McLaren and test driving her new race car.
She’s also made time for sightseeing. A quick look at Gilmour’s Instagram shows all the places she’s visited in the UK since first making the trip over in July.
“I’m lucky, I’ve got a good friend Claire who I met through rallying and she lives up in the Borders area in Scotland. I’ve basically gone up and stayed with her and her husband since September and obviously travelled back and forth to London when required,” says Gilmour.
Gilmour is grateful for the valuable time she’s spending at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking.
“That’s the thing I’ve been really lucky with - being here, I’ve been busy testing with McLaren, getting ready for the next season with them,” says Gilmour.
“I’ve had some good opportunities by being here with the testing and being at the McLaren Centre. Being able to watch F1 from behind the scenes and getting to have a look around the whole set-up there, I’ve been very lucky.”
Testing time is limited with the Extreme E series, but Gilmour had the chance last weekend to take the car out for a full test drive.
It was the last chance for Gilmour and Foust to test everything before they go to the first event of the 2022 series in Saudi Arabia.
“It’s a really important test,” she explained before going out. “We’ve got a plan of what we want to achieve and try to learn, so it’ll be good to get to drive the car again.”
This is where Gilmour’s time racing last year will come in handy.
“Even though I’ve done rally cross, I’ve done rally, nothing quite prepares you for driving these electric off-road buggies. They’re nice to drive - the electric power is wonderful - but they’re quite big and the terrain itself is quite challenging,” Gilmour says.
There have been some big names participating in the series, with the likes of Sébastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz lining up in the 2021 edition.
Being on equal footing with such legends is a unique experience for Gilmour, the Kiwi admitting there is a little bit of “starstruck-ness”.
“You can watch it on TV and think ‘I know what I’m in for’ but then actually rocking up and being on the start line with all of these other world champions, it’s quite a different beast,” she says.
Gilmour has her own impressive qualifications though, finishing runner-up in the New Zealand Rally Championships three years in a row to put her in the top of the country’s rally drivers.
One of many Kiwis left refreshing web pages in hopes of returning to New Zealand, Gilmour was gearing up for a white Christmas with friends in the UK when she heard Sport NZ were allocating 20 spots for Kiwi athletes stranded overseas.
Notified that her name was down for one of the places, Gilmour was initially hesitant to get her hopes up.
“I probably won’t believe it until I see it and it happens,” she jokes.
Gilmour runs a car dealership in Dunedin - Gilmour Motors Suzuki - and credits her small team back home to everything running smoothly in her absence.
Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Gilmour received one of those Sport NZ places, flying out of the UK in December to be released from MIQ in early January.
“It’s a really weird mix of emotions, you sort of feel bad to be getting one when other people are still missing out,” says Gilmour.
The proposal of MIQ being scrapped by February for fully vaccinated New Zealanders returning home is music to Gilmour’s ears, who will spend around a month in New Zealand before returning to the UK to link up with McLaren.
Gilmour has her fingers crossed she’ll be able to return home without restrictions come next year - she’ll be travelling to Saudi Arabia, Africa, South America and Northern Europe, all part of the provisional 2022 Extreme E calendar.
“The nature of the Extreme E series is about racing without leaving a trace and leaving a smaller carbon footprint. The cars are shipped between each event so it’s quite a slow turnaround between events which means it leaves quite a long time that allows people to go home,” says Gilmour.
Despite all the uncertainty around travel plans, Gilmour is incredibly grateful for the opportunities her career has given her.
“I feel really lucky to be able to travel and to be able to do so many cool experiences so I’m looking forward to the season next year.”
