A blue ex-tradie ute roars onto a makeshift burnout track.
Smoke explodes from its tyres, enveloping the surrounding ghost gums, as the commentator announces, over a roar from the crowd, that this is "Pete Adams driving the car Funtonna".
The crowd erupts, spurring on a burnout rampage that thickens the air, until BLAM – the ute's tyres explode.
From the smoke, a short figure emerges, punching clenched fists into the air, as the commentator quickly corrects his mistake.
And the crowd crescendoes into in a deafening cheer — because purple-haired powerhouse Shazza Adams is a cult figure of the Australian "skid" community.
They know her as "Mama", and she's nurturing a new generation of female revheads that is taking the motorsport scene by storm.
Mama knows best
Shazza says that, seven years ago, she took the wheel of her husband's car at a skid competition in Brisbane, thinking, "Bugger it, I've got to have a go".
"Why should it be just for the boys?" she asks rhetorically.
Since then, she's travelled from the Top End to Canberra, and was the first woman to compete in burnouts at the Alice Spring festival, Red Centre Nats.
Her mantra is: "Don't ever let a man tell you, you can't do it."
Shazza's even been known to jump into cars alongside other girls to give them pointers and help them along the way.
"I've seen a few young girls coming up through the ranks.
"I've got others that are wanting to learn and I'm willing to give them any pointers that I can."
Smoke and rear-view mirrors
North Queensland burnout queen Leteisha "Teish" Chun-Tie started pit-crewing for her brother when she was six, but waited years before finally taking the wheel herself.
"I was nervous of criticism to be honest, because I didn't want to be judged going against all the guys," she said.
"But they totally surprised me and everyone was super supportive."
Her flamboyant pink VK Commodore has since become a renowned feature of Queensland car shows.
"It is still a male-dominated sport 100 per cent, but there are a few of us now and we are starting to get recognised for being consistent in the comps," she said.
For years, Teish made a point of only taking female passengers at events because she wanted to encourage other women to get involved.
"Some of them have even been like, 'I want to now do this'."
Women now a fixture
Female motorists are increasingly making their presence felt in the Australian motorsport scene — almost 20 per cent of entrants at the country's latest car festival, Rockynats in Rockhampton, were women.
Judge Owen Webb – who's been involved in Australia's major car events for three decades — said the female presence at car shows had become "huge".
"That's actually happened not just with entrants but overall … the entrants, the judges and in the industry," he said.
It includes Judith Menso and her bright purple Holden LX Torana — which debuted at the Rockhampton festival.
Her deep purple car is emblazoned with number plates reading "HER LX".
It's even written on the engine.
The questions, she said, have stopped.
"I hope that more women will do their own thing and take up the sport as well, be it in whatever form they choose."
