When 19-year-old Alice Buckley clears Mount Panorama at Bathurst and makes it to Conrod Straight, she wiggles her fingers and takes a deep breath.
asserted
she → clear → breath
As the only female driver in the Super2 series – one division below the Supercars championship – she has a little extra room in her gloves.
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she → have → gloves
“Race gloves are made for men, so my fingers are quite short,” she said.
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she → make → men
“So I’m allowed to have [long] nails in my gloves.”
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I → allow → gloves
This weekend, Buckley’s nails are an iridescent pink, but sometimes they match her team’s colours.
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they → match → colours
One day soon – if all goes according to plan – Buckley’s nails will match a Gen3 Supercar, an upgrade that would make her the first full-time female Supercars driver since 2019.
uncertain
her → go → 2019
From the Gold Coast, Buckley drives for her family team, but almost did not get a start in the sport.
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Buckley → drive → sport
“I’ve got two older sisters and a younger brother, and when my younger brother was born, dad got flooded with messages from his old karting friends going, ‘You have a boy!
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You → get → boy
You get to go back to the racetrack now, how awesome!
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You → get → racetrack
You can take him karting!’” Buckley said.
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Buckley → take → him
“Mum didn’t like that at all and pretty much said to dad, ‘You’re not living here if the girls don’t get a go’.”
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girls → like → go
While Buckley’s older sisters did not take to the sport, she did, leaving her brother to trail behind her on the racetrack.
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she → take → racetrack
“The older I get, the more welcoming the community gets,” Buckley said.
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Buckley → get → ?
“It’s getting better.
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It → get → ?
When I grew up karting, there was three girls in the whole country that were racing in a go-kart and now there’s girls, whether they’re in a car or not, they’re all around.
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they → grow → car
There’s team managers, engineers, all sorts of things now, so it’s very accepted, and I definitely don’t feel as much of an outlier when it comes to Supercars.
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it → ’ → Supercars
So, it’s a bit of a weird one, where it’s like grassroots motorsports have caught up and Supercars have caught up, so there’s kind of a delay that I think I’m sitting in at the moment ...
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I → ’ → moment
There’s a few [Super2 drivers] that’ll talk to me and I think a few still think I’m this weird species.”
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I → ’ → me
Buckley has learnt to embrace being an outlier.
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Buckley → learn → ?
“I have long nails, and everyone’s like, ‘How do you drive with those nails?’
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you → have → nails
I love doing my make-up and my hair and wearing sparkle shorts in the race.
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I → do → race
I just love those little things where it’s like, well, I am different so what’s the point of trying to hide my difference?”
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point → love → difference
Eventually, she hopes that point of difference will attract new fans and corporate sponsors to a world they may be otherwise unfamiliar with.
uncertain
they → hop → world
“I really want to try to target a group of corporate partners who I can bring to the racetrack because I feel like there’s a lot of females that are really interested in Formula 1 in Australia at the moment and they come to Aus GP and it’s like, ‘come to Supercars’
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it → want → Supercars
,” she said.
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she → say → ?
“I think it’ll help make it more inclusive if there are beauty brands here at Bathurst.
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it → think → Bathurst
Could you imagine how big that would be?
uncertain
that → imagine → ?
“I really hope that one day I get to be a part of that and maybe have a make-up brand on my car or a hair care brand.
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I → hope → car
Rookie shock in Bathurst qualifying
Supercars championship rookie Zach Bates shocked the crowd at the track on Friday, qualifying for the top-10 shootout on Saturday in first position – and did so by clocking the fastest lap of Mount Panorama in a Gen3 car.
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Bates → shock → car
With a time of 2:03:9376, the 22-year-old is the only driver to complete a lap under two minutes and four seconds in this era of race cars.
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old → complete → cars
Drivers are given 40 minutes to clock the fastest lap, with the top 10 on the start line again on Saturday.
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Drivers → give → Saturday
After qualifying, Bates paid tribute to his mum and motorsport TV presenter Alison Drower, who died two weeks before Bates made his maiden Bathurst 1000 start last year as a wildcard entrant with veteran co-driver Craig Lowndes.
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Bates → pay → Lowndes
Lost mum last year ... so to be able to do this is pretty special,” he said.
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he → lose → this
New Zealand’s Ryan Wood was forced to sit out qualifying after crashing earlier in the day.
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Wood → force → day
Although Wood walked away uninjured, the Walkinshaw team was forced to withdraw the car after failing to repair it in time.
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team → walk → time
Returning Supercars champion Chaz Mostert and Brock Feeney, who finished second in last year’s qualifiers, both failed to make the top 10.
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who → return → 10
This masthead travelled to Bathurst as a guest of the Repco Supercars Championship.
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masthead → travel → Championship
The Aporia
