{"id":601030,"date":"2026-04-12T00:14:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T00:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/601030\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T00:14:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T00:14:20","slug":"imogen-radburn-bringing-women-to-motorsport-with-all-female-racing-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/601030\/","title":{"rendered":"Imogen Radburn bringing women to motorsport with all-female racing team"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Imogen Radburn made the decision to start her own all-female car racing team last year, she was worried she might struggle to attract enough women to fill the roles.<\/p>\n

After recruiting her team, she received 70 applications for just two work experience positions from all around Australia.<\/p>\n

“I realised there are so many girls out there that want to be in motorsport, not just as drivers, but every other role,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s about getting people to allow them and open those doors.”<\/p>\n

With the exception of her father and her partner, Radburn’s entire team including her engineer, mechanic, operations manager and truck driver are all women from different parts of Australia.<\/p>\n

She lives in Nowra, on the NSW south coast, and her team is competing in the Mustang Cup \u2014 a competition where all competitors drive a Ford Mustang Dark Horse either bought or leased from the company.<\/p>\n

\"Imogen<\/p>\n

Imogen Radburn and her team had their first race recently at Phillip Island. (Supplied: Tamara Jade Media)<\/p>\n

From dancefloor to track<\/p>\n

Radburn is the only female driver in the Mustang Cup series \u2014 a situation she is used to.<\/p>\n

After racing go-karts as a teenager then pursuing Formula 4 in Europe last year, she has almost always competed against an entire field of men.<\/p>\n

“I grew up dancing and there were no boys, but now it’s the opposite,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I like proving my point and I love when I beat the boys.”\"Imogen<\/p>\n

Imogen Radburn grew up dancing but says her true love is Australian motorsport. (Supplied: Tamara Jade Media)<\/p>\n

Radburn has been supported by Motorsport Australia’s Girls on Track program, which provides practical experience to help girls and young women aged eight to 22.<\/p>\n

“Imogen has done incredible things not just as a competitor, but as a woman in motorsport,” Motorsport Australia development manager Charlie Barlow said.<\/p>\n

“She embodies the same ethos as what we do \u2026 that if you’ve opened a door, you ensure other women can come through with you.<\/p>\n

“That’s what she’s done with this team \u2014 she’s opened a door for women around the country to have these hands-on roles and she’s putting herself in places where she can show young women that no matter what background you come from, if you have a dream, you can achieve it.”<\/p>\n

\"Imogen<\/p>\n

Radburn says track hire and car maintenance costs make motorsport extremely expensive. (Supplied: Tamara Jade Media)<\/p>\n

‘The best of the best’<\/p>\n

Radburn’s mechanic, Natasha Smith, was the first woman in the world to win the Technician Champion award at Toyota’s National Skills competition in 2019.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old has gone on to become one of the most respected mechanics in the country.<\/p>\n

“Because there are so many of us females now starting to get our foot in, we’re able to bring others in with us,” she said.<\/p>\n

“So it’s the dominant ones at the forefront forging the path for the next generation to come through.”<\/p>\n

“Imogen has the support of very high people in their specialised categories and that’s why this is different to someone that’s just slapped a team together \u2014 she’s got the best of the best in the industry.”\"Natasha<\/p>\n

Mechanic Natasha Smith’s entry into motorsport started with the Toyota GR86 Racing Series. (Supplied: Tamara Jade Media)<\/p>\n

Ms Smith said she hoped the team would serve as a positive example in the male-dominated industry.<\/p>\n

“It’s incredible and I’m ecstatic she chose me to run the mechanical side of things,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The entire team has put together something that’s pretty special and hopefully everyone outside of that team will be able to see the benefits of having strong people lead a strong driver through this.<\/p>\n

“Us females have to do twice as much [as men] to get in and get to where we’re at for the same amount of credit as someone else.”<\/p>\n

\"Imogen<\/p>\n

Radburn’s team will travel the country to compete in the Mustang Cup. (ABC Illawarra: Romy Gilbert)<\/p>\n

Laying foundations for next decade<\/p>\n

Radburn said she started her own racing team because she was “sick of paying massive bills” to compete.<\/p>\n

She drew on her own network of contacts to fill key positions and secure sponsorship.<\/p>\n

Her team recently converted an old B-double truck into a vehicle that could transport her race car in one trailer and have accommodation in the other.<\/p>\n

“Motorsport is extremely expensive \u2014 the only way to make any money is to own your own team,” Radburn said.<\/p>\n

“There’s no such thing as being paid for every race \u2026 we wanted to make it work for the next 10 years.”<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Radburn opened her season at the first Mustang Cup at Phillip Island. (Supplied: Tamara Jade Media)<\/p>\n

It will be ‘seriously hard’<\/p>\n

Radburn’s first race in the Mustang Cup was ended by mechanical problems after just four of 22 laps at Phillip Island on March 29.<\/p>\n

Her team will now prepare for the second of six rounds, which will be held at The Bend in South Australia.<\/p>\n

“There’s a huge market for the team I’m building, but it will be seriously hard to compete with the top teams in Australia,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There are eight Supercar drivers in the field so it will be really tricky, but we’re looking forward to it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Imogen Radburn made the decision to start her own all-female car racing team last year, she was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,7604,292960,97645,806,805,824,803,804,290525,822,85,12632],"class_list":["post-601030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ford","tag-girls-on-track","tag-imogen-radburn","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motorsport","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-mustang-cup","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}