THE NEED FOR SPEED I
f you’re born with the ‘need for speed’, it’s simply embedded in your DNA. One of the only legal ways to feed this need is to go racing … so that’s’ exactly what a very young Courtney Prince did. According to Courtney, she began pestering her father to take her racing from age five. He put her off, but not for long, as the need for speed must have been a family trait. As both parents had raced go karts, they knew changing her mind was futile. “I started go-karting when I was eight,” remembers Courtney. “I raced a Tony Kart until I was 14, steadily progressing through each age group.” Her outsize talent was soon apparent. “I won two Australasian titles, two women’s titles and a junior sprint title, just to name a few,” she recalls. “I finally convinced Dad that Formula Ford was a good idea at 14 and completed my first full National Series when I was 15.” At 14
years, Courtney secured a Formula Ford drive with Sonic Motor Racing Services and was the youngest ever female competitor. Courtney moved effortlessly into the new class after this solid grounding in karts. She relished the Formula’s decidedly more competitive nature, which culminates in State and National Championships. “I did the National series, but not the State series,” Courtney says. “There are normally 25 to 30 competitors, with the top ten often within a second of each other.” Although unable to secure a first place during her Formula Ford career, Courtney won several seconds and thirds in her memorable two-year stint with Sonic Motor Racing Services. “We did a test day with Sonic when I started Formula Ford, and I ended up going with them,” Courtney remembers. “We were fully accepted by the Sonic family – it all started from there.”
The determined 18-year-old is now moving into a Porsche 911. “I’m starting with Porsche this year, racing the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge with Sonic again,” Courtney says. “When deciding to go with Porsche this January, I contacted Pike Peters of Porsche Centre Brighton. After our conversation, we attended the Women With Drive ladies’ lunch at the Grand Prix together.” That was precisely the time that the Coronavirus hit with a force that turned everything upside down, including the motor racing world. Just before the Formula One cars were ready to take to the track, the organisers called off the event. Motor racing has been in a holding pattern since. As she’s not a girl who likes to keep still, Courtney is keeping busy training. She strongly emphasises the importance of maintaining
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