Women Of Action

Fast cars, galloping horses and treacherous slopes. Three female professionals tell Nafeesa Saini how their adrenaline fuelled passions keep them striving for more.

ELAINE LIM-CHAN

Private banker and managing director at Deutsche Bank Wealth Management

Scroll through Elaine-Lim Chan’s Instagram feed and you’ll see photos of her loved ones, dogs and glamorous events. Chances are, you would not picture her tearing down roads with a fleet of roaring supercars following her lead. Yet, the managing director at Deutsche Bank Wealth Management is an automotive leader in her own right. On and off the streets, she leaves gender stereotypes in the dust in the masculine world of motorsports. Her passion for supercars, in fact, took seed early in life.

Two years ago in the Prestige Singapore anniversary issue, Elaine reminisced about when she first fell in love with fast cars. Then a 19-year-old first-year student at National University of Singapore, her parents gifted her a BMW 3 series, her first car and a reward for obtaining her driving licence. “That was when I discovered my love for driving and for speed. The ability to control and manoeuvre around corners made me feel powerful and in control,” she recalls.

IN THE FAST LANE

For Elaine, speed is just one of the enticing factors of supercars. “It’s not just about driving fast. It’s enjoying how the car handles in high speed and around corners and bends. Behind the wheel, you are in control and you can truly test the car to its limit,” she says. “Driving is very much like life.”

She is intrigued by the engineering feats behind these adrenaline chasers. “Cars are multi-dimensional. They stimulate all your senses. When you drive them, you can see their luscious curves, hear the engine and the exhaust and feel the handling and speed.”