Speedster Tiffany’s triumph 'THEY SAID I’D NEVER WALK AGAIN!’

Despite a horrendous crash, the driver wants more women on the track

- Rebekah Hebenton

She is the first woman to ever win the British National Karting Championship, she has worked for some of the biggest car manufacturers in Europe and is training the next generation of racing stars.

But now, Tiffany Chittenden is speaking out to ensure a future for women in the sport she has dedicated her life to.

“We’re all very PC now and we say, ‘Oh, it’s all equal,’ but it’s definitely not. I’ve seen the funny looks when I’ve won,” says Tiffany. “It’s quite scary to think that in the future New Zealand probably isn’t going to have a female driver because there aren’t many women out there doing it.”

The UK-native has been in karting since she was 12. Now aged 40, she is proud she has turned her childhood passion into her full-time career. But her decades of success haven’t been without hardships. When she was 20, Tiffany was involved in a serious accident that badly injured her leg. At the time, she was told by her doctors that she would never walk again.

“I was in a wheelchair and on crutches for six months and that was my lowest point because I couldn’t race.”