Nicole Drought — Buckling up to buck the trend

Nicole Drought’s talent on the racing tracks of Ireland and abroad have seen her break the mould in a male dominated sport.

On first impressions alone, Nicole Drought appears your typical final year student at the University of Limerick.

Wearing a blue racing style jacket and a pair of black framed, slightly hipster-style glasses, the Roscrea-native entered into our meeting place in a frantic pace, quickly scanning the corners in search of this writer, for whom it provided a brief glimpse into her fast paced, adrenaline-fueled lifestyle.

But beyond the quirky and friendly exterior of the Business student, lies a confident, focused and determined young woman who just so happens to excel and flourish when she gets behind the wheel of a racing car.

Growing up in a motorsport mad household, Nicole always felt that she was destined to follow in the footsteps of her father, Owain, racing the roads of Ireland on board a rally car.

But after her father was injured in a rally accident, he then switched his allegiance to the slightly safer confines of closed track circuit racing, and naturally, his daughter followed suit.

After saving for years, Nicole finally had enough money together to purchase her first touring car — a Honda Integra — which she has enjoyed untold success in the cockpit of, in only two years of racing on the Irish Touring Car scene to date.

In those two short years, Nicole has broken all sorts of records, some of which include: first woman nominated for Motorsport Ireland Young Driver of the Year (2015); first woman to win in Irish Touring Cars (2016); first Irish ambassador for the Sean Edwards Foundation (established to improve driver and circuit safety as the legacy of professional racing driver Sean Edwards who passed away behind the wheel in 2013) and the first person in her sport to be named as the Sportswomen.ie Sportswoman of the Year 2016, where she beat off competition from the likes of Olympic silver medalist Annalise Murphy.

But her journey hasn’t been all smooth driving, as she explains how she has had to manoeuvre all sorts of challenges and stigmas of being a woman competing in a male-dominated field.

“When I was growing up, I didn’t think it was any different, I just grew up with the sport so I didn’t think that being a girl was going to be a major issue,” she candidly explained.

“Then, when I bought the car and went to the track, everyone was kind of looking over and pointing out that there was a woman on the track and I really didn’t understand what it was about until I picked up on it after a few races and saw that there is kind of two sides to it.

“There is the PR side — and I have been very lucky in that it has just taken off for me because I am a girl — but on the other side, there is the whole ‘men’ thing where they automatically think you are a bad driver because you’re a woman,” she laughed. “That’s just the way it is, so I feel I need to prove myself a lot more because if I have a bad day, they will all just be saying that I am a shocking driver!”

Nicole admitted that after her maiden victory in the hot-seat, the respect she received from fellow drivers did rise as they were now weary of her talent.

But it still doesn’t come without a level of frustration as to constantly feeling the need to prove herself, despite her clearly being better than most of her male counterparts. However, it constantly serves as extra motivation for the young petrol-head.

“I am probably a bit softer as well, so when I hear someone giving out, I don’t really like that because I would never put another driver down,” she explained.

“It is very, very frustrating knowing that if you have a bad day on the track, somebody around the paddock will be talking — and it’s not just about me — but I just hate that whole thing and it gets to your mind as well. And when the lights go out, you have to be focused.

“I have had a lot of time now [during the off-season] to think about last year and what people said and I have had a lot of track time. So I know the set-up of the car and I know what I was doing wrong and what I can improve on and I think I can bring a lot more this year.”

Nicole’s success isn’t just limited to the racing track as she also happens to be an accomplished camogie player, where she draws many comparisons between the two. She says pre-game and pre-race nerves are very similar and the art of getting into your opponents head is equally so.

And although she does admit to being “a bit more timid” in her approach to the game these days to avoid injury, the team based training is a refreshing alternative for the sometimes isolated feeling of motor sport.

But racing provides her with something nothing else in this world can, and she hopes that she can inspire fellow women to freely express themselves and take up the sport she loves so dearly.

“There is nothing you can ever compare to driving a racing car, there is nothing you can compare to it.”

“The feeling and the rush and the nerves before-hand when you are lining up, there is so many things going through your mind you just can’t explain it.

“I would love to just try and familiarise more girls with motorsport and to show them that it is not just a man’s sport. People are still shocked when they hear that I race,” she laughed.

“But more and more girls are getting into it through go-karting and things are starting to change so I think it is so important to just get girls out and get them an interest in what it is like, and if there are girls out there that want to do it — then go for it!”

And for Nicole Drought, 2017 is full of exciting prospects as she plans on competing in the Global GT series in the UK and Ireland.

Her dream, she says, would be to make it to the European Le Mans race and with her currently being part of the Murphy Prototypes Young Driver Initiative, she is already well on her way to fulfilling that.