Our Ambassadors
Our Race Chix® Motorsport Ambassadors are leaders in flying the flag for women in motorsport and supporting fellow Race Chix®. Our Ambassadors encourage women and girls of all ages to fulfil their motorsport aspirations from either getting started in cars, karts or as a motorsport official.
Jessica Nicholson
Jessica Nicholson is a senior motorsport official, racecar driver and rally navigator.
Jessica’s appointment as Deputy Race Director for Porsche Carrera Cup in 2020 was a huge accomplishment and was a great moment for women in motorsport, as it shows that if you have the right skill set gender does not matter.
Her journey as an official has been a long one. Jessica obtained her General Motorsport Australia Official’s License in 2007 and become a Bronze grade official within circuit/trackside and event command in 2009. She got her first go as a Clerk of Course in 2009 at Wakefield Park Raceway and then at World Time Attack Challenge in 2010.
Jessica obtained her Silver grading in event command in 2014 and that gave her the opportunity to be Clerk of Course and run national level race meetings like the Shannon’s Nationals and being a part of Supercars rounds in a senior role.
As a driver, Jessica competed as a Rally Navigator in Dirt rally events in Tasmania and NSW and then moved into tarmac rally in Tasmania and Victoria throughout 2009 to 2012.
She has been a part of car clubs like Skylines Australia and Southern Sporting Car Club and was on the committee for many years. She also competed in supersprints in her Nissan R32 GTR in the early days until she built ‘Ruby’ the Mazda RX8 in 2013. Ruby is a sport sedan that is heavily modified with a V8 5.7L engine. Jessica competed in Supersprints from 2008 and competed in door-to-door racing in 2017 and 2018, and will be competing in state level racing again in 2021.
Jessica’s real passion is mentoring and training other officials.
Maisie Place
Maisie Place is a fully qualified mechanic and is a driver in the RX8 Cup Series.
Maisie began doing track days at 14 years and at 18 decided to step up into the RX8 Cup series.
Maisie’s first track car was a RX7 that she built with her Dad, which at the time gave her the passion and motivation to move away from home to start a mechanical apprenticeship when she was just 16 years of age.
Maisie also competes as a rally navigator and competes in endurance racing. She enjoys motorsport for the thrill of driving but also the friendly environment and the opportunity to help others with mechanical issues they may have – she loves a challenge!
In 2021 Maisie is competing in the RX8 Cup series in a new chassis that she’s built herself.
Alexis Spiteri
Alexis started racing karts at age 14 and we absolutely love her ‘take no prisoners’ attitude on the track.
In 2018 Alexis was the youngest female to hold a CAMS licence and at the age of 14 she had already purchased her own track car after saving up her pocket money doing chores around the house.
In 2020 Alexis brought home a Four-Stroke Karting Association (4SKA) pole position award, first place trophies in the Australian Karting Racers Alliance (AKRA) sprint series and secured full sponsorship for 2021 from Andrew Starkey Racing (ASR).
In 2021 Alexis will be competing in the 4SKA championship, The Endurance Karting Association (TEKA) championship and the AKRA sprint series, where she will be competing in senior nationals and is looking towards moving into tag light as well.
After school and on weekends Alexis works at Picton Kart Track, KFC Campbelltown and her local Chinese restaurant. In 2021 Alexis will also be completing her HSC so she can move towards university in pursuing primary school education.
Michelle Van Der Wilk
Michelle’s passion for motorsport began growing up in Adelaide and watching the local Formula One. After moving to Brisbane in 1999 and joining a 4WD Club she began competing at Gymkhana’s in her Suzuki Sierra and Officiating at QLD Rally events.
In Nov 2015 she won the Rally NSW Ultimate Rally Navigator Experience. The prize was all the safety gear and training to be a Co-Driver and teamed up with a driver for the 2016 Rally season. That first year she competed at eight events with five different drivers across three states.
In 2017 Michelle won the QLD Rally Novice Co-Driver Series while also building her own Rally Car and starting the J&S Rally Team. George the GC8 and Michelle became regular attendees at Rally Sprints in SEQLD throughout 2018, whilst Michelle also continued Co-Driving in the State Series where she finished in the top 10 for the year.
In 2019 with her regular driver unavailable for the first round of the QLD State Championship Michelle was encouraged to enter the Novice Series section. With the support of the Rally community, Michelle went on to win the first Novice event and continued to contest the whole series. She won another round, had a second place and and DNF, which was enough to secure the series win. Michelle is now the first QLD competitor to win both the QLD Novices Co-Driver and Driver Series.
As well as a competitor, Michelle is an active member of the QLD Rally Advisory Panel. This involves providing advice to the Motorsport Australia State Council regarding Rally and managing the QLD Rally Championship and its included Clubman and Novice Series. They also support and nurture each affiliated club in their area so that they will achieve increased participation.
Michelle is very passionate about helping anyone interested in Rally with information on how to get involved with the sport.
Renee Walsh
Renee’s motorsport journey started in 2018 when she attended a track day with her Mum at Wakefield Park. It wasn’t long after that she entered her first state supersprint championship, where after winning her class made her wanting more.
In 2019, she competed in numerous supersprints, regularities, hillclimbs and trackdays. She finished 2nd place her club championship, won rookie driver of the year and also took out the female championship – she cleaned up! Due to Covid, in 2020 Renee focused on development of herself and her racecar. Her personal development enabled her to take the next step and qualify for her race licence which means she can now compete in door-to-door racing.
In 2021, she’s looking forward to sitting on the grid waiting for the race to start when the flag drops 🏁
