Mum In The Fast Lane

WITH a toss of her lush curls, Gina Finanza, 35, looked at the trophies displayed in her comfortable living room and declared that for once, people should stop looking at gender especially in the field of motorsports.
“There’s no such thing as having an advantage just because you are male or female in rally driving. In the end, it’s the best person who will win the race,” said Gina, who clinched the championship in round one of the Rally Sprint and Rally X in Sepang last year.
To Gina, who credits her mother Morni ‘Ann’ Rahman, 61, for inspiring her to take up motorsports, the stand to maintain gender neutrality is also a standard that she imparts to other aspects of her life.

“This is not the Stone Age where brawn is needed to survive. Today, almost every aspect of our daily lives has been automated and tasks can be completed via a touch of the button. So, that puts men and women in an equal playing field where the excuse of not being able to perform most tasks due to one’s gender is no longer applicable,” said Gina.
This does not mean that this strong-headed lady has refused to acknowledge the male role in society.
It’s just that when it comes to living one’s dreams, she feels that the issue of gender should never be wielded to deter an individual from pursuing ambition.
“The only thing that will hold anyone back from doing anything they have set out to do is the willingness to learn. The next thing I suppose is the courage to get out of your own comfort zone,” said Gina.
Gina said that her attitude is largely influenced by her mother, who used to participate in motocross races on a Kawasaki ZZR 250 in the '80s with people like Sunny Ramalingam and Chow Kit Chong at the Batu Tiga tracks.
Like Gina, Morni or Ann as she is better known, is still a stunner for her age with perfectly coifed hair and impeccable make-up. The only thing that betrays the hidden speed devil in her serene smile is her penchant for cargo pants.
Still, the years have called for a slowdown of sorts and this meant having to sell the bike for a slower ride - a Proton Wira GSR Turbo 1.8 in matt black with orange lines!
“My mother always stressed that we should be independent. We had a strict but simple upbringing. By five, I could wash, fold and keep my own clothes. By age seven, cook for the whole family. Not that my brothers couldn’t do it but they made a mess every time and I couldn’t stand it,” said Gina, the youngest, the only girl and the only one who has followed in her mother’s footsteps, of four siblings.
Being independent from a young age has certainly worked to her advantage.
“I find that this sense of independence has been crucial to my success in rally driving. This is a sport where you have to watch out for yourself. Say, if you have a puncture, you’d have to fix the problem very quickly or lose time. Then, there is not only your own safety to consider but your co-pilot’s as well because once you become the person behind the wheel, you take on a certain responsibility,” she said.
In retrospect, she affirms that her upbringing has also honed her to become an organised multi-tasker which has enabled her to finance her own rally car, a Satria GTi 1800cc GSR, in addition to owning a Honda Accord 2.2 Vtec, a Wira GSR Turbo 1800cc and a Kancil 650cc L5 Turbo.
Due to her impressive record, Gina is also currently supported by Hypertuner, which gives back up as her service crew in rallies, MH Tuner, which does the repairs and tuning and Race, which sees to her car’s alignment.
“I am very calm under pressure. At times, when my co-pilot fumbles, I can make my own decisions without making it known that she has made a mistake. I think this is important where the safety aspect is concerned and also to alleviate unnecessary stress for both parties,” said Gina.
Talking of keeping her head, Gina recalled a time in 2008 when she was a participant in the Malaysian Rally Championship in Sepang.
During the flag off, her bonnet flipped open and cracked the windscreen while she and co-pilot Nur Rashidah Abdul Rahim were travelling 140km/h on the highway.
With their view suddenly blocked, Gina kept a cool head by peeping under the bonnet and steered her rally car to safety. Despite broken windscreen and all, Gina managed to clinch 3rd place in the P12 class of round 6 in the competition.
Gina, a mother of four who works as an occupational safety and health officer with a local telco giant, began her racing career on go karts in 2004, making her debut at the Pan Global F1 Driver Search at the Sunway Extreme Park.
By the next year, she had garnered enough experience to win the Maxis Inter-Department Go-Kart Competition.
The move to rally driving came about in 2007 when she took a Satria GTi for a spin around the Sepang track.
“With no disrespect to any party, I found it to be a boring affair after a while. After going round and round, I knew by heart what speed I should take for each corner,” recalled Gina.
When she discovered rally driving, thanks to friend and mentor Jagjeet Singh of Wheelspin, there was no looking back.
“There is nothing as exciting as tearing through a twisty, muddy gravel road! That is how I have adopted the tagline, ‘Let’s Skydive Horizontally’ as my motto,” said Gina.

By Grace Chen

Published in CBT (Car, Bikes and Trucks-NST) Sunday April 11 2010.