Tamara Silk
Anyone who was around or involved with the New Zealand drag racing scene in the 1980s and 1990s will know the name Robin Silk. A successful racer here, Robin turned his carbuilding talents to America, where he continued to progress in the sport. He took his family with him, including daughter Tamara. Now aged 21 and based back in New Zealand, Tamara has, unsurprisingly, followed in her father’s footsteps. Beginning her racing career in a junior dragster, which took an agonizing 15 seconds to cover the eighth-mile, Tamara eventually moved into a Yamaha-powered junior running nine-second passes. That car is now in the hands of her younger brother, Cory, which meant a new car was required, and, with Robin still having the 480ci big block Chev from the Chevette he raced in the 1980s, a rolling chassis was the perfect option. On one of Robin’s many trips stateside, he purchased a 2000 Spitzer rolling chassis and shipped it home for the motor to be dropped into it. The car’s first full pass saw a trap speed near 160mph, which, while a major shock to the system, as she’d never raced anything remotely similar, had Tamara hooked. While she’s focusing on enjoying the experience of learning the car, to date, she’s managed a best of 8.20s at 159.75mph — quicker than the team expected the combo to be capable of. Tamara mentions that it’d be nice to step into a bigger (faster) car; however, no plans are currently in place. Of course, keeping in mind that Robin has a pro-mod under construction in in America, there’s always the potential for a drive in that at some stage. As with a few other drivers on this list, when you meet Tamara, you’d never pick that she was into drag racing, let alone running passes as quick as she does, and she finds that often people don’t believe her at first. However, once she gets talking they are left in no doubt that she’s being honest and generally go on to be amazed at how many other females are competing.