Breaking barriers in top gear

Written by Erika McGown 

When Katelyn Czubara gripped the wheel of the ANU Formula Sport Team’s custom-built car, her thoughts weren’t just on speed or engineering – it was about re-engaging in a lifelong passion and defying the quiet pressure that comes with being the first female driver in the team’s history.

Though no stranger to the racetrack, Katelyn’s previous experience was in karting – a discipline she excelled at. She even represented Australia in Italy in 2019 as part of a silver-medal winning, all-female team.

Racing at ANU has brought new challenges.

“It was quite nerve-wracking to be the first female to drive the car,” the Bachelor of Languages and Bachelor of Arts student admits.

“I felt like I had to be flawless.”

In a field where expectations are high and representation low, Katelyn’s drive has become more than a personal triumph – it’s a statement.

“Motorsport itself is heavily male-dominated, so I always I feel a lot of pressure on me to be exceptional and to prove that women do belong on track.”

The team is now working to ensure Katelyn is the first of many.

“We’re planning women-only track days and providing driver training to women on the team. It’s all about creating clear pathways for them to compete as official drivers at this year’s competition hosted in December.”

Katelyn wasn’t only the first woman to race the car. She also helped build it.

“The car was made by modernising the old version of the team’s CAD files [Computer Aided Design] to comply with current rules and updating them to work with modern components,” she says.

“We cut, bent and welded the entire chassis and other components in the engineering workshop – sometimes when things didn’t work, we turned to ‘Cardboard Aided Design’.”

On a new track

For Katelyn, the road to ANU was as winding as any racetrack.

“I graduated high school in 2020 – which was not a good year for my town,” she says.

Her regional community of Narooma, NSW was devastated by the 2019-20 bushfires, and then by floods. The COVID-19 pandemic followed close behind.

“Our community was completely forgotten about as the focus switched back to the major cities,” Katelyn says.

“These disasters really set me back in my studies. I became quite disengaged in school because of the trauma, and my marks reflected that.

Despite these set-backs Katelyn applied to early entry at ANU and, after being accepted, was ready to focus on the next chapter.

At ANUSA Market Day in 2021 the team was little more than a bold idea and a booth. The founding members, intrigued by her karting background, encouraged her to join.

What followed was not only a return to racing for Katelyn, but a rise to leadership. Starting as a general business member, she worked her way up to becoming business lead – overseeing marketing, IT, finance and administration.

She found friendship and camaraderie within the club among students from diverse academic backgrounds and at different stages of their degrees.

Now she’s encouraging others join the team.

“It is true that a large portion of our students study engineering, but we do have members who are also studying computer science, data analytics, international relations, PPE and even medical science,” Katelyn says.

“You do not need to have a specific set of engineering skills to be on our team, what we value most is your passion.”

And, in true ANU style, the car has a duck on it.

“The logo was designed by one of our founding members. Other teams love it too. Some even put our duck stickers on their own cars.”

Looking ahead, the team hopes to transition to electric vehicle racing by 2026 – a move that aligns with the University’s sustainability goals and will create new sponsorship and research opportunities.

For Katelyn, life is an open road.

“ANU gave me the chance to do things I never imagined. If I hadn’t come here, I probably would’ve stayed in my hometown, never driven a race car, never lived overseas,” she says.

“That’s why this team means so much to me.”

This article was originally published by ANU Reporter, here.