My name is Fabienne Natasha Lanz. I am 22 years old and I was born on the 10^th of December 1986 in Johannesburg, South Africa. I was schooled at the German International School in Johannesburg. I did my matric through Damelin correspondence though as I was away racing so much that I lost out on too much of the school work. I must say, I learned a lot of discipline at Damelin as I had to teach and get myself to study.

I currently race in the Vortex Super Rok category, which is the premier category in Karting in South Africa. I teach new drivers, mostly children how to drive safety and go to advanced stages as well. I enjoy teaching the kids as I can teach them 13 years of racing experience I have and it gives me great pleasure to see other people improve in Karting and becoming better people as a lot of team work and life skills is learnt in Karting.

I started racing at the age of nine. It was one of the best birthday presents I ever got from my dad, Peter Lanz, who is a former Saloon car champion. He was in my platform part of my racing career. Karting is a team sport and I am blessed to say that I have very beautiful people in my life who manage me, engineer my engine and kart, support me and keep me pushing on.

God is the most inspiring in my life as he protects me and helps me go in the right direction. All these things complete me as a racing driver and through the years we have worked our way up to becoming the best Female Karter in South Africa today.

I strive to give 110% in driving the kart and analyzing the engine as the performance of these two depend on me to relay to my engineers so we can then do the necessary changes, so that the kart can perform better to then be able to compete in the front and to go for the win. The level of grip also puts a twist in the whole set up as it constantly changes as the day progresses.

I love the adrenalin rush of racing. I get butterflies before every race as I can’t wait to get out onto the track and give it everything I have. I love the complexity of racing as so many set up changes can be done to a kart, the tuning of the engine must be adjusted during the day and the toughness of some of the categories who make it very competitive. I always want to race in the most competitive class, as winning there gives me so much more satisfaction.

I love Racing as it is also very complex, technical and the development never stops. There is not one day that is the same as another. Each day is unique, due to weather conditions, where we have to adjust the engine and chassis tuning accordingly.

This sport has a lot of physical demands on me as I am naturally smaller as a girl. Fitness and core strength are two key parts in Karting to me. I try to exercise 4 times a week, where I concentrate on core muscle building and sustaining such as Sit ups, Push ups and a lot of dumbbell exercise of 3kg for each arm. I love walking and dancing.

I have changed my daily lifestyle to help my body fitness. One simple thing I changed is to park quite a distance away from the Malls and Food centers, so that I walk more. This way I get more walking exercise in and to find parking is much easier anyway.

I am blessed to say that I have had some very wonderful achievements. In 2004, we finished Runner Up (2nd) in the South African Rotax Max Challenge Championship, won the Rotax Max Challenge NRKC Championship in a South African designed and built Kart (Apex) & qualified to participate at the Rotax Max RM1 International Final at Lanzarote, Spain in January 2005.

We also made history here as I became the first female to qualify into the final day out of 89 world qualified drivers. In 2007 we finished 4^th in the final race of the opening round of the Rotax Max DD2 European series at Salbris, France. We qualified to compete at the Vortex Super Rok Grand Final in Lonato, Italy where we finished 5^th overall out of 60 competitors and we made history as I became the first woman to finish on the podium.

I received my National Protea Colours for my outstanding performance in 2007.  In 2008 we finished Runner up (2^nd) again in the South African Vortex Super Rok Championship, won the Vortex Super Rok NRKC Championship and qualified to compete at the Grand Final in Lonato, Italy where we finished 13^th overall out of 70 competitors.

I am part of the Women in Motorsport panel. I represent the karting section in this panel. The panel organizes functions where they give a lot of exposure to promote women in Motorsport. One example is the track day we had for the ladies at Zwartkops on the 27^th of April 2009. We invited ladies on Facebook, e-mail and cell phones for some guided lessons on how to control a road car at high speeds.

The panel had a WIM stand at the Gauteng Motor show at Kyalami. We had all sorts of cars and bikes and I got a Go-Kart to stand on display there.  I enjoy helping the panel wherever I can as this helps all women in a sport dominated by men. The panel really does a lot to promote the women out there; they have their own website as well.

I am currently sponsored by ENGEN Extreme and Southern Sun Hotels. I really appreciate all they have done for me this year. Karting is a smaller version of Formula 1 and can get just as technical and complex as Formula 1.

We do constant development on the engines and chassis, which requires a strong budget in order to achieve the testing etc. So I am very grateful for my sponsors as they have helped me to achieve the testing I need to succeed in this sport.

I competed in the Vortex Super Rok for the 3^rd year now and the excitement, thrills and adrenalin rush gives me a bigger kick the more I race. It is the premier class in South Africa. This year was quite a demanding year as things did not always go according strategy and to plan.

Never the less it was full of action and the cream of it all is to have qualified to compete at the Vortex Super Rok Grand Final in Italy from October 20^th till October 25^th. Dedication and patience is so vital I think as these two were such a big factor in us finishing 2^nd at the last round of the 2009 South African Championship, which gave us 3^rd for the championship and so we qualified to compete overseas.

Once overseas, I and my team have to put the race engine together, put the kart together and then go testing before the event. On the race weekend, we will race in different qualifying rounds as only the top 34 out of about 70 competitors qualify to the final race itself.

The winner of the Final is then crowned the Champion. So I have a lot of butterflies already as racing against some of the best karters in the world gives me a lot of satisfaction, especially when we do well.

Many people have told me to hold on, no matter how bad it might seem at times as it does not always go your way. If you love it and it gives you butterflies, you can’t stop thinking about; all you do is talk about it… Then I am telling you girls out there, no matter what your sport or desire, if it does all what I have mentioned just now, THEN HOLD ON TO IT.

It is what you are supposed to be doing and remember to keep believing and trusting in God. He is the reason I live life to the full and why I am the best female Karter in South Africa and I believe will become the best female racer in the world.

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