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“Nothing on this world makes my coronary heart beat like racing, not even my double-shot lattes,” explains Tiffany Kelly. “I’m hooked on the rush.”
On the age of 17, she acquired that rush by evading parental permission to buy her first motorbike. As we speak, it comes through a Honda S2000 powered by an unlikely supply: a Honda Odyssey minivan engine.
Tiffany’s household didn’t share that love of motorsports, nevertheless, so she first explored this burning curiosity by enrolling in highschool auto physique courses. Then she interned at a physique store. The gratification of witnessing the transformation and completion of a mission automotive, she says, left her impressed and itching for extra.
First the Construct
Her present mission automotive is that this S2000. She discovered the way to run time trials on this automotive. Then she expanded into wheel-to-wheel racing.
As her driving expertise grew, she constructed the automotive to be extra aggressive, regularly making modifications. “It was fully inventory and in good situation once I purchased it,” she explains. “As we speak, the automotive is totally remodeled and on its second engine swap.”
She reviews that lots of people look puzzled when listening to about her engine swap. “In the event that they solely realized how a lot torque the engine has,” she says of the V6. “It’s a celebration!”
She swapped within the engine, unique to a 2002-’04 Honda minivan, through the winter of 2020 so she might make the 2021 Gridlife Touring Cup season. For the reason that V6 has double the torque of the automotive’s unique engine and her run group doesn’t restrict torque, solely horsepower, she hoped for a bonus.
This isn’t her solely S2000, although, as she has one other one for day by day driving. “I’m obsessive about the S2K platform and the way it handles,” she says. “I simply love how the expertise resembles driving a go-kart. The turn-in and corning speeds are phenomenal. It might not be the quickest in a straight line, however I really feel it’s among the best automobiles for getting round a nook quick.”
Tiffany Kelly loves the Honda S2000 a lot that she has two of them–one for road after which this one for observe. It’s had a little bit of a troublesome time, dealing with two wrecks in a single season.
She began off final season starring within the Discovery Channel’s “Getaway Driver” problem. Spoiler alert: She didn’t win however, she says, left with reminiscences she’s going to always remember, like assembly Michelle Rodriguez of the “Quick & Livid” franchise.
Tiffany earned a handful of top-10 finishes final 12 months, and though she felt like she made progress, it didn’t appear linear. “Sadly, it was a tough season for me,” she displays. “It was difficult to race wheel to wheel in a 45-to-50-car discipline filled with different expert drivers, however I loved it and discovered a ton. I discovered as a lot from failure as I did by profitable, if no more.”
Then the Crash
And she or he additionally totaled the automotive throughout that season. Twice. “Yup, fully totaled my automotive twice,” she admits.
The primary incident occurred simply two weeks earlier than her subsequent one. “I can’t consider we had been in a position to get all of it again collectively, and twice,” she says. “The period of time, labor and cash it took to place my automotive again collectively in such a brief interval, a number of occasions, is mind-boggling.”
She explains that placing the automotive again collectively was quite a bit simpler than the psychological challenges she was pressured to beat after the wrecks. It’s extra manageable to brush off a single crash and chalk it as much as the ol’ saying, ‘That’s racing, everybody crashes, even the professionals,’ however crashing your automotive a number of occasions can take its toll.
“It’s so onerous to remain motivated and hold going,” she continues. “I doubted my expertise, my skills as a driver, and questioned why I used to be even doing it.”
Tiffany will inform you that it takes a village to go racing, as her crew has helped flip her racing desires into actuality–even after the onerous occasions. Happily, Tiffany is aware of her approach round a physique store.
And Lastly, Repeat
Reflecting on why she fell in love with racing made it simpler to push her approach again to the observe: “The automotive tradition is really superb. It brings so many alternative individuals collectively. I really like my racing household, the builds, the vibes and the camaraderie throughout the grid.”
Tiffany plans to proceed racing her S2000, however she’s additionally different disciplines. She just lately bought a Subaru BRZ to discover the drifty facet of motorsports, whereas she’s been racing in a 125cc shifter kart in SKUSA’s ProKart Problem. “I’m excited for the brand new alternatives and development in my racing profession,” she says.
“I can’t give sufficient credit score to my husband, Justin Kelly, for maintaining me going,” she continues. “He by no means stops believing in me and all the time helps me by way of my ups and downs. He’s my greatest cheerleader. I’m additionally extraordinarily grateful for the crew and the whole lot they did to verify I acquired again on the observe and didn’t cease racing.”
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