Hi, I'm Debbie.

My love of rallying and all things cars, started out during my childhood. My dad Michael used to Rally and so I had many an hour spent in the Motorsport environment.

 

It was only natural that I followed in his footsteps and found myself, aged 18, working at Tom Walkinshaw Racing as part of the Engine Division. We worked on Bastos Group A Rovers and latterly the Silk Cut Jaguar Group C cars.

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Throughout the late 80s and early 90s, I worked with Dawson Auto Developments helping to produce vehicles for the British Formula 3, Formula Renault, The British Rally Championship and... Truck Racing.

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Fast forward a year or two, and I became part of  Team Central alongside Ian Flux, working in the TVR Tuscan challenge.

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The Eurocar series beckoned in 1996, 1997 and the first half of 1998. I became a technician at Team Eurotech and together we won every single round of the Porsche Cup in 1997, ultimately winning the title. As if that wasn't enough, we went on to win the V8 Eurocar Championship and build the FIRST-EVER 996 racecar in the world... Well we won't talk about that one.

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After Team Eurotech, it was onto D.O.M.E (Dennis Osbourne Motorsport Engineering) working on Ford Escort and Sierra Cosworths for drivers such as Russell Brookes and Björn Waldegård. We were competing in Group A and WRC at this point, alongside the British & European Rallies, Ice Racing and Irish Tarmac Rallying.

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Now we come to the turn of the millenium. The year 2000 hits and I started my journey as a Senior Mechanic with the Mitsubishi Ralliart Europe WRC team. I was fortunate to work with JUST a few motorsport legends - Tommi Mäkinen, Harri Rovanperä, Gilles Panizzi, François Delecour, Gigi Galli and Alister Mcrae - to name a few. 

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Unfortunately in 2005, Mitsubishi withdrew from the WRC and so I was left to freelance. Then came an opportunity.

I interviewed at both McLaren and Williams. McLaren got back to me with an offer of employment but with two young children at home (you might recognise them), I had to make the tough decision to turn it down. Whilst on an LMP race in Germany, I recieved the call from Williams F1 - "You're through to Interview 2, but it's basically a definite yes". So then came my stint in Formula 1 with Nico Rosberg, Mark Webber and Kazuki Nakajima at the Williams team.

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After this I bumped into Lasse Lampi who offered me some work over in Finland rebuilding some of his cars. I even got to take my son Tom over there with me a few times, so these are some of my fondest memories.

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Then in 2008/2009, still Freelancing, I worked on the BMW X-Raid Dakar Series and with Tommi Makinen Racing before finally doing a last few rallies with Kimi Räikkönen in between his F1 Grand-Prixs.

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And then what, you ask? Well in 2009, I decided it was FINALLY time to settle into a slightly more relaxed lifestyle which is how Sports Vehicle Performance came to be. From an empty unit with just two cars and a toolbox, to the family run business we've made it today.