She was disappointed with her first car - a Ford Fiesta chosen by her father - “because it didn’t go fast enough”.
Quad bike racing and tinkering on cars on her family’s farm as a young girl progressed to a coveted job at just 23 working as an engineer for Williams, one of the world’s leading Formula 1 teams.
Isla MacKenzie ‘buried’ her dream of becoming a professional racing driver herself because the funds needs to progress through the motorsports are substantial.
However, the 27-year-old, who is originally from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, is now one step closer to emulating her F1 hero Susie Wolff after being selected for a competition that aims to find the female racing stars of the future.
She has secured sponsorshop from island brand ishga, which is already backing swimmer Kara Hanlon, who is tipped for Commonwealth medals next year.
READ MORE: Luxury Lewis brand hails 'Janey Godley effect' for spike in sales
“I’ve always being into driving quads and there are rallies on the island and usually (before Covid) a yearly drag race and I just loved speed and cars and the mechanics,” said Ms MacKenzie.
“When I was old enough to pass my test and legally drive my dad made me get a Ford Fiesta - that was my first car and I was not happy about that. It was not fast enough.
“My theory was my 17th birthday or the day after and I booked the soonest (practical) test I could.”
She says she sold the Fiesta “as soon as she could” and switched to a Corsa with a different and faster engine.
“I had quite a boy-racery cars in my youth,” she smiles, adding that she has no fear on the track because her competitiveness takes over.
Her passion for car mechanics led to her studying motorsports design engineering at the University of the West of Scotland in Hamilton.
READ MORE: Murray Walker will be remembered forever - Sir Jackie Stewart
“I always did extra during my time at university and I volunteered with Coltness Car Club, which Colin McRae started in and started my own engine tuning business on the side.
“I also had a little drift car and used to go to Driftlands in Fife and then six months after my final year I started applying for all sorts of jobs not really sure where I wanted to be.”
She planned to open her own garage in Glasgow but fate took a different turn. She got an email from Williams F1 inviting her for an interview. and landed a job at the pinnacle of motorsports engineering at just 23.
READ MORE: How two Scottish drivers conquered Le Mans - 65 years later
“My first job was prototype and test technician and essentially I was testing and helping develop the whole car. Then in June I started at Mercedes and that job that I’m doing is testing the entire power unit.”
She says she put aside all thoughts of racing herself until this year when she was sent a link to an competition which will select six women to receive professional coaching with a fully sponsored seat racing in a Mclaren GT4 car. The 27-year-old will find out on September 19 if she’s been successful.
“Working in top level motorsports there are definitely more women coming into engineering roles but in terms of racing there is just hardly any. On the F1 round, it’s all men.”
Malcolm Macrae, of ishga, said: “The local community has been very supportive of ishga and we like to give something back.
“What Isla has achieved in a male dominated sport - working on F1 engines - is quite remarkable for someone from a wee place like Stornoway.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel