Trackstar’s Lady Banger Gold Roof championship will be revived at the Adrian Flux Arena, King’s Lynn, on Saturday 15 October for the first time since 2017. And it comes with a twist as, for the first time ever, the women will be contesting the title in Unlimited Bangers.
One driver hoping to claim her second Gold Roof title will be #100 Emma Mullins, who has qualified on pole position for the event. The West Midlands racer will be seeking to add the crown to the Startrax version she won at Stoke in 2018.
Despite her past success and her strong form in Unlimited Lady Bangers this year, Emma is having to manage some nerves alongside anticipation of the big race as she catches up with us ahead of the event.
“I’m nervous as well [as excited] at the same time,” she says. “To be quite honest, if I think about it too much then I’ll probably make silly mistakes, so I try and keep a clear head if I can. If I put too much pressure on myself it just makes me feel really bad.”
The reintroduction of regular racing for the women-only formula, now using big rear-wheel-drive machinery, has gone down a storm this year. Turnouts have average around 20 cars at each meeting, with interest set to spike for their biggest event. While experienced campaigners such as previous Trackstar Gold Roof winners #477 Amy Steele and #85 Danielle Ellis have been among the pacesetters, there have also been plenty of newcomers enjoying success.
The highpoint of Mullins’s season so far was a heat-and-final double in a Sunday session at the start of July.
“I can’t believe I did both,” says the racer who’s also gone well in Lady Bangers slightly closer to home at the independent Trent Raceway. “I try not to put too much pressure on myself, but even when I win... you think, ‘Have I actually done that?’ It’s like I don’t believe in myself as much as I should do really. But it was a good night for me and I was really chuffed with the two wins.”
Banger Racing aficionados will recognise the Demons colours adorning Mullin’s Jaguar. The daughter of long-time Demons racer #236 Andy Robinson, sister of #21 Gavin Robinson and married to #353 Martin Mullins, Emma is fully immersed in the famous team who we regularly see at King’s Lynn in the Icebreaker team events. She’s been racing herself for nearly two decades – not that she always wanted to.
“My dad started before I was even born,” she says. “When I was younger I weren’t too fussed. But I think I was about 15 when I first asked my dad that I wanted to race. And I remember him sitting me in my brother’s Mini, because my brother had a Mini for his 10th birthday, and he says if I can drive round the factory then he’ll build be a car.
“So he tells me what to do and [I drove] from the front to the back and then from the back to the front. And, put it this way, he then told me to get out and said I was dangerous! And then that was it – he didn’t let me race then until I was 19. It took a lot of pestering to get me to do it but he eventually gave in.”
Starting out at the local Incarace circuits of Hednesford and Birmingham, in their non-contact entry-level formula, Emma progressed to Rookie Bangers before focusing on Lady Bangers. Once she got a taste for rear-wheel drive and some extra power in the Unlimited version, there was no looking back.
“I used to do Incarods when I was 19,” she says. “And then once I’d come out of Incarods I tried the Rookies at Trent Raceway. This was before the ladies’ formula started. I started with the Rookies and then I moved on to doing the Lady Bangers formula at Stoke, which I really enjoyed doing. I was gutted when they closed. And then when they started bringing the Unlimiteds out, that was it. Once I’d got in an Unlimited I says to my husband, ‘I’m not interested in the 1600s anymore! I just want to do the Unlimiteds.’”
Emma is hugely grateful for the support she receives off-track from husband Martin. But, if she does strike gold for a second time, he needs to make sure he’s got some gold paint ready!
She says: “At Stoke in 2018 I won their Gold Roof, but I was disappointed because my husband never painted my roof gold! So he better get the gold paint out if I do actually win the Gold Roof because I’ll be wanting it painted!
“The Jag I’m racing now, my husband originally started building that for himself and, when they announced that they was doing Unlimiteds, he gave it to me straight away. He’s took a step back because I’ve had the car. But he’s definitely going to get me some more.
“Without him I wouldn’t be racing,” adds Emma, who runs her own beauty salon and bridal boutique. “He spends all the hours down the unit getting the cars ready for me. I mean I don’t lift a finger – I’m at home! Even in the pits, I don’t lift a finger – he does everything for me, and I can’t thank him enough. Obviously my dad will help and my brother will help and all the team-mates will help when we’re there, but my husband’s the main one because he spends a lot of time sorting everything out for me.”
With the big race taking place in October, there will be a very special atmosphere on a Saturday night under the lights. Emma will be keeping her fingers crossed for dry weather as she guns for glory.
“I must admit, I do like a Saturday night rather than an afternoon,” she says, “but I hate wet weather!”
Emma Mullins speaking to Mark Paulson October 2022. Jim Harrod Photos
With thanks to NJB Groundwork solutions for their sponsorship of the Gold roof event Saturday.