“I started the final from pole, won by five seconds and broke the record for the fastest-ever lap around the circuit in a kart,” she grinned. “That's not too bad, is it?”
“It was an 18-lap final, and I had been working out in the gym leading up to the weekend. That really paid off as I was able to pull away over the last few laps.
“I'm pleased with my progress so far – it couldn't really have gone much better, could it, with two podiums from my first two races…”
Now looking ahead to more DD2 competition over the winter in preparation for a possible move up again into KF2 next year, Amanda took time out from her racing schedule recently to go on a guided tour of
Williams'
Formula 1 factory and museum at Grove, as a reward for winning one of the coveted
Jason Plato ‘Man on a Mission' awards in Stars' back in 2006.
On-site since 1996, the atmosphere within the factory is cool, calm and collected – the very epitome of Williams Grand Prix Engineering. Of the 500 people employed there, 70 routinely travel to grand prix weekends, while the museum houses an example of every Williams car from 1978 all the way through to the present day. Between them they have earned the British outfit 113 victories, 125 pole positions and an incredible 16 world championship crowns.
“It was really good to see how the cars have developed over the years in the museum, and the factory tour was very interesting,” she enthused. “It was all so clean too – I thought there would be oil and mess everywhere! It was good to see what goes on behind-the-scenes. You don't realise how big it is until you get there – so much work goes into it to run just two cars.”
Indeed, only 22 of those cars get to start a grand prix every other weekend, and there has not been a female
F1 driver on the starting grid for almost three decades. Amanda Lassu aims to change all that.
![BRDC Stars of Tomorrow 'Man on a Mission' winners [L-R] Amanda Lassu, Kenny Andrews, Max Hawkins, Daniel Payne and Jack Goff at the Williams F1 factory in Grove](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/391110.jpg)
