April 2nd was the official start of the car show season, and the Mean Street Cruise was an unofficial kick-off. Held in the Essex Arena in Thurrock, it was a buzz of sports enthusiasts, businesses selling the latest gizmos, tip-swapping sessions and of course a raft of car-owners showing off their creations.

On the girlracer.co.uk stand was Amy Slade - a 21 year old student of Media Production from Hemel-Hempstead - with her Peugeot 106. She has added 18in wheels, a full body kit, graphics, a colour coded interior and an Ice system - all of this swallowing roughly £8,000 of her student loans.

“It started after I’d seen The Fast and the Furious,” she says, “I’d never noticed modified cars before and had no interest. Then I saw boy racers with nice big wheels and stuff, so I invested in some alloys. I thought I’d stop there. I used to laugh at boy racers not being able to get over speed bumps with theirs. And now I can’t. It’s overtaken my life. I look forward to car shows. It’s an exciting environment and I’ve met a lot of friends. It gets me a lot of attention. People have said that I’m obsessed. I’d say I’m in love with this car. I don’t think that’s a problem. It makes me feel happy. I feel good.”

With so many expensive modifications to protect, Amy now sleeps with a £150 pager that lets her know if anyone touches the car. Males in the modding scene outnumber females nine to one, and Sarah Williams - another modder, 20, from Didcot - comments, “I’ve been called a lesbian by the lads. I think they’re scared I’ll show them up by knowing more.”

So yet another previously male dominated sport is being slowly infiltrated. If you want to make sure you’re ahead of the pack, head over to our online shop and look into getting yourself a new set of alloy wheels.

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