Aberystwyth frontline Covid nurse Emma Crowley could be about to embark on a journey of a lifetime, as she enters Formula Woman, a nationwide competition to find the next female racing driver.

The competition originally ran from 2004 to 2007 with a televised final, now after 16 years, Formula Woman has been kick-started to find the next champion.

From an anticipated 10,000 applicants, via online assessments, they will be whittled down to just 16 finalists, who will then be involved with a series of televised heats to get down to the final two.

The two winning ladies will secure a unique opportunity to drive a McLaren 570 GT4 run by the McLaren Customer Racing Department, in the 2022 GT Cup Championship.

Emma, who has just clocked up 21 years in the medical profession, is a genuine petrol head, helping run Crowley Motorsport with husband Sean and co-driving his stints on rallies.

Mother-of-two Emma said: “We moved to Wales from Derbyshire when I was just three. Back then it was the four-legged type of horsepower I was mad on. Dad was a road rally co-driver in the mid ‘70s; I went on my first event aged just five weeks.”

Emma’s rallying interest was rejuvenated when she met Sean after he was hospitalised for five months. A paralysed Sean came to Emma’s ward for physio and the conversation soon turned to rallying.

Part of Emma’s role was to hoist Sean out of bed so he could check the rally results on her night shifts.

“We got chatting one night and I mentioned I would like to do a rally, to my surprise Sean agreed once he was fit enough, and the seed was sown.”

Some three months later the duo hit the lanes on a local road rally. Emma, starting at car 39 out of 40, with Sean on the maps, complete with a wig claiming to be an all-women crew, they finished a superb seventh overall. Emma had the taste for speed.

Sean persuaded Emma that she had to co-drive for him.

Prior to the 2013 Tour of Epynt Emma ‘enrolled’ herself on a two-hour co-driving crash course with the experienced Paul Wakely. Emma had never seen a timecard or even called pace notes. When they were ready to rally, unfortunately clutch issues saw led to their retirement.

“I think Sean thought he was going to scare me over Epynt Ranges, but I loved it,” she said.

Love blossomed and they married in 2017. Unfortunately they had a terrifying accident on the Epynt Ranges in their 4wd Colt, this left Emma unconscious, with a bleed on the brain, cracked hip and fractured pelvis, and Sean suffering with three cracked ribs.

In 2019, they produced a stunning drive to 15th overall, first in class on the Rali Bae Ceredigion in an 8v Peugeot 205 GTI – one of the highlights of her career.

Family plays a huge part in Emma’s life, her two sons play football for Penrhyncoch juniors, which Crowley Motorsport supports.

“I absolutely love my job, but the last 14 months have been unbelievably tough for the NHS staff, nobody really knew what we were dealing with, on the frontline.

“People were not only putting their lives on the line every day to look after those less fortunate, with the possibility of giving it to your family,” she said.

“The stress, the tears and my emotions were all over the place, we were all so frightened but had to get on with it. I get so much satisfaction from my job, and I’m very proud to have been part of the fight against the Covid.

“But it was Sean who said I needed to do something for myself after the last 14 months, so what about this Formula Woman competition.

“I realised I had put my life on hold for the past year and I needed a personal challenge in my life, so I thought ‘I love cars and motorsport’,

“I’m very driven, even if I’m a mother of two and the wrong side of 40! I will give this my best shot.”