Her cousin was the youngest person to sail solo non-stop around the world four years ago, and now Terri Taylor wants to blaze her own trail, on dry land and on four wheels.
The 14-year-old is the youngest member of the Central Otago Motorsport Club, won the club's ''most improved'' award at its prizegiving on Saturday and hopes to make a career out of her passion for motorsport.
The self-confessed tomboy has been racing for about a year and says her idol is the Dunedin driver, Emma Gilmour.
Terri also has an excellent example of an inspirational role model within her own family.
Terri's cousin is Jessica Watson, of Queensland, who spent seven months sailing around the world when she was 16, solo and unassisted, finishing her journey in May 2010, in Sydney Harbour.
A crowd estimated at 75,000 greeted her at the end of her trip and Terri was among the ''Kiwi contingent'' of family members who were waiting to welcome her.
Jessica's epic journey showed Terri what could be achieved with the support of family, self-belief and determination.
''It showed me if you believed in what you could do, anything was possible,'' Terri said.
She credits her father, Steve, and older brother, Simon (18), with sparking her interest in motorsport, as they both compete.
''Simon kind of let me drive the truck on the farm and that was how I started driving.''
The 1991 Subaru Legacy car she uses is also raced by her father and she says he, along with other club members, have been generous in giving her advice about competing.
So far, in her first year of competition, Terri has raced at the Timaru International Motor Raceway and at Teretonga Park raceway at Invercargill, as well as at Highlands Motorsport Park, where the Central Otago club staged its track sprint on Saturday.
''Racing is a lot harder than it looks and it takes a while to get to know each track.
"This track stuff is all new for me and I've spun out a few times today [Saturday] ... but that's quite fun,'' Terri said.
She loves having the Highlands track almost on her doorstep.
Living only a couple of kilometres away, at Ripponvale, she says she ''can't quite'' see the track from home, ''but I can hear it [the sounds of racing]''.
The year 10 Cromwell College pupil hopes to add mechanics to her subject list next year and admits she gets some teasing from her mates about her passion for motorsport.
''I'm definitely not much of a girly-girl and not one for getting dressed up. That's not me at all.''
She would like to see more young people getting involved in the sport.
Her mother, Wendy Taylor, said despite what people might think, motorsport did not have to be an expensive pastime.
''You can start out with a $500 car. This one [the Subaru] has probably cost $2000 all up, to race, for the past couple of years.''
And despite Terri's love of driving, she has to wait another two years before gaining her driver's licence for the open road.
''I just can't wait,'' she said.
