Bio
Growing up for Sarah Burgess never followed the typical path for a young girl – following a sporting career that started at the age of 5 with BMX, moving into Triathlons, Cycling, Kayaking, then switching up to represent Australia for Inline Speed Skating and also Short Track Speed Skating, challenges and competition became the standard for Sarah.
Then came the passion for the automotive industry, first it was a simple Test n’ Tune at the local track, then in 2000, Sarah had the opportunity of a business trip to the USA to meet with vendors and watch the NHRA Pomona Winternationals. Getting to see a 325mph pass got Sarah hooked on racing, and wanting to do more to sink her teeth in to the performance automotive world.
From this point on Sarah became more involved in the industry opening a performance automotive business with her partner Adam Burgess, becoming a distributor for a variety of American automotive manufactures. Over the period of the last 14 years Sarah has learned a variety of skills including:
Installation of ECU’s and Data Acquisition
Diagnostics
EFI Mapping (Tuning)
Installation of turbos, injectors, fuel systems
Product sales and service, technical support
Of course from the opportunity of building performance vehicles, it provides the same opportunity
driving higher horsepower vehicles under a controlled situation – this causing the bug to bite even more for racing. Sarah attended some track events in between her busy schedule of customer work and p
rototyping new products, but knowing that living in Australia can only take you so far and knowing that America is the land of opportunity Sarah and her family moved to the USA to pursue her goals and achievements.
Sarah started off as Team Manager for BMI Racing when their first drift car (a Mazda RX8) was built, but this also included fabricating parts, installing the electrical system and providing marketing
opportunities for BMI Racing’s partners.
In 2011 Sarah stepped back into the driver’s seat, once again adding another profession to her busy schedule, and competed in Xtreme Drift Circuit in Seattle WA and Dallas TX.
2012 brought a change to the BMI Racing team stepping up to an 700hp Ford Mustang running a 5.0L Coyote Engine with a 2.9L Whipple Supercharger – Sarah stepped up to the challenge of driving this beast and competed in a variety of drift events across the country including the Xtreme Drift Circuit and East Coast Bash. At the time Sarah was the only female drifting on a national level.
Opportunities broadened in 2013 for Sarah as she moved into her second year drifting the Ford Mustang. In between her competition events throughout the year that included competing at Hyperfest at Summit Point Raceway and Midwest Drift Union on the Streets of Detroit; Sarah spent time at the automotive technical college WyoTech, talking with the new students during their first day of school being a role model and mentor within the automotive industry.
Sarah’s relationship with WyoTech continued to grow in 2014, with them being a part of her program as she moved her driving career from drifting to the Redbull Global Rallycross Series. Here she will competed in the GRC Series that was held across the USA in a Chevrolet Sonic running 2.0L EcoTec.
Never one to step down from a challenge and always reaching for bigger and better opportunities Sarah will compete in her rookie year of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series in the Pro Lite class. The series also known as LOORRS will hit dirt tracks in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. Sarah will be flying through the air as much as 15ft high and 120ft long in a 3200lb truck and banging doors with 19 other drivers on the track. The Pro Lite class is considered to be one of the most challenging classes in the series based on its spec rule book.
Competition
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series – Pro Lite Class