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WESTFIELD HEIRESS SAVOURING RISE TO THE MOUNTAINTOP FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, THIS V8 TEAM OWNER HAS HIT ONE OF LIFE’S PEAKS, WRITES JANET FIFE-YEOMANS
RAGS to riches V8 legend Betty Klimenko has had little time to celebrate her Erebus team’s fairytale Bathurst 1000 win.
She packed up the rented house and got behind the wheel of her Holden HSV GTS 507 — the closest to a race car she can drive on the open road — and headed back from Mount Panorama to Sydney for the obligatory round of media calls. There wasn’t even any champagne.
“I had a piece of toast and a cup of tea. You have to have a clear head,” said the powerhouse, whose passion for motor racing has broken the mould of racing team owners. She also revealed why she dedicated her achievement as the first female team owner to win the race classic to her adoptive father, multi-millionaire Westfield co-founder, the late John Saunders.
She said that the Hungarian Nazi camp survivor had inspired her love of motorsport.
“I think he would be proud of me,” the colourful Klimenko, 58, said. “He was...