Show Notes
In this episode of She Dares Wins, recorded live at the Be Right Back event, Michelle sits down with Tessa Wittock, a stunt driver and car drifter whose journey takes her from investment banking in London to drifting in muddy fields, then all the way to Hollywood, working on Mission Impossible 7 with Tom Cruise. Tessa shares how she got hooked on drifting after a passenger ride in a Skyline, built her own off-road Suzuki Vitara, and taught herself to drift before going on to win European drift titles and carve out a name in a male-dominated motorsport and stunt world. This conversation is packed with adrenaline, honesty, and practical advice for anyone who wants to push past their limits—on the track or in life. In This Episode, We Cover: From banking to burnout (the good kind): How Tessa left investment banking to pursue drifting full-time and what that transition really looked like. Learning to drift from scratch: Her early cars: Fiesta ST, Focus ST, VXR Nürburgring, Suzuki Vitara Teaching herself in muddy fields and at Santa Pod Being a visual learner and jumping into other people’s cars to improve. Breaking into stunts & Mission Impossible 7: How drifting opened doors to the British stunt world Her mentor Terry Grant and introduction to stunt director Wade Eastwood Auditioning against other female drivers and landing Mission Impossible 7 Driving everything from BMW M5 to a military H2 Hummer What it’s like doing one-shot, high-pressure stunts with multiple cameras and huge crews. Competing at the top level in drifting: Winning Queen of Europe and placing second in King of Europe Handling (and sometimes not handling) the pressure of qualifying The infamous “Ticked Off at Teesside” story and what she learned from it. Women in motorsport & role models: Navigating a male-dominated industry and not letting it define her limits Early female inspirations: Belinda Chalice and Lisa Branch Why she admires Jess Hawkins and the impact of F1 Academy Her message to young women: “If I can do it, anybody can.” Teaching others to drift: Running her drift academy at Three Sisters Circuit in Wigan Why she believes anyone can learn to drift—students aged 81 and 84 included Her top tips for first-time drifters (including Caterham drivers): Look where you want to go Use your eyes to guide your hands Always be two steps ahead on track Common misconceptions racing drivers have when they try drifting. Mindset, nerves & performing under pressure: How Tessa manages nerves on the start line The music she uses to get in the zone (drum & bass) Using mental checklists before a run to stay calm and focused Dealing with self-doubt and moments that made her feel “not good enough” Pivoting, pushing on, and continually challenging herself. Cars, dreams & what’s next: Her dream garage – drift car, A90 Supra build, off-roaders, and supercars Working as a product expert for Rolls-Royce, driving long distances and on track Why she wants to try rally and ultimately something Dakar-related Plans for a touring drift academy to bring drifting around the UK. The She Dares Wins “Dare”: Tessa’s dare to other women: Challenge yourself to do something different and out of your comfort zone—every day if you can. Tessa’s dare to herself: Step into rallying and push into a completely new motorsport discipline.
https://berightback.uk/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from She Who Dares, Wins.
In this episode of She Who Dares Wiggles, I'm joined by Stephanie, Olympic marathon runner, one-to-one run coach and mum. She never dreamed of the Olympics, but after a marathon ballot she expected to lose, a pandemic and a run of injuries, she ended up on the start line in Tokyo. We talk about the races, the setbacks, and why starting her own business may have been the bigger dare.
This week on She Who Dares Wins, I'm joined by Squash: adventurer, speaker and high-performance coach.
For twenty years, Leesa was deeply immersed in the corporate rat race—running global sales teams, traveling the world, and earning a living in a high-stakes, money-driven career. But behind the scenes, she was pushing herself to the absolute limit. When her mother passed away suddenly from lung cancer just nine months after diagnosis, and lockdown hit, Leesa faced a severe mental breakdown, burnout, and a prescription for one hundred and fifty milligrams of antidepressants that left her feeling like a zombie. Realizing life was far too short to stay trapped in a career that didn't serve her, she walked away from corporate sales with zero safety net.
In this exclusive mini bonus episode, host Michelle Hands catches up with world-record endurance runner Christine Hobson to ask for one simple, powerful dare for women looking to take control of their health without feeling overwhelmed. Despite running marathons, Christine shares her startling discovery after wearing a continuous glucose monitor: even active athletes can experience major blood sugar spikes after regular meals. Christine reveals how experimenting with a simple 20-minute brisk walk straight after eating completely transformed her glucose levels and metabolic health. Together, Michelle and Christine unpack the power of compounding daily micro-habits, why walking around the block while listening to an audiobook beats sporadic workout intensity, and how stepping out your back gate into nature can bring you right back to basics.
In this completely raw, unscripted, and single-take solo episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on a massive internal battle I’ve been fighting over the last six months: the paralyzing trap of external noise, over-strategizing, and quietly losing your true voice in the social media scroll. After 2.5 years of hosting this show and building a career on storytelling—from construction site cabins to high-production film sets—I recently realized I had fallen into a dangerous vortex. I was buying the courses, reading the books, obsessing over "traditional business formulas," and trying to force my creative brain into boxes where it just didn't fit. In the pursuit of perfection, I forgot who I was, how I wanted to show up, and why I started this journey in the first place.