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Catherine Hewitson — known to the drift world as Driftcat — is Australia’s first professional female drift driver, a pioneer who entered a Holden in national competition before most tracks even knew what drifting was.

EARLY YEARS

Born on August 16, 1979, and based in Melbourne, Australia [1], Catherine grew up with family support that pointed her toward speed from an early age. Her mother took her to a go-kart track and backed her interest in motocross, while her father joined a motocross club and attended events alongside her [1]. That go-kart visit, in 1992, gave the first clear indication of where things were headed: she posted the second-fastest female lap time and finished in the top three in friendly races — going in, she had been trying to beat the fastest female time on the board [1].

When drifting started gaining traction in Australia in 2003, she was among the first wave of competitors. The car was a 308-powered Holden VK Commodore, and the discipline was anything but established. “Back then it was really basic; most tracks didn’t know what drifting was and everything we did was self-taught. All we had was Initial D to learn from!” she told Street Machine in 2023 [2]. That VK also made history in its own right: it was the first Holden entered in a national drift competition [2].

OTHER INTERESTS

In 2008, she and Trent Hewitson opened Chequered Tuning, a dyno-tuning workshop in Melbourne. Trent works in the workshop while Catherine runs the day-to-day business [2]. Her driving skills have also translated to screen work — she was a stunt driver on the 2021 Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, describing the experience as “such a cool one” and noting that seeing her name in the end credits gave her “a major kick” [2].

EARLY SUCCESS

The results came quickly once she started competing. Her first drift win arrived at the Calder Park Night Competition in 2004 [1]. The following year was the most significant of her early career: she won the NSW State Championship and finished 4th overall in the National Pro Championship — the highest placing recorded by a woman in Australia’s PRO series at that time [2]. In 2006 she finished 2nd at a VicDrift competition at Winton [1], and in 2007 she placed 4th in Round 2 of the G1 State Championship at Mallala [1].

Sponsorship brought both opportunity and compromise. A Chinese company offered to back a full national season, but the deal came with a condition: she had to sell the VK and campaign a Nissan S13 Silvia instead. She accepted, ran the national series on a Nissan Onevia SR20det [2], and achieved that 4th-place national finish before eventually stepping back from full-time driving to help get Chequered Tuning off the ground [2]. The proceeds from selling the S13 went into funding the business [2].

After a competition break from 2009 to 2012, she returned to the sport in 2013 and placed 3rd at the DriftChile GrandPrix [3]. That same year she received an invitation from Team Raidopower Motorsport to compete at Gatebil in Norway, though she ultimately rode as a passenger rather than driving the intended Nissan S14 [1].

The return to drifting eventually brought the VK back into the picture too. “We used the money from selling the S13 to get the business going, and after four years or so, my husband turned to me and said, ‘We need a workshop car; how about you get back into drifting?’ So I thought, how cool would it be to get back into drifting with the car that got me into the sport, a VK Commodore?” she explained to Street Machine [2]. The current build pairs a Holden VK body with a Dodge R5P7 NASCAR-derived V8 engine [4].

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2003: First person to enter a Holden in a national drift competition [2].
• 2004: First drift win, at the Calder Park Night Competition [1].
• 2005: Won the NSW State Championship [2].
• 2005: Finished 4th overall in the National Pro Championship — the highest placing by a woman in Australia’s PRO series [2].
• 2006: Finished 2nd at a VicDrift competition at Winton [1].
• 2013: Finished 3rd at the DriftChile GrandPrix on her return to competition after a four-year break [3].
• Identified by Haltech as Australia’s first professional female drift driver [4].

INSPIRATIONS

In the absence of formal coaching or established infrastructure, the early Australian drift scene relied heavily on whatever resources were available. For Catherine and the competitors around her, that meant the anime series Initial D — a cartoon about street racing in the Japanese mountains that became an unlikely technical reference point for a generation of Australian drifters learning without a playbook [2].

REPUTATION

Street Machine credits her as Australia’s first female professional drifter and as the first woman to win a championship drifting title in Australia [2]. WTAC has similarly identified her as Australia’s first female drifter [5]. The assessment isn’t only retrospective: at the 2007 G1 State Championship at Mallala, Rhys Millen — identified in her biography as that year’s American Drift Champion — told her she had “great potential” [1]. Street Machine also recognises her as a pioneer for taking Australian-made cars into national drift competition at a time when the field was dominated by Japanese machinery [2].

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

In July 2026, WTAC announced Catherine as part of the “Yeah The Girls” demonstration crew for Mayhem After Dark, where she is set to drive her yellow Holden VK Commodore with its NASCAR-derived R5P7 V8 [5]. Full-time national series campaigning is not currently in the plan — she has said that time and budget constraints make that impractical — but demonstrations and special events remain the focus for the VK [2]. Longer-term ambitions include taking the car to Summernats and Drag Challenge, drifting at events around Australia, and eventually shipping it to the United States for Drag Week [2].

References:

[1] Driftcat — Biography
[2] Street Machine
[3] The Daily Star
[4] Haltech — Haltech Heroes
[5] World Time Attack Challenge — Mayhem After Dark 2026