She Was So Fast They Thought The Engine Must Be Illegal | Fabienne Lanz | Fabienne Lanz

Video Description from YouTube:

What does failure teach you when the race is dangerous, expensive and everyone is watching?

In this episode of Cheers to Failure, Nontokozo sits down with Fabienne Lanz for a conversation about motor racing, pressure, failure, gender, confidence, discipline and learning to trust yourself when the stakes are high.

Fabienne describes failure as the first thought of “I wasn’t good enough,” followed by the more important question: what can I learn from this?

For her, failure is not only about losing. It is about taking the lesson, doing it better next time, and not allowing one result to define the whole journey.

She opens up about growing up in a home where mistakes were highlighted so she could improve, but how that often made her feel like she was not good enough.

She also reflects on the role her father played in her racing career, teaching her to listen to the engine, sort out her own crashes, stand up for herself and understand that the goal was never to race as “a girl against boys.” The goal was to race to win.

Fabienne takes us inside the world of motorsport: the money, the mechanics, the danger, the team behind every driver, and the mental discipline it takes to stay calm when everything can go wrong in seconds.

She speaks about being one of the few women in racing, owning a racing team, coaching children, dealing with parents, and the moment a parent told her he had to leave her team because he could not take instructions from a woman.

She also reflects on racing at a world final in Italy, managing anxiety, hiding her true speed as part of her strategy, and competing at a level where her engine was being stripped after races because people wanted to understand how she was so fast.

This is a conversation about being underestimated, listening before you speak, knowing your limits, recovering from loss, building trust, managing fear, and staying in the race when giving up would be easier.

In this episode, Fabienne reflects on:
◽ Why failure can feel like “I wasn’t good enough”
◽ Growing up hiding bad test results
◽ How her father shaped her racing mindset
◽ Why motorsport is more than just driving fast
◽ Being one of the few women in racing
◽ What “listen to your engine” means in life and business
◽ Standing up to disrespect in male-dominated spaces
◽ Losing a championship fight and learning to let go
◽ Racing at a world final in Italy
◽ Managing anxiety before a race
◽ Hiding her true speed as a race strategy
◽ Why her engine was stripped after races
◽ Knowing what is in your control
◽ Mourning losses before rising again
◽ Building trust with racing teams and crew
◽ Coaching children and managing parents
◽ Why some parents damage their child’s racing dream
◽ What motorsport really costs
◽ Why passion still needs financial boundaries
◽ Being misunderstood and underestimated
◽ The danger of not respecting the car
◽ Why every child is coachable
◽ Repeated life lessons and learning to spot the pattern
◽ Divine favour, preparation and courage
◽ Fear, family and not going to bed angry

Timestamps
00:00 Cold open
01:54 Welcome Fabienne Lanz
02:14 What failure means to Fabienne
02:49 Growing up and hiding bad test results
04:19 Her world of motor racing
05:17 Winning, staying at the top and racing the best
07:04 Understanding the world of motorsport
08:30 Being a woman in a male-dominated sport
09:20 Her father teaching her to sort things out herself
10:27 Running a woman-owned racing team
11:09 “I can’t take instructions from a woman”
11:32 Listen to your engine
13:05 When she failed to listen to her own engine
14:43 Learning from her father and finding her own voice
17:24 Supporting children who want to race
19:08 Managing anxiety in competition
20:05 Racing at the world final in Italy
21:03 Why her engine kept getting stripped
21:28 Hiding her speed as a strategy
23:29 Finishing fifth at the world final
24:58 Staying in control when pressure is high
27:01 Recovering from losses
28:35 Building trust with a crew
30:02 When giving up is not an option
32:01 Being misunderstood
32:55 Being underestimated
34:02 When femininity becomes a stumbling block
35:45 Why parents listened to a man before her
37:24 The financial cost of racing
40:54 Not compromising on equipment or safety
42:22 What racing has cost her personally
45:04 Racing, ageing and never taking the gloves off
46:42 What people misunderstand about motor racing
47:51 What can go wrong on the road or track
48:43 Coaching children and difficult parents
50:04 Overestimating capability and managing risk
53:00 Repeating life lessons until you learn them
56:04 Projects she almost gave up on
58:50 Luck, divine favour and preparation
01:00:31 Fear, family and loss
01:03:23 How to get over a loss
01:04:36 Quick-fire questions

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Hosted by Nontokozo Madonsela.