It was a very nice surprise to catch up with Betty Klimenko at the Spa 24 Hours, the Erebus team owner and her husband were there as guests of the Black Falcon team, their sight firmly set on a potential outing at Spa next year for their Mercedes GT3 cars.
Betty is a paddock favourite in Australian motorsport and with very good reason, her very personal brand of fan engagement plays very well indeed with the fans – But woe betide anyone that takes her at face value, there’s real depth beyond the inked arms and biker chick garb, this is a lady that has a real vision for the sport that she’s so passionate about:
You first really cam to my attention Betty at Bathurt this year after that marvellous gesture when you gave back the Allan Simonsen trophy for pole position to Mark Coffey after Maro Engel took the pole for you. That was a classy gesture.
“Thanks, it was just the right thing to do. Allan was a big part of that race and I know the trophy meant a lot to Mark and his boys.”
So why ‘Erebus’ Betty?
“Greek, that’s where Erebus comes from, the Greek god of darkness. It’s not an evil darkness though, it’s an empty void. To me that’s exactly where motorsport was and it needed something. In Greek history Erebus’ daughter came and it made the light shine. So I named my first car Nyx after her.
“But I should have read the end of the Wikipedia thing, because they changed Erebus’ name to Hades. So at the moment we’ve got a transporter called Olympus, the other mover is called Zeus. It may sound crazy, but it works. we have fun with it.”
You are clearly a beloved figure in the paddock, you seem to make yourself available to the fans more than most?
“I find that what’s needed is taking time just to speak to someone, talk to a kid, or anyone.
“It makes their day, and we forget as owners and drivers that to the fans, the garage is an inner sanctum. They never get to see it or be part of it.
“At Bathurst we make a path down the side of the garage so people can go down, sit there and watch. They’re all really good about it too, they swap and take turns.
“I think the appeal is the fact that I do take a lot of time to talk to people, and I love it. I hear their stories.
“The saddest one was, well it was funny-sad, was a woman who had a stroke and lost her short term memory. Her son would come to see her and she only had long-term memory. The only thing in her short term memory was me, she’d say: ‘how’s Betty?’
“She came to a race, we took photos, I signed stuff and we gave them a beer – They had a great time and I just loved seeing them.
“I’ve also had some really sad ones too where a woman was in hospice and her last wish was to come and see the cars and me. She did, and then a couple of months later she passed away.
“But you’ve got to look at things differently. It’s a passion, and if you can use that to help people, then why not?”
It’s a bit of a mess between the V8 Supercars and the Bathurst 12 Hour at the moment? You have a foot in both camps?
“They need to sort it out – it’s not good for anyone
“I’ve got a foot in five camps in Australia: V8s, V8 Utes, GTs, development series, single seaters, F3 and we have karts too that we are not running at the moment.”
Is that passion for the sport getting out of control?
“Think my husband would say so yes!”
He’s polity nodding quietly, that’s the best way to be.
“He has a great take on it, he just says don’t bring it home with me. You have to leave it at the door.”
You’ve had a good look here at Spa at the 24 Hours, what do you think?
“It’s just a big Bathurst. Instead of like Bathurst where it’s 11 hours, you’re here for 23 hours qualifying with one hour racing. I’m loving it.
“We actually drove right around the outside, and the one and only time there was a red flag was when I got out of the car. I had my camera with me and I said to Daniel [Erebus’s CEO] I want you to take a picture. So me and my husband stood at the fence, and waited. ‘What car?’ he said, ‘any car’. The first one to come by, that he took a picture of us with, was a car on the flatbed. But he only showed it to me after we left!”
Many are surprised when they see Spa from close quarters just how much elevation is involved?
“It’s the same with Bathurst, until you see in person, you don’t realise how going down that big hill is like being on a roller coaster. I love it. I’ve got a soft spot for Bathurst.”
“For the 12 Hours this year I was very proud of the boys who came third with a quarter of the car missing after hitting a Kangaroo.
“I was in the bathroom when it happened. The car pulls in, it looks fine, it pulled out, it was all ok. It went round and round for hours and I didn’t see the damage until we left. I said ‘what’s that?’ ‘It was the Kangaroo Betty’. ‘What Kangaroo?’ I couldn’t see it, I was just wondering what all the fuss was about on the other side of the car when it came in. The side I saw was perfect.”
You are clearly close to Mercedes, and they have a new car coming n 2016 (The AMG GT). Are you looking at that or thinking about possibly looking elsewhere?
“I don’t know. I can’t give an answer. I can’t, I have no idea, I’m too tired.”
And all smiles she was off to watch the racing.
