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 Autovisie September 16th 2010

Interview with Carly Pellinkhof

If you don’t know Carly Pellinkhof as one of world’s best tuners, you probably do know her because of her extroardinary lifestory.

During this ride, Carly tells us how she led Carly Motors’ big successes when it comes to Motorsport.

Step inside of the Aston Martin DB9 with Carly Pellinkhof behind the wheel, and you won’t get the feeling you’re being driven by a woman.

Flexibly she drives this beautifully arched sportscar through the chaotic bustling traffic of North-Holland, accelerates and brakes robust on places where possible, and performs donuts on an abandoned parkingarea while having a grin on her face.

For Carly, this is merely playtime, because she is actually very busy.

She’s leading her business Carly Motors, which is situated in Leiden, and she’s effective at the developingdepartment of BMW Motorsport. She’s also running her own Vespa dealership together with partner Fem (37). Also worth mentioning, she is very active when it comes to stock exchange and gives great advice to friends, about stocks & investments. 

Her love for motors was lasting. Carly started motorracing, and she’d be hired as a tuner more and more. “When they started also hiring me for car motors, I noticed I lacked the proper knowledge”, she says. “Cars where much more complex, and weight became important too, so I went to study engeneering at a nightly course. During the classes of combustion process technics in motors, I stood infront of the class, while the teacher would step aside, because I knew everything about it.”

Meanwhile she grew more and more famous on all the circuits where Carly helped legions of worldwide renowned drivers to victory. Something she’s very modest about.

Competitors literally would say: “Carly only has to rub the car with a cleaningcloth, and we’ll be in big trouble!” Time after time her cars finished first, even Macau would be conquered 4 times in a row.

About her immense success as a tuner – Carly is still contracted by and strongly involved with BMW Motorsport, for whom she does engeneering development and software – She says: “Others left for home after 5, 6 o’clock, while I wouldn’t let go of any problem/challenge until it was solved. I’m still like that: When I can’t sleep at night, I turn on the computer and work on new ideas. How can I improve a motor? How can I increase its speed? You also need a lot of guts when it comes to this. You just can’t always be careful not to damage a motor. You need the guts to find out where exactly lies the limit of a motor.”

“Carly Motors was nominated in 2005 for ‘Best Raceteam’ at the Autosport Awards, the year before we won with Tom Coronel the Independents Trophy for best private team in the European TouringCar Championship. It was the first time I wore a smart blazer and skirt. I still remember everyone looking around asking themselves where ís Carly?! You could hear a pin drop the moment I walked up the stage as the winner, I was deadly nervous. But taking that step, also felt like a huge liberation.” 

Carly strokes the small wheel of the DB9 with admiration. “The M5 appeals to me, because I know what technique lies behind it”, she says. “But when it comes to beauty, the DB9 has it all, it’s cool, and it’s classy. All the GT-racing made me appreciate the brand (Aston Martin) and the technique more. It’s a car of class, I wouldn’t change anything of it’s appearance.”

During the ride, Carly gives the DB9 a good dash, when the traffic lets her. “look, in the ref range of 4500 and 5500 the engine isn’t very responsive. So it could be possible to squeeze a little more power out of it. Also, there’s a bit of a delay in the throttle; it should be a bit more fierce. But it could be as a result of the Lambda-regulation (which enforces engines to be more efficient and cleaner for the environment). That’s something I might have to take a look at.  If I would purchase this car, I would take out the ECU to reprogram the management system. I would make the brake resistance more personal, I think it brakes too well, actually. When you brake heavily, it deaccelerates too harsh and quickly. I personally find it better if it brakes gradually; so the more pressure you put on the brake, the more it actually brakes without directly activating the ABS.”

I still love to watch F1 and I’m crazy about the technics behind the M5. I still have technics on my mind 24/7. I think working on the dyno is still my most favorite thing to do. That’s when I’m intoxicated and people know they better not interrupt me. That’s when I’m one with the engine. Gaining some horsepower here, or a better torque on a certain RPM there. I know where to search for that gain, and when I succeed, it give me great satisfaction.”

At the moment Carly works almost daily, for BMW amongst others, to improve the emission. “I’m working on a system to dispose of the need of a heavy catalyst”, she says. “From there on, software will be developed for the new generation of BMW’s.” 

Alongside of these challenges, Carly also works hard on the success of her Vespa-Store/Dealership in Amsterdam. She tells: “That store isn’t really my kind of thing, but that’s what I like about this challenge: to turn a badselling store into something succesful. I want to win. There’s nothing like crossing that finishline as the winner. That way of thinking has ofcourse always been stimulated in the raceworld too, because of certain expectations. People expect a lot from me and I love to meet those expectations.”

At this moment, Carly Motors doesn’t own an active team. Carly: “There’s three reasons for this. Firstly, I stayed in the United Stated alot the past years.

Secondly, we had the scooter (Vespa) Dealership which needed some good hard work to get off the ground. And the ETCC became the WTCC, which made it harder to get sponsored. That’s why the whole Carly Motors Team went on pause. But I would love to race with some of my favorite drivers again, in the future. The teamwork, the development and the testing of racing motors will always be my thing. Furthermore I’d like to enjoy my time being a woman more. Less stress from responsibilities. I would also love to travel. Everyone knows me here and I would love to go somewhere where no one knows me. I’m still too motivated and driven with my work, to take time off for too long. When I finish something, I immediately start with the next thing. Oh well, that’s just who I am.

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