Automobile maniac
Since then the 30 year-old's stock has risen further with participation in Big Brother, fronting the successful Misja Martyna (Mission Martyna) and Dzieciaki z Klasą (Children with Class) programs, and a not-so-candid appearance in Playboy. Her interest in motor vehicles, which provided the initial spark for Automaniak, isn't limited to theory - she is a passionate bike fan and recently made full use of her rally driver's license to take part in the grueling Paris-Dakar Rally. As if that is not enough, Wojciechowska now has her sights set on mountaineering. She spoke about her drive, determination and early influences.
Michał Pakulniewicz: What first fueled your interested in motorsports?
Martyna Wojciechowska: My adventure with motorsports started when I was 10 years old. I started driving a Romet scooter. I can't really explain why I took to motorbikes, it was just natural - some people want to play the violin, others want to paint and my dream was always driving.
After the Romet I switched to the faster Simson scooter and then got on real motorcycles like the East German MZs and the Czechoslovakian Java 350. So, although I started driving cars pretty early, at the age of 16, and by the time I was 17 I already had a rally driver's license, motorcycles definitely came first to cars in my young days.
What motorcycles do you currently own?
I have a Kawasaki Z1000 and a Yamaha WR-250. My first Japanese bike was a Yamaha Virago 535, however, I quickly learned that chopper bikes are not my style. After that I switched to supersport motorbikes - I owned a Kawasaki ZX-6, then a Honda CBR 600F, a Honda CBR 900 RR Fireblade as well as the subsequent Fireblade models. Currently, I have a so-called naked bike, which is a street bike - a fast bike but rather for the street than the race track. Because of my serious back problems, I have recently switched from supersport motorbikes to more quiet and not so fast street bikes.
You mentioned that you already had a rally driver's license at an early age. Was it hard for you as a woman to break into what is considered a men's world?
The question shouldn't be whether it was hard to break into this world, because it still is. It is still very hard. Not only for me, but also for other women rally drivers as well. We stand out, everyone's attention is on us and therefore we do not have a chance to be in the background and slowly, quietly learn and improve our skills, because every single mistake, every flop is widely commented on. Just like when I started taking part in rallies, like the Paris-Dakar Rally in 2002, it is still a tough question.
Speaking of the Paris-Dakar Rally, which you finished in 2002 - was it a dream come true for you? How did it happen that you took part in this rally?
For every person involved in the motorsport and rally business taking part in the Paris-Dakar Rally is the ultimate dream. This is the most prestigious, legendary and the hardest rally event in the world, and no other rally can compare to it.
I took part in the rally because I really wanted to take part in it. The difference between me and most people is that they say that they would like to do something while I just do it. I managed to get a sponsor, I rented a car, found a pilot and persuaded TVN to cover the whole undertaking. I already had a rally driver's license, so I just had to apply for the international license.
What were your most memorable moments during the rally?
The most critical moments were towards the end of the rally when the technical conditional of our equipment, as well as our fatigue, could have caused us to give up and quit. But somehow we managed to finish the race. Somehow, because it is always a combination of luck and skills. In the last stages we had a serious technical problem, which we couldn't repair until the end of the race. We had a fuel-pump malfunction and we crossed the finish line with the car virtually 'choking'.
We had gone like this for the last few days of the race, but luckily the pump didn't break down and we managed to reach the finish line. We finished the race in 44th position in the general standings, which I consider a pretty good result, considering the fact that in this year's Dakar, Krzysztof Hołowczyc was ranked around 60th. We also managed to win one special event in our category. However, later on things began to get complicated - we lost all our service back-up, because our chief mechanic died during the race. Things could have looked different and better if the service was available.
Was your participation in the Dakar Rally just a one-time event or do you plan to take part again?
I definitely would like to race in the Dakar Rally again, however, there's always the financial barrier. One needs around EUR 250,000 (zł.1.07 million) to take part in the race and prepare well for it. Also I'm thinking about focusing on mountain climbing, which also is a very expensive enterprise and it is impossible to realize those two projects at the same time.
Apart from the Dakar race do you plan to take part in any other rallies?
I am definitely interested in cross-country rallies, especially long, so-called marathon rallies. These events are good for people who do not have the skills to take part in the World Championship rallies. In those marathon rallies you do not have to have the same type of skills as needed in the flat races. A lot depends on what I call 'the power of the mind', many great drivers fail psychologically and they find it hard to deal with the number of stages, the length of the race. I am very ambitious and very determined, so I think I should concentrate on these type of rallies.
You have frequently mentioned that one of your passions is traveling. Does that include traveling by bike or by car?
Yes, last year for example I crossed the whole of Siberia by car - 14,000 kilometers from Gdańsk to Magadan. I drove a Nissan Patrol GR and it took me a month-and-a-half. Apart from that I often travel by off-road cars, but none of these trips was as spectacular as Siberia. I traveled across most of the US by car, I have done some traveling in Asia, I basically covered the whole southern part of Africa - Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa. However, I want to travel the Pan-American Route in the near future, from Tierra del Fuego in the south all the way to Alaska.
As far as traveling by motorcycle is concerned, what I do is I go, for example, to Mexico or Australia, and I rent a bike on the spot. I then travel around the country on it, treating it just like a normal means of transport.
How did your cooperation with TVN, where you hosted Automaniak begin?
I invented the Automaniak show. Before that, with my friends, I made an automobile program called Jednym Śladem [One Track] on one of the cable televisions. We invented Automaniac and went with our idea to all the television channels, and for one year received no reply. Finally only TVN, which at that time was a new and on-the-rise TV channel, decided to hire a woman as a host of an automobile show, which no one had done before.
Interviewed by
Michał Pakulniewicz
Michał Pakulniewicz: What first fueled your interested in motorsports?
Martyna Wojciechowska: My adventure with motorsports started when I was 10 years old. I started driving a Romet scooter. I can't really explain why I took to motorbikes, it was just natural - some people want to play the violin, others want to paint and my dream was always driving.
After the Romet I switched to the faster Simson scooter and then got on real motorcycles like the East German MZs and the Czechoslovakian Java 350. So, although I started driving cars pretty early, at the age of 16, and by the time I was 17 I already had a rally driver's license, motorcycles definitely came first to cars in my young days.
What motorcycles do you currently own?
I have a Kawasaki Z1000 and a Yamaha WR-250. My first Japanese bike was a Yamaha Virago 535, however, I quickly learned that chopper bikes are not my style. After that I switched to supersport motorbikes - I owned a Kawasaki ZX-6, then a Honda CBR 600F, a Honda CBR 900 RR Fireblade as well as the subsequent Fireblade models. Currently, I have a so-called naked bike, which is a street bike - a fast bike but rather for the street than the race track. Because of my serious back problems, I have recently switched from supersport motorbikes to more quiet and not so fast street bikes.
You mentioned that you already had a rally driver's license at an early age. Was it hard for you as a woman to break into what is considered a men's world?
The question shouldn't be whether it was hard to break into this world, because it still is. It is still very hard. Not only for me, but also for other women rally drivers as well. We stand out, everyone's attention is on us and therefore we do not have a chance to be in the background and slowly, quietly learn and improve our skills, because every single mistake, every flop is widely commented on. Just like when I started taking part in rallies, like the Paris-Dakar Rally in 2002, it is still a tough question.
Speaking of the Paris-Dakar Rally, which you finished in 2002 - was it a dream come true for you? How did it happen that you took part in this rally?
For every person involved in the motorsport and rally business taking part in the Paris-Dakar Rally is the ultimate dream. This is the most prestigious, legendary and the hardest rally event in the world, and no other rally can compare to it.
I took part in the rally because I really wanted to take part in it. The difference between me and most people is that they say that they would like to do something while I just do it. I managed to get a sponsor, I rented a car, found a pilot and persuaded TVN to cover the whole undertaking. I already had a rally driver's license, so I just had to apply for the international license.
What were your most memorable moments during the rally?
The most critical moments were towards the end of the rally when the technical conditional of our equipment, as well as our fatigue, could have caused us to give up and quit. But somehow we managed to finish the race. Somehow, because it is always a combination of luck and skills. In the last stages we had a serious technical problem, which we couldn't repair until the end of the race. We had a fuel-pump malfunction and we crossed the finish line with the car virtually 'choking'.
We had gone like this for the last few days of the race, but luckily the pump didn't break down and we managed to reach the finish line. We finished the race in 44th position in the general standings, which I consider a pretty good result, considering the fact that in this year's Dakar, Krzysztof Hołowczyc was ranked around 60th. We also managed to win one special event in our category. However, later on things began to get complicated - we lost all our service back-up, because our chief mechanic died during the race. Things could have looked different and better if the service was available.
Was your participation in the Dakar Rally just a one-time event or do you plan to take part again?
I definitely would like to race in the Dakar Rally again, however, there's always the financial barrier. One needs around EUR 250,000 (zł.1.07 million) to take part in the race and prepare well for it. Also I'm thinking about focusing on mountain climbing, which also is a very expensive enterprise and it is impossible to realize those two projects at the same time.
Apart from the Dakar race do you plan to take part in any other rallies?
I am definitely interested in cross-country rallies, especially long, so-called marathon rallies. These events are good for people who do not have the skills to take part in the World Championship rallies. In those marathon rallies you do not have to have the same type of skills as needed in the flat races. A lot depends on what I call 'the power of the mind', many great drivers fail psychologically and they find it hard to deal with the number of stages, the length of the race. I am very ambitious and very determined, so I think I should concentrate on these type of rallies.
You have frequently mentioned that one of your passions is traveling. Does that include traveling by bike or by car?
Yes, last year for example I crossed the whole of Siberia by car - 14,000 kilometers from Gdańsk to Magadan. I drove a Nissan Patrol GR and it took me a month-and-a-half. Apart from that I often travel by off-road cars, but none of these trips was as spectacular as Siberia. I traveled across most of the US by car, I have done some traveling in Asia, I basically covered the whole southern part of Africa - Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa. However, I want to travel the Pan-American Route in the near future, from Tierra del Fuego in the south all the way to Alaska.
As far as traveling by motorcycle is concerned, what I do is I go, for example, to Mexico or Australia, and I rent a bike on the spot. I then travel around the country on it, treating it just like a normal means of transport.
How did your cooperation with TVN, where you hosted Automaniak begin?
I invented the Automaniak show. Before that, with my friends, I made an automobile program called Jednym Śladem [One Track] on one of the cable televisions. We invented Automaniac and went with our idea to all the television channels, and for one year received no reply. Finally only TVN, which at that time was a new and on-the-rise TV channel, decided to hire a woman as a host of an automobile show, which no one had done before.
Interviewed by
Michał Pakulniewicz
