MELANIE PATERSON - BACKGROUNDER

After a career as an international competitor in alpine skiing, winning Canadian Championship titles, Melanie Paterson left ski racing for auto racing. With ‘the need for speed” still in her blood, Melanie signed up for a 4-day racing school and the rest is history!

After falling in love with the sport of auto racing, Melanie worked as a mechanic in exchange for a race series in Formula 2000 cars. With the skills in car racing similar to those of ski racing, Melanie caught on quickly and saw success and podium finishes.

Melanie has raced road courses, street circuits and ovals and has raced karts, formula cars, GT cars and sportscars. After an open wheel background, Melanie made her sportscar debut in the American Le Mans Series. Racing a LMP2 fielded by Essex Racing of Atlanta, Georgia, Melanie saw great success with podium finishes at Trois-Rivieres, Mosport and Petit Le Mans. Melanie raced the Essex Racing Lola B2K/40 Nissan in the LMP2 category, seeing many strong results which included second place finish at Trois-Rivieres. Melanie then drove for American Spirit Racing in the LMP1 category. She also raced with AutoCon Motorsport in the LMP1 category in their Riley and Scott at Petit Le Mans. She also raced with J3 Racing in the GT2 category in a Porsche GT3 at the New England Grand Prix.

As well as racing, Melanie is involved in various other activities. She is a race driving instructor and teaches race driving courses, advanced driving and defensive driving programs across North America. She is a partner in Driving Unlimited, a national company that specializes in driver training for the public and police forces. Driving Unlimited also executes introductions of new product lines and training for automotive manufacturers.