BOLTON fast lady Victoria Higham narrowly escaped injury in her weekend attempt to drive her drag-racer under 10 seconds.

As she took her £30,000 1968 Chevrolet Nova to 6,000 revs at the start-line, the prop shaft smashed through the car floor, wrecking her chances.

"But if I'd have set off, the car would have skidded and probably turned over," said the 32 year-old Harwood business executive.

Victoria was at the famed Santa Pod track in Northamptonshire for what should have been a milestone in her alternative career on the drag racing circuit.

She had already made two passes over the quarter of a mile track in the low 10 seconds, "and I was about to give it my all on the third pass" she said.

"I felt that I was definitely going to make it, but when you're going from 0 to 60 in two seconds, it will always find the weakest spot."

She has already spent thousands of pounds modifying the car with the help of her three male colleagues in the Never Again racing team based in Bacup.

The transmission itself had just cost £2,000,. "But I've already been in touch with the manufacturers about replacement parts and we are hoping to get it all fixed and back on track within four weeks," added Victoria.

She is still hoping to crack the 10 second barrier, this time probably at the Shakespeare raceway in Avon Park.

"It was disappointing," she admitted, "but I know that things can suddenly go wrong in racing. It's just lucky that I wasn't injured."