We Interview Test Card F Girl – The Secret Petrolhead You Never Knew
For years, the British public knew her as the innocent girl from the Test Card F, quietly playing tic-tac-toe with a slightly sinister-looking clown. But while she became an icon of TV downtime, what the nation didn’t know was that Carole Hersee was secretly living a double life as a full-blown petrolhead and car mechanic.
In an exclusive interview, Carole sat down (in her car) with us to reveal her love of big turbos, questionable body kits, and the time she nearly became the face of Snap-on Tools.
From Test Card to Turbocharged Terrors
“People assume I grew up playing hopscotch and skipping rope,” Carole tells us, revving a Renault 5 GT Turbo in her driveway as we speak. “In reality, I spent my teenage years ripping apart engines and inhaling questionable amounts of carb cleaner.”
She went on to own some of the most iconic boy-racer cars of the ‘80s and ‘90s, including:
✔ A Vauxhall Nova SR – “First car I ever street-raced. Well, ‘raced’ might be pushing it—it was mainly held together by zip ties and dreams.”
✔ A Renault 5 GT Turbo – “I loved that car. Right up until I discovered its natural enemy: rain.”
✔ A Ford Escort RS Turbo – “The insurance company refused to believe I was the actual owner. Apparently, middle-aged accountants were more likely to drive one than a woman with a Snap-on spanner tattooed on her wrist.”
✔ A Peugeot 205 GTI – “The best-handling hatch ever built, provided you didn’t mind the possibility of sudden and catastrophic lift-off oversteer.”
The Snap-on Poster Girl That Almost Was
As Carole’s reputation grew within the underground car scene, she found herself on the verge of becoming the poster-girl for Snap-on tools.
“It was a dream opportunity,” she says. “The idea was to showcase that women could wield a ratchet as well as any bloke. Plus, they said I’d get free tools, which—let’s be honest—is the holy grail.”
Unfortunately, the deal fell through when Snap-on realised she had been using a Halfords Advanced socket set all along.
“I still maintain those tools are solid for the money,” she shrugs.
The Mini Clubman That (Briefly) Held a C20LET Engine
One of Carole’s most ambitious builds was when she shoehorned a C20LET 2.0L turbo engine from a Vauxhall Astra into a Mini Clubman.
“It was a tight fit,” she admits. “By the time I finished, there was more engine than Mini.”
The build was a success… right up until she drove it through a hedge.
“Some bloke ran up to the car asking for an autograph. I got distracted, the torque steer kicked in, and suddenly I was landscaping a rural B-road with my front bumper.”
Final Thoughts: Not Just a Girl on a Test Card
Carole insists that despite her love for cars, grease, and questionable body kits, she’ll always be remembered first and foremost as the girl from Test Card F.
“It’s a bit weird that millions of people spent so long staring at a picture of me, but none of them knew I could swap out a head gasket faster than most garages.”
And with that, she fires up a 200bhp Renault 5 GT Turbo, drops the clutch, and disappears in a cloud of unburnt fuel and nostalgia.
Carole Hersee: A national treasure, a petrolhead legend, and possibly the only person alive who can fix a carburettor while playing tic-tac-toe.