Northamptonshire teenager with shot at Miss England crown wants world's young girls achieve their dreams

A Northamptonshire teenager is in the running to claim the Miss England crown after qualifying as a finalist.

Ellie Pacey, from Spratton, works as a test technician for the Mercedes F1 team and competes in motor sport. In her spare time, she competes in tractor pulling - the world's most powerful motorsport - and loves show jumping.

But the 19-year-old isn't afraid to tell the world that girls shouldn't have to be a "tomboy" to enjoy activities like these, and now she's bringing her philosophy to the finals of a national beauty pageant.

Ellie qualified during in the livestreamed virtual semi-finals in July, and has now been invited to represent Northamptonshire in the Miss England Finals in April 2021.

And, if she wins, she will get to represent the nation at the 70th Miss World final in the autumn of 2021.

Ellie said: "I would love to be able to inspire young girls to go out and do whatever they dream of doing. I feel that engineering should be encouraged more to girls and that the offer of the education in engineering should be offered to everyone no matter what gender

"I feel that many women are put off the idea of motorsport or they feel like it is too male orientated that they won’t fit in. The Women in Engineering society is a charity that I love and support because they raise awareness to young girls to start engineering. This career path choice could change a girl's life for the better and really help to inspire the curve.

"As well as my motorsport I went to Silverstone UTC to study high performance engineering and created a Greenpower car which is an inspiring way of racing as it is much better for the environment but still has the drive and passion of normal racing.”

Ellie's appearance at the pageant is sponsored by KPM Properties.