Moving ahead.(Competition)

A while back Katherine Legge was lurking around Cosworth Racing headquarters in England hoping to get an audience with Champ Car co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven ("A Lot To Learn,'' Aug. 22, 2005). Now, after convincing Kalkhoven of her potential and earning three wins in the Toyota Atlantic Championship, the 25-year-old Legge seems to have the racing world at her doorstep. Legge is one of a few drivers (and the only woman) who has tested in Formula One, Champ Car and the new A1 GP series, and at the very least she will have a first-tier ride in the revitalized Atlantic series for 2006.

Legge's whirlwind off-season began in November when she tested with the Toro Rosso F1 team at the Vallelunga circuit. On the first day of the test, with temperatures near freezing and Legge adjusting to the Minardi's traction-control electronics, she smacked the wall. The next day she ran 30 trouble-free laps, consistently improving her times.

Legge finished the F1 test with rave reviews and impressive lap times. She was second-quickest among five drivers, a tenth of a second off the best lap turned by Uruguayan Juan Caceres, and quicker than Minardi test driver Chanoch Nissany.

In December Legge tested an A1 GP car in Dubai at the invitation of John Surtees, co-owner of the British A1 GP team. Then she was at Sebring for her first Champ Car test.

Legge did 70 laps in a Rocketsports Lola before spending two days with Kalkhoven's PKV team. She turned a best lap of 51.5 seconds on Sebring's short course, compared to 50.9 for Bruno Junqueira, who has the quickest lap so far in the annual off-season flog at Sebring.

"The Champ car is definitely the hardest car to drive physically,'' Legge says. "It feels enormous around you, and there's such momentum going into a corner. You ...