Lenora Hankerson: My NMA Experience
At the National Motorsport Academy, we believe it’s never too late to pursue your passion. Whether you’re fresh out of school or returning to motorsport after time away, our flexible online courses make it possible to fit study around life, work, and everything in between.
Lenora Hankerson is living proof of that ethos. Based in the United States and now studying for her MSc in Advanced Motorsport Engineering, she’s rekindling a love for motorsport that began at the age of 16. After time away from motorsport, Lenora is using the MSc to refocus her career and return to the industry with a purpose.
We caught up with Lenora to hear about her return to motorsport, how she’s finding the MSc so far, and what it’s like to chase a dream later in life.
Over to you, Lenora!
Hi Lenora! For anyone who hasn’t met you yet, how would you introduce yourself?
My name is Lenora Hankerson. I’m 41 and a U.S. student based in East Orange, New Jersey. I’m currently enrolled in the Advanced Motorsport Engineering program, and I’m working through Module 2. It feels like everything is finally starting to align.
After so many years away from both the industry and the classroom, Module 1 felt like finding my footing again. But now, in Module 2, I feel more capable. I’m finding opportunities to apply what I learn in real time.
What first sparked your love of motorsport, and what made you want to pursue it professionally?
It started when I was sixteen, watching motorcycle racing for the first time, hearing the growl of the engines as the riders dragged knees into a corner. I had never seen or heard anything like it in my life. It felt like I finally woke up. Honestly, I don’t remember much of my life before that moment. I don’t even think they made it to the next lap before I bolted down the stairs and told my grandmother and father I wanted to race motorcycles. Their response? A resounding “WHAT?!”
By my senior year of high school, I was completely obsessed. The turning point from wanting to race to figuring out how to support racing came when I realized riders like Roger Lee Hayden and Melissa Paris were my age and already racing professionally. I remember sitting in my room, looking around and thinking, “ How do I get to do that from here?” I have never been to a road race in my life. If I want to be trackside, I’m going to have to find another way in. Racing myself felt distant, maybe even impossible, but I knew I had to be part of it.
Even though I came from a non-traditional racing background, I still had family support.
My uncle took me to my first bike show and motorcycle drag race. My aunt still accompanies me to my out-of-state track days. My maternal grandmother the had ridden motorcycles herself and was really happy when I started riding, but it was my paternal grandmother the late Rev. Dr. Leora Liggins who poured everything into me. She fought for my dream with everything she had, even when we had no idea where to start.
After years of trying to get experience and chasing any chance to be near racing, I ended up taking a year off from undergrad and moved to Florida for tech school. That’s where I started learning the basics and wrenching for the first time. It was rough. I ran out of money. I struggled. I transferred schools just to finish. Blew my only opportunity of being on a pit crew because I wasn’t prepared. By the time I made it back to New Jersey, I was burned out with my tail docked and my motorcycle in pieces. I spent the entire winter putting it back together.
I went back to the University of Hartford to finish earning my degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology. I spent the next ten years drifting between the motorcycle and aerospace industries chasing proximity to racing while craving stability. It was during this period I finally made it to my first track day with the Schwantz School where afterwards I would have been eligible to start racing with WERA. I was confident, but I felt I wasn’t fast enough yet to start racing. So I spent the next few years doing track days. After my last layoff, the company sent to us work with an outplacement company. A counselor looked at my resume and saw a pattern and asked me, “What do you actually want to do?”
I said it out loud for the first time, “I want to be a motorcycle racing engineer.”
I didn’t even know what that meant anymore. I just knew it wasn’t what I was doing or where I was headed. He just looked at me and said, “You’re on the wrong side of the planet. You need to go to California.”
Seriously?! I had barely made it out of Florida, and now you’re telling me I need to go across the country? Even though it was always the plan. Complete my degree, go overseas for graduate school to study motorcycle engineering, and then settle in California. Panic was an understatement.
When I finally decided to take the leap, my grandmother fell ill. She didn’t want me to leave, and I was not going to leave her. She passed not long after. When she died, it felt like my dream died too.
I told myself I was done trying. Trying to race, find where I belonged trackside; all of it.
You’re studying, running a race team, and racing yourself – how does it feel to be living this motorsport journey?
It’s wild. I don’t think I’ve had time to fully feel it because I’m in it. Long days, non-stop movement. I’m still in the early stages of building, but even getting to this point feels like a lifetime of detours, sacrifices, and self-doubt. It took me 24 years just to get my racing license, and the very next season, I’m not even racing. I’m working. I’m building the team. I’m laying the foundation for something bigger than just my seat time. I’ll start off consistently riding for a couple of months and then something happens and I’m down for a while.
That kind of push and pull becomes taxing on the spirit. Motorcycle racing has always eluded me, but the mission hasn’t. I’ve come to realize this version of my journey isn’t about chasing a trophy for myself. It’s about building the kind of program I wish existed when I started. It’s also about understanding where I fell short and using that to build better. Part of building this team has meant finding mentors who aren’t just proficient at what they do, but who know how and, most importantly, WANT to teach.
Mentors who can help fill in the gaps, show you what to look for, and how to be ready for the chaos. Even with experience, you can’t skip steps. I’m grateful to get a second chance to do it again and do it right. Even if it means sacrificing my racing season. This means everything to me. I still carry those failures, those detours, those missed moments and blown opportunities and I don’t want anyone else to have to take the long way around
You’ve called NMA a turning point. Why did you choose it, and how has it changed your direction?
After drifting away from motorcycles for nearly a decade, I was enrolled in a pre-vet program. It was my intent to pursue emergency veterinary medicine. It made sense. I loved animals, I was good at it and it felt like a natural progression. In that pursuit I had stopped laughing and smiling. I thought maybe it was just the stress of being back in school. Then I started riding again; just a few track days here and there.
Eventually, I got my race license. And suddenly, something clicked. Motorcycle racing had always been a part of my identity, and I missed it more than I realized. I started looking into engineering programs, but most required relocation especially if I wanted to participate in Formula SAE, until I found NMA. Seeing motorcycle-focused students thriving, working trackside in motorcycle racing, and applying their skills directly made me feel like this institution got it.
For the first time, I saw a program that didn’t treat motorcycles as just a trade or a hobby, but as a science and a real career path. I felt seen and that maybe this program can hone in on the scattered skills and experience I gathered over the years. That changed everything.
What’s it been like studying remotely from the U.S.? Any challenges or unexpected benefits as an international student?
Studying remotely from the U.S. has been both empowering and isolating. The flexibility has allowed me to keep building my race program while managing responsibilities at home and staying on track with my studies.
It also meant navigating the journey largely on my own. It’s not like I can grab coffee or have study sessions after class with fellow students. I’ve had to be more intentional about connecting, even when it feels awkward or outside my comfort zone.
Tell us about Team REDD Racing—how it started, your vision, and what makes it truly student-run. What’s it like applying your coursework to real motorsport?
Team REDD Racing started as the charitable division of Race Engineering Development & Design. The pinnacle of a much bigger dream, a motorcycle R&D facility that never got off the ground. Even though that version didn’t happen, the purpose stayed the same: to build a step program that develops trackside talent by giving them space, mentorship, and real experience without the pressure to perform.
What makes us student-built, student-led, and student-owned is that every part of this team is shaped by people who are actively learning and stepping into new roles, whether they’re new to motorcycles or growing within it. Even as team owner, I’ll be rotating through roles, brushing up on skills I haven’t touched in years while developing new ones.
This isn’t just about racing; it’s about research and development too. We’ll be incorporating R&D projects to keep learning at the core of everything we do. Everyone coming through the program will have an opportunity to take the lead in their role, with mentors supporting in the background, not taking over. That’s what makes this ours.
When I enrolled at NMA, I knew this institution would give me the structure and technical foundation to finally build it the right way. While brainstorming for my Module 9 project, I reached out to a friend to ask if he’d be willing to test ride for us, and he said yes. That one yes, gave me everything I needed. It lit the spark to start building the program now, not later. By the time I reach Module 9, it will be our official launch season.
I won’t lie. I probably added more stress by setting that kind of deadline. In a way, I’ve been accidentally applying these concepts all along through my journey. With Team REDD Racing, the goal is to intentionally embed that learning from day-to-day operations, to race weekends, to experimental testing directly into the program. It’s all connected, especially as we move toward our official launch.
You’ve mentioned moments of doubt. How have your tutors and the course helped you build confidence?
There were times I doubted whether I even belonged in motorcycle racing at any capacity. Starting a team, doing outreach, looking for people to join, none of that comes naturally to me. I’m introverted, socially awkward, and spent years shrinking myself to just get by.
What’s helped is how the course is structured to meet me where I am. The tutors don’t just correct, they encourage. They see the bigger picture and remind me I’m not alone. That kind of support builds confidence. It reminds me I don’t need to know everything, I just need to be willing to figure it out.
I’ve also had to unlearn the habit of constantly proving my worth. Now, when I walk into a room, I no longer feel the need to beg or apologize for existing. I can say: “This is what I’m building. If you get it, great! If you don’t, that’s ok.” That shift in mindset has made all the difference. Even that doubt served a purpose. It helped me choose to walk away and, more importantly, to come back on my own terms.
What skills or insights from the course have most impacted your approach to racing, data, or running your team?
Theory is still abstract to me. I don’t always connect with it right away. I need to see it, touch it, run through it, and process it hands-on. That’s why I’ve been intentional about finding ways to apply what I’m learning. It’s how I am trying to be a part of a MotoStudent team, not through perfect qualifications, but by showing up, asking questions, and wanting to contribute.
I’m learning to approach racing and team management with more structure. I’ve developed internal tools to track data, organize feedback, and support real-time decisions without micromanaging, all while still learning myself. I’m trusting that this kind of growth, steady, grounded, and intentional, is exactly what will shape me into the race engineer I want to become.
How do you balance being a student and team owner—and what’s been the biggest surprise so far?
I don’t think I’ve had time to fully feel it because I’m still in it. In short, I’m not. Balancing student life and team ownership means constantly having my head on a swivel. Managing my time properly and watching out for signs of burnout. Even on the toughest days, I know I’m in alignment with my purpose. That’s what keeps me going. Spacing out lectures and coursework, then carve out time, even just an hour, to focus solely on the team. Researching potential sponsors, building partnerships, and planning outreach. It’s not perfect, but giving each part of the mission its own space keeps me grounded and moving forward and motivated even when things get quiet for a while.
The most surprising lesson? How much unlearning it takes to lead, especially when I’m used to the sensation of shrinking or constantly proving my worth just to be there. Overperforming, overcompensating, it’s exhausting. I’ve had to slow myself down when I start to feel defensive, learn to navigate healthy conflict, and remind myself that I don’t need to have all the answers.
For me, leadership isn’t about being in charge or being right. Though I know I may have to stand ten toes down sometimes. It’s about being present, staying curious, and figuring things out alongside the people you believe in to reach our goal.
What’s next for you and Team REDD Racing? Where do you hope to take it—and what does success look like?
First and foremost, the goal is to make it to testing and then launch. I want to see Team REDD Racing become a fully operational race and development program. A program that fields competitive entries while building the next wave of trackside technical talent and leaders.
I hope that anyone who comes up through this program leaves ready to plug into any motorcycle race team sharp, prepared, and confident in their skills and voice. Success for the team? Of course, I want us to win. But to do that, we need time and longevity. The space to try things, break things, fix them, and come back stronger. We’re going to break things. Not people. Mentorship is the standard here, not an option.
Success for me? That this program continues long after I’m gone and stays in its original mission and vision. Providing a space where individuals grow, take risks, and build careers they never thought were possible. Honestly, the real dream after it’s all said and done? Track-hopping across the country with my pets and getting some uninterrupted seat time. Finally.
A big thank you to Lenora for speaking to us! You can stay up-to-date on her and TeamREDD’s motorsport journey by following her on LinkedIn –
