A CASH-STRAPPED student bought a motorbike because she could not afford a car -- and has never looked back.

Dr Jan Evans-Freeman, aged 44, of Westhoughton, is a lecturer in Electrical Engineering and Electronics at UMIST and a conductor of the university choir. But in her spare time she is also a motorbike racer.

She owes her exciting hobby to her days as a student when she opted to buy a cheap motorbike to get her to college.

After just one day she was hooked, and has gone on to challenge the male-dominated world of motorbike racing.

As she approaches the racetrack, she tucks her waist-length hair into her helmet and puts the visor down so that her competitors do not realise she is a woman.

In the testosterone-fuelled world of motorbike racing, she knows the bikers do not want to be beaten by a female.

Dr Evans-Freeman, who is married and has a 25-year-old son, has completed her first season and has competed in races at Cadwell, Donnington Park, Mallory, Oulton Park and Snetterton on her Honda CBR600.

She has travelled all over the country on her Kawasaki KC100 but now rides a Honda Fireblade 900.

She said: "Racing is thrilling and really gets the adrenaline pumping. It is sheer excitement. I always come off the track after a race totally exhausted because of the sheer concentration and focus."

She said her husband and son, who both have motorbikes, regard her speed demon antics with a mixture of worry and pride, but her son, Richard, hopes to follow in her footsteps.

She said: "It is a very expensive hobby and my son can't afford it yet, but he plans to race in the future."

Dr Evans-Freeman carries out world class research into the use of silicon in small, ultra-fast devices for the next generation of mobile phones and computers.

She has been invited to give the prestige Maxwell Lecture at Kings College, London . . . and her chosen topic will be the physics of motorbikes.