I’m Empowered by Racing, and I Want to Empower More Girls

I Want to Wield All My Power to Help Women in Motorcycling – Interview with XU Yiwen

Musical vocalist turned motorcycle rider LIU Fan (刘凡) has found a way to perform art on the racing track. From enjoying motorcycling on her own to creating a unique experience for all girls interested in motorcycling, Fan relayed the power she received to more people. In the second installment of our Chinese New Year special series, we give you the story of LIU Fan.

© All photos provided by LIU Fan

LIU Fan’s childhood has been a journey in the art world. With professional training as a vocalist since an early age, Fan studied musicals in college and her career in art culminated in being the leading vocalist in various musical productions. While she was pursuing a career in musicals, the spark of an interest in motorcycling has been kept alive on the side. “When I was a kid, my dad owned a Suzuki GN125 for a short while. I’d sat on it and ridden around with him. I’ve also followed motorcycle races on TV and I’ve always been interested in it. But being a student in classical music, motorcycling seemed to be something that didn’t belong in my world. People around me were never supportive of me trying motorcycling.” 

When Fan was able to make a living on her own, she went to the circuit to see racing events live for the first time. The smoothness of riders in the corners left an impression on her. She also realized how similar motorcycling can be to classical music. “In 2018, I had the chance to go to the circuit for a race with my friends. It was so amazing seeing the riders negotiate the corners. They have their rhythm of hitting the apex and they are so smooth. I think when they put on their helmet, it must be like putting on headphones to play a symphony. It takes you to another world where you are in harmony with everything.” 

I’ve seen people riding on the streets before, it didn’t interest me as much. But seeing riders at the circuit really made me want to try it myself. It must feel so awesome!

Having been truly hooked, Fan went to try it for the first time. A new adventure truly began here. “The impact of motorcycling for me is something I’ve never experienced before. It’s a really technical thing to go through a corner. You must be very focused when you are on the bike. Motorcycling is an art form in my opinion.”

My world had been completely revolving around music before. Motorcycling opened up a new world for me. It energized me in a new way.

After training in her own free time for a while, Fan participated in her first mixed-gender race and claimed a great result of a podium finish. Very soon, motorcycling became this insatiable desire – it was not enough for Fan to only do motorcycling on the side. “I was going through a tough time. I’ve already achieved all my dreams in my musical career. I’ve toured nationally and even internationally as a performer. There didn’t seem to be more things to aspire to. It was also when the industry was going down. So I thought maybe I should put my musical career on hold for a little while. Let’s focus on racing.”

In 2020, Fan moved to Erdos, Inner Mongolia for full-time training. In the tough environment within the training camp, she found even more similarities between racing and the musical world. “I’ve been used to the very competitive environment in the musical world. You have to fight for every role. On the stage, you are giving everything you have in your every performance. It’s the same in motorcycling. Even though at first people didn’t respect me, because they only respected the ones who could deliver good results, I still loved all my time at the circuit. I’m giving it my all for the training. I wanted to improve, and I wanted to prove that I could do this. I’m never giving up on my goal.”

Racing made me a more decisive person. This is the quality I didn’t know I had in me. I used to think too much and love to keep things to myself. Now I’m calm, focused, and decisive on track in my races. I know how to be last on the break and first on the throttle. I can bring this decisiveness with me further down the road into my life.

With her own racing career gradually taking off, Fan didn’t stop at just being a good rider herself. While enjoying racing on her own, she also started to organize women-only racing events for other girls interested in motorcycling – first for rookies, then expanded to more mature riders. “It’s been tough for girls to go into this world. People don’t take them seriously. But in reality, with the right training, girls can find joy in racing and be empowered as well. I shared my training and racing on social media, and a lot of girls reached out to me, asking me how to do the same thing. They wanted to not just pose with their bikes but really ride them as well. So I tried to rally everyone together and organize our own events.”

Racing empowered me in various ways, I want to relay the power I received to more girls. I want them to know that we can do this, we have the right to enjoy racing.

Fan’s female-only racing events proved to be a success in 2023. Even without deliberate PR efforts, she was able to attract sponsors for gears and prizes. More importantly, they put on really exciting racing and left the entire community in awe. “Our first event was in Nanjing. Some KOLs came, and many of the girls were learning it for the first time. We had a training camp for a week, everyone was really focused on learning and fine-tuning their techniques. Even the ones without any previous experience could perform like professional riders in our final race. I was really happy for all the girls. Our second event was in Guiyang. It was a mass hit, with very close fighting among the leading group. We got a national broadcast, and all the riders at the circuit told me they thought the best racing they saw that weekend was our all-female category. For our events, I leveraged my resources to get helmet and manufacturer sponsorship. Our helmet design is inspired by Mulan, our own female hero in our own history.”

With the success of racing events for adults under her belt, Fan embarked on an even more meaningful aspect of racing – bringing up the new generation. “With my musical background, I’m pretty savvy with new media, communications, and marketing. I’m now helping our young riders in MiniGP build up a media presence and attract sponsorship. These kids are our future. They are very independent and they know they need to focus on their training.”

For a lot of people, we may never be a top rider in the international racing scene. But this is a dream that everyone can try to chase. They can learn and they can fight. Racing brings out a different side in them.

Outside of her life in racing, Fan enjoys the quietness among the mountains in Lishui, Zhejiang. In 2025, we look forward to seeing even more exciting racing events brought to us by Fan!