SHE has driven racing cars, tip trucks and front-end loaders, but it’s her latest set of wheels that has Smithfield grandmother Alice Grant rapt.

Mrs Grant, 78, won a mobility scooter as part of a competition with radio station 5AA, just prior to Christmas.

She said she had been thinking about giving up her driver’s licence over the next 12 months when the competition came up.

“You had to guess which aged celebrity was on a gopher and I knew right from the start it was Dolly Parton,” she said.

Together with South Australian mobility provider, Walk on Wheels, the radio giveaway was to encourage older people to think about maintaining their independence through other modes of transport.

Mrs Grant recently taught her granddaughter to drive, and said while older people were more cautious on the road and in general often safer drivers than younger people, it wasn’t ‘the end of the world’ to give up your license.

“I used to drive racing cars: I came first in the ladies Victorian title many years ago,” she said.

“I used to drive in Melbourne against the male drivers too and then with my husband’s business, I would drive the tip trucks from Swan Hill to Dubbo.”

When Mrs Grant received her gopher, she said she might even form a club with two other neighbours who had gophers.

“We all live in the same crescent and they would scoot past my house, three or four times a day,” she said.

“So, the first thing I am going to do is go and see the neighbours and find out what track they are taking to the shops.

“I promise not to show off, but I will probably get a little number plate.”