Female Frontrunner???

[rayparkb]

Female Frontrunner
Watching the Ginetta Juniors this year, could it be we see some genuine frontrunning females coming through the ranks in the next few years.

With Cassey Watson & Alice Powell there seems to be two who you feel could climb the ranks on merit not on novelty value.

Cassey Watson hasn't qualified well this year but looked very quick and extremely smooth in the Doni races probably on for a podium in race 1 before being hit into a spin. I notice on her website she has already been on the podium in all 3 Junior cars so that shows some genuine talent.

Alice Powell makes alot of mistakes at the moment and seems to spin nearly every session, but when she gets it right looks very quick and definately capable of front running pace.

Will we see these two at the top on merit?

[R59]

It's an "establishment" thing. They will have to be very good to get to the top, rather than just have a father with a very fat wallet.

There have been some great talents from the fairer sex over the years, none of whom have gone far in the UK.

Some of my favourites (mostly because of their driving capabilites)

Claire Redgrave
Heather McAlpine (nee Baillie)
Suzi Hart-Banks
Amanda Whitaker
Kelly-Jane Wells

Others have been good to very good, but those four stand out. There is one more who has got talent, but has found a better way to make her money. A certain Victoria Butler-Henderson.

Let's hope these two new talents can cut it and reach the top.

Correct me if I'm wrong - but is Cassey Watson any relation to John? That may explain a few things....

Rob.

[Rob29]

Janine Payne I thought was going places but seems to have dissapeared?

[kc-saxmax6]

Hi,
I am Cassey Watson and no i'm not any relation to John Watson. I'm from a very non-motorsport background and have always been interested in it from a young age, i got my dad into motorsport.

There are alot more female racers coming through some junior ranks and in karting, alot of them looking very promising. I think Danica Patrick is opening more and more doors for female drivers and with her recent win the interest is getting more and more.

Hopefully more females will start to realise that it's not purely a male sport and we will soon be seeing some very talented females make it to the big stage.

[R59]

Well said!

That answers my question (John Watson!)

[BertMk2]

Junior rallycross has seen a few rapid female drivers recently - although most of those will head off and do rallying rather than circuit racing once they're old enough.

[Al Weyman]

Having two daughters myself I think what holds the girls back at club level is the reluctance to get oil under their manicured fingernails (I know for a fact niether of my girls would remotely consider the idea) and I really cannot blame them for that looking at the state of my hands this mornimg after yet another hard weekend on the car so IMO the first hurdle to overcome is getting someone to prepare the car for you. Once that is sorted I see no reason why girls cannot be just as quick and remember racing against and being beaten by Ilsa Cox a few times in ModProds as she could certainly peddle as well.

My first brush with a female racer goes back much further than that though back to the 60's where I had the pleasure of preparing the works Imp for Liana Englemann a Dutch lady driver and if you see her in a pair of race overalls you would understand why I said 'pleasure' (unashambly sexiest sorry cassey). However that episode of her career ended on a first lap roll at Lydden Hill! Shame because she was one good looking lady and the interviews in the girlie mags did my street cred no harm at all!

[Eric Falce]

Al, I can sympathize with your daughters,who would want to spend all that time mucking up there nails on an American muscle machine just for a couple of laps. We have a yougn lady who has realy impressed me ,especially in her driving ability.Joanne Gordon was just one second off my time at Lydden in a virtualy standard Fiesta and finished second in our class,very quick and clean driver,only done two or three races,she desperatly needs help,her car is still on road tyres with very little tuning, so if there is anyone out there who wants to promote a race winner,she is the one.

[Al Weyman]

Blimey Eric the last thing I would do is send them out in one my tubs! Easy to drive they ain't!

[kc-saxmax6]

Funnily enough in a recent interview the interviewer asked about my view on my nails.. my answer to that is you won't win races with nice nails.

I certainly don't mind getting my hands dirty on a car, i used to do everything on my kart. This year (my 3rd year of car racing) is the first year we've given the duties to a team!

I suppose to be a racing driver it's important to have some what an interest in cars really, hopefully soon more females will stop worrying about their nails and realise that there are some very good cleaning products that remove oil..

[Al Weyman]

You're my kind of gal Cassey! Real good luck to you. :-)

[Eric Falce]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

Blimey Eric the last thing I would do is send them out in one my tubs! Easy to drive they ain't!

Al I am very upset with my nephew,he has a Pontiac small block Chevy producing a reputed 560 bhp on the dyno,I have been trying to get him to let me race it for him,he moved to France bought a small holding and sold the bloody engine to pay for the renovations.I am gutted,would have loved to get something with real power under my right foot,did do a track day with it at Mallory,apparently got down to 51 sec,now just gutted.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Eric Falce

We have a yougn lady who has realy impressed me ,especially in her driving ability.Joanne Gordon was just one second off my time at Lydden in a virtualy standard Fiesta and finished second in our class,very quick and clean driver,only done two or three races,she desperatly needs help,her car is still on road tyres with very little tuning, so if there is anyone out there who wants to promote a race winner,she is the one.

Eric. I don't suppose she needs a sugar daddy does she

[Eric Falce]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

Eric. I don't suppose she needs a sugar daddy does she

Dont know,her husband looks quite capable of taking care of all her needs but this bloody age thing keeps croping,or rather not croping up.

[Al Weyman]

Al I am very upset with my nephew,he has a Pontiac small block Chevy producing a reputed 560 bhp on the dyno,I have been trying to get him to let me race it for him,he moved to France bought a small holding and sold the bloody engine to pay for the renovations.I am gutted,would have loved to get something with real power under my right foot,did do a track day with it at Mallory,apparently got down to 51 sec,now just gutted.

Oh dear thats a shame Eric, so do a deal with him and build a new engine for it as they are reasonably economic to do in fact you could get that type of power with a lot of change for what you may have paid for your HT CVH engine, I know they wanted close to £5000 many years ago and trust me for that kind of money you could build a very very respectable small block or even have one shipped for you.

I am out at Mallory at last this Sunday (at last ) with my later model car (the one we had a cat and mouse in at Brands) in Pre-93 I have had one silly problem after another rebuilding the engine after the Snett blow up as I also had to scale down the spec (change the heads) to comply with the rules, I doubt I will get down to those times though especially as the weather looks like closing in.

[Chris Y]

Chevrolet = Cracked Heads, Every Valve Rattles, Oil Leaks Every Time

But enough off-topic, eh?

[Suze]

I don't honestly think that a large reason is because of females not wanting to break their nails, I don't like breaking my nails or trying to get dirt and oil out from under them but it doesn't stop me. I think there are many other factors, for example women being worried about how they'll do against men etc, being "shown up," not knowing how to get into the sport, etc etc.

[rayparkb]

[quote=Al Weyman]Having two daughters myself I think what holds the girls back at club level is the reluctance to get oil under their manicured fingernails (I know for a fact niether of my girls would remotely consider the idea) and I really cannot blame them for that looking at the state of my hands this mornimg after yet another hard weekend on the car so IMO the first hurdle to overcome is getting someone to prepare the car for you.


That does not explain the lack of females in Motorsport what so ever!
Ok your daughters and lots of females care about their nails. However I think to suggest that a female interested in cars wouldn't get involved because of dirty hands is ridiculous. I think more girls of the age that could start karting are more likely to bite their nails than have them manicured.

Much more likely due to those sort of comments.

Cassey has said she has already been asked in an interview about her nails. WHY??? I am sure Cassey would be much more interested to answer questions about the race or the car. I have listened to that interview from the link on the ginettacars website and I think young Cassey did a splendid job. Actually trying twice to steer the conversation back to the car.

What about the classic hobby of girls, horse riding. Mucking out doesn't sound like the cleanest pastime and a job I wouldn't want to do.

[Al Weyman]

Sorry for the off thread chat, I was lured into it blame that Eric!

The facts are however I go down to my local garage down the road and the only girl working there is on the reception desk, no girls covered in grease in dirty overalls its just not generally a girls thing, my daughters are not exceptions they have been reared by a car nut and could not be less interested. Funny enough I spoke on this to my daughter on the way in to the shop this morning and asked her if she would like me to do her a car and her response was I would not mind a bit of Go-Karting in hired karts but that would be as far as she would want to take it. If I had made the same offer to my son when he was still with us (RIP James) he would have bit my hand off!

Now go to a club race meeting and I will virtually guarantee the majority of entrants are guys doing all or a large portion of their work and have a mechanical background (what did you play with when a little boy, dolls or cars? ). Thats a fact, there are of course exceptions but every girl I have seen on the track or have raced against has had the help and backing of a guy doing the spannering or paying for it etc.

Now Cassey may justifiably feel a little miffed about that style of interview but I say milk it girl for all its worth and go with the flow. As I said previously when I got the Nathan works Imp out of moth balls for Lianna I am pretty convinced she only got the opportunity because she was a stunning looking young lady and all the interviews in Honey magazine etc. from a girly angle did her no harm whatsoever. I would say a good girl driver has more chance of getting sponsorship than and old fart like me ever would why I dont even know what it means, so go for it girl as I am not deriding or putting anyone down and I genuinely love to see a lady do well in a male dominated sport and have nothing but admiration for them having the balls (hyperthetically of course although there are some well documented exceptions ) to give it a go.

[Suze]

I played with dolls and cars! I used to take model F1 cars into the show and tell sessions or whatever they're called in infant school

I think it depends more on an individual rather than if you were brought up around cars or not, though being brought up around them can certainly help.

[Abbie44]

I think that the females that make it are th ones that have a great passion about racing and want to make it right to the very top. But if you have motorsport in your blood then your most likely going to want a go, and once the motorsport bug has bitten you there's no letting go!!

[suebmick]

Women have raced all sorts of cars & bikes, & well, since long before my father raced bikes/sidecars in the post war years. There are only a few male drivers that "make it" & many, many more that just "enjoy" their racing. There are some ladies who have or may yet "make it", & there are many who "enjoy" their racing. Take a look at any club racing entrants list, rally entry, karting entry, hillclimb & sprint entry, & you will always spot some of us, some quick, some not so quick...just like the men. The British Women Racing Drivers Club may interest some of you........
www.bwrdc.co.uk

Sue Buxton
750 Formula
750 MC

[Al Weyman]

Women seem to excel at Drag Racing so its not a bottle thing thats for sure, maybe for F1 and long distance stuff its sheer physical stamina and strength compared to a man to be able to take the G forces etc. that holds them back as whether you like it or not the average woman has about two thirds of the physical strength of the average man (and probably about 4 thirds of the mental strength if truth be known :-) )

[R59]

Had it not been for a back injury sustained some years ago, Mrs R59 would have been out racing - in Autograss. She'd love to have a go, but fears aggravating that injury and causing long term damage/disability (as advised by the physio and chiroquackter)

[Al Weyman]

Stick her out in that old Nova then Rob, nice smooth tarmac should'nt hurt her back as much as a grass track. :-)