Caporegime
I think only as a test driver.
excluded based on gender...... W series
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I think only as a test driver.
Not all of the teams require the drivers to have their own sponsorship. Ferrari don't for example.
Rich people have daughters too...
Which is what I said in my first post
And now they have a dedicated formula that will give us more insight to see if the lack of women in the sport is a result of lack of talent, lack of interest or lack of financial backing.
Not really sure why people seem to have a problem with it
Associate
aren't there woman driving in the nascar series? is it split by sex?
Don
Susie Wolfe was test driver at Williams a few years back. There was a German woman whose name escapes me who was test driver at another team 10 years or so ago I guess who died after an accident during testing.
Before that though it was a long long time since their were any women drivers involved as far as I can think,
Soldato
lol?
There are plenty of race series (just in the UK) that have male and female drivers in them with both doing well, just watch BTCC support races. Other countries also have females racing in series, then you have plenty of other mixed gender international series too...all again with females doing just as well as men. There isn't really a need for this series if you actually know much about motorsport, however if you know very little then it's likely you'd assume all motorsport is male so this does help publish the fact motorsport isn't solely males racing.
Soldato
In all levels of NASCAR and ARCA series racing there are women drivers. And much like the men in the sport some aren't particularly good, many are pretty good and a few are going to be future stars if they get a break (Hailie Deegan springs to mind, currently 5th in the K&N Pro Series West championship with a win, 4 top-5 places and 5 top-10s). NASCAR does run a Drive For Diversity campaign to attract female and minority individals as drivers and support roles like pit crew, engineering, team ownership and sponsorship. The DFD program has been going since 2004, and there's a bunch of race teams involved with it.
Though one branch of motorsport where men and women seem to be competing on a very level playing field and have been doing so for years is drag racing. Right now you've got Brittany Force and Leah Pritchett in Top Fuel, Courtney Force-Rahal in Funny Car, Erica Enders-Stevens in Pro Stock to name just a few. And they all compete at the pointy end for event wins and championships. Leah Pritchett also just won the NHRA 2018 Factory Stock World Championship, which she competed in while also running a Top Fuel campaign.
Caporegime
It's almost as if when women are good enough they make it and when they're not they don't...
Soldato
Completely misses the issue of not having enough young girls taking up karting in the first place. If any female drivers are serious about making up their way up the motorsport ladder I imagine they will avoid this series.
She may have been a gentleman/woman driver but Flick Haigh won British GT this year. Jamie Chadwick won the GT4 championship a few years a go, it's been show that talented woman can compete it's just not enough taking it up in the first place.
She may have been a gentleman/woman driver but Flick Haigh won British GT this year. Jamie Chadwick won the GT4 championship a few years a go, it's been show that talented woman can compete it's just not enough taking it up in the first place.
Until a few years ago my neighbour was a Formula 3 driver and a test driver for Formula 1
EDIT: Sorry I think it was BMW, not Mercedes. His mum got her 1 series stuck in the snow which also brought a smile to my face until i grabbed a shovel and dug out the rear wheels (they were trying to clear the front wheels only)
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Associate
i guess drag racing doesn't involve having the same kind of stamina / body conditioning as required for F1 other longer races, where men will at an advantage (i guess)?
F1 is an extremely physical sport due to the G-forces involved, it's all well and good having the skill to do it in a simulator but you need to be able to do it for 1.5-2hrs under tremendous G-forces and often extreme heat without those performance levels dropping.
Soldato
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It's a bit awkward and uncomfortably fiddly trying to get serviced by a hooker if she has to stay outside the vehicle...
Soldato
Women are still capable of handling those forces. Danica Patrick competed in Indycars for years and they hit over 5g's (source).
@MikeTheNative made the best point here, that this 'womens divison' is completely missing the point. There are more than enough opportunities for both sexes to progress in motorsport, if you have the talent. There's just not enough grass roots support for those looking to start out.
Creating a women only series just serves to widen the divide through segregation. Winning a championship against reduced competition just serves to cheapen your achievement, and arguably make it less likely to see you progress.
@MikeTheNative made the best point here, that this 'womens divison' is completely missing the point. There are more than enough opportunities for both sexes to progress in motorsport, if you have the talent. There's just not enough grass roots support for those looking to start out.
Creating a women only series just serves to widen the divide through segregation. Winning a championship against reduced competition just serves to cheapen your achievement, and arguably make it less likely to see you progress.
Yes, and the Williams sisters, at their peak, could probably have fared pretty well in Mens tennis too.
But women generally, no matter how good their technical skill might be, are nevertheless far less likely to have the physical strength to compete on equal terms against Men and so are always likely to be "Underrepresented" in mixed contests
Caporegime