Being the only woman on the track doesn’t bother racing driver Alice Powell. “Once you put your helmet on, it’s a level playing field,” says the 19-year-old from Chipping Norton. “Then all that matters is your racing.”
Powell is one of the current crop of successful British female drivers starting to take on the boys at their own game. The rising star is a Formula Renault UK driver. She was the first female to win a Formula Renault race in the UK, a series where 150mph single-seaters go wheel-to-wheel.
And she has one ambition – to become the first successful British woman to compete in F1.
“My goal is to be in Formula One in five years’ time,” says Powell, who got hooked on motorsport after visiting an indoor go-kart track at the age of eight. “The thing you need is financial backing, so that’s my focus now. I gave up my job in December to focus on racing. I realised it was now or never.”
The success of Powell and other young women has been causing quite a stir in the male-dominated world of motor racing.
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner was recently reported as saying it was only a matter of time before we saw a female F1 driver – putting this within three to 10 seasons.
His comments came as no surprise to the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club (BWRDC), which is seeing a growing number of members rising through the ranks of the sport. Powell is one of its shining stars.
Helen Bashford-Malkie, chairman of the BWRDC, says: “There will most definitely be a woman racing successfully in Formula One in the next 10 years on her own merits rather than for PR. The future’s bright for women in all aspects of motorsport.”
Only a handful of female drivers have ever entered an F1 race – Italian Giovanna Amati was the last in 1992, although she failed to qualify and start the race.
Yet women have a long and proud history in motor racing. The first British woman believed to have competed in a “motor race” was back in 1903 – the glamorous socialite Dorothy Levitt. The ex-secretary and motoring pioneer’s antics caused quite a stir in British society.
Levitt also raced at the famous Brooklands track in Surrey, as did other early stars such as Victoria Worsley, Mary Bruce, Ruth Urquhart Dykes and Elsie “Bill” Wisdom. Brooklands Automobile Racing Club (BARC) didn’t allow women their own events until 1926 or to compete against men until 1932 – the first race between the sexes was won by Margaret Allan, driving a 4.5-litre Bentley. Other “Brooklands Speed Queens” included Kay Petre and Gwenda Hawkes. When the track closed for the war, women disappeared from the racing scene, and didn’t return afterwards.
The BWRDC was founded in 1962 with 30 members by the late Mary Wheeler, a formidable character who discovered racing as a 49-year-old grandmother and widow. Membership of the prestigious British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) wasn’t open to women and Wheeler was intent on providing a collective voice and platform for female racing drivers and improving the virtually non-existent facilities for women at race circuits.
Susan Jamieson, president of the BWRDC, says: “This was an era when flameproof overalls – let alone underwear – were a myth, sponsorship a dream and trailers a luxury as most competing cars were driven to the circuits.
“Drivers could only start racing after they had passed their driving test at 17. It’s all a far cry from today’s F1 stars.”
The BWRDC celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and has progressed massively over the past five decades. As membership has grown, the club has added new sections, including hillclimb and sprint, karting and rallying.
One of the biggest milestones came in 1992 when women were finally allowed to become full race/rally members of the Silverstone-based BRDC. Another achievement was a recent partnership with television channel Motors TV – something Bashford-Malkie describes as a great coup.
Today, the BWRDC has more than 160 members and holds its own awards and championships based on members’ annual performances. It’s also a Motor Sports Association (MSA) recognised motor club.
One of the club’s most high-profile members is Scottish racing driver Susie Wolff, 29. Wolff – previously Susie Stoddart – lives in Switzerland and is in her seventh season racing for Mercedes-Benz in the DTM (German Touring Car championship). Her two ambitions in the near future are to score podium places at the DTM and test-drive an F1 car.
“I think it’s just a matter of time before a team in F1 chooses to give a female a chance,” she says. “And not just for marketing but also based on her ability.” Wolff started kart racing at the age of eight and one of the things she loves most about racing is pushing herself to the limit in the car.
“The adrenalin you feel on the starting grid cannot be matched by anything else,” she says. “It’s a very competitive world though, and the simple fact is that men cannot cope being beaten by a female. Most racing drivers have big egos. I race because I love racing, not to prove a point about how well a female can do against men on the track.”
BWRDC kart champion Jessica Hawkins, 17, also has her sights firmly set on F1. Hawkins, from Hampshire, has been selected as one of 20 drivers around the country for a place in this year’s esteemed MSA Academy. She now wants to progress to cars but, like many others, needs sponsorship.
“I believe it would be possible for me to get to Formula One if I had the money,” says Hawkins. “I feel I’m the best – if you don’t believe that, there’s no point in racing.”
Not all members share the F1 dream. BWRDC champion and Juno Sports prototype driver Sarah Reader, 29, prefers endurance racing. “My ambition is to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours race,” she says. “If I can find a sponsor, I could be there in the next 12 months or so.”
Meanwhile, Gail Hill, BWRDC vice chair, didn’t start racing until she was 43. The NHS community care support manager has been competing in – and winning – Jaguar championships ever since. Hill, 54, says: “I’ve got two other jobs as a racing instructor – I absolutely love racing and can’t imagine life without it.”
Developing competitiveness at an early age is key, according to Carolynn Hoy, who mentors young kart hopefuls with Formula Kart Stars (FKS), the karting series that helped launch Lewis Hamilton’s F1 career.
Former Superkarts racer Hoy, 58, says: “We don’t have enough girls in the sport. When I look back, I realise I was quite good but I never took it seriously. Girls often aren’t encouraged to be competitive.”
But she’s confident for the future, especially as FKS is supported by Formula One Management, Bernie Ecclestone’s company. “I think Mr Ecclestone’s attitude has changed,” says Hoy. “He would like to see a female Formula One racer. He says Formula One is ready for a woman.”
