Not so long ago, having a female driver on a grid was considered something of a novelty. Now, with increasing numbers of women taking up the sport, it’s becoming a little more commonplace. Whether as the result of all-female categories like W Series or F1 Academy, or a variety of grassroots initiatives, the idea of attracting more women into motorsport is in the spotlight now more than ever. And governing body Motorsport UK is determined to play a leading role in this.
Its CEO Hugh Chambers says the organisation has progressed a long way in the past five or six years since efforts to increase female participation began in earnest. “We’re now into a far more exciting period, which is a maturing of those programmes,” he explains. “What I mean by that is they no longer sit adjacent to the rest of the sport, they’re in the sport. So, every discipline, every activity with marshals, getting more females involved in the sport is an integral part of everything that we do.”
