On today’s final episode on the automotive series about women and cars, we look at 10 women who had made an impact on motorsport.

1. Joan Newton Cuneo

The earliest trailblazer on the racing scene. Her first racing debut occurred in 1905 where she participated in the first Gideon Tour. The tour was 1335 miles long from Louis Missouri to New York, however her first attempt was bitter-sweet because there were “technicalities” which prevented her to receive a certificate for finishing the race successfully. Her second attempt in 1908 was much improved where she scored a perfect 1000 points, also in 1909 she participated in the Mardi gras races competing with male legendary racers like Ralph de Palmer. She held her own during those races where her highest position was 2nd place just 63 seconds behind the leader de Palmer. Her racing prowess was of concern to the American Auto Association (AAA) which led to a ban on women participating on their sanctioned races. The icing on the cake was in 1911 where she set the first speed record for women, which was 112Mph/180Km/h.

Source: Carleasespecialoffers.co.uk

2. Odette Siko

The first woman to participate in the 24-hours of Le-Mans (21st June 1930), her all female racing team managed to finish 7th place overall which is still a record till this day by an all-female racing team with their trusty chariot the Bugatti T40. Unfortunately the team shortly came to an end due to the disqualification from racing officials because of the refuelling infringement.

Ms Siko went solo and joined another team to race the gruelling endurance race in 1932, her chariot was an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750. She secured 4th position at end of the race, which is still the highest position a female racing driver has obtained in Le-Mans racing history. Sadly her participation came to an abrupt end in 1933 where during the 24 hour Le-Mans race she was involved in a fiery car accident which nearly ended her life. Overall her racing career dwindled, only participating at rallying and speed trails till WW2 had occurred.

Source: Hagerty UK

3. Sara Christian

The first woman to participate in the NASCAR top division in 1949, she only completed seven races overall and her highest finish is 5th which remains undefeated till this day. Granted the rules, regulations and standards have completely changed as compared to 72 years ago. Her racing ended very shortly in 1950, but still surprising that her record has yet to be broken.

Source: Historic Racing

4. Michele Mouton

Well renowned for being the most successful female rally driver in history, her skill and bravery could be compared to other Formula 1 drivers at the time.

Her racing career began in 1974 at the World Rally Championship (WRC), driving her Alpine A110. By the end of the 1970s she won the 2.0 litre class of the 24 hours of Le-Mans, the win attracted major sponsor ELF and offered her to opportunity to race for FIAT. Shortly after, another major opportunity came knocking at her door, Audi approached her with the intent of bringing her on board the team to be their driver alongside the legend Walter Röhrl for the WRC in 1981. She entered the Rallye Sanremo challenge driving the homologated Audi Quattro, she managed to win the challenge despite some hiccups here and there. That victory marked her as the first woman to win at the WRC event.

As her WRC career progressed in 1982 she entered Group B where rules are non-existent, she traded punches with other skilful drivers especially her teammate Walter Röhrl. Both Röhrl and Mouton were fighting for the championship title resulting in Mouton winning 3 races while Rhol won 2. However Röhrl was leading by 12 racing points due to Mouton crashing on the Ivory Coast rally event which resulted on being disqualified. She settled for second place. Just imagine this, if she had survived the Ivory Coast challenge, she could’ve been the first woman to win the World Rally Championship.

In 1985 she took part in the Pikes Peak hill-climb, racing officials weren’t keen to allow Mouton to partake on the event, but she persisted. Her vehicle was a heavily modified Audi Quattro S1, not only was she able to complete the hill-climb but beat the time set by a previous record-holder by 13 seconds. Unfortunately her WRC dominance came to an end in 1986 due to a few reasons, the intensity of Group B, settling down with family, and the tragic accident of Lancia driver Henri Toivonen. Also that same year she narrowly won the German Rally Championship.

Right now Ms Mouton is the president of FIA responsible for women and motorsport commission, also the manager of FIA in the World Rally Championship.

Source: Top Gear Philippines

5. Sabine Schmitz

Queen of the Nürburgring, successful race car driver, her own racing team, temporary Top Gear host, the list goes on and on and on.

Firstly the nickname “Queen of the Nürburgring ”, the nickname has a lot of originations, some believe that the name was dubbed because Sabine was actually born and raised near the iconic racetrack. While some believed that she got the nickname from the time she was dominating the 24 hours of the Nürburgring, as well as working as a shuttle driver.

Her racing career began in 1990 where she won the Ford Fiesta Cup Ladies division, in 1995 she briefly raced the South African Touring Car Championship. The following year she got her big break by winning the 24 hours of the Nurburgring under the Frikadeli Racing team, becoming the first woman to do so. Her winning streak continued until 1998, in an almost 10 year absence she returned back to endurance racing in 2008 and managed to achieve 3rd , 2nd , 2nd and 1st in 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2015 respectively. She owned the racing team which she previously worked for.

She made multiple appearances on the famous motoring show Top Gear, her most memorable episodes (in my opinion) are two, when she was offered a challenge to drive the Ford Transit Van around the Nurburgring in under 10 minutes. Another episode is when she taught her Co-presenter Rory Reid about driving consistency around the racetrack using the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1LE.

Sadly Sabine passed away in March 2021 due to Cancer, among the women we’ve mentioned on the list she was the most charismatic and memorable, so much so in fact that she’s named after a corner of her favourite racetrack.

Source: Hotcars

6. Danica Patrick

What makes Danica so special is her diverse racing career, from IndyCar racing to NASCAR. Her career began way too early at the age of 10 when she competed in Go-Kart racing winning both regional and national level. At the age of 16 she honed her racing skills by competing in Formula Fords and Vauxhalls at the United Kingdom.

She made her official debut at IndyCar in 2005 where she set the fastest lap during practice session clocking 229.8Mph/369,9Km/h. During the first official race she had lead the race 3 times with a total of 19 laps, she managed to finish the race in 4th place which lead her to achieve Rookie of the Year. In 2008 she won on Twin-Ring Motegi Circuit at Motegi Japan. The following year she won the Indianapolis 500 and took 8th place at the 24 hours of Daytona.

In 2011 she retired from competing at IndyCar full time and ventured to NASCAR where she started racing at the Xfinity series before graduating to the NASCAR Cup series in 2013. She only managed seven top 10 finishes throughout her NASCAR Cup series career. She retired from racing in 2018 to focus more on her personal life. In total she completed 437 races with 14 podium finishes, 6 pole positions, and 3 fastest laps.

Source: BMW

7. Force to be reckoned with

Not one but two racers from the same family, Britney and Courtney Force. They are the daughters of 16-time NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Funny Car World Champion John Force, both women had set their own milestones at their pace.

Courtney began her career in 2011. She is a 12-time Funny Car winner, ranked within the top 10s NHRA standings for six seasons, she is placed runner up (2nd place) 16 times throughout her 167 races. And she earned number 1 qualifier 29 times, (11 times in one season, just 2 left to match her father’s record). Unfortunately Courtney retired from NHRA in 2019 to focus on other pursuits.

Britney’s career began in 2013 driving Top Fuel Dragsters, her first win came in 2016 at Gainesville Raceway and her first Championship title came in 2017 making her the second woman to achieve that (first woman to achieve it happened in 1985). In 2021 she achieved a track record run of 3.717 seconds during qualifying seasons. To put it into perspective 3.717 seconds in 1320 feet/402metres.

What is even crazier is the fact that Britney and Courtney aren’t the only sibblings here, their eldest sister Ashley was also a Dragster (funny car category just like Courtney). Indeed the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Source: NHRA

8. Clare Vale

A local racer is featured on this list, and this local racer is Clare Vale. Clare attended the BMW Advanced Driving course in 2003 where she got encouraged by instructors to join racing due to her uncanny driving abilities and being a fast learner. Her career began in 2004 with the Shelby Can Am racer at the very ripe age of 43. Her first win was in the Springbok series at Killarney circuit in 2006.

The following year she was the first woman to race in the premier series of WesBank V8 Supercars at Kyalami Raceway, what is even crazier is the fact that in March 2009 the same location (Kyalami) she won the exact race making her the first woman to do so. She also raced a Porsche 917 in the International Sports Prototype class, managing to finish 2nd place in 2011, however she did miss a lot of races within the series.

She migrated to drifting and managed to be first woman to compete at the Supadrift Series in 2012. Liqui Moli South Africa and Clare Vale have been working together for long time ever since she began her Drifting career, the company sponsored her SN95 Ford Mustang as well as co-developed a bespoke Subaru BRZ drift build. Here is another kicker she used to be the president of MSA (Motorsport South Africa) Women in Motorsport panel. Right now she regularly attends local racing events.

Source: Forbes Africa

9. Laia Sanz

Greatest female motorcycle competitor for a reason. Her career began very early, at the age of 7 where she entered local competitions, she obtained her first victory in 1997 in the Trials World Championship, the same results followed in 1998. In the year 2000 she won the male cadet category of the Spanish National Trails Championship as well as her first Women’s World Trails title and lastly she obtained Women’s Trial Des Nations title all in the same year!

From 2002-2006 she was on a winning streak, obtaining Trails title on a National and international level. She went on a hiatus in 2007, but came back full force in 2008 continuing her winning streak till 2011. In 2010 she switched careers and focused on Enduro, the following year she joined the Dakar Rally which came in handy for improving her stamina leading her to win her first Enduro World Cup Women division in 2012. Again her winning streak continued till 2016. Another notable achievement under her belt is when she participated the 2015 Dakar Rally and managed to achieve 9th place overall, making her the first woman finish inside the Top 10.

Her story doesn’t stop her, this year in 2021 Sanz made the switch from 2 wheels to 4 wheels in order to participate in the FIA sanctioned off road racing series which consists of 4X4 EVs. So far in her career she achieved a record breaking 13 Trails World Championship titles, 5 Enduro World Cup titles, and a world record for a woman to be within the top 10 of the Dakar Rally. Could she be the greatest female racer of all time? Let us wait for more of her stories to unfold.

Source: Redbull

10. Ana Carrasco

The youngest woman to be featured on this list, yet she is packing dynamite. The 24 year old was the first woman to win a Motorbike World Championship, she achieved the title by competing in the 2018 Superbike World Championship (WSBK) Supersport 300 division.

To minimize confusion WSBK is not MotoGP, they may look similar but they are vastly different, Moto GP is the pinnacle of 2-wheeled racing where technology and big pockets reign supreme (thought skill is still an important equation for racing success). WSBK focuses heavily on the riders’ talent as well as team strategy.

Back to Ana, her racing career began in 2013 at the age of 16, she entered the Moto3 division.

It is safe to say that Ana Carrasco has a bright future ahead of her.

Source: Cycleworld

At last we’ve reached the end of our series on “Women and Cars”, personally we want to give a special message to all the female readers who have a desire to make an impact on this industry. We say DO IT! We are currently living in an era where a sizeable amount of women play a significant role in the automotive industry, whether being design, invention, motorsport, management, leadership and journalism. We (OneMotion) and the rest of the car community will support any form of contribution that you make, as long as it is for the greater good of the community.