You’ve heard it down the pub from that bloke that sits at the end of the bar, you know the one with the funny eye. The chap that you give a wide berth for the fear he gets talking to you. God forbid he corners you on your way to the Gents. “These ‘Lady drivers’ have even started racing!” He cries, as you attempt to edge past and repeat the ‘Please Leave Me Alone’ diplomacy tactic: an eye roll, a tut and an “Ah well there you go.” He’s seen W Series Racing on ITV4, whilst hunting for an episode of Minder, or possibly a rerun of Storage Wars.
Even before W Series racing had so much as picked up a spanner or turned a wheel, it was fielding criticism. Indy 500 competitor Pippa Mann said it was, “A sad day for motorsport” and that the series “Segregated female racers”. Former Williams F1 Vice Principal Claire Williams aired similar views. It was suggested that it was wrong to corral women into a women only racing series, and they should be pushed to compete in the, male dominated, Formula 3 and Formula 2 championships.
In America the National Basketball Association (NBA) has a female based sister series, pun intended, the WNBA. Whilst there is support of allowing and encouraging women to compete in the male version, the WNBA still pulls in good viewing figures. W Series is televised and has had over 165,000 views on YouTube alone. Half of what the WNBA achieves in TV viewers. Not bad for a small 6 race championship with big ideas.
W Series, like the WNBA gives the racers a chance to take on the best women in their field. 55 initial hopefuls that were whittled down to 20 through various tests of race technique, fitness and media relations. No other race series does this. It allows the Racers to develop, learn and hone their skills. It is the perfect development program to catapult them to whatever form of racing takes their fancy.
Whatever people think about the potential for women in F1, one thing is crucial. To compete in F1 you must have a Super Licence. These are earned with the accruing of a high enough finish in a championship. Finish in the top eight; you bag yourself some points. W series offers 15 points for a 1st place championship finish, 12 for second and so on. Before you talk about anyone in Formula 1, they need 40 Super Licence points.
The beauty of a Women only series of racing is it guarantees 20 female drivers on the grid. As opposed to trying to crack the impenetrable door of the lower, male dominated formulae with its monetary backing and inner networks. It allows you to race with your peers in exactly the same machinery, to really separate the men from, ah, well you know what I mean. When you have achieved the desired 40 points, that allows you to go into the world’s most prestigious form of racing, having hit the ground running, or the wheels spinning.
The machinery, standard for all drivers, is essentially a Formula 3 car. A 270 horsepower, 4 cylinder engine propels you to 167mph, so they’re not exactly slow. All six races are held in Europe only, which helps to lower costs, therefore lowering the financial barrier to entry whilst still racing on some of the sports most famous tracks. Britain’s Brand Hatch, Belgium's Zolder Circuit and Germany’s Hockenheimring.
Above all, what really matters in a race series is the action. Personally, I don’t care who is racing. It could be 20 Giant Panda’s in Fiat Panda’s. If the racing is good then that’s what matters. In fact, I may start that series and partner with the WWF. Formula 1 benefits from many years of glamour, history, technology and above all, characters. It rests on its laurels, and while these things are important to the atmosphere, F1 threatens to fall into a design oriented corporate advertising procession. That is why F1 has to be challenged by better, more exciting racing. To force it to improve and start to offer discernible value. In my opinion, this makes W Series is a major player.
Legendary F1 Team Boss and supermodel enthusiast, Flavio Briatore, summed it up well in an interview with F1 Champion Nico Rosberg. “In F1, fans want to see the Gladiators”. Good, exciting racing is the most important, and the gladiators are the people that create this excitement. In the W Series, nothing could be more gladiatorial than Sophia Floersch’s comeback after flipping over the guard railing and hitting a camera platform. Or 18 year old Megan Gilkes diving down the inside of the pack, before hitting a wet patch and T-Boning another competitor. Thankfully both were uninjured, but boring, it isn’t. Not to mention this was on the 1st lap of the 1st ever race!
As W Series grows and expands, it adds to the plethora of other race series, that may ultimately, cause F1 a bit of a headache. So Mr Man-in-Pub, have a go at watching a race. Or alternatively, wait for my Fiat Panda Panda Series.
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