'I’m here to say: We’re driving. We’re buying. And we’re not going anywhere': Meet the new gatekeepers of the motoring world

For most of the past century, the gates to motorsport, and cars more broadly, were fairly firmly closed to women. Some squeaked through, but they were the exception, not the rule. In Formula One (F1), no woman has scored a championship point since Lella Lombardi in 1975. Behind the pit wall, the numbers are barely better: even now, fewer than one in 10 professional engineers in the UK is female, and top-tier paddocks remain overwhelmingly a boys club. Until recently, a woman’s place in the world of four-wheels was predominantly ornamental: a ‘grid girl’ or the plus-one, not the driver, designer or decision-maker.

But a different picture is slowly coming into focus. From the racetrack to the boardroom to the private garage, women are taking the inside line into spaces that were once off-limits. And they’re also re-framing the whole scene, by deciding who gets to come in next. They are the new gatekeepers: holding the gates wide open, and ushering in the next era for which female presence is not the exception, but a hard and fast rule.

Supercars are for the girls

Picture the average supercar collector. You’re forgiven, but nope, think again. Amanda Toh Steckler has a garage filled with McLarens, including the ultra-rare Solus GT hypercar. She’s also the founder of a women-only supercar club designed to rewrite the rulebook on ownership and access. ‘My late husband used to say: “She paid the road tax, so she’s going to use the whole road.” And I do. I’m quick, I love adrenaline, I’ll use every lane. And I want to be the first to know when there’s a new car coming out.’

Amanda recently drove in the Gumball 3000 rally, where she handled the wheel while her self-described ‘party girl’ co-pilot slept off a hangover in the passenger seat. ‘I always laugh about that,’ she says. ‘Most people have co-drivers. I had a napper. But I drove every mile and I loved every minute.’

Her enthusiasm is matched by purpose. ‘There’s this assumption that women are in the passenger seat, figuratively and literally,’ she says. ‘I’m here to say: we’re driving. We’re buying. And we’re not going anywhere.’ More than simply collecting and showing off her cars, she’s building a community with ambitions to connect female-focused car clubs into a global network of like-minded women who own, spec, and drive their own rides on their own terms. ‘My dream is to bring these women together. Because once they find each other, it’s a powerful thing.’

Amanda’s world is irreverent, joyful, and a thrill to imagine. It’s a Greta Gerwig-style redrawing of the supercar scene. But behind the gloss, the worlds of motorsport and automotive still face deep-rooted, systemic barriers. Because if women aren’t interested in cars, or designing, engineering and selling them, then Amanda’s female petrolhead playground remains a fantasy. Real change requires more than a couple of gangbusting frontwomen. It takes visibility, action, re-education and representation. And it’s all underway…

Startrite, with big engines

Before she was racing electric rally cars across glaciers in Greenland or through deserts in Saudi Arabia, Catie Munnings was a fresh-faced 21-year-old with a radical idea: what if mini motorheads learned about horsepower from a woman?

Catie’s Amazing Machines, her award-winning CBeebies show, was the first of its kind: a fast-paced, track-based, adrenaline-fuelled car show… aimed squarely at preschoolers, and with a girl as its lead. ‘We were drifting rally cars and racing tanks around airfields,’ she laughs. ‘But the target audience was four-year-olds. That’s the magic.’

The show was a stealth mission to change the way little girls think about machines, motion, and themselves. ‘By the time girls are just two years old, they already start to internalise gendered views about what’s “for them” and what isn’t,’ says Catie. ‘If we can get in there early enough and make cars, speed and engineering feel exciting and accessible, we give them permission to imagine a different kind of future.’

That early spark of visibility matters so much, because for little girls and boys, role modelling is everything. Lighting the fire is one thing, though. Making sure it doesn’t burn out takes infrastructure.

From podium to pipeline

‘I didn’t want to just break in,’ says Stephanie Travers, former F1 trackside fluid engineer, the first black woman to stand on an F1 podium and now senior impact manager at Lewis Hamilton’’s foundation Mission 44. ‘I wanted to make sure the door stays open for others. When I lifted that trophy at the Styrian Grand Prix in 2020, I felt the eyes of a million young girls on me. That moment wasn’t just symbolic. It was a responsibility.’

Today, Stephanie oversees programmes that create access to motorsport careers for young people from underrepresented backgrounds, through scholarships, mentorship, and immersive experiences. ‘Visibility is powerful, but access is everything,’ she says. ‘I want to ensure that the next generation don’t just watch the sport, that they also shape it.’

Gear shift at the top

While gender inequality in motorsport has been under a microscope recently, the broader automotive sector has also begun its own internal evolution. Nicole Melillo Shaw, managing director of Volvo Cars UK, is part of a shift that’s gradually happening at every level: from the language used in marketing to the way leadership roles are structured.

‘We know women have huge purchasing and decision power in the household,’ she says, ‘so we need to ensure we are building something that speaks to their needs and values — and then talk to them in the right way.’ When women are in senior positions, she adds, ‘it’s a step change’.

Nicole is part of a rare contingent: women running major car brands. Her role allows her both to shape strategy and to challenge internal norms. ‘Our industry has the potential to thrive by stimulating careers at the grass roots and, to do that, women need to experience someone they can resonate with at the top otherwise we will never create change.’

This isn’t lip service. Under Nicole’s leadership, 50% of Volvo Cars UK’s senior leadership team is now female, and 52% of the workforce. She’s holding real doors open, and women are walking through them.

[Pics available here: https://www.picdrop.com/stillmoving/me1GQ3CrQ7 (Credit Liam Arthur / stillmoving.net)]

Racing forward

That same imperative — changing what’s possible from the top — is just as vital on the track as it is in the boardroom. Jamie Chadwick is the most successful female racing driver of her generation. She won the W Series twice, competed in Le Mans, and she’s the first woman in over a decade to race full-time in the Indy NXT championship.

With a major sponsor like Mobil 1, Jamie is so not a token figure. She is a serious prospect for the highest levels of motorsport. ‘There’s still a long way to go,’ she says, ‘but when I was younger, there were no obvious pathways. Now girls can look around and see real options. That makes all the difference.’

She’s helping build those options herself. The Jamie Chadwick Series, which is an all-female karting championship hosted at Daytona venues across the UK, is actively widening the talent pipeline. Participation among young girls in karting has already seen a measurable boost since the programme began. Where women once had to struggle alone just for a seat or a session on track, Jamie is making sure the next generation doesn’t face the same uphill battle. As she races forward, she’s making sure to give other girls a tow behind her.

The voice of a new era

Nicki Shields has spent the last decade becoming one of the most recognisable faces in motorsport broadcasting. But her voice has become even more significant of late. As lead commentator for the F1 Academy, the all-female junior single-seater series backed by F1, Nicki is now narrating the rise of women in racing as it happens in real time.

‘It’s an amazing moment to be part of,’ she says. ‘These girls are competing on the world’s biggest stages, in front of the F1 crowds, with the full backing of the teams. And I get to help tell that story, to show that they belong here.’

‘It’s not just about putting girls in cars,’ says Nicki. ‘It’s about giving them the infrastructure — coaching, visibility, funding, media coverage — that male drivers have always had.’

Women’s words matter

Even automotive journalism, long considered one of the last petrol-soaked holdouts of male dominance, is shifting. ‘I love what I do and feel incredibly grateful,’ says Frankie Youd, senior reporter at Just Auto. ‘But not lucky. That word gets used a lot when women succeed in this industry, like we stumbled into it by chance. The truth is, we work hard to be here.’

Frankie, who has often been mistaken for a guest rather than the journalist on duty, admits the road hasn’t always been smooth. ‘It can be intimidating,’ she says, ‘and it can make you hesitant to speak up, worried about standing out for the wrong reasons. But over time, I’ve learned that being different in this space can be a strength.’ Considering how much coverage shapes perception, the more women in the bylines, the more women will be interested in the ideas.

Gates open, what’s next?

There’s a throughline connecting all these women — collectors, racers, engineers, commentators, and execs. It isn’t just that they’ve stood out in spaces that once looked completely uniform. It’s that, increasingly, they don’t. Each, in her own way, has reshaped the landscape, by dismantling barriers and holding the gate open for other women to follow. So much so that, in many corners of the car world, women are no longer outliers, they’re various, visible and vital.

There’s still work ahead. ‘We still don’t see enough women on pit walls or in R&D,’ says Stephanie Travers. ‘We need more leadership, more visibility, more strategy set by women. That’s when the change becomes irreversible.’ But the momentum is undeniable.

Keep the gates open, and it won’t just be more women who’ll come through, but perhaps an altogether new vision of what comes after.