DARE TO BE DIFFERENT SCHEME HOSTS FIRST EVENT Initiative to encourage female participation in motorsport kicks off

Susie Wolff’s flagship Dare to be Different initiative held its first event at Sandown Park last week, introducing 100 schoolchildren to motorsport.

The event, designed to promote the participation of women in the sport, hosted 10 children from 10 different local primary schools and ran taster sessions and motorsport masterclasses to introduce them to the variety of careers available within the sport.

Wolff was joined by GP3 Series driver Tatiana Calderon and aspiring European Rally Championship driver Catie Munnings. Both drivers coached the girls through karting sessions, while Sky Sports presenter Natalie Pinkham provided sessions on media and presentation. An engineering element also allowed the girls to build a hovercraft.

Former Williams test driver Wolff reiterated the importance of the D2BD campaign, which was launched at the Autosport Show in January.

“For me it’s important not to just be out in karts but actually seeing a Formula 1 car up close and ultimately inspiring them, even just hearing them say ‘yes I want to work on a grand prix car and work as part of a Formula 1 team’,” said Wolff.

“It’s not going to happen in a year or two, this is going to be a long-term thing; we hope that in 10 years we’ve got more coming up through. It’s about making the outreach programme big”

Calderon added: “It’s good that girls have these chances, it’s something that I would like to help with so that’s really how I got involved.”

Future D2BD events are planned later in the year, to be held in Milton Keynes, Manchester, Scotland and Northern Ireland.