Richard Mille’s allwomen car rally
Richard Mille has supported Rallye des Princesses for the past five years and helped shape a potential platform for budding female racing drivers
She taps her Balenciaga sneakers on the floor as she studies a complicated route out of Vichy. Then she reaches into her personalised Dior Book Tote bag to pull out the map and makes a note of all the check points they need to reach that day. She looks down at her Richard Mille watch before scanning the room to find her co-pilot, who is easy to spot as she’s wearing exactly same outfit. Many pairs of women are dressed in matching looks, after all they are a team in one of the most prestigious classic car races of the year.
Viviane Zaniroli created Rallye des Princesses, women’s only rally, 20 years ago. Inspired by the Paris-Saint Raphael Rally, the first all-female motorsport event that debuted in 1929, it invites vintage car enthusiasts, as well as loyal clients of Richard Mille, from all over the world to participate in one of the most unique and extremely competitive races through France.
“I wanted the Rallye des Princesses to combine myriad elements that make the event a success: feeling of freedom, challenge, sportsmanship, exchange and fellowship,” explains Zaniroli.
The five-day driving marathon challenges navigation skills, resilience to stay focused through a 12-hour journey, and teamwork, after all classic cars don’t come with the same comforts as a modern-day motor. This year 91 all-women crews began the competition in Place Vendôme, Paris, and travelled through 280 towns and villages including Vichy and Saint-Aignan, before crossing the finish line in Saint Tropez on the Place des Lices.
Unlike most car races that define the winner by who comes first, the number one spot belongs to the team that kept as closely as possible to an average of 40km/h or 50km/h, depending upon the age of the car, and arrives at all the marked check points.
Grit doesn’t come without glamour. After a long day behind the wheel the participants are rewarded with relaxing stays at four- and fivestar hotels, cocktail parties and gala dinners.
Many of the women are regulars, some have only learnt of this prestigious event recently and are now completely hooked. On the track there is a promising professional racing driver Aurora Straus who sits behind the wheel of a red Porsche 356. At just 20-years-old she drives for BMW, has competed against men in the IMSA Continental Tire SportCar Challenge for the past three years, studies at Harvard University and is a spokesperson for Richard Mille.
It’s her first time at Rallye des Princesses and she’s surprised at how competitive it is: “The top 50 competitors prepare really far in advance, they look through the log book as soon as they get it, they study it in detail and a lot of them know their co-pilots, they know their competitors very well.”
“A lot of them don’t even realise that they’re putting down the same times as professional drivers and other regularity events that are mostly male dominated. So I'm hoping that over time, this event can be used as a mechanism to get women involved in other rallies,” she adds.
Aurora speaks of the challenges of being one of the handful of women taking part in professional racing. While many of the sporting segments are diversifying and opening doors for women, Motor sports remain a ge ntleman’s club with young girls finding it hard to find sponsors to help them break into the industry. There is a shift, but Aurora understands that there’s a long way to go: “One of the hardest years of my life was when I was 13 and I decided I wanted to race. I was just starting and I never saw another girl on the racetrack for maybe two years. I remember how scary that was and I'm a part of this world now and I couldn't love it more but I also think I have a responsibility to change it and my goal is for no young girl to feel like the only girl in the room 20 years from now.”
Could an elite event like Rallye des Princesses become a platform to champion aspiring female racing drivers? Perhaps it can be a test-drive into the world of motor sports and once you’ve caught the that bug, there’s no going back.
“I think woman are at a crucial turning point in motor sports today, in the sense that 30 or 40 years ago there weren't really high-profile women in motor sports,” says Aurora. “One of the largest barriers to entry for anyone, not just women, in motor sports is resources. You need connections, sponsorship funding, access to the right people, right teams, right car and none of that happens without events like this. This would be an amazing place for a young girl interested in racing.”
“I think a lot of women here were made very uncomfortable this week but it's good, everyone has grown and become close but, as importantly, they become better drivers. And hopefully some of them will come over to the dark side and come racing with me.”