24h Le Mans
At Le Mans, perhaps more than elsewhere, women are welcomed and encouraged to race. Even though there are only two female drivers on the grid this year, there are more and more women in teams and among fans. And they’re just as crazy about cars.
The motor car was born male. In 1875 when the new means of locomotion was still in short trousers, the Académie française stamped the word “automobile” with the masculine gender. In 1901 the word became feminine and has been ever since. However, these linguistic tergiversations had no bearing on women’s involvement in motorsport, which remained scarce. But the 24 Hours of Le Mans was different. Since it was founded in 1923, the race has always advocated sexual equality. Women race in exactly the same conditions as men and are judged according to the same performance criteria.
We have yet to see a female equivalent of Tom Kristensen, Jacky Ickx or Henri Pescarolo, but it’s surely just a question of time. A glance at the history of motorsport reveals that the 24 Hours of Le Mans has often served as a trailblazer. Back in 1930, Marguerite Mareuse and Odette Siko came seventh in their Bugatti Type 40. With the feminist movement gathering pace in the USA and Europe, the 1930s saw a wave of female drivers at Le Mans, with Odette Siko at the helm. Her fourth place in 1932 remains the best result achieved by a woman at Le Mans. The next women drivers appeared in the sixties and seventies.
Among the best known were Christine Beckers, Lella Lombardi, Anny-Charlotte Verney (who raced a record ten times) and Marie-Claude Beaumont in the mean 1970s’ Corvettes. More recently, Vanina Ickx came seventh in 2011. Let’s not forget that one woman has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times: Leena Gade, chief engineer of the Audi R18 driven by Marcel Fässler, Benoît Tréluyer and André Lotterer. It is in such trackside roles that women play an important part in motorsport today. Women engineers, technicians and mechanics are as passionate about their jobs and their sport as their male counterparts. And of course many volunteer marshals and emergency staff at the track are women. To encourage even more women to take an interest in motorsports, the ACO introduced the Pavillon des Femmes (Women’s Pavilion) in the 24 Hours village last year, to great success.
