Saturday’s sell-out DirtFish Women in Motorsport Summit has been the most successful yet, with close to 400,000 watching around the world on a livestream provided by AT&T and Teradek.
Based out of LeMay – America’s Car Museum for the first time in its four-year history, the Summit was sold out well in advance, meaning 350 people joined DirtFish Women in Motorsport coordinator Josie Rimmer for three separate panels and a fireside chat between moderator Becs Williams and former Formula 1 team principal Claire Williams.
With extraordinary and inspirational stories delivered by star-studded panelists from around the world, including Michele Abbate, Emilia Abel, Irana Ahmadova, Lia Block, Erin Bourke, Jess Dane, Marina Duñach, Aoife Raftery, Pernilla Solberg and Claire Williams, the day was a huge success.
Rimmer said: “Today has surpassed anything I could have imagined. It’s been incredible – this is exactly what the DirtFish Women in Motorsport initiative is all about. It’s about bringing women together.
Moderator Becs Williams gets the FIA lowdown at the Summit, with Marina Duñach, Emilia Abel and Erin Bourke answering the questions
“We’ve seen people interacting today, we’ve seen people bonding with the panelists and making meaningful connections. We’ve changed lives today. Aoife [Raftery] has had a five-year-old girl sitting with her at her table for the whole afternoon. That girl now wants to change her name to Aoife and she wants to drive Aoife’s rally car. That’s what this is all about.
“The panelists were incredible. With Becs [Williams] moderating, I was able to actually listen in to what was being said and you couldn’t help but be inspired by those stories. What an amazing group of powerhouse women – and ending with that fireside chat between Becs and Claire Williams was insightful, emotional and so impassioned. You could truly feel room hanging on her every word.
“It’s been an amazing day. I can’t thank everybody who’s been involved enough – the DirtFish team around me is just incredible and it wouldn’t be possible to do this without them. And, of course, it’s been our first Summit away from the DirtFish Rally School. It was a wrench to make that decision, but the event had outgrown what we could do on the property. To come to LeMay – America’s Car Museum was something so special for us and then to completely fill the room was even more awesome!
“I guess it’s time to think about next year now…”
What Josie did with her team to create the Summit was quite extraordinary.Claire Williams
Claire Williams added: “It’s such an honour to be part of the event. Josie asked me quite a while ago and I said yes, immediately.
“This is one of the first [Women in Motorsport] events of its kind and what a privilege to be here and to have spent time with such a brilliant group of women. It takes time to drive change. When I started my career at Williams in 2002, I don’t think there was one woman working across the engineering disciplines. When I took over running the team in 2013, there was one woman in those areas – one woman in aerodynamics. As you can imagine, that kind of ticked me off quite a bit. I used that to fuel me and to try to drive change and to try to create better pathways for women in the sport and for women coming into the sport. When I left the team [in 2020] 19% of our workforce was women.
“That is only thanks to driving change, to being proactive and being brave enough to stand up and say the work place needs to change if women are to thrive in it.
“The welcome I received in the room was the best ever – but I think the cheers should have been saved for Josie. What Josie did with her team to create the Summit was quite extraordinary. I only wish there had been women like her around when I was starting out my career in motorsport, to have people breaking down barriers like that is so valuable.
“Congratulations to Josie and the whole DirtFish team on a fantastic Summit.”
Further coverage from the DirtFish Women in Motorsport Summit will be available across all DirtFish social channels in the coming days.
