Saturday morning, a moment or two after 11 and the very fancy wooden roof on LeMay – America’s Car Museum has been raised. Six hours later and there was a danger of it being torn off completely.
The morning cheer accompanied Claire Williams’ arrival on stage. The wall of noise stopped the former team principal of Williams Racing in her tracks.
“I have never,” she told the audience, “had a welcome like that before.”
The welcome got louder. And longer.
At the other end of the day, after one of the most engaging, intriguing, fascinating and funny fireside chats in history, Williams was given a standing ovation. Formula 1 had very much become a member of the DirtFish family.
Ten minutes after the sell-out crowd had taken their seats, they were on their feet again. And this time it was noisier than ever. DirtFish Women in Motorsport coordinator and Summit visionary Josie Rimmer had just delivered a blockbuster speech that brought the house down.
Cue a second standing ovation.
To say the fourth annual DirtFish Women in Motorsport Summit was a success is an understatement of enormous proportions. But don’t take our word for it. Let’s ask FIA rally director Emilia Abel.
As the person in charge of rallying around the world, Abel gets to see plenty of top-drawer events on an almost weekly basis. By her own admission, she’s not easily impressed.
On Saturday, she was blown away.
“In 20 years working in this sport, this is one of the most impressive things I have seen,” Abel said. “And it’s not just the Summit, it was everything about DirtFish. The people, the place, Snoqualmie, the nature and, of course, the Summit. It was an amazing experience.”
DirtFish Rally School welcomed the stars on Friday evening ahead of the Summit at LeMay on Saturday
While the Summit ran through Saturday, the weekend got going with a ‘Night with the Stars’ at the School. The place looked stunning with twinkle lights and rally cars shining. Walking into DirtFish is always a real treat, but last Friday night was something else. The setting sun threw a beautiful, golden hue through the front door, lighting up a painting that stopped you in your tracks.
I’ll be honest and say a painting has never given me goosebumps before, but Samantha Zimmermann’s interpretation of Michèle Mouton standing alongside an Audi quattro S1 E2 did just that. I’ve seen picture after picture of the Frenchwoman and that most fearsome of Group B cars, but that’s the first time I’ve seen it brought to life in a way that seemed to soften the trademark angular brutality.
Present through Saturday, Samantha had drawn each and every one of the panelists in under six hours.
She wasn’t the only doing the drawing. Five-year-old Saoirse Faherty had put pen to paper as well. Saoirse’s subject matter was far more focused – she was all about her hero, Aoife Raftery.
Saoirse’s father Dylan took his family to the Olympus Rally for the first time last month.
“We’re motorsport fans,” he told DirtFish, “but I wasn’t sure how the children would be at the rally. I was kind of expecting Saoirse and her seven-year-old brother to be asking to leave pretty quickly. I thought they’d be bored. In the end, we had to ask them if we could leave – Saoirse was absolutely captivated.
Saoirse first met Aoife at the Olympus Rally, and was so inspired she created this drawing
“She met Aoife in service and there was an immediate connection. Again, I thought that would last maybe three days… but it stuck. She was desperate to come to the Summit. She drew a picture for Aoife and then told me two things: she wants to be a rally driver and she wants to change her name to Aoife.”
Soon as she saw Raftery on Saturday, she wouldn’t leave the Irishwoman’s side.
“She’s amazing,” said the DirtFish Women in Motorsport Driver of her new fan. “She’s just what this event is all about. She’s the next generation.”
Aoife and Saoirse have built up a special bond - proving the value in events like the Summit
It’s easy to reach for that life-changing cliché, but last Saturday absolutely had that feeling. There was an electricity running through the room from start to finish. The brilliantly talented Becs Williams held 450 people in the room and hundreds of thousands around the world utterly captivated as she drew the most astonishing and inspiring stories from panelist after panelist.
This piece isn’t about dissecting those individual sessions – we’re going to make best use of Saturday’s gilt-edged content across the coming weeks, stay tuned for no end of moments that will make you laugh, smile and cry.
This piece is about being part of something that made me inordinately proud of everybody at DirtFish. And even more proud to call Josie Rimmer my friend.
Best way to bring this one to a close? Let’s look to Josie to raise the roof once more.
The DirtFish Women in Motorsport Summit inspired, educated and paved pathways for future generations
“We have to remember that the world has always seen women supporting each other as dangerous,” she told a spellbound crowd.
“We have to remember that people have always wanted us not to hold spaces like this, not because there’s doubt of what we can achieve, but because there’s doubt of whether we’ll ever stop.
“Women have this innate and incredible ability to figure it out. And too often, they have to figure it out alone.
“This space, this room, this energy – this is your new community.
“Thank you for being here today. I am so happy to have you all as members of our team.”
Job done. Cue the noise.
