Performance differences between male and female racing drivers

Woman have slower reaction times than men from what I've heard.

woman are risk averse and testosterone adds an element of aggression

All generalisations but would have thought one fast female driver would have made it in at least one racing category but nope. Guess woman aren't really interested in cars either

 

I don't think the difference is *that* big.

IMO the biggest reason we don't have any competitive female in the running for a real F1 seat is because the women we HAVE racing, simply aren't good enough. Don't believe any of the nonsense of that Finnish chap being 12 seconds a lap faster than Carmen Jorda in a sim, the difference isn't anywhere near that big. In the real world, when she was racing in GP3 (3 seasons worth), she failed to score a point. The closest she got to current F1 is sitting in one for promo shots, and lets be fair here...she had the bigger chance of the girls regarding sponsorship because she is absolutely beautiful. Like it or not (and I'll undoubtly be called a sexist pig), her beauty helped her land some sponsorship but it wasn't enough.

Vicky Piria is another one, she is very beautiful IMO but struggled in GP3, she did score a podium when she went to Euro open F3 (not the fastest F3 category) but the results in the prime lower categories just weren't there.

Beitske Visser opened strong in german F BMW with 2 wins and scored in some races in Formula renault 3.5, but that's that...

Fact is, there are hundreds of men/boys for every woman/girl racer/karter. Statistically, you'll find a faster man than a woman out of that collective pool. If there is one fast enough at some point, I would think it would be somewhat easier for her to get sponsorship (she does have a huge USP which will have tons of exposure for her sponsor).

But the sad reality is there isn't a woman fast enough right now.

 

Since there are women fighter pilots, I have to believe that they have the physical ability to race cars, unless of course, you believe the military is risking hundreds of millions in hardware for politics. But historically, women have never been encouraged to pursue motorsports, so they haven't. When men start karting at five and women don't even know what a cart is, it's hard to be competitive as an adult. As more women gravitate to motorsports, eventually better drivers will emerge.

Look at John Force's daughters. Brought up in the sport, they compete well but how many girls are pointed that way when they're young?

I got my first motorcycle when I was five. I met my husband racing motocross. I then moved on to competition watercraft and karting. If I had multi millions, I'd race cars. My current stable includes competition waverunners, jet boat, motocross bike, supercharged SUV, Ferrari 360 Spider and GT-R. What's in your garage?

 

Hehehe...thanks Jana; I owe you a beer (or whatever) for that one.

Some of you might have read the article (I think it was in "Motorsport Magazine", again...) about Lella Lombardi. Very interesting. I'll have a look if I can find a link. Do not forget Michele Mouton, either. And Maria-teresa De Filippis.
But the truth is that they have been few and far between, which I do regret.

Rgds

Indeed it was in "Motorsport Magazine"; do not forget her: as the great Denis Jenkinson said, "she was game", which, coming form Jenks, is a great compliment.

http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/april-2015/110/she-made-her-point

 

what an odd thread.

as mentioned, the Force girls, Alexis DeJoria, Angele Seeley in drag racing, Danica Patrick, Pippa Mann and Simona DeSilvestro in open wheel, Ashley Freiberg, Katherine Legge and Christina Nielsen in sports cars...and that's just in America! I think we're well past the "can women race?" and even "can women win?".

frankly I think Bernie harms F1 every time he goes on one of his sexist harangues against women in the sport.

 

The truth is that girls find it more difficult in young age to find sponsors to move up from kart to lower formulae, etc... if they had parents open enough to give them a try!!
Most of the sponsors budgets are handled by men!
So many girls find it almost impossible to climb the ladder in motorsport; money buys track time, and track time improves skills, etc...
Most girls cannot break that glass ceiling.

As for girls and later women being less this, and less that, as it has been already mentioned in previous posts, for me it's all BS.

As Jana said, if Air Forces trust women with multi-millions fighter jets, they must have made a thorough evaluation of their skills and competence, and found nothing different to men.

With a reduced poll of talent emerging, it's quite understandable that less or no woman breakthrough in F1, GP2, Indy, etc...

But we had outstanding women: Desire Wilson, Michelle Mouton, Lyliane Bryner, etc...

 

Didn't he call they "domestic appliances" ?

Mind you, he lauds Hitler too ...

 

He said something to the tune "that women should always dress in white, like domestic appliances". But you never know with Bernie: it might have been simply provocation; of a rather bad taste, I admit, but provocation nevertheless.

But I admit to always have been a fan of the "pygmea", to quote our regretted "fast Ian".

Rgds

 

You lot shouldn't take Bernie's comments all too seriously.

 

Bersides - and to digress, I'm afraid, towards a subject discussed in another topic these days...this reminds me that, very few, if any, questioned Jean-Marie Balestre past in the old days...
But anyone able to read (and understand) french should look at its biography on the FRENCH Wikipédia, not on the English one; it will make suspicions towards Bernie's sympathies pale in comparison. Balestre was a VERY CONTROVERSIAL person here, to the point that some CEOs wouldn't be photographied with him.

But I'm digressing...

Rgds

 

Balestre was one of the many "collabos" France had, like most occupied countries.

A minor player, for sure, but still an unsavoury character.

 

Yes indeed, but he went through his official charges in the world of Motorsport during all those years without any trouble at all; so a few short words by Bernie Ecclestone regarding a certain dictator are really of no importance, even if not very clever...

Rgds

 

Shirley Muldowney.

 

Look at the "prefet Papon"; much worse !!

 

Obviously.

It's only a question of money before one breaks through the ranks, reaches the top echelon on her own merits and creates a precedent.

 

Christina Nielsen came within one race of the IMSA GTD championship last year. Strategy caught her out when the race was red flagged due to weather conditions. (We all knew it would be red flagged. All of us except her race strategist, obviously.). She is currently leading the championship with Alessandro Balzan in the AF Corsa.

Christina can win.

Katherine Legge took the Delta Wing to the front of the pack at Daytona, until her prat of a team mate took over, ignored a yellow flag and plowed into the side of a disabled PC car. And that was in the Delta Wing. Not known for being the class of the field.

Katherine can win, and will with the right equipment.

On a more local, grassroots level, last year's Trans Am Series champion Amy Ruman has been having a rough 2016 season, with a couple of mechanical DNF's, but is still firmly in the hunt for the title. And that's in a series known for testosterone laden muscle cars bumping and shoving every lap.

Amy can definitely win.

So why aren't there more? In my opinion, it's a cultural thing. Young girls just aren't drawn to or encouraged to pursue racing. There are enough examples of strong competitors among those that do to suggest that there's nothing holding the good ones back. There's just 100 times more men than women in the sport, so naturally there are more men at the top.

 

The average woman weighs about 20kg less than a man. That's an automatic 6 tenths per lap advantage, probably the difference between an average f1 driver and Lewis Hamilton.

Obviously no f1 team runs above the minimum weight but should be an inherent advantage through karting etc

 

FFS really. You HAD to make a post about him didn't you.

 

Its my observation, that guys have a "I'll just stick it in there" attitude, if their experience and knowledge adds up to that initial action working, they look like a hero, if it doesn't, they look like a zero.

This makes a more effective process of weeding racing drivers out from the non racing drivers. While experience can help, the ones with the natural instincts will be far more obvious.

Women on the other hand, have a strong "I do not want to look foolish" instinct that regulates them to a more middle path. Add pregnancy taking chunks of career time or potential drivers out of the picture entirely, and its more obvious why there are not. Example, Danica Patrick has said she won't drive a F1 car in a test for fear of comparisons of her performance to others who have driven a F1 car. Jeff Gordan on the other hand, jumped in Montoya's, even if Montoya showed him up, he wanted to drive that F1 car. Same for Tony Stewart with Hamilton's F1 car.

 

It is exceptionally easy to get sidetracked in this conversation and turn it into a sexist mess. That said this particular subject is one that I have observed with great attention for many years and from it I have derived one conclusion that I have no real answer for and that is that female racing drivers appear to struggle not with driving the car but with racing.

Mind you this is a generalization that has come from observing a lot of different female racers in different racing situations but allow me to continue my analysis. If you look at the females who have been successful in international motorsports it has almost always been in disciplines where the challenge is driver vs. machine not driver vs. driver. Female success in drag racing and rally racing highlight this. In these types of racing the main opponent is mainly the clock where in circuit racing the added element of wheel to wheel racecraft seems to be a barrier that leads to a lack of success. Danica Patrick is the highest profile example I can think of. She is a top level driver and has shown excellent qualifying pace on more than one occasion (again driver v. the clock). It is in race situations however where the strategy is highly changeable that she appears to be more easily shuffled around than some of her male counterparts. I genuinely do not have an explanation for this but it is a situation that I have seen repeated too many times to be ignored.

Besides this unexplained detail I do believe that women possess all of the fundamental physiological components to be a top level racing driver. I genuinely do not believe that the differences are physical. Women do however have one HUGE advantage over men that will trump talent 100 times to Sunday (is that even an expression). Women racers are far more marketable for a number of very obvious reasons. Remember that racing cars RUN ON MONEY before anything else and the ability to generate or attract money is the single most important quality a racing driver can have. A harsh reality that leads to the exhausting and age old bellyache that money should not trump talent. It does and will so get used to it or find something else to do.

Back to women racers they are more marketable, have access to a larger and more diversified sponsor base, and are much more polarizing with the fans. Just look at how many strong opinions people have of Danica Patrick. This would never happen if she was a guy with identical performances. She would just be lost in the mix but her gender makes her stand out and that's what sponsors want.

 

I don't understand this thread; we have a woman currently leading the WDC!!

Elton may or may not actually have a penis, but he throws tantrums, cries, back stabs, worries about and wears ridiculous fashion. Spends war too much time grooming (removing hair from where he doesn't want it), appears to suffer from PMS, ...
Pete

 

Good list. Simona is a bad ass in my opinion. Shame she isn't running indycar anymore.

Personally, a lot is just numbers. Seems like the young karters and kids in school racing is about 99% boys/men. So you end up with a small percentage of women advancing as a result. Then there is the whole conflict of whether they are comfortable selling sexuality for sponsorship. I respect Simona for not doing that, since it's not her, but it definitely hurts her mass market appeal - right or wrong.

 

That math seems optimistic. I find that hard to believe given the HP.

Just another thing indycar gets right and f1 gets wrong. Indy adds ballast up to 185lb driver weight. Justin Wilson was competitive at 200lbs.

 

As a counter. I don't consider Danica a top racing driver. I don't think she becomes a star without her looks at all. You take those away and no one would have ever heard of her. Perfect example is Simona, who is a much better driver IMHO. She is very cute IMO, but refuses to get dolled up to get backing to race.

On the other hand, a lot of men make it to top level racing simply because they come from money.

Part of this is why it is hard to consider Motorsports a true sport at all levels.

The most legitimate form of racing in the US is probably dirt track. If you are the best, you can show up and win and make a living. Doesn't matter where you came from or what you look like. That is what sport is really suppose to be about - just a competition to see who is best.