Sim Racing Success Stories of Trailblazing Women

• Let’s briefly talk about how everyone got into motorsports – which came first, the racer or the sims? What first sparked your passion for racing, and how did you take your first steps into the sport?
• How do you mentally prepare for a race (either virtual or physical), and do you have any rituals (maybe odd) or techniques to stay focused under pressure? 
• Because of the lack of real-world physics and G-force on your body, many feel that sim racing (and all eSports) isn’t “realistic” in the general sense of the word. How does that compare (for example) when driving an MX5 in real life and in sim?
• We’ve been very fortunate to have several female pro-drivers on this show, but there are also many in the category of “history’s forgotten female racing drivers” – Are there any dead/alive that you’d like to meet or have a chat with?
• What unique challenges have you faced as a woman in motorsports or sim racing, and how have you overcome them? What are some misconceptions people have about female racers, and what do you wish more people understood?
• How do you think the racing world, both real and virtual, is evolving to be more inclusive for women?
• The importance of not just STEM, but STEAM programs, let’s talk about why that’s crucial for the younger generations of petrol-heads, and why the “A” is significant in those programs.

and much, much more!

Crew Chief Eric: [00:00:00] The following episode is brought to you in part by Women in Motorsports North America, a community of professional women and men devoted to supporting opportunities for women across all disciplines of motorsport by creating an inclusive and resourceful environment to foster mentorship, advocacy, education, and growth, thereby ensuring the continued strength and successful future of our sport.

Lauren Goodman: This International Women’s Month, we’ve been celebrating the fearless, trailblazing women making waves in motorsports, on real world tracks, and in the fast growing world of sim racing. We’ll dive into the journeys of Tatiana Calderon, Brenna Schubert, Nina Han, and Sally Mott. Chatting about their challenges and the adrenaline fueled passion that keeps them pushing for the podium from real life racers Breaking barriers to sim drivers redefining the competition from behind the screen These women are proving that racing isn’t just a man’s game It’s anyone’s race to win

Crew Chief Eric: and with that I’m your host crew chief Eric from the motoring podcast network and filling in for [00:01:00] Lauren Goodman from the Revs Institute We have Mike Noss from Innit Esports as our co host welcoming everyone to our center conversation So Tatiana, Brenna, Nina, and Sally, welcome to the show.

Tatiana Calderon: Hello. Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Crew Chief Eric: Like all good stories, there’s always a super heroine origin. So let’s briefly talk about how everyone got into motorsports. And let’s answer the question. What came first? The Sim? Or the racer. So who wants to take that on?

Brenna Schubert: I guess I’ll go first. For me, the racer came first.

Me and my dad were at a miniature golf course when I was nine years old, and they had these rinky dink little go karts there, and I begged my dad to try them. He was not too keen about it, but I was persistent, so I hopped in the go kart, and as soon as my foot hit the gas pedal, I was hooked to the adrenaline.

So that’s kind of where it started for me.

Crew Chief Eric: Nina, how about you? So

Nina Hahn: as a kid, we went like a couple of times to karting tracks and that was really cool. And I really enjoyed it. And for just being a kid, I wasn’t that bad, [00:02:00] but then for a long time, it just died down because my family wasn’t really into like motorsports or cars in general.

And then through video games, I started playing just some normal games and then getting a sim and getting into it that way. Sally? For

Sally Mott: me,

Nina Hahn: the

Sally Mott: driver came first. Kind of similar to Brenna’s story. Got in a go kart at eight years old. Did my first race, got hooked, and

Crew Chief Eric: here I am. Tatiana, how about you?

Tatiana Calderon: Yeah, back when, when I started, there was not such thing as simulators.

So, um, I started also like in a go kart rental that was near my house. My sister took me, she’s seven years older than me. I got the buck straight away. Like I love the adrenaline, the speeds. Nobody in my family has ever raced. It was just the two girls. I have a younger brother who never was really interested.

He was like, Oh no, this is for girls. So for me, it was like. Okay, I’m going to try this out because I really love being behind the wheel and quickly it went into karting and then I can’t believe I’ve been here for over [00:03:00] 20 years so lucky to call this my job.

Crew Chief Eric: I’m starting to notice a common thread here.

Karting. Everybody starts in karting and that’s really interesting. So does that mean that your first, and I’m going to use the term loosely, sim was then some sort of karting game? Maybe it was Mario Kart, maybe it was something else. Let’s talk about your first experience. What was the game that got you in or the title that got you deeper into motorsport and made you more passionate about motorsport and started using that as a tool?

Sally Mott: I actually got hooked with Gran Turismo 3 on my PS4, I think it was. My dad actually made a wooden simulator, like a chassis. He put a go kart seat. It was literally like a go kart, but it was a simulator. It had wooden stuff. He just nailed plywood together. And I would sit on that thing for hours. And just try to focus as hard as I could for an hour straight and then go to the go kart track and I would just be that much better.

It really, really helps my performance. But

Nina Hahn: for me, it was Gran Turismo 3. I think Gran Turismo 4 on the PlayStation 2 was my first, but it might [00:04:00] also have. Spin Nitro Speed underground too. It’s one of the few games that I had for the PlayStation and then I just played them a lot when I really got into what I would call like sim racing with a wheel and stuff was with Dirt Rally because I saw it at a Friend’s and yeah, and just really was fascinated by the Pace Notes and started to learn that and drive that.

And from there I progressed onto like air racing and stuff.

Brenna Schubert: For me, I guess the first ever sim would probably be Mario Kart. My parents were never really big on video games when I was growing up. So I didn’t really have access to anything like that other than when I was at a friend’s house. But then more recently was when I actually got into sim racing and the mobile game street cars on my phone was how I got my prodigy pass into racing prodigy.

So that was also go cart. involved as well. But now I’m lucky enough that I actually live with three other race car drivers and they all have super nice racing simulators. So now I actually get to play with the real deal a little [00:05:00] bit. But

Tatiana Calderon: similar to Brenna, I never really, uh, I sucked at video games. The only thing I actually liked was Mario Kart.

I think it was like quickly through the pandemic that I really got into understanding sim racing and how much it translate into the real racing and really Got excited about it and fascinated by how much it has evolved since then. So I think it’s a amazing tool that any racing driver, any aspiring race car driver should be doing, and I’ve been impressed because I’ve been coaching and prodigy with TC racing and.

Honestly, like I can see like sim racing being a huge tool that I have been incorporating more for my racing as well

Crew Chief Eric: So nina hit on something, you know She talked about her first sim sim dirt rally is actually a really good example of that because that was a step away From the dirt series and some of the more simcade games like gran others that exist out there So i’m wondering now fast forward you [00:06:00] all are using Sim as a tool for being on track.

And Nina, you spend a lot more time doing sim racing as well, you know, weekly, daily, et cetera. What Sims are you gravitating towards like proper Sims? And I know there’s a limited number of titles there. We could talk about iRacing, Assetto Corsa, things like that, but what is your go to for training?

Nina Hahn: My go to is definitely iRacing.

I just feel that the physics are really, really good and they constantly keep improving on it, because, you know, it’s subscription based, so they regularly bring like big updates and always making it better, scanning new tracks, reworking old stuff. Yeah, that’s definitely my go to, but for stuff like GT3s, I actually prefer ACC, for example.

I just feel like I understand more what the car is doing, and I understand more what the tires are doing specifically, like the GT3s and iRacing are just always a bit vague for me, for my feeling. It’s more about like drifting than also the original Assetto Corsa is great for like simulating [00:07:00] drifting on street tires.

So every different simulator has its little thing that it does best. All of them are really great tools and depending on what you want, you can use them effectively.

Sally Mott: Kind of similar to Nina, like we drive on the sim a lot. I like iRacing. I feel like it’s super duper realistic. Like she said, they laser scan the tracks.

And for me, it helps me with gearing and braking going into race weekends. Like how I’m going to a race weekend this weekend. I’ve been on the sim a lot and it’s definitely translates. To the real world I think,

Crew Chief Eric: and we’ll talk about that a little bit more as we go along here. So Tatiana, what about you?

What’s your sim of choice?

Tatiana Calderon: I have to say I racing, since I started doing more races in the US I feel like the tracks are really accurate and I really enjoy I racing. I also have like a BL race tech, they’re collaborating with me. They’re develop sort of a platform for racing drivers so we can do like even set up with our own engineers.

A bit more, you’ll be using like sort of the [00:08:00] parameters that you use in the car. Real for real. So I think it’s, it’s just evolving towards being able to work with your race team as well. But yeah, my, my go-to for now at my home sim is, uh, I racing,

Brenna Schubert: I would have to say I racing, but I also really like a set of corso because it has a lot of different mods for tracks that aren’t found on iRacing.

For instance, when we go to Nola Motorsports Park, that’s not on iRacing. Atlanta Motorsports Park is not on iRacing. So this season I’ve had to use a set of Corso a lot to prepare.

Crew Chief Eric: For the folks that are listening to this at home and they’re thinking about, you know, oh, you know, racers and sim racing, using it as a tool and things like that.

Sims are still categorized in the world of eSports. Prodigy Racing League is eSports. Innit eSports, right? Is iRacing, Assetto Corsa, all the racing titles, are they still considered a niche compared to what a lot of other gamers classify as eSports? You know, we’re talking like Fortnite and League of Legends and Dota 2 and stuff like that where it’s like racing, that’s not really eSports.

That’s [00:09:00] something else. Let’s talk about that a little bit and what the world of sim racing looks like versus the rest of eSports.

Nina Hahn: Well, it’s probably Similar to other categories of sports in real life, where you also have like the big ones like soccer or American football or those kind of things, but then you also have like the smaller ones and it doesn’t make them any less of a sport.

And in the same way, I just think that eSports in terms of racing, it’s still eSports. because you use a computer and race or compete against others. But it’s still like a niche because there aren’t that many people in it yet. And also, since for most games, the only thing you need is kind of a keyboard and a mouse and you can already start playing.

But for Sim, You need to actively decide to go out and buy a steering wheel and sets of pedals or something like that. Even though the entry barrier for sim racing is significantly lower than for real life motorsports, it is still higher than for a lot of the other eSport variants.

Brenna Schubert: I mean, I’m not super familiar with eSports in general, so excuse my ignorance, but [00:10:00] I feel like sim racing has a lot more physicality involved, even though it is still electronic sport, but it teaches you more valuable lessons for the real life side of it than maybe some other e sports might.

Mike Nause: You know, one thing also we often talk about here with sim racing and the differences between real life and virtual, I know, especially we have some here that are quite. Expertise in a, in MX fives in particular. So this is one in specific when it comes to the SIM versus real life in the G force department.

Some people often say, Oh, this isn’t a realistic feeling because you don’t have the G’s. You don’t have the leaning through the corners or the bumps necessarily to. But I’m curious to hear on your guys perspectives. So, uh, why don’t we start off with Sally? Because I’m very interested to hear her perspective on that as well.

Sally Mott: I get that question a lot. I actually feel like the braking and the gears are very, like, dead on accurate. I feel like the car handles more like a spec Miata. It doesn’t really handle like a cup car just because of the way that The rubber bushings [00:11:00] in the back cause it to transfer weight more abruptly.

You can kind of manipulate that with your footwork on the Sim. I feel like the handling could be more realistic. It’s pretty good, but I would say the GR cup as well on iRacing feels pretty similar to the MX 5. Kind of a combo of both would be perfect. But they got the gearing and the braking, like, dead on.

I mean, it’s helped me so much. Like, when I show up to a track that I’ve been practicing on in iRacing, I got the gearing, I got the braking down. Now it’s about getting the feel and really understanding the weight transfer, because you don’t have that in a sim if it’s not a motion sim.

Brenna Schubert: I’d say it’s pretty realistic.

I mean, I’m not sure exactly about The G forces. I mean, of course, you’re only really going to feel that on the racetrack, but I always try and make sure that I’m setting my force feedback as high as possible. So it’s similar to the radical because the radical takes a lot of upper body strength. You know, if my steering wheel is too soft, I’m like, Nope, we got to bump this up.

Got to get my arm pump going.

Tatiana Calderon: I come from a single seater background and most of those cars had no power [00:12:00] steering, so I can identify myself with going up with the force feedback on the steering. They’re on the single seaters. The G forces are such a big part of driving it. Right? So for me, like if I, if I drive a GT on the same or sports cars, it feels a little bit more similar to what I would do in, in real life, still missing a little bit of that braking deceleration.

It’s hard for me to feel in the, in the same, but I think the gearing and exactly where you, or where I struggle in the. Sim, it relates to where I’m struggling at the track most of the time. So I think it’s a good indication of what you would probably struggle with and how you’re going to adapt or improve.

You have a bit more time to think about it before you hit the track. So I think that’s a great tool from the same, but I still definitely miss a little bit of that GeForce feeling. Makes sense. And, uh, and lastly, Nina for this one.

Nina Hahn: Very similar to the others. My real life racing time has been somewhat limited and I usually like to compare it to my Formula [00:13:00] Student days because it’s also open wheel and stuff.

Since the tracks were so tight and had so many corners and stuff and you quite frequently pulled like two or three G’s in the corners, it did fatigue your legs and arms way quicker than sim obviously. But in sim racing, I think what’s really impressive is more like the mental endurance that some top drivers really put forward because the top drivers are really good at just putting out the same lap time for an hour straight or something.

And that is definitely very impressive.

Mike Nause: Do you guys think that gear makes it better? Do you think you need a Logitech G920 versus the Fanatec CSL elites versus the top of the line motion? Simulators, I’m curious on what your guys takes are from the top all the way down to the bottom of those

Sally Mott: it definitely matters If you have better equipment, it’s gonna be easier to feel like on iRacing.

Okay Sebring, for example I started with the 29 Logitech I now have a Simagic wheelbase and just better equipment everything pedals like overall it’s an [00:14:00] investment but I’m taking my racing career more seriously. So it’s more of a tool. I can feel the track way more better. Like just talking about Sebring, cause there’s so many bumps.

The force feedback is insane and it’s so realistic. So I want to be able to take advantage of it. So I think it definitely matters. You have to get the best equipment if you’re going to take it seriously, cause it’s realistic.

Nina Hahn: Good equipment is important if you want to really get to the top, but it’s also that like, you need to.

No, your basics, the equipment alone is not going to make you faster. So you still have to practice. And it’s not as easy as just saying, Oh, I’m going to buy the most expensive wheel. And that will make me faster.

Mike Nause: It will at a point, but getting the fundamentals of breaking while turning and everything beyond that, yeah, absolutely makes sense.

And Tatiana, I know you had something that you

Tatiana Calderon: wanted to add. For me, it’s like more like the closer you get to like feeling like the real car, the more you’ll straight away jump in the car and be quick straight away. But I think. For me, it was very difficult when I didn’t have a good enough equipment to really be learning something.

Cause I was like treating it like a game more than a [00:15:00] training session. So I think for me personally, it really did make a big difference once I got some proper stuff with feedback and especially the pedals as well. So it’s like your brain treats this a little bit differently as a more realistic. for where you’re going, rather than a game.

Has anyone here, does have anything on motion, Brenna?

Brenna Schubert: I’ve had a little bit of experience with motion sims. I actually kind of just prefer a really good simulator over a motion simulator. In my opinion, I feel like the motion simulators. Weren’t that accurately, you didn’t really add much to the experience for me, you know, I’d much rather just jump in a SIM and be like, wow, this is the best similar I’ve ever been in.

You know, it works with my driving style in real life because that’s always something that I’ve struggled with is like, since I didn’t start out SIM racing, I feel like sometimes it’s harder for race car drivers to be fast on the SIM. If they started on real life, because the skills don’t translate as well that way.

So I’ll [00:16:00] be honest, I am not the best sim racer here by far, but you know, I try my best to prepare for my races, but it’s really important for me to jump in a sim. And. Have it feel similar to what I feel in real life, or else I’m just going to get too frustrated from spinning out all the time. And then I’m just like, quit.

Yeah.

Crew Chief Eric: What you said is extremely important. So I want to pull on that thread, Brenna, and I want to pull on another one that Sally laid out before we transition to our next section. And as Sally said, talking about Sebring or VIR, Watkins Glen, or any track, you know, like the back of your hand, you get back on the sim and you’re like, Oh, that car doesn’t do that like that in that turn.

I’ve driven this track a hundred times. Sebring and I racing. Let’s talk Brasstacks full honesty versus Sebring in your car. How realistic is it really? And how close are the sims to what you’re really doing on track?

Sally Mott: If I had to put it on a scale of like one to ten, if we’re talking about MX5 Cup Sebring, because I just recently [00:17:00] tested there and I can also get on the sim and do that.

I’ve been practicing for that test. It’s hard to say. I mean, it’s at least in like the seven, it’s a, it is a, it’s a good seven, I’d say It’s very realistic in terms of the gearing, the braking, and they do have the bumps down. I mean, they’ve laser scanned every track, obviously. I would say the thing that it’s missing is.

The handling of the car specifically, and then obviously when you’re in the car, you’re feeling the force feedback of like, okay, you’re in the middle of the corner, the steering wheel gets light, or it gets tight, especially in the MX 5 coupe cars, we have power steering, so in the middle of the corner, it gets really light, and you’re like, whoa, and for my sims specifically, I don’t feel that, it’s just Linear the entire time, which might be a setup thing.

I mean, it could be changed, but it’s good enough. I obviously prefer real life, but it definitely is good for the mental. And like Nina was saying, like if you can do consistent laps on the SIM driving in real life, in my opinion is easier. So when you drive in real life, you’re just going to be very, very good.

I would rate it a 7.

Crew Chief Eric: And I’m glad you said that, and it goes also back to [00:18:00] something that Brenna said about motion. Like, I’ve said it publicly, I’m not a huge fan of motion, because you get into a motion sim, and again, you’re like, the car doesn’t do this. A car does not move you a foot in the air when you accelerate.

The motions are very slow. Subtle of a car, the suspensions on a race car are very taut, especially in open wheel racing. I mean, they’re very, very stiff. So you feel a lot through the steering wheel. You feel a lot through your butt as you’re sitting in the seat, but the car itself, there’s a little bit of body roll there, but it’s not as exaggerated again.

It’s not an arcade game. So I struggle with that too. But again, if we take this under the auspices that it’s a teaching tool and it’s a learning tool and it’s a gateway to other things. Well, now we can continue the conversation, right?

Mike Nause: One of my favorite questions to ask any driver in general, regardless of it’s sim racing or real life, is your mental preparations, either pre events, post events, to lead up to calm those nerves, especially, and I know some drivers have some weird routines, so if you do have any weird routines, kind of fun things, do share, but even if it’s just a more normal one, what are those kind of pre race rituals that you guys do have?

Tatiana Calderon: [00:19:00] Oh, good question, you know, I think it varies. It has varied. For me, at least, how do I switch my mind into like a race mode and calm myself down, but also be super focused. So for me, like listening to music before I jump in the car, having my warmup routine with some like tennis balls as well for some coordination reaction, which is usually with my sister.

So it’s a way to understand like how you’re feeling and if you’re too quick catching a ball or if you have to calm down. I think it’s about just self awareness, what I try to do, but yeah, it has varied through the years. I used to also like just wear the same pair of underwear or same, you know, it was the same pair of of booze or stuff like that, but then I grew up and started to do this a bit more, but it involves having that dopamine of physical activity and relaxing your mind or activated with music.

Mike Nause: I love the juicy details to Nina, why don’t you go next?

Nina Hahn: I meditate quite regularly when I [00:20:00] do start feeling the stress before a big race or something. I just use some deep breaths to get myself into like that focus state for meditation. Yeah, I use that to calm down and start being focused. Awesome. Sally?

Sally Mott: For a race, I also, I like to meditate. If I’m like really nervous, I like to jump rope and kind of get some energy out and try to like calm myself because I do the best whenever I am just like very centered and very calm, not thinking about anything else. So jump roping and meditating and, and some music.

Sometimes I listen to California girls

Brenna Schubert: by Katy Perry. That’s my free race ritual. I discovered it at homestead because my crew chief played California girls before I went out and then I podiumed in the practice. So I was like, yep. That’s going to be my ritual from now on,

Mike Nause: but that’s your song.

Crew Chief Eric: Before we get deeper into that, let’s kind of switch gears a little bit and talk more about your experiences in motorsport since we’re celebrating international women’s month.

I want to take a [00:21:00] moment just to talk about some women that have. Inspired you in racing, either in the virtual world or in the real world.

Tatiana Calderon: When I started like 20 years ago, I think obviously, you know, you get a look at somebody like Danica Patrick who won an IndyCar race at that time, it was Maria de Villota was testing in formula one.

And I was really close to formula three when she started testing. So I think she was a reference, but before, you know, Michelle Mouton, Linz and James. I think they all in their field really inspire us to know that it was possible. But when, when I started, there were not that many women actively racing in the highest category.

So I think that’s been sort of a trend. I think we have to see it to believe it. And it’s great that today with social media, with. All the documentaries and everybody pushing for women in sport in general. We’re finding out about these incredible stories. So yeah, hopefully more to come.

Brenna Schubert: When I was younger and started out in carding, I honestly was just [00:22:00] happy to be there.

Whether there were other women or not, but I think now that I’m older, it’s so much more inspiring when I see women who are in professional series higher than me, just people that I can look up to now. For example, just. Tatiana, the fact that she’s here at these races, coaching us at Prodigy is just amazing.

And Catherine Legge is there as well. So it’s really cool to be in the same atmosphere as these people on a regular basis and just trying to take in the knowledge from them.

Nina Hahn: As I mentioned, I really started to get into it with third rally, obviously Michelle Mutton, but also when I was racing as a kid in the rental cars, similar to Brenna, I didn’t really.

I noticed myself as like different because when you’re in the cart, everyone has a helmet on and you might see some long hair under the helmet. But apart from that, it’s like a helmet and a lap time. My goal was always just to faster than ideally everyone else,

Sally Mott: especially this year. My [00:23:00] biggest inspiration is the Iron Dames.

I’ve actually modeled my livery this year and my suit, my whole theme after them, because they inspire younger women to pursue their dreams. And their slogan is, Every Dream Matters. They actually invited a bunch of younger girls, like in STEM, to actually write on the car what their dream was. There was a lot of them like, I want to be a race car driver.

I want to be an astronaut or I want to be the president. And it was really inspiring to me. And so I look up to them because they are just badass all around. They’re repping the pink, which is something that I’ve been doing for a while, trying to set myself aside. But the coolest thing is that they’re giving back and that they’re inspiring younger women to come up and just.

do what they want to do, whatever their dream is, regardless of what society tells them. And so I would say that’s been my biggest inspiration for a couple of years now.

Crew Chief Eric: I’m glad you went there because I want to highlight the fact that we’ve been very fortunate to have many female pro drivers on the show.

And there’s also this sort of category that’s been coming up in other shows, you know, [00:24:00] history’s forgotten female racing drivers. So Cindy Sisson likes to call them she rows. I know Lynn does as well. So I’m sort of wondering, is there a Shiro out there that you would like to sit down and have a cup of coffee with and talk about racing or learn from them?

Who would that be?

Tatiana Calderon: I’ve been fortunate enough to like be able to sit down and talk to them. You know, I think there’s still a lot of barriers in the sport for women in motorsport. And we need to work together towards change because there is a reason why we haven’t had many chances in this sport. Just to be able to sit down with them and discuss and compare what happened like 20 or 30 years ago.

Is it still happening today? How do we address this? How do we change this? And I think we have incredible like role models that are really trying to change the game for us. Uh, I was fortunate enough to be at the commission of the women in motorsport when Michelle Muldoon was there, I’ve been talking to Lynn and to Cindy about it, even with Susie [00:25:00] Wolf, and it’s great that we can all like come together and try to change it for the next generation, for the sport to be a bit more accessible for us.

There’s not been that many women, unfortunately, but we will change that.

Sally Mott: I actually want to give a shout out to Margie Smith Haas. She is a legend. I actually met her at the San Diego, um, ACO club. She’s on this call, actually, and she is someone I look up to because she was one of the first, and she is overall badass, and she’s amazing.

She is definitely an inspiration. Miss you. Yeah, I’m going to say her.

Brenna Schubert: I would have to say Michelle and Tom because I love her quote where she said, you know, somebody asked, what does she feel before she gets inside a race car when she’s in a race car? And she said, I feel nothing. And I feel like that really resonated with me because I kind of felt the same for a really long time.

And right now I’m trying to get back to that because when I felt that way, I was winning all the time. And now I’ve kind of lost that confidence and I kind of think too much when I’m in the [00:26:00] car now. So I’m trying to get back to that point. So maybe she would be able to help me with that.

Nina Hahn: Similar. to what Brenda said, like Michel Motard, but also maybe one of the earliest, or the earliest, I’m not 100 percent certain on that, like Helene Nys, and also with what Tatiana mentioned, is to ask like, okay, what were their biggest struggles back in those days, and to compare that to what the struggles are today.

On the one side, appreciate what maybe has gotten better, and what has changed, but also to just emphasize what problems are still there after all these years. Would be very interesting to talk about those different types of motorsport. I’m

Mike Nause: actually really glad that you did bring that up as well as both you, Nina and Tatiana making that comment.

Cause this is something of course, that we would love to talk about here as well. What challenges have you faced as a woman in motorsports? And what are some of the ways that we can address those moving forward as well?

Brenna Schubert: Well, I know for me, I’ve gotten in my head a lot because I don’t want to. Prove the [00:27:00] stereotype right.

I want to prove the stereotype wrong. But there’s always that pressure that it’s like, as a girl, you have to perform well, because all the eyes are on you looking for you to mess up. If a guy doesn’t perform well, nobody bats an eye, but they just had a bad race. But a girl could be performing well on multiple occasions, but people only remember how bad she did that one race.

It’s really hard to get past that personally and just keep my head clear and keep that confidence that I used to have when I was younger when I didn’t think about what it means to be a woman in motorsport because I was just a little kid. So I’m trying to get back to that mindset.

Sally Mott: I want to piggyback off of that because Last season, especially, there was only two of us.

It was myself and Heather Hadley, and we had a whole docuseries on us. And so it was kind of like 10 times the amount of eyes and pressure. And since I was one of the only girls, I felt like if I messed up, it’s going to be the end of the world. And people are just going to be like, Oh yeah, just another girl driver who sucks.

Everything in me wants to prove them wrong, [00:28:00] because at the end of the day, the car doesn’t know who’s driving it. It’s extra motivation, to be honest. I let that fuel me, but sometimes I do get in my head, and then I will make a mistake, and then I’m like, why did I do that? I just proved them right. So at the end of the day, it is more motivation, but it is something that I do struggle with every now and then.

Mike Nause: I love, as well, bringing up that Lindsay James quote as well. Of course, it’s not the car that knows whether you’re male or female. It just cares if you hit your braking markers at the end of the day. So no, absolutely. I love that. Why don’t we go to Nina next?

Nina Hahn: With the previous two, but also finding racing gear for women.

That’s cut for women, especially fireproof bras. I think there has to be more gear available because we aren’t just this very like niche thing anymore. Like there are lots of women who need race suits and not just race suits, but also mechanic suits, you know, working in pits, for example, on the side of the racetrack.

I would really appreciate. if there was a bit more, let’s say, entry level priced stuff for women.

Mike Nause: Very [00:29:00] interested here, Tatiana, to hear exactly what you can say, as well as, like I said, when it comes to some of the ways that we can move forward in improving it as well, because somebody who’s been in the scene for such a long time, I feel, might have some pretty good insight here.

Tatiana Calderon: Oh, thank you. I think it resonates with what we’re discussing, right? Like, just even the gear, it’s a big topic, but if you go beyond that, it’s like The cars are all designed with male measurements, you know, even in like a road car, you’re more likely to get hurt if you’re a woman because they take the base measurements of male.

We have to train in a different way because we have a period every month, so our hormonal system is very different to men. The way we see the world, our vision, the way we feel the car, our muscles, the way we break, there are differences, but everything has been designed to suit. Men’s nature and not woman’s nature.

And when you’re looking for tenths of a second, that’s the difference in any category these days, you got to take those into account. So I feel like we’ve [00:30:00] always been on the back foot naturally. It was not really our fault, but it’s our responsibility to make sure that people are aware of. The changes that need to be made in order for us not only to be safer, but to be able to show our full potential.

So the way you set up a car for a man, I mean, everybody is a bit different, every driver, but there are certain characteristics that a woman needs. In order to be quick because our thought process also is different. So I feel like there’s so much research to be done on that area. And sometimes that’s why we’re being judged so quickly, right?

They give you two races and otherwise you’re out. It takes me longer to get up to where I feel the car is comfortable and I can drive it and convince those engineers and convince people to make those changes. It takes longer for us. So I think there’s so many things that still need to be changed for women not to participate, but to have the possibility to win.

And that’s the [00:31:00] game changers. I’m very passionate about trying to do some studies with even Purdue University with other different aspects to make sure that they’re taking us seriously. Seriously in the design of cars and in so many other ways.

Mike Nause: Makes sense. And I think this is actually a really good segue to get us into some of the misconceptions that you guys have faced throughout the years of sim racing, racing in general, of course, with females just being involved in the scene.

There’s some flack that’s been thrown in the way and obviously some ways to deal with that as well. So I’m curious to hear on some of the stories that you guys have had regarding that and again, ways that we can improve that as well, moving forward. So why don’t we start off with Nina?

Nina Hahn: difficult to put, like, all the stuff into words.

What I sometimes felt like is that people think that women are, like, less interested or less motivated to, like, even just learn about the cars and learn about the physics and are only there because our parents said us. down into cars as kids or something. The reality is we all [00:32:00] fell for the love of speed just as any man.

Tatiana Calderon: Yeah, I think there’s like some misinformation about women that it’s out there. Oh, you’re never going to be able to risk as much as the guys or you’re never going to be as. Strong as them. So you’re never like the winning horse in a team. And you’re always like not being taken seriously in a way. So I think that’s like the most frustrating, but at the same time, motivates you to like prove them wrong and prove that doing your way, you can do a lot of great things, but you’re never taking that seriously.

And they tell you that for a girl, you’re doing really good. And it’s like, I don’t care. I want to meet all these people. That really is a coin that can bite on both ways.

Sally Mott: I feel like at the track, especially when I’m getting coaching, for example, and we’re looking at data and we’re overlaying with my teammates who are top five or even winning the race.

And we’re looking at data and maybe I’m struggling and the coaches are almost like, they’re talking down to you in a way because they’re like, Oh, you’re a girl. Like we [00:33:00] have to be more sensitive and we can’t be like, all right, you suck here. Like. pick it up. I have to tell them. I’m like, Hey, tell me like bluntly be as blunt as possible.

Like you suck. You need to do better here because that’s how I learned. And if they sugarcoat it because I’m a girl and I can’t take it, then I’m never going to get better. I just feel like sometimes you have to be like very assertive with how you want to be talked to and how you want to be coached.

Because I agree with what Tatiana said. Sometimes they’ll be like, well, you’re doing good for a girl. And that’s not why we’re here. We’re not here to be top finishing female. We’re here to be the best, not the best girl. And so that’s something that I think a lot of the mechanics, even the mechanics and the coaches and my crew chief, I have to be like, Hey, you need to talk to me like I’m a boy.

Just tell me how it is. That’s something that I think is very prevalent.

Brenna Schubert: I’ve always found that, you know, there’s always an excuse if we do perform well. Also, I mean, when I was growing up, when I was younger and carding, everyone would be like, Oh, well, you know. You weigh a hundred pounds less than I do.

I’m five foot 11 and I weigh 190 pounds. So I don’t really think that that’s accurate, [00:34:00] but you know, things like that, like it was just, there’s always an excuse to everything if we do happen to perform better. And I think it’s also when we do start performing well, then. People start getting threatened as well, kind of get intimidated.

There’s never a happy balance because people are hating on you. If you’re not performing well, and then if you are performing well, they get threatened. I feel like

Mike Nause: again, another great segue to, uh, the next topic that we have here is maybe a little bit lighter form of topic here for some of the moments that you guys have had in your career, maybe setback.

That have pushed you forward and gotten you to be better off where you are and made you kind of the person that you are today.

Brenna Schubert: I was going through a lot of social media hate about two years ago from actually my direct competitors in carding. It was pretty devastating. I mean, they were making full on hate pages about me with like photoshopped pictures and everything.

And it was interesting to get that from not just random people on the internet, but from your direct competitors. I actually ended up having to get the [00:35:00] series involved and things like that. But I’ve kind of now just realized that there’s nothing really that I can do about any of that stuff other than to just try and block it out and just do my best.

So I’m just, again, trying to get that confidence back into my system to just know that I belong here. I’m not an imposter. I deserve to be here just as much as anybody else.

Sally Mott: Actually, last year, my first year in MX5 Cup. Especially at the beginning, getting Top Finishing Female Award even when, you know, I finished 18th or 19th because I’m so new and I was trying to figure everything out.

I remember specifically one time I posted, I worded the caption wrong. I said, Podium and Race 1 or whatever it was and it was a picture of me holding Top Finishing Female Award. And then there was just hate comments like, oh wow, like, you know, it was like 18 people finished ahead of you and I was like, you know what, you’re right.

But that clicked for me. I was like, you know what? This isn’t something that I’m striving for. I’m not striving to be top finishing female. I’m striving to be the best. And so I kind of stopped promoting that because I was like, you know what? It [00:36:00] doesn’t mean enough to me for me to like push it out there.

If I get a top 10 or if I get a top five, that’s when I’m going to be super excited. But. Just the comments were like, wow, like, that’s what you’re happy about? Like finishing, you know, 18th and 19th. And I was like, you know what? No, just because I got this check. Cause I meet one other person. It’s not good enough for me.

Kind of pushed me to be better and have a different mindset.

Nina Hahn: Yeah. Well, one setback that is still sometimes on my mind is. In the Formula Student times, we always had these driver selections each year, because one of our team was then selected driver to be competing against the other universities. And in the first year that I was part of the driver selection, there was like, on the track that they laid out, was like a bump.

And then they told us, hey, be careful in that bump, like don’t break the car. I did take it carefully there. Everyone else didn’t, and I didn’t make it into like the last stage because of a couple of tenths, which you lost a lot of time if you didn’t go full there. Basically that switched something in my brain and where I was like, I’m just gonna go fast.

I know it’s [00:37:00] not gonna break the car, so it’s gonna be fine. And I’m not going to be held back by some people. I don’t know, thinking I would break the car there or whatever.

Mike Nause: You do your thing on that one. And then of course, Tatiana, lastly for this, and I know you probably have one in the back of your mind as well with W Series and everything on that round.

I’m very curious what you have to say on this.

Tatiana Calderon: I have a strong one. Unfortunately, like when I was racing in formula two, my teammate lost his life in a, in a big accident. And for me, that was like a moment of, wow, you’re exposed to a really high risk. sport. You can really get hurt. But also like all we have is the present.

I think sometimes with the amount of pressure that we put in ourselves because we’re representing women, because we want to do better, we forget to enjoy what we have and make the most out of every race. And I think when you enjoy what you’re doing, that’s when results start to come. For me, it was like a hard reminder of you’re there because Because you enjoy [00:38:00] doing it and I will keep doing it because if something happens to me, I rather be doing something that I love that is a big reminder every day of really enjoying all the opportunities you have and make the most of what you have and really don’t care about.

Anything else and the results and everything will come from it.

Mike Nause: One thing we also want to touch on here, which we’ve already kind of touched on a good majority already with the SIM gear and various other things, but let’s maybe dive into a little bit more with both getting women more involved with virtual as well as real life racing series, but sort of just being more inclusive as a whole, what are some.

Massive steps forward that we can take to improve on that.

Sally Mott: I would say getting them started in carting. So promoting more women in carting, and that’s something that I’ve done some coaching with some like eight year old girls and you know, it’s just the best thing ever because it almost reminded me of like a little me, right?

Cause the way that I saw the world was just so different. And I was like, Whoa, like I’m driving a go kart and this person is coaching me. And I’m just like, I can’t imagine, like, if that person coaching me was a [00:39:00] girl racer who was racing in the highest ranks of whatever. One of my personal goals is actually, in the future, create a racing school that actually has the ladder system set in stone.

Because I feel like there could be more of a ladder system. And to get young girls from karting into either open wheel, oval stuff, or sports car. But I would say start at the grassroots level and get them up from there. We need more experience. I feel like there’s a lot of girl drivers out there who just simply did not start at the same time that most of the guys did.

Because they started so young and they thoroughly worked their way up the ladder. For me personally, I skipped a lot of steps because of the Women’s Initiative Scholarship and I wish that I had that extra experience to fill in those gaps because I would be a lot better by now.

Mike Nause: True to my heart as well from teaching carding schools.

I used to do that myself. So that’s just, I love it. Yeah. Brenna, curious to hear what you have to say on this one.

Brenna Schubert: I think a big thing is Just a positive attitude and your engineers, your coaches actually listening to you and taking your feedback into consideration. I mean, a few of us have [00:40:00] mentioned that it’s hard for us to get them to actually listen.

Well, what we’re saying at the last race at Homestead, I finally had that for one of the first times ever. I had two amazing coaches, Fittipaldi, and they listened to everything I had to say, same with my crew chiefs, you know, listen to every feedback that I gave were so supportive, you know, at one point in the new car I was put in, my foot was leaning against the brake pedal.

I would have been dragging the brake the whole time. And the first guy that came up, he was like, well, there’s nothing we can do about that. And then Pietro and Enzo were like, absolutely not. You’re going to change that yada, yada. And then magically they were able to change it all of a sudden when they, they said they couldn’t.

Just having that positive support is such a big thing. Additionally, I don’t know if this falls into gear or not, but we definitely need women’s carding seats because the hip bruises and everything are insane in the male carding seats. It’s just absolutely terrible. And that’ll probably help with more girls getting into carding.

Nina Hahn: Yeah, obviously I agree to the first two, but [00:41:00] I really enjoy just be seeing way more women on social media doing racing where maybe it wasn’t on my radar a few years ago, but that was something that really inspired me a lot and really made me to really set myself the goal of racing in real life. After a while, I just saw more and more women doing this and was like, Hey, maybe it isn’t impossible.

Maybe. Maybe there are women who do this and there are many cool communities out there for specifically women in motorsports or sim racing where you can connect with them and it’s obviously easier to talk to them about maybe like the same issues that you had because you’re a woman and then connect that way and also maybe have different ways of explaining, different way of understanding stuff and just really like how the whole social media and communities are.

Tatiana Calderon: You know, the increase of getting news and getting the exposure that women need, I think it’s naturally going to inspire more girls in all aspects of motorsport. [00:42:00] So I think we need to keep pushing for that visibility, but there’s still a lot to be done in like the sponsorship side of things and really creating better support for the young girls.

starting because, you know, it’s a very expensive sport in any way you look at it. There’s more to be done there. As I said before, I think it’s great. Participation is a big step, but then it comes down to performance as well. And I think that’s the next step that we need to achieve to focus on making sure that women have the right tools to perform.

It will come, but it just takes a little bit. Longer than what we want. We’re naturally raising drivers, not very patient. And I would like to see more change in that and more participation and more opportunities with sponsors. But I think we’re all moving in the right direction with the right organization, like WIPNA, like FIA, Women in Motorsport and other various organizations, like Nina was saying before.

Crew Chief Eric: So our audience is probably wondering where we’re going with this. Were we supposed to be talking about sim racing? We spent a lot of time in the [00:43:00] second segment talking about your personal journeys, but we’re actually going to circle back to sim racing now in our final segment, and you guys touched on something really important and that’s why we have this discussion.

You started talking about the feeder series and how we bring more women into racing. And I noticed something really interesting. Maybe it’s a generational thing. You all, as we said at the beginning, started in carding, more carding, more carding, carding has become more and more popular. It became less recreational.

And again, yet another tool, just like sim racing is to get into motorsport. But when you talk to a lot of the pro drivers. of a previous generation, like Margie, like a David Murray and Andy Pilgrim, all those groups of drivers that came up at the same time, they started an autocross, a totally different discipline in motor sport, which has sadly sort of died off over the years, but it was another cheap way to get into racing.

When we take all that aside and just put the lens of sim racing on top of this, How is sim racing? Being used as a pathway into motor sports. So I’m going to [00:44:00] kick this off with Nina because she’s very familiar with this. And so how are programs like entity sports and even prodigy racing, building SIM drivers into real driver?

Nina Hahn: First of all, up SIM in general, it is a great tool because you’re just not limited to the amount of fuel or the amount of tires that you have on track. You can drive as much as you want in the same conditions, day or nighttime. Whenever you have time, you don’t have to drive to a track in here and there.

So you just have way more time that you can spend on practicing exactly what you need to practice on. Yeah, and then obviously if you have these competitions online, these feeder series as you call them, you can compare against people worldwide and really see, okay, How good am I? Or was I just maybe good at my local karting track?

There aren’t that many opportunities yet to really get from sim into a car directly, but they start to get more and more. And big series, for example, ENA’s car, where you have some people who start out in sim and then go through the roster and improve and improve. And learn [00:45:00] basically what the differences are between sim and real life, and then become really good racers because they have so much practice, they can quickly adapt to like new cars or new tracks and changing conditions in real life.

Crew Chief Eric: So Tatiana, working with Prodigy Racing League and being a coach there, how are you building those pathways into motorsports for these young ladies? I

Tatiana Calderon: have to say, I’ve been hugely impressed with the level of performance of all the stuff. that are in Prodigy. So to me, it was a like eye opener, like I said before.

So I think it’s, it’s a clear pathway for young girls to start. Like Nina was saying, if you need to go to the track and you put tires and, and you need so much money to get started and to really learn the basics and even like. From the data points, you can shortcut so many things by training in the same.

So I think it’s going to be making it more affordable. There are some sim racers. I found out as well, you get paid in certain teams to do the job. Sometimes, you know, [00:46:00] as a racing driver, you suffer a lot to even get a salary sometimes, so it’s. To me, it has opened a big opportunity to increase the participation and the training of young girls.

Super proud to be part of the prodigy racing league to see them doing so well. And I will be pushing from my side as well, to make sure that there’s more opportunities for female drivers between the series as well, because sometimes, you know, if you want to change something and you want to give women a chance.

You need to invest in it. It’s a great timing for that.

Crew Chief Eric: So as I turn this over to Brenna and Sally, I want to also add to this, the importance of all the STEM programs that are also adopting sim racing as part of this larger ecosystem, this feeder pathway into motorsports. But I also like to remind people, it’s not just STEM science, technology, engineering, and math, it’s steam science, tech, engineering, arts, and math.

So I wanted to just address that with your thoughts on STEM programs and sim and how that’s. Well,

Sally Mott: [00:47:00] there’s a lot of opportunities within sim racing. Like I have a friend who does sim coaching and he literally looks at graphs, just like the real world. Like, what does your brake trace look like? What is your throttle chase?

And it’s like, it’s offering jobs to people, especially like Tatiana saying race car drivers who need more income, you can actually provide coaching services on the sim. And you can kind of coach the engineering as well, cause you can create your own setups on iRacing, especially, and you can play with how the car is handling, how it’s feeling with the conditions.

And that I think ties perfectly into the STEM and the STEAM community. It just offers a lot of jobs like that, that are pretty similar to real

Brenna Schubert: life, but it’s just. It’s on the simulator. So I brought up a good point, but you know, even with regards to steam with the arts aspect, I’m sure they need people to design deliveries in sim racing and stuff like that.

So all types of aspects that go into sim racing, as far as jobs are concerned. Nina had mentioned she was in formula student. I was in formula SAE. We definitely would use the sim to practice for our yearly [00:48:00] competitions. A lot of the jobs now in engineering, they pretty much only hire you if you competed in Formula SAE, so all of that combined together, I think it’s definitely opening up pathways for everybody, not just the drivers.

Crew Chief Eric: So I want to close this thread with Nina, who we started with, specifically because Init has the Sim4STEM program as well as the Screen2Speed program, which you’ve come through, and so I wanted to get your take on that, what that means, and how all of this is enveloped together.

Nina Hahn: Init Esports does certain STEM events.

And I’m not too much involved because I’m in Germany, so I can’t really do much stuff like on site in America, sadly. But they do go out on tracks or like to schools and just build up a rig and give especially young girls a go and just showing them the ways around and like all the different destinations within that big field.

Yeah, and with Green 2 Speed, for example, in 2022, I believe, or 23, it was before I joined the program. They, for example, had a program in Las Vegas where they flew [00:49:00] contestants out, and the winner actually got some seat time in a Porsche GT3 or Porsche Cup, if I remember correctly. As I said, it was before my time.

But yeah, you can definitely find a lot of info about that on the homepage.

Crew Chief Eric: I have two daughters, both of which have grown up, unfortunately, influenced by the world of motorsports, specifically sports car and endurance racing, although my favorite discipline has always been rally. That said, they’ve both taken an interest in motorsport and they both do jump on my sim from time to time, although they’re starting out with fun things like Forza Horizon where they can just drive forever and, you know, stuff like that, because they’re not really ready.

to do laps, although they’ve talked about, Hey, dad, when are we going to go to the cart track? If my eldest walked up to you and said, Tatiana, why do you race? What would you say to her? What advice would you give to her at almost 11 years old to become a female race car driver?

Tatiana Calderon: What do you say? Unfortunate?

No, there’s so many barriers that still are there for women. But I say that. And I, I remember when I was nine years old and I turned on the TV and I wanted to become a [00:50:00] formula one driver. Um, Yeah. I’ve driven a Formula One car coming from Columbia where we had one race track. So at the end of the day, it’s about how much you want it.

I could not imagine like my life without racing, even if it’s sometimes we look at like achievements as trophies. It’s more than that is. How can you just make this world more accessible? That is a, is a trophy in itself. So my advice would just be like, to really do what you love. At the end of the day, you will be able to learn so much from your discipline.

The, the barriers. It makes you a much complete person being in, in a space. that challenges you, where communication is so important. So I think it’s about finding that passion and really going for it and not putting any limits because it’s all in our head. If we want people to define how far we can come, it’s in their interest to put you limits.

But you gotta believe in yourself and do the best you can and see how far you come. I don’t want to ask [00:51:00] myself what if I had just tried one more year, you know? So I think it’s about finding that purpose in life and enjoying what you’re doing because then everything comes. I

Brenna Schubert: would just say if it’s what you love, you’ll know that you, you want to do it forever.

I mean, just like Tatiana said, it’s a passion that keeps on giving, even though it might hurt us sometimes as well. It’s something that’s just addicting and expensive, but mostly just. addicting. You know, some people shop when they’re stressed. I want to, I want to race when I’m stressed. It takes away all the outside pain in life and just gives you a purpose.

It’s really the only purpose that I find myself needing to do.

Crew Chief Eric: Nina, what advice would you give?

Nina Hahn: Go for it. Try it out. Sims aren’t that expensive. You can get into it quite cheaply. And just try out what you enjoy because there are many different categories from like circuit racing, rally, hill climb, drifting, ovals, [00:52:00] truck racing.

There’s so much variety within racing in general. Just go for it and take your chances. That’s How I got to be in a driver selection for an electric F4, I just went for it and was like, okay, I’m actually gonna put my effort into it, write a proper application, give all my history on it and see how I prepared this in that way for it and everything.

And at the end of the day, this got me into a really, really great experience of racing an open wheel car. Definitely go for it and realize that if you put your mind to it, it is possible.

Sally Mott: I would say the same thing. Go for it because you can do it and it’s so empowering. To me, it is literally my purpose in life and it brings me so much joy and so much happiness and it’s like what I strive for.

It’s what wakes me up at 5 a. m. every day. I mean, and it’s so rewarding. The lows are low, but the highs are so high, and I’ve learned so many life lessons along the way. So I would tell her to absolutely go for it, and if she loves it, she’s going to put her all into it, and it’s going to [00:53:00] be the best thing in the world because it’s so empowering, and it’s very rewarding.

Mike Nause: We’ve talked a lot here about past presence, but we haven’t talked too much about The future necessarily. So I’m very curious here. And why don’t we start off with Nina? What is the future for you for Nina Hahn?

Nina Hahn: When I really started to take some racing seriously, it kind of came as just a step to reach my goal, which is to race in the 24 hours of Nürburgring on the Nordschleife, which may be coming from Germany.

Maybe I’m a bit biased, but it’s just such a great race. And I’ve been there. Last year, for the first time, sadly it was cut short a bit, but I do plan on spending quite a bit more time on the track this season. And, as I said, my goal is definitely to race in that. To get there, you need to do, like, the different licenses, and because it’s so long and difficult track, you have to get special licenses to be able to race in that race.

And I’m currently still finishing my education, so I need to do that first because that’s also very important to me, but on the side, like on the weekends and [00:54:00] everything, I try my absolute best to get as many steps done as possible to one day race in the 24 hours.

Mike Nause: And now Tatiana Calderon, what does the future hold for you?

Tatiana Calderon: Well, that’s, you know, I’ve been fortunate enough to race in many series, but of course I want to win a 24 hour race, either if that’s. Daytona or, or LeMans on, on my car. And I want to be back here racing in IndyCar. I’ve never had the chance to do the Indy 500 and it’s something that I’m passionate about.

And I am still with the energy to hopefully one day make it there and make a good impact. Love it.

Mike Nause: Sally Mott, what does the future hold for you?

Sally Mott: My dream is to be on the podium at the 24 hours of LeMans. That’s something that I’ve always wanted to do. Probably, hopefully in a Porsche.

Mike Nause: Let’s go. And now last but not least, of course, Brenna Schubert, what does the future hold for you?

Brenna Schubert: Well, right now I’m just trying to focus on racing prodigy, trying to make it to the P2 championship [00:55:00] next season, eventually, I mean, it’s. It’s definitely a big ask. I’d love to compete in NASCAR at some point, obviously I’m shooting high, but Hey, if I end up a little bit below that, that’s still a great thing.

Racing anything is, is awesome. But I just think NASCAR is a really cool platform. I did get a chance to do some legend car racing this season for the first time. I’m trying to get more experience, more on that path and doing some dirt racing and oval stuff. But I’d be happy doing anything.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, ladies, we’ve reached that part of the episode where I like to invite all of our guests to share any shout outs, thank yous, promotions, or anything else that we haven’t covered thus far.

Of

Brenna Schubert: course, I definitely want to thank racing prodigy for all they’ve done to get me where I am sucker punch pickles as well. And I also, I’m an incorporating Cadillac racing instructor at the Ron fellows performance driving school at spring mountain motor sports ranch. So I wanted to give them a little.

Shout out. It’s such a great program that they have going. I mean, I’ve been to a few [00:56:00] different racing schools and this one’s by far the best and most thought out in their preparation. So they’ve helped me a lot with my driving as well. Just being able to be in those cars and talking about what I’m doing and teaching the students, it’s helped my driving as well.

Sally Mott: MX5 Cup for the scholarship and basically changing my life. I did my first season last year and it has elevated me as a driver, as a human being, as a proposal writer, as a sponsorship getter, as a businesswoman, as an entrepreneur, everything. It’s literally changed my life and then bringing this docuseries on is going to do amazing things for the series as well.

And then I do want to thank my dad because he’s my number one. I mean, he’s the reason why I’ve gotten this far and he’s pushed me past my limits. And I never thought that I would be here. If you told me that I was going to be here five years ago, I would just be mind blown. Then I also want to thank Mazda Motorsports as well for everything they’ve done.

Tatiana Calderon: Of course, all, all my partners are AV Ray Stick Wonder Studio. There’s a very [00:57:00] famous Colombian artist. Her name is Carol G, and she has a foundation to empower women. They’re, they’ve been supporting me for the last two years, and of course, my family. for supporting women in motorsport and giving us access to these platforms.

So yeah, hopefully together we can keep growing and yeah, thank you for that support.

Nina Hahn: I want to give a shout out to Olympus Esports, my main Esports team that I’m racing with. As well as Innit Esports for number one, getting me onto this panel. I got the connection through them and also just for connecting with Beits Gewisser, which I’ve done like two sim racing events with, which has been very insightful, very cool to race with real life drivers.

And also to the Shift Up Now organization, because I really felt that when I joined them, they had like some great webinars that helped me a lot personally in how to really do more social work and promote myself more. And I really feel that that has made a big [00:58:00] impact.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, before I turn this over to our title sponsor for a few closing words, you never know who’s going to drop in on the audience.

And I see that Steffi Bau, one of our sponsors from Innit Esports is here. Steffi, do you want to say a couple of words before we close out?

Stefy Bau: Yeah, it’s been a pleasure and you ladies keep going, never give up. You know, I used to be a racer as well, and I think sim racing is the way to go, you know, in regards to opening up more pathways and opportunities.

I’m proud of all of you, and let’s do this all together.

Crew Chief Eric: I will turn the mic over to our title sponsor, the International Motor Racing Research Center, for a few parting words.

Kip Zeiter: Ladies, I’ve just sat here in awe of each and every one of you for the last hour. It’s just been great. This has been a wonderful series.

I think this has been a great way to wrap it up. Hopefully we’ll continue with this. For Brenna, Nina and Sally and Tatjana, thank you all for your time. Thank our associate sponsors, Society of Automotive Historians, ACO, WMNA, Racing Prodigy and Innit Esports. Again, thank you all for taking the time. It’s been wonderful.

Really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Crew Chief Eric: And I have to give a special shout out to Mike Noss [00:59:00] for filling in for Lauren Goodman tonight on short notice. So thank you, my friend, for coming on and co hosting with us. And on behalf of everyone here and those listening at home, thank you ladies for sharing your stories with us.

Lauren Goodman: And that’s a wrap on our International Women’s Month coverage. We celebrated the fearless women pushing limits in motor sports and sim racing. A huge thank you to our panel for sharing their journey, insights, and passion. If you loved this conversation, be sure to share it with your fellow racing fans.

And if you want to keep the conversation going, follow us on social media and Discord. And let us know, who are the drivers inspiring you? You

Crew Chief Eric: that’s right. And we hope you enjoyed this presentation and look forward to more center conversations throughout the season. Be sure to follow subscribe and stay with us for more incredible discussions from the world of motor sports.

To learn more about upcoming center conversations, please visit www. racingarchives. org and click on events for those details. And until next time, keep the wheels turning and the throttle wide open. Woo. [01:00:00]

Nina Hahn: Thank you. Thanks for having us. Yeah. Thanks for having us.

Crew Chief Eric: Thank you ladies. It was really terrific. And that’s a wrap.

Women in Motorsports North America is a not for profit organization that began in 2022 known as WMNA. It is a community that focuses on advancing, connecting, and enabling with its many partners, including industry executives, drivers, team members, OEM sponsors, racetracks, and more. WMNA welcomes all who share their passion for motorsports.

The Women in Drive Summit continues its mission to bring together motorsports professionals. This unique event offers new pathways for individuals to explore career opportunities, discuss current industry challenges, And provides mentorship and resources for future growth in the industry. If you’d like to stay informed about WMNA and the Women in Drive Summit, be sure to log on to www.

womeninmotorsportsna. com or follow them on social media at Women in [01:01:00] Motorsports NA on Instagram and Facebook.

IMRRC/SAH Promo: This episode is brought to you in part by the International Motor Racing Research Center. Its charter is to collect, share, and preserve the history of motorsports. Spanning continents, eras, and race series.

The Center’s collection embodies the speed, drama, and camaraderie of amateur and professional motor racing throughout the world. The Center welcomes serious researchers and casual fans alike to share stories of race drivers, race series, and race cars captured on their shelves and walls and brought to life through a regular calendar of public lectures and special events.

To learn more about The Center, visit www. racingarchives. org. This episode is also brought to you by the Society of Automotive Historians. They encourage research into any aspect of automotive history. [01:02:00] The SAH actively supports the compilation and preservation of papers, organizational records, print ephemera and images to safeguard, as well as to broaden and deepen the understanding of motorized wheeled land transportation through the modern age and into the future.

For more information about the SAH, Visit www. autohistory. org.

Crew Chief Eric: We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Brake Fix Podcast brought to you by Grand Touring Motorsports. If you’d like to be a guest on the show or get involved, be sure to follow us on all social media platforms at GrandTouringMotorsports. And if you’d like to learn more about the content of this episode, be sure to check out the follow on article at gtmotorsports.

org. We remain a commercial free and no annual fees organization through our sponsors, but also through the generous [01:03:00] support of our fans, families, and friends through Patreon. For as little as 2. 50 a month, you can get access to more behind the scenes action, additional Pit Stop minisodes, and other VIP goodies, as well as keeping our team of creators Fed on their strict diet of fig Newtons, gumby bears, and monster.

So consider signing up for Patreon today at www. patreon. com forward slash GT motorsports, and remember without you, none of this would be possible.

Skip ahead if you must… Here’s the highlights from this episode you might be most interested in and their corresponding time stamps.

• 00:00 Meet the Panel!
• 01:12 Origins: How They Got Into Motorsports
• 03:08 First Sim Racing Experiences
• 05:35 Preferred Sim Racing Platforms
• 10:15 Realism in Sim Racing vs. Real Life
• 18:38 Mental Preparation and Pre-Race Rituals
• 20:58 Inspirational Women in Motorsports
• 26:46 Challenges and Misconceptions in Motorsports
• 32:13 Facing Gender Bias in Racing
• 36:19 Setbacks and Lessons Learned
• 38:17 Promoting Women in Motorsports; Sim Racing as a Pathway?
• 49:43 Advice for Aspiring Female Racers
• 53:03 Future Goals, Aspirations and Shoutouts

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