From Screen to Speed: Stefy Bau

• Before we jump into all the specifics around INIT ESPORTS and the SIM4STEM program, tell us about your Motorsports journey. How did you get mixed up in all this? Did you come up through racing, a racing family or maybe started out as a fan? 
• What was it that set INIT ESPORTS into motion?
• Motorcycles don’t get as much representation in the Sim World, but you’ve managed to create an entire eSports series around MotoCross – how does that work?  
• We know “all the players” in the car sim world – but What type of gear is being used for Motorcycle sims? Controllers? Or Rigs?
• How has sim racing changed Motorsports? 
• The Screen to Speed Dream Team – what is that all about?
• Challenges with SIM racing yet to overcome? Does sim racing/esports have the same barriers/costs compared to IRL motorsports? 
• Was the pandemic “the height” of sim racing? Or is it still on the rise?
• Let’s unpack the SIM4STEM program – how does it work?

and much, much more!

Crew Chief Brad: [00:00:00] Break fix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all over the auto sphere, from wrench turners and racers to artists, authors, designers, and everything in between. Our goal is to inspire a new generation of petrol heads that wonder. How did they get that job or become that person?

The road to success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.

Crew Chief Eric: Brace yourself, race fans for a mind blowing SIM racing event, an adrenaline pumping motorcycle online tournament. Our guest tonight is part of an unstoppable e sports powerhouse dedicated to delivering unparalleled excitement to fans and groundbreaking sponsorship opportunities to brands alike.

Trevor Marks: At Innit Esports, founder and CEO Stefy Bau doesn’t just settle for the org. She creates extraordinary experiences by producing thrilling online competitions and real life events that transcend the boundaries of the e sports universe. And she’s here with us. [00:01:00] On BreakFix to share her story and help you understand why you need to get more involved in the world of esports.

Crew Chief Eric: And with that, let’s welcome Stefy to BreakFix.

Stefy Bau: Hi everyone. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Crew Chief Eric: And joining me tonight is my co host and returning BreakFix guest, founder of K53, He’s part of TORC Atlanta and an e sports aficionado. Let’s welcome back Trevor Marks.

Trevor Marks: Hello. Hello. Welcome to be here.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, Stefy, like all good break fix stories, there’s a super heroine origin story.

So let’s jump into your motorsports history before we deep dive into in e sports and your Sim4STEM program. Tell us about your motorsports journey. How did you get mixed up in all this? Did you come through a racing family or did you start out as a fan?

Stefy Bau: So my story goes like this. So you’re probably starting to hear that I have an accent.

So I am from Italy. I was a little girl with the passion of motorcycle racing. Why? Because my mom and dad, they used to be a fan of the sport. So they used to go and watch the world [00:02:00] championship round every time I was coming to Italy. So basically I was born going to the track every time there was a big world championship race happening.

At the age of four, my dad ended up buying a motorcycle and he was going just, uh, riding in like an enduro in the trails, you know, just from the house, go and do trail riding. And every time he was coming back, you know, like from his rides, he was super happy, biggest smiles on his face, dirty, full of mud and whatever.

And I start saying. Hey, I want to do that too. So ask mom and dad, I want a motorcycle. And surely enough, instead of buying me a motorcycle that was like a toy, like a battery or whatever, they ended up buying me a real motorcycle. It was a mini bike. So it was like a full on dirt bike from an Italian company called Italjet.

And yes, you know, like a very, very small, similar to what big bikes are nowadays. Maybe even like more like the Pee Wee from Yamaha. You know, the PeeWee 50. So a 50cc bike with all the gear and [00:03:00] everything. And they put me on it, you know, there was a cornfield in front of the house. They told me like, right hand is the throttle, left hand is the brake.

And here I go. So for a couple of years, I started practicing around in the field doing figure eights. Everybody that knows dirt bike or motorcycle understand what figure eights are. You know, like you continue to do it over and over to learning about cornering. When I was six years old, what happened was that my dad in one of his trip that he was out and about riding, he figured out that there was a small track with other kids who were participating.

He shoots back home and says to me, get dressed, get ready. We’re going to go there because there are other kids that they are racing motorcycle like you do. Up to them point again, my mom and dad, they were just fan of the sport. So they thought the motocross was only for adult. So they were completely like, Oh my God, this also racing for kids.

So it was a revelation. We went to do this little track. I was following my dad in the trails, you know, me with my little motorcycle, him with his arrive at the track. And then [00:04:00] he said, Hey, go in. This is the direction I found. In about one hour time, I was beating all the little boys in the track. So the family there looked at my dad and say, Hey, where are you guys coming from?

And my dad said, well, we live like six kilometers down the road. We just came up, you know, like experience this. So we basically learned that the war racing for little kids. We did a proper, you know, licensing or whatever in Italy to be able to do that. Go to my first race, the first race in my life. I finished third among little boys.

After that, that year I won every races I entered. So. You know, I was completely like, yeah, I like this. I wanted to continue racing and that’s how I got involved with them motorsport as a whole.

Crew Chief Eric: And so for our listeners, just to give them a reference point, you grew up in the Lago di Como area in the northern part of Italy, you know, bordering France and Switzerland.

That’s not a super dense area. populated area like Milano or Parma or Moldena or Bologna, [00:05:00] where you would expect to see more motorsport where Lamborghini is, where all the racetracks are. So what was it like racing up in the North of Italy or in South of France and South of Switzerland? Of

Stefy Bau: course, immediately we ended up just doing a local racing around the area at that time, you know, what’s called mini crosses.

So for mini bike. It was a very popular, you know, like the region of Lombardia, which is where Lake Como, Milan and all the other province are, was very popular. Had a lot of kids doing this as a sport. So, you know, we learn, you know, starting to do local and then regional events and then eventually the Italian championship.

And then from there, I went over to the European championship and I came to America and continue my career.

Crew Chief Eric: So are you still racing bikes today or how long did you race bikes for?

Stefy Bau: So I race bikes until I was 28 years old when I had a career ending injury. It’s okay because it happens, you know, motor sport is not easy on you.

And sometimes you’re lucky. You only have a few injury and you can still be [00:06:00] okay. Sometimes it becomes difficult. In my case, unfortunately, I came up short on a big double jump. Yes. Both of my ankle exploded and they wanted to amputate my legs. So. I have my legs, I can walk, but I don’t race anymore. I don’t own a motorcycle because I know that my brain would be like, wanted to twist that throttle like I used to.

So I purposely don’t own it. But every once in a while, if there is an occasion, yes, I’ll just hop on and do a couple laps here and there.

Crew Chief Eric: So did you own street bikes as well?

Stefy Bau: No, actually, especially when I came in the United States, I had my first contract with Kawasaki and my second contract with Honda.

In my contract, it said that I was not allowed to ride on the street because this being like an investment for the brand to have me racing for them and represent them in the various championships around the world. It became kind of like, Hey, in the street, you know, it’s not so much about me and my skill.

They of course proven over and over again that there is no issue there, but it’s more like about the cars. They [00:07:00] don’t see you. So now never been a fan of going on the street, but I did race road racing when I was back in Italy. So I ended up racing in Misano, Mugello, Monza. Imola and all of those, you know, back in the days.

And I decided to do it. I was about 17 years old when I doubled down and did the motocross and road racing that year, just because, you know, like I wanted to try something different than the dirt and I can tell you though, my best performance in on road racing was when was wet. Because at that point, the bikes were like shaking all around.

So it was more of my familiar territory. You know, they’re going just on a straight line and hitting the marks.

Crew Chief Eric: You opened a great opportunity for an additional Pit Stop question. You mentioned you were sponsored by Kawasaki and by Honda. So if money was no object, what kind of bike would you buy?

Stefy Bau: For me?

Like, since I was a very little girl, you know, and looking at America’s Supercross, the teams that they were winning was the Honda. It kind of is still embedded in me that [00:08:00] Honda is the choice, but I think it is because it comes from when I was little, you know, and when. I had this dream that I looked at my mom and dad in the eyes and say, one day I will race Supercross in the United States of America.

This, I was six years old. So you can imagine, you know, like the look in the face of my parents are like, yes, kiddo, go out and play. Right. But I ended up doing it. And like one thing that is very rewarding that comes back full circle is the fact that, that those guys that were on my wall. When I was a little girl, I got to be part of this industry and I have their cell phone number.

They respect me, you know, and a little girl coming from a small town in Italy, near Lake Como, had a dream and just went for it.

Crew Chief Eric: I expect her to say Ducati.

Trevor Marks: Yeah. A lot was to get the Primota, but. You know,

Crew Chief Eric: or an Aprilia or something.

Trevor Marks: Right.

Stefy Bau: No, it’s because it’s motocross, you know, like Ducati just made the motocross bike.

My heart has always been more into dirt bike, but I have to say when I raced [00:09:00] that year in the road racing circle in Italy, I was on board of an Aprilia. So here you have it.

Crew Chief Eric: So, as a comparison, did you ever turn laps in a car on a road racing circuit so you could have an idea what it was like to race the bike and race a car?

Stefy Bau: So, what happened to me was this. When I was in the United States, you know, and I started to be kind of like on top of my game here, I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in a, uh, TV show made by USA channel. So those was the early 2000. So this show was supposed to be, the idea around it was to pick different female sport of extreme sports and make them do another extreme sports.

So I did two episodes of them. One was skydiving. And I loved it, you know, like first the jump, a tandem, second jump solo, crazy, you know, but it seems for athlete, of course, I go for it. But the second one was I drove an IndyCar with that, you know, back in Las Vegas, there was actually, I just learned this not too long ago, that Derek Daly was the guy that had this in [00:10:00] Las Vegas back in the days.

It’s funny that everything comes full circle as we know in the industry, because now I work with his niece, Nikki Daly in one of our program. So it’s funny, like how everything works. But yes. So I drove in the car and by doing the circuit, yes, road racing and car racing at the end, you know, the racing line is still the same.

It’s just that when one of you are sitting, the other one, you just have a lot of wind against you.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, you had my attention at Mugello. It is a favorite based there in the Florence area for those that don’t know where it is. Then you mentioned Imola. So I have a question and I know it’s, It’s probably the most infamous turn in all of racing.

What’s Tamburello like on a motorcycle?

Stefy Bau: Everything on a motorcycle is definitely much more dangerous feeling than in the car. You know, no matter how you want to present it, you have nothing to protect you. So if you crash it, it’s going to hurt, you know? It is just like racing in general, it is just amazing.

I grew up doing that. So like any track anywhere, if I get an opportunity, I was always like, yep, let’s do [00:11:00] this. So Tamburello or the Monza wall or whatever, you know, like let’s go and let’s do it.

Crew Chief Eric: So this comes up a lot on the four wheeled side of the house. Who is the GOAT? Who is the greatest of all time?

And we immediately go to Formula One and it becomes this Senna versus Schumacher and Hamilton and Verstappen discussion and it just all kind of spirals. But when you turn your focus to motorcycles,

Trevor Marks: and

Crew Chief Eric: there’s one name that comes to mind, and I want to see if you agree or not, is it Rossi?

Stefy Bau: Well, yes, yes.

So for road racing is Rossi. I think he won 10 world title, nine or 10 world title, but it really changed the interaction with the sport. So it was really like an actor, you know, in a way. So by doing that. All the young kids wanted to be right now, influencer. He was the original influencer by acting in the way they act.

And, you know, like, I mean, it comes from a family that is like that too. Cause I don’t know if you guys know, but his dad used to go around with a paddock with a chicken on a leash. [00:12:00] So like, that’s his dad. Yeah.

Trevor Marks: So it runs in the

Stefy Bau: family. It’s kind of like a disenvironment, but like a definitely Valentino was able to do.

For the sport. And I think Mark Marquez was destined to follow, but then, you know, like with a lot of injuries, you know, he’s still like an amazing, talented guy, but of course the injury kind of like put a little bit of a wrench into his, uh,

Trevor Marks: blame Honda for all of that. But we don’t have to,

Stefy Bau: well, you know, like it’s doing good with Ducati right now, but if we are talking about.

Door bike, you have different category because you have the American reality and then you have the world championship that goes everywhere. Sometimes it comes to America, but you know, it’s like that. So for the world championship, you have generational talent. It used to be like when I was younger, Stefan Evers was amazing.

He won 10 world title. Then of course, Antonio Cairoli. Amazing. He won nine world titles, the next [00:13:00] generation. And now, you know, in supercross and motocross, you add the Jeremy McGrath, the king of supercross, you know, like Ricky Carmichael, Bubba Stewart,

Trevor Marks: Bubba Stewart, man,

Stefy Bau: and motocross. And now, you know, Jack Lawrence, you know, Jack Lawrence, a 20 years old kid.

There’s seven years that does not lose a championship. So, you know, his goal is to have more wind that Jeremy McGrath and he has the potential to do that. So, you know, there are those generational talent to the change of the sport and it’s just amazing to see.

Crew Chief Eric: So the way you describe that lets me draw a parallel between Supercross, Motocross and WRC.

Cause if you think about the dynasties that exist at WRC, they’re very, very similar.

Stefy Bau: They’s a very. Similar concept, this generational talent that they change the sport. It’s just amazing to witness. I believe that if you are arriving second, you don’t like that much, but it is needed to change the sport. I like to think, and I’ve been told that I’m one of those for the women, you know, I’ve been called the [00:14:00] goat.

Crew Chief Eric: You know, like you’re the Michel Mouton. Yes,

Stefy Bau: yes, but then, you know, now there are other girls, you know, like there is a motocross. this young lady from the Netherlands. Her name is Lotte van Droenen. She’s amazing. But why she’s the first year that she’s doing the full on women’s championship. Leading the championship.

But why? Because she race with the boys. Cause she raised her whole career with the boys, same equipment in there with the boys. So now, you know, like competing with the girls, she is a little bit of a step up compared to them. I mean, amazing girl and amazing talent, but you can see the difference, which is what we need to accomplish by continuing having the women’s series.

And then get the women to compete with the boys. And then you see. That pathway to participation,

Crew Chief Eric: you raced for over 20 years professionally. And so how did that lead to the world of e sports? What happened in between and guide us into the inception of what you’re doing now?

Stefy Bau: Yes. [00:15:00] So of course, you know, like I’ve been one of the few women that’s.

was able to break the glass ceiling in motorcycle racing and therefore open opportunity for more other girls. I always have that desire to figure it out ways, how we can have motorsport two or four wheel as opportunity to bring more female into the industry. That doesn’t necessarily mean as. athlete per se, but it could be also part of the industry as a whole.

So I was in Italy in 2020 before the world change up to that point, that my journey into e sport was only in the fact that I was featured in two video games. As a character, when I used to be a racer. So after that point, that was my involvement with the industry, but I was in Italy and my niece at the time, I noticed that she was watching people playing video games for two, three hours a day.

So that got me going and I’m like, wait a second, maybe, you know, like a sim racing could be a potential way to create a pathway to participation for women in [00:16:00] motorsport. We all knew like at that point. Pandemic happened, all sports closed down. So Formula One was king, utilizing sim racing as an opportunity to continue to have fun, you know, like engage with the audience and so on and so forth.

So it just happened at the right time. So I study a lot, I learn a ton. And then I quickly discovered that there was no one putting effort for women. So at that point, I created a ity sport with a goal of my two passion. One pillar is motorcycle sport racing, and the other pillar is sea racing. Focusing on women.

Crew Chief Eric: eSports in general is huge, and it can be subdivided as Trevor and I have talked about many times before. You know, are you first person shooters? Is it I racing? Is it this? Is it that? But I feel like motorcycles don’t get as much representation in the sim world. I can only think of a couple of titles in my head and let’s put the arcade ones like road rash and those things to the side, you know, there’s ride and there’s some other titles out there, but there’s not that many.

So you’ve managed to create an entire e sports series [00:17:00] around. Motorcycles and motocross. So how does that work?

Stefy Bau: So again, I study a lot and I figured out what was on the market in regards to games. And just like you touch point there, there are the arcade games, but there are a couple of games in the market right now.

They are pure simulator game. So those games are exactly the same. How iRacing or Assetto Corsa Competizione work. Meaning like they are meant to have the same physics of a real motorcycle and therefore they target gamers that they have a knowledge of what racing is about. With that in mind, I started to create the partnership with a publisher of those kind of games.

And then because I come from the motor sport industry as a whole, for me, it was just like a few phone calls and try to say to different Federation, And to big trade show in the motorcycle industry. Hey, there is an opportunity here to bring the young demographic into the industry by leveraging gaming.

So with that, we ended up creating the first ever [00:18:00] Ecma eSport event. Ecma for the people that they don’t know. It’s the number one trade show for motorcycle in the war in 2024 is the 110th year that this show is going on in Italy. And there are brands from all over the world that go there. Mostly, you know, to show product to everybody, talk about the motorcycle coming out for the new year and so on and so forth.

So just like motorsport in four wheel, two wheel racing needs more kids. So when we talk to them in regards to the opportunity, Hey, we can bring a new demographic here, it was just a no brainer. So in four days that we did the event there, we got 4, 000. Thousand people through our event and we ended up having those two competition.

One, there was a four gaming specifically. So we basically open up a sign up online to compete. We got 10, 000 people to download the game to compete in this championship where the top 40 were competing for four races in a row. And [00:19:00] then the top 10 in that championship, we brought them to the event in EICMA in Milan for the grand finale.

And these are the gods of this game, you know, like, because if you see them playing, they’re like, how it can even be possible, you know, but we know that it works like that in real racing too, right? You know, like in Vestappen or Hamilton. People will say, how is it even possible, you know? So it works the same way, but they did this and it was incredibly successful.

But then we came up with another event there, we call the VIP event, where we were able to have the top three of the finale of the motocross game on MXY to race the very next day on simulator with a pickup truck, with Danny Pedrosa, Antonio Cairoli, David Bulliga, and all of this kind of like a legend. Of the motorcycle two wheels world.

And it was like magic in the works because whereas we got Danny Pedrosa to win the race on the pickup truck, one of the gamer got third overall. [00:20:00] So it was super good to see, you know, like that now stellar people, they have had success, you know, in their industry as a racer, they were right there competing, you know, with kids that they may otherwise would never even have a chance to even meet them, let alone, you know, compete against them on a video game.

Trevor Marks: Right. What’s your sim of choice? What do you like to drive on?

Stefy Bau: I don’t drive on the sim. I’m too busy running a company, you know, and try to, to change the world.

Trevor Marks: I’ve seen you in the sim. I’ve seen you in the sim a couple of times.

Stefy Bau: This might sound funny, but I’m mostly in the sim to discover if a potential game can be part of the movement.

So I tried the game as a, See it, you know, like, and then we can discuss it about creating possible partnership or whatnot. Now, I really like it for me, you know, me travel. I work with everybody because I do believe that every company out there has the same mission. The industry is big enough that we don’t do one specific seam only.

So we like to give [00:21:00] opportunities to everybody. And you know, sometimes there’s one. Cockpit, sometimes it’s a different cockpit, you know, like, and I think also that helps, you know, like bring back feedback to the same companies to learn if there is updates that can be made to kind of target a little bit more the female audience.

You know, so it’s important for us to be able to use different opportunity to kind of help the industry grow.

Trevor Marks: We know about How important simulator and what equipment that we use for car simulation. What is that look like for motorcycles? Is it controllers? Are there other simulator rigs? I mean, I know things have progressed a lot since your career.

What does that look like now for someone that’s competing at the highest level?

Stefy Bau: As of right now, everybody still compete on controllers. You know, we PCs, but you know, like, because I’m very much involved in this, I’m talking with lots of supplier to figure it out ways to create something that will give the feeling of a simulator, because for anybody that ever rode a motorcycle, you will know, you know, there is very easy.

Okay. [00:22:00] Difficult to be able to reproduce like the G force of a corner or even the sensation of doing a triple jump in Supercross, right? But we are getting there mostly in a way that at least how my company is looking into this and provides a suggestion to hardware company is to make it in a way that it is affordable.

Because again, you know, the key is there. There is some opportunity out there, but they are 100, 000 and a kid that cannot spend 100, 000 to have a simulator in their bedroom, right? You know, those are more like for training purposes, much more similar to what you will see, like a Dallara for the real car simulator.

So they are meant with that concept in mind. But like, if we wanted to bring more kids toward the sport, again, that being two or four wheels, you need to do it in the way that it’s accessible. So we are working on it. So there is going to be something happening by the end of the year. So just stay tuned.

Trevor Marks: That’s great.

Crew Chief Eric: And that’s a special situation too, because you’re dealing specifically with a [00:23:00] discipline within motorcycle racing. Which is motocross, you know, we’re talking about gear here for a moment. And I want to pull on a thread because I recently took my daughters to an arcade and they glommed on to these road racing arcade machines over there.

And you get on a physical bike and you lean it over and you use the throttle and the brake and these kinds of things. So that seems to exist for the road racing side of motorcycles. Is that ever going to translate? I mean, those are big apparatuses to your point. It’s not really going to fit in the bedroom.

Maybe some thoughts on what that might look like.

Stefy Bau: I’m going to give you a little bit of a insight information on that. So if you’re going to use a simulator, like arcade style simulator for road racing, most of the people that want to really go fast, what will they will do is put both feet on the ground and move the bike side by side.

So that’s not racing, that’s not a simulator, you know what I mean? So the purpose is like appealing to the eye, but it doesn’t do what we are trying to make happening. That’s why those are not [00:24:00] really applicable to eSports as a whole. What we are trying to create is something that it will give somewhat the feeling of grabbing a handlebar, but then having the opportunity to be integrated, like perhaps with VR.

With VR technology, then at that point, you can trick the brain to feel like that even though you’re not really moving that much, your brain thinks that you are. And then you can apply that on dirt bike games and road bike games.

Trevor Marks: Since you’re talking about opening up the sim racing world to motorcyclists and making it more accessible, how has the Sim racing changed motorsports and racing in motorsport.

Stefy Bau: To me, the 2020 pandemic is actually what spearheaded like the movement to new heights. I mean, sim racing is a very great opportunity to enter the sport. With a fraction of the cost,

Trevor Marks: it

Stefy Bau: will never substitute go karting. And every time, you know, like we speak about this, I think everybody’s aligned on that.[00:25:00]

You know, like it’s not the e sport and sim racing will take away go karting. No, that’s not possible. But it is an addition to discover talent. Because even go karting per se, we know there is. Just a category of people that tend to have the funding to be part of that.

Trevor Marks: Correct.

Stefy Bau: We’ve seen raising by lowering the barrier of entry.

Now you give the opportunity to many more people for every background, every gender, you know, every ethnicity to be able to Give it a try. So that’s what is important. I feel about sim racing and for us in particular, Trevo, you already know, we really focus on the girls because it’s never been done before and we speak on a way of authenticity, you know, like our team face forward is always women.

We are proud to say these four women by women. Because we understand that community, we work with them and we have created this safe space where, uh, you know, like this participant are in there and we support them and thanks to the opportunity in the industry that we are able to [00:26:00] provide, we are continue to open that doors, which then at the end, motorsport as a whole wins.

Trevor Marks: Absolutely. And one of the things that we’ve seen, and I’m sure you’ve seen this as well. And during the iRacing series. Is that they had that moment where the drivers were cooling their tires on the grass and then coming over into now I did see a driver doing that in like a GT3 class some point in real life, which is the risk reward.

There is crazy. But have you seen sim racers learning? Bad habits, because there’s like an iRacing line and driving, right? There’s things you can do where you’re super competitive online. But if I put you in that real car, that’s not a feasible move. You can’t really go for that gap. You can’t really take the curbs that hard.

And the reason why is because it hurts. If you’re in a formula car and you take a curb on some of these turns, it’s gonna hurt. Have you seen that? And how is that gonna impact the sim racing Motorsports ecosystem moving forward?

Stefy Bau: Everyone is gonna try anything in their power to win , no matter what. Right, because that’s the the [00:27:00] sense of racing, right?

Correct. I mean, I think it was last year or maybe a couple years ago, there was a professional race car driver. They took the racing line , so he rode the wall.

Trevor Marks: Yes, in NASCAR, that was a absolute video game move. 100%,

Stefy Bau: 100 percent

Trevor Marks: banned to hell. Now, absolutely do not do it again, but he got in with it,

Stefy Bau: but this is the point, right?

You know, the point, like you will do anything and everything in life to get that little advantage. You know, like, uh, if you have tried in iRacing and like, Hey, I’m crazy enough. You know, I’ve done it bad enough. I’m going to try it on a real racing that is going to happen. And then of course, all the organization, like everything, if you do it once and it’s not good, then you create the rules so that you can do it anymore.

In a way, I feel it goes both ways. You know, people are going to always try anything, you know, they can. It’s good to see that in, at least in digital racing. So in I racing and all of the scene racing, you don’t have the [00:28:00] risk to get hurt. So

Trevor Marks: that’s

Stefy Bau: the point there. And in real life depends how crazy you are, I guess, how bad you want it.

Crew Chief Eric: But isn’t that what we judge the quality of the sims on? Especially if we come from the racing world, how good they are or how realistic they are. So for me, maybe I’m a purist. It annoys me if you can get away with doing something that isn’t feasible in real life. And I watched some of these other racers or I look at some of the ghost files, you know, even in Assetto Corsa or some of the other things that I run.

And it’s just like, that’s impossible. I’ve driven this track in real life. You can’t do that. And you watch their replay and it’s like, How does the system even allow it? So when you guys are judging the competition, you mentioned the rules change, but do you take that into account? Like that isn’t humanly possible and that weighs against the sim racers.

So there’s that risk reward there.

Stefy Bau: When you create a sim racing competition, do you put out a lot of rules for participants so they know beforehand, you know, what the expectation is. So even that, for instance, you know, like [00:29:00] we run most of the time tight racing where a contact is not allowed. Yeah. Because that’s the same thing in racing, you can not just go out there and put somebody on the wall just for the fun of it.

So you kind of like try really much to mimic the in real racing world. But then again, it is a digital environment. As you were saying earlier, you’re not going to feel the G force. So, you know, like if you are able to. Keep the car somehow on the track by doing something that you think it is impossible to do in real life, they’re going to try to do it no matter what.

And I can tell you that, you know, there are some people out there that are so good in digital environment that it just blows your mind away. You’re just thinking, just like you said, it’s not possible. I cannot believe that this is possible, but I witnessed more than one time than doing it in real life.

On a simulator, you look at them and you look what they are doing on the screen. And it’s like, well, they are doing it.

Crew Chief Eric: But we also have seen, let’s say, movies highlight this transition from digital to the real world. Let’s take the Gran Turismo movie [00:30:00] as a prime example. So has that happened in the two wheeled world in motorcycles where someone has gone from digital and gone in real life?

What is their feedback been?

Stefy Bau: In motorcycle, it’s not been done yet. It’s one of my tasks that I wanted to achieve. Again, for the nature of motorcycle, it doesn’t really translate that much compared to what it is on the scene. We wanted to create opportunities where we can get the best scene racing motorcycles to take classes eventually, unless they’re already a racer, then, you know, they’re already a racer, but if they are not to take classes.

To be able to bring them into the industry in a smart way. So that’s the progression. But you’re never gonna be William Baron that, you know, wins a scene racing motorcycle event and then go out and win a Supercross event. There’s no chance. It’s not possible that way. But again, it’s possible to create a pathway.

to participation, but I also want to bring out because you said about [00:31:00] the Gran Turismo movie, we did something for that for girls. The screen to speed original, you know, was exactly that. So we add the competition and travel was part of it. So you witness it. We create this online competition, girls from all over the world sign up, participate online, and then the top 20, the best of this qualification, we brought them to Las Vegas during the NASCAR Penza 400 event, and not only they were like there when the race was happening around them, imagine, you know, the scenario, but the winner did not even have a driving license.

And we brought her back, you know, like to test in a real Porsche 911 cup car and her performance was like mind blowing. So exactly the same effect of a Gran Turismo. And we are using that to be able to now link opportunities through the movement to eventually discover talent, even for the F1 Academy. So continue to dig deeper within the community of eSports, but also [00:32:00] we’re going to get to that, but like with the Sim4STEM program that goes in school, it’s all about trying to discover talent, give them chance and when they’re young, take them by hand and say, Hey, this is an opportunity for you starting from Sim.

And then. Having the door open to potentially go into a real race car.

Trevor Marks: Do you see the future for sim racing being more screen to speed programs and more of a pipeline being built out? Or how do you see this relationship with sim racing and motorsports evolving?

Stefy Bau: I think it goes hand in hand because what we’ve been saying, right?

It’s a way to get the sport in front of people that maybe otherwise would never try it. So, it would be a no brainer in my opinion if it just stays separate one from the other. We have proven more and more that there is the pathway to participation and I see that it’s going to continue to evolve that way.

Brands are going to start looking more and more into SimRacer than putting them in go karting or like mini cars or whatever it is. And again, for [00:33:00] us, we are the original for the women and we do have the community. And it’s been very rewarding to see and discover this talent from all over the world and create this environment that it’s for them is a safe space.

We are there with a sense of women supporting women to. Be arm in arm with each other. So if that one will step out and compete, maybe one day in Formula One, she will know that there is an army of other girls that we have created behind her there to support.

Trevor Marks: I believe it’s Formula Two. There’s no power steering, right?

Stefy Bau: Correct.

Trevor Marks: I don’t know what I was watching. Some type of series, women in racing. There was someone. Of authority in racing with saying that they need to add power steering for women because they’re not strong enough to do it. I have friends that are MMA fighters that are women. I have friends that are boxers.

I really strongly take offense to that the idea that a woman is not strong enough or cannot gain the strength necessary To turn the wheel because she’s gonna have to gain the strength to keep her head up as you deal with the g forces And this is women talking about how this needs to be brought down So what is your opinion on that

Stefy Bau: [00:34:00] in formula one car?

You have steering assistant So therefore, if a woman is in a Formula One car, she’ll drive with a steering assistant, but if they are in Formula Two or in Formula Four, they should drive exactly the same that the guys drive. So like same equipment is incredibly important to continue to tell the story that women belong there.

So if you start messing with the equipment, then it becomes. Not a good opportunity to compare Apple to Apple. Right. The thing that I wish it will happen is like that the Formula One Academy, instead of driving with Formula Four car, they will drive Formula One car among themselves. They have testing car, all of this team, they can have testing cars.

They have two for each driver during the races. They can have tasting car and have a woman on that. Now you’re talking the same now is Apple to Apple, but like having the girls in the Formula Four car and then putting them alongside the Miami GP with the Formula One car, of course, the girl are going to look silly, you

Trevor Marks: know, like much slower.

Stefy Bau: [00:35:00] Those cars are silly compared to Formula One car. And I guarantee you each and every one of these girls, if you give them the opportunity to be in a Formula One car and compete amongst themselves, they will sign their life away right now and say, Put me in 100%. And as I was saying a little bit ago, like motocross, that’s my sport.

That’s exactly how it happens. That is the women’s world motocross championship, the rides on 250 or stroke machine. Exactly the same of the MX2 world championship with men. What that creates is like equal. Level. So now you can really compare apple to apple,

Trevor Marks: right? Lap times and performance. It’s

Stefy Bau: the same, it’s the same track, right?

The same equipment. So now it’s like, and motocross is a little bit harder than drive cars. I’m sorry, but , the physicality on a dirt bike, it’s a little bit harder, you know, like than being in a car.

Trevor Marks: I’m with you on that.

Crew Chief Eric: So did they do balance of performance then? Because obviously weight plays in

Stefy Bau: No, no.

You do it the same, but I can also tell you this a [00:36:00] very. Good motocross rider right now, you know, by even like 20 years ago, when I was racing, you don’t use brute force. You don’t, you use physics, right? You use physics and leverage. That is why I was able to compete with the best men in the world, because even though I’m not so good.

like a man at the top of their fitness level, me being at top of my fitness level, I was not strong like them, but was able to compete with them, given not at the level to win a super cross world championship, but I can hold my place there. Right. Because it was the same equipment.

Trevor Marks: Right.

Stefy Bau: So like, I guarantee you, like, if we have a women that have the opportunity, I think more than equal is trying to create that too.

You know, like if we can have a women with the same equipment of men and give them the same amount of time on the equipment as men, You will find that Formula One driver for women, guaranteed. And also like looking in the other way, Abby Pooling, that got to win the Formula One F1 Academy in Miami, just [00:37:00] race with the same type of car, the F4 in the UK, and guess what?

She won the race against the men. Point proven. So it has to be the same equipment. So all of this conversation, you know, they just stay where they are, unless there is the same equipment, you know, everybody can say whatever they want, but until you compare Apple to Apple.

Trevor Marks: Now, given that, that’s a huge goal to get the first female into Formula One.

What are the problems that we have in sim racing as a whole? That we have to overcome, like there’s still a cost barrier. How does that compare to in real life? Motorsports? What do we have to work on together as people that are in this industry?

Stefy Bau: For me, the key is media attention in real life and in sim racing coming as a former professional racer.

And talking about the women’s side of things, there is not enough media attention,

Trevor Marks: media attention on simracing as a whole,

Stefy Bau: on simracing, but also on female drivers as a whole,

Trevor Marks: women, motor sports and sim in general,

Stefy Bau: right? There is not enough attention brought to them. So like we live in the world that the visual it’s [00:38:00] important.

So we always say, Lindsay and James say that often too, if you can see her, you can be her. So we need to sow those women, those girls. So, so then somebody else is going to believe, Oh, I can do that too. And then it continued to grow. But we are seeing this in sport in general. Everybody knows about Kathleen Clark right now, because she’s not only a great athlete, but she’s getting a ton of media attention.

Same thing what happened with soccer, with the revolution of this women’s soccer world. Why they got that popular? Not only because they were good, but because media started following them. That’s the key. And in Motorsport, we never had it. And if we have had it, and they say I spin it on my skin too. It’s just like that decade or that four, five years that she’s on top of it.

Everybody talks about her. And then there is no pathway to follow. So that’s exactly what we are creating. A pathway of participation to have more and more women, that superstar stop racing. There is another one we can put there. And then the [00:39:00] next year, it might be two we can put there. And then in the year follow three, we can put there.

And if one fall off, there is another one to come up. So exactly the same, our work in men racing.

Crew Chief Eric: You mentioned earlier Lynn St. James, do you work with WMNA?

Stefy Bau: Yes. So I’m part of WMNA. Yes. I’m inside of WMNA and that, you know, it was launched a couple of years ago and actually it was Beth Perretta that she invited me to be part of the group.

So of course I know Lynn, you know, respect Lynn and everybody in that group at home. And I’m in there, you know, with the sim racing aspect and it’s still a little bit a young concept, let’s say for the group. You know, like hopefully little by little, they’re going to start to understand it a little bit better in some ways.

I mean, they are getting wrapped in into some stuff, but everybody has their own way, you know, to present things and we’ll see what happens, but I’m part of the group. So I’m in the working group of WMNA.

Crew Chief Eric: And I think you’ve stepped into something that we’ve talked about before. It’s the special nature of motor sports as a whole.

What I’m getting [00:40:00] at is. It’s probably one of the most diverse sports hands down across all sports that exist, whether you recognize motorsport as a sport or not. So I understand the arguments for men’s basketball versus women’s basketball. And sometimes I’m like, I don’t understand why these sports aren’t co ed, but in the case of motorsport, it’s a level playing field.

So the question becomes, how do we bring more people in and make it more diverse?

Stefy Bau: My solution is how I explain it. You know, it is exactly by creative representation, but for women specifically, I’m a woman in this male dominated industry. I can tell you that, yes, it is true behind the steering wheel with the helmet on, everybody’s the same.

But there is not enough women that we can continue to put out there or team to say, yes, we’re going to put a 50 50 grid on the racetrack to be able to achieve that 50 50 grid. We need to have the army. Otherwise it will never happen. So we are deconstructing the problem by Figure it out, you know, like I want to have 10, 000 little [00:41:00] girl.

They want to do sim racing and then 100, 000 little girl. They want to do sim racing and then move them into go karting and then move them into something else. Now you start having the number. Other countries taught us this. The Netherlands, they decide to do field hockey in every school in the Netherlands.

They started focusing on that sport. Now the Netherlands has so many young little girl. They play field hockey, that they been like the world champion in the Olympic for years and years and years and years. But why? Because they have the feeding. So that’s what we need to create. And then once we have that feeding, then that argument that everybody’s the same is going to completely go away because you have the number.

Then, then it’s just class right now. What happens is that if you have just one sensational athlete, they are going to sensationalize her. And that’s it. Now you have brands that they wanted to invest, but they have as many brands, they are like, yeah, but there is no scalability.

Trevor Marks: It’s a similar problem to traditional esports when [00:42:00] talking to any minority group about why we don’t have more reputations for them.

And the question is how many people need to play Counter Strike to get one pro? How many people need to sim race and cart? to get one Formula One driver. It’s like a million people. You need a million people to get one Formula One driver. You need a million people to get one Tana Fey. So I can understand how you’re feeding that ecosystem to get that million girls to get that one Formula One driver, that one IndyCar champion, that one NASCAR champion.

Crew Chief Eric: But I think it goes back to something you said earlier, Stefy, about media coverage. If you look at it on the global scale, there’s going to be certain racing bodies Be it Formula One, be it World Rally, whether it’s WEC, IMSA, Superbike, all that kind of stuff. They’re the bastions that we look up to.

They’re like the pinnacle of racing in those disciplines. I’ve noticed though, on a more grassroots level, especially in the United States, I went to an expo recently for sprint car and dirt track racing. There were more female drivers, especially young women drivers in [00:43:00] that discipline of motorsport than I’d ever seen anywhere else.

It felt really just normal. It felt super comfortable. It wasn’t like we’re placating to these ideas. It was like. There’s a lot of women in this, how do we shine a light on that? How do we then grow and blossom that and maybe get the bigger motorsports disciplines to kind of turn their head and go, we need to do what they’re doing in USAC or they’re doing, you know, over here, over there.

Stefy Bau: So it’s a very complicated problem. You know, like I leave this, you know, like it’s me being a former racer. So you have a few things going on. Usually once a kid hit the teenage years. There is no difference. You find him more often than not is 50 50, you know, in whatever sport. And you can see that in this small category of racing too.

They are competitive, but nobody expects you to become Lewis Hamilton. It’s more fun, it’s family, whatever. Then there is a very interesting study that came from a university in the UK that share when we lose the girl. Pay attention to [00:44:00] this. So in the teenage year, when I started in puberty and you start realizing different things in the world, if you have a situation where a boy fail on doing anything, it’s not just about motorsport, like a boy fails, what happens is that the peer group around that boy, 99 percent of the time, the answer is to that boy, come on, get up.

Do it again. I don’t want to hear it. Get up. Do it again. And this is documented, like, it’s a study. If a girl fails, especially if she’s trying to do something in a male dominated industry, therefore is going to be surrounded mostly by male, the majority of the answer is, Oh, sweetie, it’s okay. You tried. So what does that do in the brain of that girl?

They’re going to be like, hell no, I’m not going to do that ever again. You know, I don’t want to be confronted to this reality. I’ll just stay aside and I’m going to go do something else, you know, without confronting myself. Because we know this, one of the things that we are doing by saying, for women, by women, is that we can go to that [00:45:00] teenage girl and say, I don’t want to hear it.

Get up and do it again. Because I’m a female, you know, I can go to her and say that. So we are trying to change the narrative in that way. So, it is important to see those things because it’s at that age that we can create individuals that then grow up seeing the world that there is no differences. So this is what we are doing with the racing, the scene for STEM, what we’re doing with the movement from screen to speed is trying to tell that story, you know, and make everybody feel like, of course, there is no difference.

We are all treating the same. I can get up and do it again. So that’s one important part that sometimes is forgotten. Because it’s part of human nature, there is going to be the Stefy out there, like there is the Jamie Chadwick out there. Even if they say, Hey sweetie, it’s okay. I’m like, are you saying it’s okay?

Let me show you. You know, like there is not enough because it’s the culture that we live in because there is always the father figure that wants to protect the little girl. And there’s nothing wrong with that. [00:46:00] You know, it’s just that we need to kind of like change a little bit the narrative and say, no, you are capable to do anything you want.

You know, in this world. And another thing to unpack the question that you put out there is for me, it’s like, we need to do way more the model the extreme E is doing. So one male, one female, at least to generalize like this, then one day, okay. It’s going to be non binary, whatever. It’s all good. But right now to be able to give the same media attention.

That’s the way, and in fact, you know, the young demographic is very much attracted to what’s happening with extreme E. If you look and you talk to the young one, that’s what they look up. They say, Oh, I can have my teammate, you know, like, and it’s a woman or a boy to compete with me. The ER1 series, the boat series, copying the same model.

So I think that’s the future. If we can start to do that. More and more, then we started to get the balance, but it takes a village because the cultural effort, the way that we are brought up thinking, and [00:47:00] also the fact that there are a lot of brands don’t want to take the risk. Somebody told me that there will never be a Formula One or Indy 500 car woman compete at the highest level because the industry is scared of her dying in an accident.

And I’m like, Oh, a woman and a man’s body is the same, you know, like, And men can die like a woman can die.

Trevor Marks: Yeah, but culturally, women and children first, then women get killed. It’s a big problem.

Stefy Bau: So

Trevor Marks: if that’s got your logo on there, it’s a way bigger deal. The contrapositive to that is that men are disposable, women are not.

And yeah, that’s a huge hurdle to have to culturally overcome.

Stefy Bau: But that’s not the truth, though. Like, we are all human beings, so there is no difference, really. You know, like, Especially sport, you know, but in anything you do. Right. But the only hope is like to get the young demographic to start treating E.

coli from the very young age when they hit that puberty. Then they’re started to, you know, the DNA working like we’ve been for many, many centuries now. Little by little, you know, give her the opportunity [00:48:00] to think like that she can do it. And it goes back to the fact if you can see her, you can be her. So it goes back to the media attention.

So more we can show that those girls are out there and there is other girls out there that they are doing it, more we’re going to kind of tilt that needle and eventually not have ever anymore the discussion who is behind the helmet. It doesn’t matter. It’s just an individual that wants to race.

Crew Chief Eric: Stephie, you’ve tiptoed us across the threshold of this next subject.

A couple of times, you’ve mentioned your Sim4STEM program. So let’s talk about that. How does that work? What’s that all about?

Stefy Bau: So the Sim4STEM program, it’s an idea that came about between me and my very good friend, Nikki Daly. She’s a former Olympian from Ireland and her uncle is Derek Daly and her cousin is Connor Daly.

So she never had the opportunity to really race or be involved as a participant in motorsport, but she always been around motorsport. So she has a very similar passion on the one that I have. So she started to come up with the idea, what if we use STEM, [00:49:00] you know, like to get the attention of girls and me being the esports sim racing for girls, it was just a natural opportunity to get together and create.

seen for STEM. So what this program does goes into schools and put the younger in a role of a motorsport team by using STEM activities motorsport related and then they apply what they learn into simulators. So now you have the racing line, you have a bunch of other things that they can actually use math to understand and then goes into the simulator and they can see results.

So it becomes an experiential learning. So now schools are like, Whoa, you open the Pandora box here because not only, you know, you meet the kids where they are online, but also you get them to do math, engineering, science, and technology in a way that is very appropriate to what they are doing every day when they play games.

And using motorsport, it’s a no brainer because everybody can relate to it. Now [00:50:00] you can have the principal of a school or a superintendent then. Put them into a sim and they’re like, Oh, now I get why you want to have eSport in the schools. This is an opportunity. And I’m not saying that sim racing is the only way, but it’s definitely a way that opens tons of possibility for eSport to become more and more popular in every school in the world, not just in the US.

With that though, we create the pathway. So we discover the talent, then we can create the online school championship for girls, and then they can escalate to the screen to speed online series. So compete against girls all over the world. And then eventually, you know, we can figure out ways to put them in cars to test or go karts, depending on the age, right, and get them to have an experience in real life.

And yeah, Who knows, maybe along the way we’ll do find that talent that she didn’t even know that she has. Because it’s all about inclusivity, and for me is incredibly important. In school now, we are also running the program mix. But the thing that we say is like, yes, you are [00:51:00] allowed to run the program mix, but it has to be at least 50 percent girls.

So now it touches back to the extreme model. So now if you are a boy, of course, you’re going to want to do sim racing, you know, and do math and whatever to get better. But now you’re going to have to recruit the girls. Otherwise you don’t get to do it.

Crew Chief Eric: So STEM or STEAM?

Stefy Bau: Well, right now we call it STEM, but of course, you know, we can put art in there for sure.

You know, like we have not explored that part yet, but it’s all about building and not dividing. We are doing this. We have the passion. If You know, like other people, like David is doing too, and we got connected with him. Let’s just unite the energies, you know, and try to elevate everybody together. So that’s the most important thing I say.

Crew Chief Eric: So Stefy, when you look back over your motorsports career, there aren’t a ton of female motorcycle riders out there. I’m sure, you know, a lot of them, but you’re at the pointy end of that spectrum. Beer, but who was somebody that you looked up to? Somebody that inspired you in the motor sports world?

Stefy Bau: Yeah.

So when I was a very [00:52:00] little, I didn’t know of any woman doing this, you know, like all of my competition, when I was a young girl, up to my teenager, I turned professional at 17. They were all the boys. So, you know, I, I was like, Oh yeah, I like to do this. I was looking up, of course, at the dream of the American supercross racer.

So all of these guys I was telling you earlier that they were on my wall, you know, like that’s what I was looking up. But when I got a little bit older, like around that teenage years, I discovered, and guess this was the age where there were no social media and the internet that you can discover everything like in a split of a second.

I learned about this female athlete. Her name is Mercedes Gonzalez and she’s American. I remember still nowadays, the thing that I loved, she was featured on a box of Axo boot. So every boot that was be sold worldwide, there was her image in there. And then he’s like, Oh man, I need to do this. I want it to be her.

And it’s funny again, like the very first time that I got to come to the United States of [00:53:00] America to race, I was 14 years old. And guess what? I competed in this international women’s race event in the Paris Raceway in California, where there was Mercedes. That was almost toward the end of her career. So for me already, you know, be there and compete with my idol was incredibly like something to Out of this world and I have won the race.

So you can imagine, you know, like how I built my confidence and continue to do what I ended up doing in life, but like, we are great friends, her, you know, give me the opportunity to say, yeah, you are this little one now coming up, you know, like, and be able to be the queen of the sport, but with respect.

You know, back and forth, it’s never been, you know, like any situation with anybody in the women’s series. Like, Oh, you know, like the ones, the young ones come in and so we need to keep them back now. I did the same back to, you know, like when I was toward the end of my career, I was inviting rider that I knew that they were getting to be faster than me.

But I was not [00:54:00] scared that they were going to beat me because that’s the evolution of the sport. You know, you need to help the young generation to want it to continue to grow. And they look at you and say, you’ve done it before. So I want to be you, you know, and when you turn around and say, let me help you get there, then it’s magical.

Crew Chief Eric: So Stefy, I got one more question. As we wrap up this thought about Sim4STEM screen to speed program and all these different things that you’re working on. And we’ve sort of hinted at this the whole time and you’ve said it, but I want to hear your elevator pitch in a way, you know, a little girl walks up to you in the paddock and says, Stephie, why should I race?

What do you say to them?

Stefy Bau: Well, if they come up to me and say, why should I race? It’s like, first of all, you’re already in the paddock. So you have the bug. And second, let me help you get that desire where it can go. So the sky is the limit always go for it. So if you have a passion, that’s the key though.

It’s passion. So if you have the passion, just keep going in newer, like the negativity because it [00:55:00] comes, we live in a world where we are connected with everybody in your that just keep on working out and keep on going because sooner or later, you’re going to get what you want. Just follow your passion.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, Stephie, we’ve reached that part of the episode where I like to invite our guests. To share any shout outs, promotions, or anything else that we didn’t cover thus far.

Stefy Bau: Now, you know, Dorna is putting together the championship for women in road racing. So that is going to be launched this year. There is movement, you know, in motorcycling too, you know, and I hope that by trying to get girls interested in e sports motorcycling as well, we can kind of continue to feed that system.

Possibly get more women involved. We have the movement that they school screen to speed. My company’s name is in it. So our tagline is be in it. So be part of something to make a difference. So in it, uh, esport. gg can find that the championship that we run in there, you see the two category near motorcycle and sim racing with cars.

And yes, you know, like. This is kind of like what we do. [00:56:00] We do activation, of course, also, and you know, this is part of sim racing. So if you wanted to engage, you know, the female world or like make something that is a little bit different than everybody else, probably we are the one for you.

Trevor Marks: Stefy takes pride in being part of a woman led company, blazing a trail of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

With a cutting edge platform, they are on a mission to eradicate bullying and cheating from the e sports world, ensuring a level playing field where safety and fairness reign supreme. In it e sports is here to unleash a tidal wave excitement, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the gaming realm and motorsports.

To learn more about how you can join them as they revolutionized the motorsports and esports landscape, be sure to log on to initesports. gg or follow them on social at init underscore esports on Twitter, at initesports on Facebook, Instagram and on YouTube.

Crew Chief Eric: And with that, Stefy, I can’t thank you enough for coming on break fix and sharing your story with us.

And I have to say being [00:57:00] paisani, it’s in the DNA to be passionate about motor sports as Italiani, but your passion goes beyond just the heritage and the ethnicity. It comes through in everything you’re doing and the way you speak and the way you’re putting this out there. And I’m excited as a father of two daughters that are entrenched in the motor For world that there are opportunities like this for them to explore when they come of age and they’re getting close to it.

So we’ll be looking to work with you more in the future, but I’m really excited on the foundation you’ve built. And I have really appreciate the way you’re continuing to promote motorsports enthusiasm.

Stefy Bau: Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure to be here. Thank you everybody for listening to my story and I can’t wait to keep providing an opportunity for young girls and anybody that wants to be in this fantastic world of motorsport.

Crew Chief Eric: Grazie.

Stefy Bau: Prego. Ciao, ciao.

Crew Chief Eric: We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Brake Fix Podcast brought to you [00:58:00] 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.

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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 Introduction to Break Fix Podcast
• 00:27 Meet Stefy Bau: From Motorsports to Esports
• 01:36 Stefy’s Early Motorsports Journey
• 04:44 Racing in Italy and Career Highlights
• 14:51 Transition from Racing to Esports
• 16:22 Creating Opportunities for Women in Esports
• 24:28 Sim Racing and Its Impact on Motorsports
• 28:49 Sim Racing Rules and Realism
• 29:53 Digital to Real World Transitions
• 30:56 Screen to Speed: A Success Story
• 32:18 The Future of Sim Racing and Motorsports
• 33:13 Women in Motorsports: Challenges and Opportunities
• 37:35 The Importance of Media Attention
• 48:26 Sim4STEM: Bridging STEM and Motorsports
• 51:43 Stefy’s Inspirations and Career Reflections
• 55:10 Final Thoughts and Future Endeavors

Bonus content available as a #PITSTOP mini-sode.

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