Ashley Taws

Ashley Taws made her name as a successful young Canadian Formula Ford driver between 2000 and 2002, recognisable for her pink, "Barbie"-sponsored car. 

She was a race-winner at 1200cc level and scored seconds and thirds in her one season of 1600cc competition. 

She first raced a car in 2000, driving a 1200cc Formula Ford. This followed a karting career which had begun when she was nine. She was 16 at the time. In only her first season, she won two races, and she was second in the championship in 2001. By this time, she had brokered a sponsorship deal with Mattel and Wal-Mart, tying in with a co-promotion for "Be Anything With Barbie". Ashley drove a pink car with Barbie decals and made personal appearances at Canadian Wal-Mart stores close to tracks where she was racing. This was one of the most high-profile and successful female-oriented brand sponsorships in motorsport.

She moved up to the more competitive 1600cc class in 2002. Immediately, she was on the pace, finishing third in Round 1 at Mosport. This was one of two podium finishes she scored that year, on her way to championship fourth. She had tied with third-placed Chris Guerrieri on points, but he got third due to a win.

Her career was almost ended by a serious road traffic accident at the end of 2002, when she suffered injuries to her spine, left leg and internal organs. She had been a passenger in a friend's car. Seven months later, she was back out in the Formula Ford, at Toronto Molson Indy. Despite a cautious drive, she was fourth in her first race back. A third place at Trois-Rivieres helped her to championship seventh, but she dropped out after the fifth round as she was not feeling as comfortable in the car as she would like.

For a while, she stopped competing, bar a single guest appearance in the Honda Michelin Challenge in 2004. She was thirteenth at Mosport, driving a Civic.

She only returned to motorsport in 2007, in a BMW in the Canadian Touring Car Championship, and later, in 2008, a CASCAR stock car. Both cars carried Barbie sponsorship again. Although she showed promise, finishing second in only her third CASCAR race, she did not take to oval racing and quit in 2009. She is now pursuing a business career, working as an insurance broker.

(Image copyright AIM Autosport)

Jenny Tudor-Owen

Jenny Tudor-Owen raced and rallied, mostly in Europe, during the 1960s. She normally drove British cars.

Her first car, lent to her in 1962 by John Coombs, was a Mini, which she crashed. Her then-boyfriend Mike Parkes built her another Mini, in which she qualified on pole for her first race at Brands Hatch, only to over-rev on the startline due to valve bounce. 

She quickly moved on to an MGB. This particular car is the one most associated with her, and she raced several different versions. The first of these was run by Barwells in 1963. 

In 1964, she was fourth in the Copenhagen Cup at the Roskildering. Her MGB was the first one to race in Denmark.

Tracking down her race results has proved difficult, but she did enter at least some of the Freddie Dixon Challenge Trophy and other club meetings organised by the BARC and BRSCC. The MGB was often up against much more powerful cars, such as Ferrari 250s and Jaguar E-Types. Among her rivals were Jackie Stewart, Bernard Unett and Alan Minshaw. Her best result in the MG, in the UK at least, was a fifth place at Oulton Park in June. Later in the year, she tried out a Lotus Elan for a couple of races, and she was third at Mallory Park in a 1600cc GT race. 

The Elan was her main focus in 1965, although it looks to have been a much shorter season for her. The biggest event on her calendar was an early-season race at Goodwood for small-engined sportscars, in which she was eleventh. She also tried out single-seaters, in the shape of a Formula Vee. 

After another spell in the MGB, which included an entry in a BWRDC ladies' race at Oulton Park in 1967, she acquired a Jaguar E-Type, which she used in 1967 and 1968, winning the 1968 BWRDC Racing championship following an outright second place at Thruxton. She had been leading the race on a wet track and recovered from a spin to hold on to the runner-up spot.

Racing a Bamford MGB at Oulton Park in October 1968, she managed to crash during practice and write off the car at Cascades. Her accident was overshadowed by James Hunt famously throwing an Alexis Formula Ford in the lake at the same meeting. That year, she also raced an E-Type for Warren Pearce's team. 

On the rallying side, she is best known for her Coupe des Dames in the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon, driving a Volvo 145. She was part of a four-woman team with Elsie Gadd, Anthea Castell and Sheila Kemp. The car belonged to Elsie Gadd, who had no rallying experience, so she hired Jenny and Sheila as her lead drivers. They were 41^st overall, just in front of Jean Denton’s MGB, which had been the favourite for the Ladies’ prize. They had their share of troubles, including a fire in the car's battery in the closing stages in Australia, and large cracks in the car's bodywork, which needed to be welded, after crossing the gravel roads of Turkey and the Middle East.

After the London-Sydney, Jenny disappears from the entry lists. Her marriage ended and she seemed to retire from motorsport completely, although she occasionally popped up in the papers. One such appearance was in the Kent Evening Post in 1970, where the "really expert driver" opined that other women drivers "don't concentrate enough".

She moved to America and then South Africa, where she used her skills at the wheel as a film stunt performer. She also bred Pekinese dogs successfully.

(Image courtesy of Greening Australia)

Cindy Gudet

Cindy Gudet is a championship-winning French hillclimber who has made the jump from speed events to sportscar racing.

Her background is predominantly hillclimbs, although not exclusively. She made guest appearances in rallies and in ice racing for several seasons before making the switch to sportscars on circuits in 2024.

She has been successful in hillclimbing since 2017, winning six national titles in production sportscars, most notably a Revolt 2P0 prototype. In 2023, she signed up for the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup, a single-make rally championship based in Germany, running as an official FFSA Academy entry with Cecile Marie as co-driver. Sarah Rumeau, a future French champion and Iron Dames driver, was also selected. After a guest appearance in the Rallye Regional de Quercy, driving a Peugeot 106, she was tenth in the Opel class in her first event in the car, the Rally Sulingen. Her best result of the year was a sixth place in her home Opel event, the Rallye Vosges Grand-Est. Her final position on the e-Rally Cup leaderboard was eighth, after six to-ten finishes.

As well as the ADAC series, she did another French regional rally in a Peugeot 208 R2, finishing the Savoie-Chautagne National Rallye in 29th place, from 58 finishers.

Her circuit career began in 2022, although on ice rather than on asphalt. She was invited to contest the Andros Stars ice racing series, which used electric cars and was open to selected guest drivers only, from the worlds of motorsport, other sport and celebrity. This seems to have been her first experience of driving on a track with other cars around her. She must have impressed Yvan Muller's team, which took her on for the 2023-2024 season as a driver in the Elite class. This was the last running of the Andros Trophy.

In 2024, she raced on the circuits, entering the GT4 European Series in a Toyota GR Supra, sharing with Gabriela Jilkova. Their car was run by Matmut Evolution, Jerome Policand's team, which had been taking steps to support female talent in the past season or so.

They were seventh in their class, with two podium finishes, a third place in Round 1 at Paul Ricard and another third at the season finale in Jeddah.

Driving solo, Cindy was fifth in the Ligier European Series, with her best finish being second at Portimao. She did almost the full season, only missing the Spa races, driving for the M Racing team. She was their highest-placed finisher in the squad.

She and Gabriela were signed again to race in the Supra in the 2025 GT4 European Series. She will also do another season in the Ligier. 

(Image copyright Cindy Gudet)

Arianna Casoli

Arianna Casoli races in the Whelen Euro NASCAR series. The Italian is the most prolific female driver in the championship and is one of its longest-standing competitors.

It was in 2016 that she first strapped herself into a stock car, aged 42. She raced in the Elite 2 development class and her car was a Ford, one of the championship's stock bodies. Her best finish was 15th, at Adria, and she was 19th in the championship, although she was that year’s top lady driver. Prior to her first races, she had only done a little testing in a car that was the most powerful and heaviest thing she had ever driven.

She fared better at the wheel of a CAAL Racing Chevrolet in 2017, almost getting into the top ten at Venray. She was 15th overall that year.

Another season in Elite 2 in 2018 gave her a championship 17th. She improved this to 15th in 2019, with a best finish of twelfth at Zolder.

An accident in 2020 threatened to end her Euro NASCAR adventure, but she completed the four-round championship, finishing tenth with a best finish of fifth at Zolder.

A full championship ran in 2021, with Arianna in the EuroNASCAR2 class. She was 18th in the championship, with one top-ten finish, a tenth place at Most.

She did a part-season in the same class in 2022, with a best finish of 17th at Brands Hatch. This was repeated in 2023.

Another EuroNASCAR season in 2024 ended with a trip to Brazil for the final rounds of the NASCAR Brazil series.

Prior to 2016, she raced in a number of one-make series in Italy, including the Saxo and MGF Cups, beginning in 1996, when she was 22. Her first car was a Renault Clio. This stopped in 2002 so she could finish her education and have children. She began racing seriously again in 2015 in the SEAT Ibiza Cup in Italy, having made a guest appearance in 2013 with her friend Valentina Albanese.

(Image copyright @suomi1985)

The TC2000 Carrera de la Mujer

The Carrera de la Mujer ("Race of Women") is a recurring event held at the end of the TC 2000 season in Colombia. It is a female-only race run in aid of breast cancer charities. The 2024 edition was the seventh running; it is not an annual event.

It is for saloon cars of the type found racing in Colombian TC 2000, and cars of a variety of ages can take part. Grids are normally fairly large and consist of female TC 2000 regulars, celebrities, media and other guest drivers who are competing for charity. The race is a sprint, usually lasting 20 minutes. Drivers can compete solo or with a co-driver, who does not have to be female.

Details of the race are sketchy, although each edition is numbered, which helps a little. It isn't clear when the first race was held, although it was not before 2013. Entry lists, results and winners are similarly difficult to find.

Below is the beginning of a timeline for the Carrera de la Mujer, with winners where they are known.

I

II (2014)

III (2015)

IV

V

VI (2022) 

Angelica Jaimes (Renault)

VII (2024)

Teresa Penuela (Renault)

 

(Image copyright TC 2000)

Carla Costa

Carla and Barbara Costa

Carla Costa is a Portuguese driver from the Azores, Portuguese-administered islands in the Atlantic.

Her career began as far back as 1998 and her first car was a Renault 4, an unlikely rally car. Nevertheless, she used it between 1998 and 2002, before replacing it with a sportier Citroen AX.

It was in 2005 that she started competing regularly, using a 1200cc Renault Clio. Co-driven by Elisabete Nunes, she won her class in two events: the Rali FM Ilha Azul and the Alem Mar Ilha Lilas rally. 

The first part of her career ends here. She did not compete again for ten years, but made her return in 2015, entering the Azores Ladies' Trophy, a women-only rally series with its own events. Her car was a Citroen Saxo and her co-driver was her daughter, Barbara. They won the last event of the championship, the Especial Sprint da Riviera, outright, after third places in the two previous rounds. This was enough to secure her the ladies' championship title.

She competed in the Ladies’ Trophy again in 2016, and won the first two rounds, the Rali Regional Vila Nova and the Rali Praia da Vittoria. A retirement in the third round dropped her to third in the championship. Her car was a Renault Clio.

Her navigator since that year was still her daughter, and the pair continued to rally together for the first couple of events in 2017. With Rul Avila, Carla won two "Ladies & Veterans" rallies outright in the 2017 Azores championship. She was driving the Clio.

She was back in mixed competition in 2018, still in the Clio. She earned two top-twenty finishes in the Sical and Ilha Graciosa rallies.

In 2019, she was second in the Azores ladies' championship, first in the asphalt series, with a best finish of 22nd in the Acoreana Rali. This year, she had several different co-drivers, the most frequent being Lisandra Inacio.

After a year off during the first part of the worldwide coronavirus crisis, she returned to the stages for the 2021 PicoWines Rali, finishing 26th. This was followed up by another win in the 2022 Azores Ladies' championship and had a best finish of eighth in the Rali Ilha Graciosa, driving a Renault Clio.

She was very active again in the Clio in 2023, finishing thirteenth in the Azores championship and scoring another eighth spot in the Ilha Graciosa Rally.

Another Azores championship season proceeded in 2024, including a sixth place in Especial Sprint Motorshow. She ended the year Azores ladies' champion again and was 16th in the championship.

Her son Diogo and husband Joao have both competed as co-drivers and drivers. In 2024, Carla, Joao and Diogo all drove in the Rali Alem Mar - Ilha Lilas event. Joao was 20th, Carla was 30th and Diogo crashed out.

Rafaela Ferreira

Rafaela Ferreira races single-seaters in Brazil. She began her senior career in 2023, after several years in karting and some tests in F3 and F4 cars. She had been active in karting since the age of eight, inspired by her father who raced and built karts.

After a couple of races in Formula Inter in the States, which uses the same car as US F4, she took away two fourth places, and was ready to tackle Brazilian F4.

Her first race at Interlagos in Brazilian F4 led to an 11th place, then a sixth and a ninth. At the time, she was the first female driver to race in the championship.

In 2023, she gradually improved over the season, taking her first podium in December with third at Interlagos. She was thirteenth in the championship.

She entered the 2024 F4 Brazil series a stronger driver. The first race of the season ended in a third place for her at Velo Citta, followed by a seventh and then a second. A couple of indifferent races at Interlagos followed, but when the championship returned to Velo Citta, she scored her first win. She won again at the away round in Buenos Aires, as well as picking up a second place, one of nine podiums during the year. Inerlagos had always been something of a bogey track for her, but by the end of the season, she even managed a second there. She was fourth in the championship.

At the end of 2024, she was signed by Racing Bulls for their 2025 F1 Academy entry, driving for the Campos team. She may also do some additional racing.

(Image from Brazilian F4)