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)