The post Detota and Warren Climb to the Clouds appeared first on Female Racing News | News about Women in Motorsports.
]]>Chelsmford, MA: 2013 Atlantic Rally Cup winner and all-women team of Erika Detota and Mary Warren will attack the famous road to the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire as part of a fifth round of Rally America National Championship series seen on NBC Sports Network.
The historic event, also known as the “Climb to the Clouds” is organized by the Sports Car Club of New Hampshire and will be a 3-day motorsports festival including a 75-car competition field filled with some of the best drivers from around the world. The race is one of America’s oldest motorsports events, first run in July, 1904, twelve years before the inaugural Famous Pikes Peak Hillclimb. The Climb to the Clouds was held sporadically through the years. Following a ten-year hiatus, the Hillclimb returned in 2011 as part of the 150th anniversary celebration of the Mt. Washington Auto Road, first opened on August 8, 1861. The team will drive the same 7.6 mile course, but this year it is nearly 87% asphalt and only 13% still gravel. The challenging road is lined with trees on the lower half with dramatic drop-offs as it winds up to the 6,288 foot summit of the Northeast’s tallest peak – Mt. Washington.
“We are very excited to be invited to such a prestigious event,” said Detota. “Mary and I are honored to be given the chance to test our skills alongside the current record holder. I’m hoping our tarmac experience will help us.”
At the 2011 running of the event David Higgins set a new overall course record of 6:11.54 in a Subaru WRX STi. Detota’s Subaru Impreza 2.5 is not equipped with the same power and traction as Higgin’s, but the team is hoping to record one of the fastest times up for an all-woman team.
“I am interested to see how we do on such a steep incline at the highest altitude we have ever raced” says Detota’s navigator Mary Warren. “We will be writing our own notes for the climb which will be key to carry speed up the mountain.”
Team RallyErika will bring a new sponsor with them to Mount Washington – DriveSafer. DriveSafer, provides the premier teen car control and defensive driving courses in the US, preparing students to control their vehicles in the face of real-world distractions and dangers that take thousands of lives annually. “Last year I started working with the awesome group of people at DriveSafer. It has been amazing to have the opportunity to instruct and help people become better drivers. It’s great to have DriveSafer with me at the Climb to the Clouds.”, says Erika.
Detota’s car is also the only 2WD Subaru in the rally car class. “It is not a perfect set up against the 2WD field racing up the mountain, as our car is build specifically for rally stages, but we are hoping for a good result.”
Rally America portion of the event will consist of almost 27 competitive stage miles. While the other hillclimb teams practice on Friday and Saturday, rally team’s times will count for the final result at the event. The hillclimb will feature an open public paddock where the fans can get an up close look at the cars, meet teams and get autographs.
Team RallyErika is supported by Ruge’s Subaru of Rhinebeck, NY, Keep a Breast Foundation, DriveSafer LLC, Spy Optics, Exedy Racing Clutch, HMS Motorsport, Flat Out Automotive, DBA USA and Whiteline.
Please visit https://www.drivesafer.com for more information
Ruge’s Subaru Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/RugesSubaru
Erika Detota Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RallyErika
For more information about Erika Detota go to www.RallyErika.com
PHOTO CREDIT: JORDAN APGAR
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]]>The post All Woman Rally Team Preps for Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally appeared first on Female Racing News | News about Women in Motorsports.
]]>Rally driver Tracey Gardiner and co-driver Tabitha Lohr will participate in the fourth round of the Rally America National Championship, Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR) on May 30-31 in Wellsboro, PA.
Tracey and Tabitha will commandeer their Toyota Yaris in the B-SPEC category as the only all-female team competing in this national event. The team recently finished second in class at February’s Rally in the 100 Acre Wood, which was the first event finish for the team this year. Rally America allows teams to drop two events from a team’s season points totals, and Tracey will have used these two drops after she skipped the Oregon Trail Rally. Tracey and Tabitha will now need a finish at STPR to attempt to close the points gap on B-SPEC’s driver leader James Robinson, and finish strongly in the remaining events on the national calendar.
Hailing from North Providence R.I., Tracey is a mom, successful rally driver and considered a female expert in the world of motoring, delivering hands on workshops on defensive driving, teamwork, leadership and personal development. Tracey is a qualified driving instructor in both Rhode Island and Colorado, daily testing the abilities necessary to hold a driver’s license for public roads.
Though first impressions might be of a quiet reserved mom, her reputation for bringing people beyond their perceived limitations grows every day. Her unique and inspirational story shows there is no limit to what you can achieve at any stage in your life with the right attitude, determination, focus and commitment. Maintaining femininity and grace in the motorsport world, Tracey and Tabitha have not let adversity or obstacles get in the way of their dreams. “Dedication, persistence and hard work will take you incredibly far,” says Tracey, “Never let negativity or gender get in the way.”
The STPR Rally is the oldest race on the schedule running since 1977, and one of the fastest rallies in North America. Top names like Ken Block will compete alongside top international rally driver David Higgins, with many home town regional drivers on the very same stages. While NASCAR might be the descendant of old “whiskey running days,” cars exceeding 100 miles per hour through densely woods on slippery, fast and extremely dangerous clay and gravel roads is guaranteed to bring back the excitement of those bygone days.
All the STPR Rally action is scheduled to be televised on the NBC Sports Network on June 28th at 6pm EDT.
About TagRallySport:
TagRallySport is a woman-owned, new-age motor sports marketing company with locations in R.I. and Colorado.
- See more at: http://rally-america.com/news/entry/national-all-female-rally-team-prepares-for-stpr-rally
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]]>The post Ramona Roughs through the Second World Rallycross Event appeared first on Female Racing News | News about Women in Motorsports.
]]>By: Erika Detota
The Second World RX competition in Lydden Hill, England, ended up being a difficult one for Sweden’s Ramona Karlsson.
As the first & only woman to race in the championship, she was fresh off of proving herself as a respected competitor in the first round in Portugal by making it to the semi final round. However, she didn’t get the chance to keep building on that success at Lydden Hill. ”I had problems with the installation of the launch control revs” Ramona said. “I was very unsatisfied” she added. She was 4th and 2nd in the two qualifying heats on Saturday, but fell to a 25th place during the race.
By Sunday Ramona’s team had the chance to make some big adjustments to the car which seemed to help her push harder. This momentum quickly came to an end with a flat tire in her heat which caused her to lose control of the car at one point, dropping to 30th overall.
“My goal was to make it to the semi final as I did last competition, so I’m of course disappointed with the result. The positive thing is that we finally found good settings, and that the lap times were improving. This was the first time for me on his track and with this conditions, and sometimes you need to accept that you don’t find the right settings and speed at once. After all, I’ve got valuable experiences from this weekend that I will take with me to next race” Ramona says.
It has been an exciting year for women in Rallycross! Fellow rally driver, Emma Gilmour became the first and only,thus far woman to race in the Red Bull Global Rallycross series. The 2 ladies in paralleling world level championships will hopefully help more women to come into the sport in the future. Both Emma and Ramona got their start in performance rally and have extensive driving resumes, it will be exciting to watch them among their respected rallycross series.
Ramona’s next competition is in Norway in three weeks.
Photo Credit: Johnny Loix
For results, go to www.rallycrossrx.com .
More about Ramona Karlsson Rallycross: www.ramonarx.com/en/
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]]>The post Strong Finish For Ekaterina Stratieva & Carmen Poenaru at Rallye Açore appeared first on Female Racing News | News about Women in Motorsports.
]]>Mission accomplished for FIA European Rally Championship’s leading ladies
Ekaterina Stratieva & Carmen Poenaru returned to the FIA ERC 2WD Championship on SATA Rallye Açores last week and achieved her aim of a finish in the highly competitive category. The historic event is based on the Portuguese island of São Miguel in the Azores and is known to be amazingly picturesque.
Stratieva came home 12th in class, switching from ERC 2WD to the ERC Production Car Cup for two events. She appeared happy to be back in her familiar Citroën C2R2 for the all-gravel event. She recently raced a Subaru AWD car in production class at Acropolis Rally earlier this year.
“I know that I can do more and be better but from other side I must be happy that we get to the finish of this very hard event,” said the Bulgarian. “Like people say – if you want to win first you must arrive to the finish. It was very easy to make mistakes and finish early.”
Co-driver, Carmen Poenaru reckons she could have been higher up the order had it not been for a troubled start to the rally.
“I lose the rally from the first day when I lose a good balance in the brakes and I stop to trust them,” the ERC Ladies’ Trophy leader said. “It was very hard for the first three stages to stay on the road. Then there was a problem with the gearshift and I was waiting a long time for some of the stage to start or not happen. But it was a big pleasure to be in the C2 again and I hope also Carmen enjoyed our moments together.”
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]]>The post Emma Gilmour Debut at the 1st Round of Global Rally Cross appeared first on Female Racing News | News about Women in Motorsports.
]]>“I learned heaps and kept improving throughout the practise, qualifying and heats. Despite the racing being a big learning curve, I really enjoyed it. I can’t wait for the next round at the X Games in Austin Texas on June 7.”
Dunedin-based Emma is now looking forward to getting back into her Vantage-sponsored Suzuki Swift Maxi for the next round of the Brian Green Property New Zealand Rally Championship, driven by VINZ event at the Canterbury Rally June 1 and 2.
EMMA GILMOUR’S 2014 GLOBAL RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
• May 17-18: Barbados, Top Gear Festival.
• June 7: Austin, X-Games.
• June 21-22: Washington.
• July 19-20: New York.
• July 25-26: Charlotte.
• August 2-3: Detroit.
• August 22-23: Daytona.
• September 19-20: San Pedro.
• September 26-27: Seattle.
• November 5: Las Vegas.
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]]>The post Molly Taylor Ends up with a Strong finish at Rally Portugal appeared first on Female Racing News | News about Women in Motorsports.
]]>Australia’s daughter/mother rally duo, Molly and Coral Taylor, have finished eighth in class after a challenging run in the opening round of the 2014 FIA Junior WRC Championship at Rally de Portugal.
Fourteen JWRC crews in identical Citroën DS3 R3s took part in the weekend event (April 3-6 inclusive), which was run as a sub-category of the World Rally Championship.
“It was a tough event with a lot of ups and downs – literally,” Molly laughs.“There were lots of frustrations, including lack of turbo boost on the very first stage and a puncture and broken rim at the start of a long stage on Day Three. We had to stop and change it and that delay, along with some traffic, made us late for the next stage, so we were hit with a time penalty, but when things were going well, we had some good pace which we were happy with.”
The wet and muddy conditions during pre-event testing meant the Taylors had no baseline set-up for the start, so they played around with car settings as they competed. “I think we came up with a good package,” Molly says. “It’s obviously not ideal to do this during the rally but the car was always strong and it was great for my own development. I feel like I learned and improved myself an incredible amount over the weekend.
Molly, officially ranked as the world’s Number One female rally driver, admits being a bit mixed about the weekend. She says she’s a bit frustrated because she wanted a stronger result, but still able to take a lot of positives away.
“Working with mum has been really special, and it is fantastic to be able to share this with her. She’s a pretty cool mum! She did a great job, as you would expect, and I think a lot of people were surprised at how a mother and daughter can work so well together!”
Four-time Australian champion co-driver Coral Taylor says the event was really tough, but that it was priceless to share the adventure with her daughter. “It was a tough event, but it was an incredible experience to be part of, and I am so proud of Molly and how much she has developed as a driver since I last drove with her, back in 2010” said Coral.
The JWRC class was won by French driver Stéphane Lefebvre, with Germany’s Christian Riedemann in second and Slovakia’s Martin Koci third. The Taylors took four championship points away for their efforts and are confident of adding to that tally when they tackle the next JWRC round in Poland over the weekend of June 26-29.
The JWRC calendar also includes Finland (July 31-August 3), Germany (August 21-24), France (October 2-5) and Great Britain (November 13-16).
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]]>The post Emma Gilmore announces 2014 Global RallyCross Season appeared first on Female Racing News | News about Women in Motorsports.
]]>Hyundai Motor America in conjunction with Rhys Millen Racing (RMR) has announced that the two drivers will join forces for the 10 rounds of the 2014 Global RallyCross Championship (GRC) series. The duo is set to drive the RMR prepared Hyundai Veloster 4WD SuperCars.
“It really is a dream come true. Going to America to race in a professional series with a professional team like Rhys Millen Racing is hard to believe. I have to keep pinching myself to remind myself it isn’t a dream. I am so excited about the opportunity and the new challenge of learning Rallycross. It’s a true privilege to be the first female driver in the GRC series. Also to be joining Australia’s Sarah Burgess [the lady Drifter is expected to race in a Chevrolet Sonic/Aveo RS SuperCar] in making history as the first female X Games Rally car drivers, racing against men, is a great honour,” Gilmour said.
Not only will Emma be the first female to compete in the dirt-and tarmac-based circuits throughout North America but she will also be one of the first two women to race in the action sports phenomenon, the X-Games, in June.
For an elated Gilmour, the announcement is the pinnacle high of her already successful driving career.
Along with her 10-race GRC schedule, Emma is still looking forward to competing in the six-round New Zealand Rally Championship, in the radical, home-built Suzuki Swift Maxi she debuted last season.
Photo & Credit: © Hyundai/ERC24
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]]>The post The 2014 Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles Begins appeared first on Female Racing News | News about Women in Motorsports.
]]>Considered the most prestigious all-women’s motorsport event in the world, 318 women from 25 countries took the start line for the 2014 Gazelle Rally, including four American teams.
Dominique Serra started the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles in 1990 as proof that women can cope in any situation, and to challenge the stereotype that women and the automobile are not compatible. “I could launch a challenge to knit, but I’m not sure it would have the same effectiveness,” she said. Twenty-four years later, the race regularly draws 160 teams.
The rally is split into three class groups: 4x4s, crossovers or SUVs, and ATVs; all three categories follow a different route, but pass the same checkpoints. Each morning, the teams are given coordinates of the day’s checkpoints and finish line, which they navigate with just a compass and a map; the difference between the distance driven and the direct line between the checkpoints is the day’s score. Teams win by driving the least amount of kilometers. With rudimentary navigation equipment — even binoculars are banned, as well as following another team’s course – the event has been said to be more grueling than the Baja 1000 or the Dakar Rally and many have say is the hardest thing they’ve ever done. “The ultimate moving chess game,” media liaison Kirsten Kuhn describes.
Four teams from America will be competing this year. Number 107, Team Hoehn, are sisters from San Diego who recently graduated from Dartmouth College: Jo Hannah majored in art history while Susanah Hoehn studied Roman archaeology. Their family business counts a Range Rover dealership among their 11 franchises; consequently, they will be driving a Range Rover Sport, wrapped in Moroccan tile motife.
JoMarie Fecci, of Team 171, spent most of the 1990s as a photojournalist during conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. In 1998, she was one of the first Americans to cover southern Lebanon during Hezbollah control. She teamed up with her navigator, French schoolteacher Isabelle Nikolic, in 2006 on a documentary about Darfur; the two have been embarking on road trips ever since. The pair will be driving a Jeep Wrangler, a vehicle they’re more than familiar with: the duo once drove 10,000 miles across America.
The Xelles of Team 182 are from Bozeman, Montana, and will be driving for Voice Today, a charity that helps sexual abuse victims. Driver Rachelle Croft, navigator Rhonda Cahill, and their husbands take part in a reality Web series called “Expedition Overland,” where they negotiate the Top of the World Highway from Alaska to Yukon in Toyota Land Cruisers.
Team 183, is Indiana Joans. This is the team’s second year running the rally: driver Emme Hall races Volkswagen desert races for Mega Monkey Motorsports. Navigator Sabrina Howells splits her time acting and playing in her band. This year, the team will run an Isuzu D-Max pickup truck with butterfly stickers representing survivors of breast cancer.
You can track any of the teams by going to: http://www.rallyeaichadesgazelles.com/en/Rally/2014/live/
www.rallyeaichadesgazelles.com
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]]>The post Indiana Joans Head to Rallye Aicha des Gazelles appeared first on Female Racing News | News about Women in Motorsports.
]]>Well, we leave this weekend for 24th Edition of the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles, and we couldn’t have done it with out all the help our friends, family, and partners gave to us!
Special shout out to Resqme, who came in at the last minute to help us with the truck rental. They make a fantastic handheld recovery device, with a seat belt cutter and a spring loaded hammer to shatter a window. We all hope we won’t ever need an emergency tool, but having one of these on your key chain is an easy insurance policy. www.resqme.com
You can follow us in real time while we’re in Morocco! Starting next week, just go to www.aichagazellerally.com and you can find daily photos and videos, see how close we are to the checkpoint, and even send us messages! We are team 183.
Other US teams are 107 The Hoehn Sisters, 172 US Nomads, and 182 Team X-Elles.
We thank each and everyone of you who helped us get to the Gazelle Rally. We are entered in the Media Challenge, with the chance to win 15000 Euros for FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered. We’ll be blogging back to www.tflcar.com as much as we can.
Again, thank you, everyone! We’ll do our best to make you proud!
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]]>The post Ekaterina Stratieva Talks About her Rally Future appeared first on Female Racing News | News about Women in Motorsports.
]]>Article Courtesy of Handbrakes & Hairpins www.h&h.com & FIA | Photo: IRC Media
Ekaterina Stratieva is the ERC Ladies Trophy runner up for 2013. We caught up with her to talk about her new Subaru Impreza, her aims for the FIA European Rally Championship and the Acropolis Rally of Greece at the end of March.
Q: What made you become a rally driver?
ES: “It was my childhood dream! One day, maybe when I was around five or six years old I saw one French female crew in Bulgaria on an international event. This was the moment that I said to myself that one day I want to be also like them.”
Q: What’s the best thing about driving rally cars?
ES: “For me it’s amazing when I am driving and I can feel the car. We are in balance and I can play or dance with the car and the notes from my co-driver Carmen Poenaru sound like a song. In moments like this the feeling is amazing and we are like three in one.”
Q: What is your greatest achievement in rallying so far?
ES: “Hmmmm… I have lot of moments that are special for me and I will remember all my life, but maybe the cherry on the cake was in 2012 when I won the Richard Burns Award. At that moment I was the first female and also the first Bulgarian driver that won this prize. It was an amazing moment for me!”
Q: What’s the best thing about the ERC? (European Rally Championship www.fiaerc.com)
ES: “The challenge that I face. Every time there is a new place! Every rally is completely different than the other! Every year the ERC and Eurosport try to find something new and to grow rally sport.”
Q: What’s your target for this season?
ES: “To do my best. God will do the rest.”
Q: What’s your ambition for the future?
ES: “My ambition is finally to have luck with Carmen so we can participate on another level. Like all other crews, we need one serious sponsor.”
Q: How has your season gone so far?
ES: “This year my season didn’t start so good. The Jänner Rallye was not our best event and in Latvia unfortunately the car was with problem from the first stage. But we never give up! Like I like to say: things that don’t kill me make me stronger! We are positive with Carmen and we hope for better luck on the Acropolis Rally.”
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