mmg.com.au

The all female team of La Femme Academy of Motorsport was burning up the track at Winton at the weekend in the Aussie Racing Cars category.

Established to break through the barriers and promote women into the motor racing industry, the team is certainly turning a few heads. However, you won’t find any bikini clad women here — the La Femme team is serious about its racing.

Team manager Liz Griffiths said La Femme was all about providing opportunities to women in a male-dominated sport.

‘‘In this sport it’s very much who you know, not what you know,’’ she said.

‘‘This is the team’s first year and we’ve been out there testing the waters.

‘‘Next year we’ll run things a little differently.’’

Griffiths said in future she hoped to be able to bring local TAFE students studying subjects such as sport and marketing on board, therefore offering them a fantastic opportunity for hands-on experience and for making contacts within the industry.

‘‘It’s our ambition to one day have an all girl V8 team — I’m determined,’’ she said.

‘‘Even if I’m 80 when it happens.’’

■Aussie Cars is one of Australia’s most popular and strongest supported motor racing categories. The series is recognised as one of the most stable in the industry, having been running for more than 10 years. The Aussie Racing Cars are often viewed as a training ground for potential V8 Supercar drivers and are televised live as part of the V8 Supercar support coverage.

The La Femme Academy of Motorsport offers courses in both driver and team development. Driver development is offered to women who already have some experience in motorsport while the team development course develops the skills of women interested in being involved in motor racing as a member of a pitcrew.

La Femme teaching staff come from a variety of roles within professional motorsport including driving, engineering, team management and health and fitness and are able to provide exclusive guidance across all aspects of a career within the sport.

For further information visit www.lafemmemotorsport.com.au/default.html