Over two consecutive days towards the middle of October dozens of local schoolgirls were treated to an introduction into motorsport at the W5 Science Museum in Belfast.
Day one saw children of primary age get a taste of the various roles within motor sport, whilst day two was geared towards those in early secondary education. With similar activities for both groups, it was great to attend on the second day of this event to see first-hand what opportunities there are.
Organised by Motorsport UK and ably assisted by the Association of Northern Ireland Car Clubs (ANICC), who drafted in a fantastic amount of female volunteers who are involved with motorsport locally. It was brilliant to see the female competitors, time-keepers, medics and admin’s pass on their knowledge.
On speaking to the main lady behind this programme, this is what she had to say, “My name is Jenny Fletcher. I am the Girls on Track UK programme manager and I manage girls on track for Motorsport UK, which is the governing body of all four-wheeled Motorsports in the UK.
“So the girls are coming today to get their first experience into motorsport. They’ll come this morning not really knowing much about the sport. And we’re trying to showcase that it is not just for boys, and it’s not just about the driving. There are two drivers for a Formula One team and 1,500 people that work behind the scenes to get that car racing on the track.
“So we have a selection of activities that the girls are taking part in today, trying to really make STEM [learning] and motorsport something that they can get excited about. So we’re here at the W5 Science Museum, where part of the day we’ll be looking at some of the motorsport themed attractions that they have in the museum.
“They have a bit of a free flow through that tour. Then we’re working with Sentinus, which is a local STEM based programme, and centres work with lots of schools in the area on trying to make science STEM fun for kids.
“They’ve designed a ‘design a circuit’ activity for the girls to do where they have to design a circuit thinking about number of turns, thinking about having some kind of bridge, using their mathematical and scientific skills, thinking about friction and speed, and all of that kind of stuff just to bring it to life.”
Jenny continued, “A ‘Sphero Bolt Activity’ is led by the museum and that is a coding based task where they need to create a small code for the little robot effectively, and the robot will have to complete a maze or a challenge that the girls will be in charge of telling it what to do. So again, thinking about all the way that, that relates to motorsport and software design and all of that kind of thing.
“Then we have some really fun reaction games. We have a pit-stop challenge where the girls will work as a team to try and change the wheels on a mini Formula One car. It’s always competitive, always exciting, but it’s making them think about mechanics or technicians and the importance of that in a race.
“Also looking at the different tyre types and thinking why might we change your tyre? What’s the difference on the tread between a slick tyre and a wet tyre? All of that kind of thing? And then how do strategists get involved.
“Then we also have some Batak reaction games, so thinking about the importance of a driver needing to have really sharp reactions, but also why we need to be reacting and alert all the time in our everyday life. So we have a Batak-like machine, which is a bit like a whack-a-mole. So they have 30 seconds to hit as many lights as they can.
“They do it cold to start with, then they do some tennis ball dropping reaction games to try and build-up and warm up their reactions. Then they repeat it and hopefully they’ve got a better score.
“And then finally, downstairs we’ve an amazing display of different show cars. So we’ve got a couple of karts with some of the girls that are here today, we’ve got a single-seater car and we’ve got a couple of rally cars as well. So just trying to demonstrate the variety that motorsport can offer, and learning about what age you can get started, how you might get involved if they’re thinking about the competing side in the future.”
ANICC Chairman, Wilson Carson said, “We are delighted to welcome the Motorsport UK Girls on Track schools event here in Northern Ireland, with girls from across the community coming together to enjoy this opportunity to learn what opportunities and career paths there are within our sport.
“It’s fantastic to see the enthusiasm and interactions of the girls with the volunteers from across the board of NI motorsport. Hopefully this is the first on many similar events we can host in the region and we can continue to work together to increase female participation in all areas of the sport.”
ANICC Secretary, Grace King commented, “As the NI Girls on Track Hub Co-Ordinator, I am excited to be able to bring the first Girls on Track Schools Event to Northern Ireland. Our aim is to inspire girls and women into seeing and believing that there is a rightful and valuable place for them in the motorsports industry, and introducing them to the varied range of opportunities within our sport.
“I have been overwhelmed by the support from our motorsport community and cannot thank everyone enough who gave so willingly of their time over the past two days, we couldn’t have pulled it off without each and every one of them. We are thrilled with the positive feedback we have received, and are looking forward to planning more events of this nature in the future.”
Well done to all involved, and here’s hoping that some of the next generation of our sport have been inspired.
