DARE TO BE DIFFERENT RACES INTO MIDLANDS AT DAYTONA TAMWORTH
- 100 school girls take part in first ever Midlands’ Dare To Be Different event
- Girls go racing, build a hovercraft, learn media skills and perform pit stops – all in a day!
Known as ‘D2BD’, the non-profit organisation, which has charitable status, aims to inspire, connect and celebrate women in motorsport – the project strives to cover all aspects on and off the track as well as perceived male-dominated industries. D2BD is about inspiring women of all ages and backgrounds to break the mould and shatter perceptions. This year’s D2BD campaign features eight headline events in total and a number of appearances at high profile motorsport events across the country and aims to reach a huge number of girls and women who would not have been exposed to the world of motorsport.
Today’s event at Daytona Tamworth offered a unique experience to 100 girls from a number of primary schools including Sandwell Academy in West Bromwich which is currently working alonside Sky Academy. The Academy (www.skyacademy.com) works with young people to build skills and epxderience using the passion it shares for TV, creativity or sport.After arriving at the venue, the girls went on to experience the thrill of driving single-engine race karts on Daytona Tamworth’s Indy circuit with valuable tuition from Daytona DMAX competition kart racer, Charlotte Manton. This was followed by a host of fun activities organised by STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Network), led by STEM ambassador, Cristiana Pace, which saw the girls working in groups to construct a working hovercraft!
Rosanna Tennant, media ‘face’ of Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team and television presenter, gave the girls a masterclass in TV presenting and Dr Clare Morden from Heartbeatz UK (officially launching in September 2017) was on hand to teach the girls about emergency first-aid, including resuscitation through the rhythm of music.
The Mercedes Formula One race car was also on display (see above) allowing the girls to see an F1 racing car in close proximity.
Under the careful guidance of Daytona Tamworth’s professional mechanics and recent graduate, Ellie Wall, the girls learnt how to actually change a wheel on a race kart in the Pirelli ‘pit stop’ challenge as well as test their reaction speed against the Pirelli Batak.
To add another fun dimension to the day, the accompanying school teachers and teaching assitants were also given the chance to have kart race between themselves. During the lunch break, the hard-working staff took to the wheel on Daytona’s full 1000 metre circuit – to the delight of their respective pupils, who cheered them on from the sidelines.
Although D2BD’s Susie Wolff was not able to be at Daytona Tamworth in person, she was still keeping close tabs on proceedings.
“It’s fantastic to witness such a successful headline event at Daytona’s superb Tamworth circuit – a new territory for the Dare To Be Different campaign. Daytona Motorsport always provides such superb facilities for our events and today was no exception.”
“The whole idea of Dare To Be Different is about pushing girls out of their comfort zones and encouraging them to try something new. Ultimately, we want to see more girls coming into motor sport at grass roots level and looking at the career opportunities within the sport.
“The exciting Dare To Be Different journey continues – and we’re really looking forward to working with Daytona Motorsport later this year at their other superb venues; Milton Keynes and Manchester.”