June 11th, 2010

Announcing: DLAW’s Michele Shapiro Will Participate in the Mongolia Rally to Benefit GoHelp

Drive Like A Woman Editor-in-Chief Michele Shapiro will be participating in the Mongolia Rally this July. They will be driving a 1992 Land Rover Defender 127 Ambulance. The team also raised money for the charity GoHelp. To donate to Team Mongolia Charity Ambulance Click Here. In addition to raising money for GoHelp, upon arrival in Ulaan Baatar the team will donate the ambulance to a local hospital.

Her team includes: Parag Khanna, the Director of the Global Governance Initiative and Senior Research Fellow in the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation. Khanna is also the author of the critically acclaimed book The Second World. Mikhail Zeldovich, an independent investment and business consultant, specializing in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, with a particular interest in natural resources and renewables.

We will provide updates as regularly as possible.

June 10th, 2010

Women Race Cars in the West Bank

Women are racing cars in the West Bank. They are partially funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Britain.

“Driving is driving. There is no difference between women and men,” says Suna Aweida, one of the female drivers. And many of the men are supportive of women entering the sport. “I think it is good that women are competing against us,” says male driver Joseph Handal.

June 08th, 2010

Breaking News: Oprah Closes Exclusive Deal with GM for her OWN Network

When Ms. Oprah Winfrey decided to start her own network, appropriately named OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network), we knew it would be a big deal. She now just closed a major deal with GM to advertise on the site. According to the New York Post (Oprah’s people declined to comment), it’s a two-year deal and would give GM exclusivity in the auto category for some programs.

While at the April upfronts with advertisers Winfrey said she wanted to keep “inspiring people and giving them hope—and some cars.” A reference to when she gave away new Pontiacs to her entire audience.

What is interesting is clearly GM is making a big investment here in the women’s market. We have written quite a few recent posts about car companies overseas vying for the women’s market. Looks like this might be a long overdue trend in the U.S. as well.

June 07th, 2010

Simona de Silvestro in Terrible Indy Crash

Rookie driver Simona de Silvestro, 21, was in one crazy crash this weekend at the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Though crashes are terrible they are a part of racing, so when it happens they rely upon the safety team to jump in immediately. In this case, there’s some controversy over whether the safety crew was on scene and in action quick enough.

It took them nearly 40 seconds to remove her from the burning car. While that seems quick, when watching the video you can see it was a painfully long time. The good news is that de Silvestro amazingly walked away with minor injuries.

June 04th, 2010

Female Driver in Maruti India Ad

Watch this clever ad from Maruti in India marketing their Swift car.

June 03rd, 2010

UK Prime Minister’s Wife Dismisses Chauffeur to Hire Female Driver

Samantha Cameron, wife of UK Prime Minister David Cameron, decided to dismiss the male chauffeur who drove their kids to school and drove the family to their country estate and instead hired a female driver.

The Telegraph UK reported the story and cited a source as saying “We were told that Mrs Cameron wanted a female driver mainly because she would feel more comfortable if the children were taken to school by a woman rather than a man.”

Chauffeurs for high level politicians are drawn from the Government Car Service (GCS). The Telegraph reported that although the GCS has female drivers, they only represent a small percentage of the drivers.

June 02nd, 2010

15-Year-Old Jessica Dana Beats NASCAR Champ Jeff Gordon in Karting Race

Four-time NASCAR Sprint Car champion, Jeff Gordon, was beat by 15-year-old Jessica Dana in a go-kart race sponsored by his own charity—The Jeff Gordon Foundation. Dana won pole and held every lap thereafter.

Dana, from Olympia, Washington just started karting eight months ago. However, she began drag racing at the age of 8.

So how did the champion react? Dana’s father had this to say about Gordon. “Jeff was out there competing and driving as hard as he could drive,” Troy Dana continued. “He was the first one to go up to Jessie and congratulate her and just made quite a big deal out of how remarkable her driving skills were.”

Click here to donate to The Jeff Gordon Foundation.