Formula Woman, which was known as the Privilege Insurance Formula Woman Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a female-only one make racing series started in 2004 in the UK. It was inspired by the lack of female drivers in other series and was created, amongst other reasons, to boost the female audience of the sport. In November 2020 it was announced that Formula Woman would be making a come-back in 2021.

Original series

In 2004, all 16 drivers raced

Mazda RX-8 The Mazda RX-8 is a sports car manufactured by Japanese automobile manufacturer Mazda between 2002 and 2012. It was first shown in 2001 at the North American International Auto Show. It is the successor to the RX-7 and, like its predecessors in ...

s over seven rounds around four

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

racing circuits. For 2005, support was dropped by Mazda and instead drivers competed in

Caterham 7 The Caterham 7 (or Caterham Seven) is a super-lightweight sports car produced by Caterham Cars in the United Kingdom. It is based on the Lotus Seven, a lightweight sports car sold in kit and factory-built form by Lotus Cars, from 1957 to 1972. A ...

2004

The inaugural season of Formula Woman was based around a television series in ITV. Thousands of women applied to join, with ultimately 17 drivers being chosen to compete. Experienced motoring journalist

Vicki Butler-Henderson Victoria Jemma Butler-Henderson (born 16 February 1972) is a British racing driver, former presenter of ''Top Gear'' and current presenter of ''Fifth Gear''. Biography Butler-Henderson was born into a racing family. Her grandfather used to race ...

hosted the ITV show, while racing drivers

Katherine Legge Katherine Anne Legge ( ; born 12 July 1980) is a British professional auto racing driver, competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. She is also featured in ''Richard Hammond's Crash Course''. Racing career Early racing and Atlantics ...

and

Tim Harvey Tim Harvey (born 20 November 1961) is a British racing driver, best known for being the 1992 British Touring Car Champion, and the 2008 and 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain champion. A household name in the 1990s, Harvey won sixteen race ...

were both part of the judging panel. Legge left for unknown reasons early into the selection process.

Race calendar

Championship standings

The 2004 championship was won by

Natasha Firman Natasha Firman (born 22 June 1976) is an English racing driver and winner of the inaugural Formula Woman championship in 2004. On the way to that victory, she achieved two wins and four third places out of seven races. She later set new enduranc ...

2005

Formula Woman returned in 2005 using Caterham 7s after Mazda withdrew support. The series was run as a Nations Cup. Natalie Butler from England won the 2005 Championship.

Entry list

Following the end of the season in November, a novices race weekend was held at

Pembrey Pembrey (Welsh: ''Pen-bre'') is a village in Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated between Burry Port and Kidwelly, overlooking Carmarthen Bay, with a population of about 2,154 in 2011. The electoral ward having a population of 4,301. It is in the ...

, South Wales, using exclusive Caterham 7 race cars, with a record 62 women competing. The four race winners were automatically given entry to the 2006 Formula Woman championship.

Novice Race winners

2006

The series continued in 2006, again using the Caterham 7 car but without any television coverage. Ultimately, Nikki Welsby won the championship. The series was not renewed for 2007.

New Formula Woman series

In November 2020, it was announced that Formula Woman would be making a come-back. The series opened for applicants in March 2021 with a view to the series starting in the autumn of the same year with an accompanying television package. The new competition prize will offer winners the opportunity to race a McLaren 570S GT4 in the British GT Cup Championship that 16 drivers will compete for. The series secured major sponsorship including

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

, Trade Centre,

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

, and many more. Test days have taken place at circuits including

Knockhill Knockhill Racing Circuit is a motor racing circuit in Fife, Scotland. It opened in September 1974 and is Scotland's national motorsport centre. The circuit is located in the countryside about north of Dunfermline. It is the only FIA approved ...

and

Anglesey Circuit The Anglesey Circuit ( cy, Trac Môn) is a motor racing circuit located in Ty Croes, Anglesey, Wales. It plays host to a variety of motorsport events including car racing, motorcycle racing, car sprints, stage rallies and drifting. It open ...

. As of December 2021, the assessments for the final driver decisions were on-going following a test day at

Bedford Autodrome Bedford Autodrome is an autodrome based on the former site of RAE Bedford, in the village of Thurleigh, Bedfordshire. It is owned by former Formula One driver Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation. The autodrome It is built on the n ...

using Vauxhall Corsa-e cars. In March 2022, the competition progressed to select 15 finalists from 70, with more selections involving a track kart test at

Croft Croft may refer to: Occupations * Croft (land), a small area of land, often with a crofter's dwelling * Crofting, small-scale food production * Bleachfield, an open space used for the bleaching of fabric, also called a croft Locations In the Uni ...

to achieve 10, followed by a future final race for four contestants.Sara Misir makes cut! … Through to top 15 of Formula Woman
Caribbean National Weekly, 4 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022

References

External links

{{Official website, https://www.formulawoman.co.uk/ Sports car racing series One-make series