“For me, it’s really important that wherever I end up, I always extend the ladder down so it’s easier for the next generation of girls.”

The first female driver to compete in the Super3 V8 Touring Car Series, Australian V8 Supercar driver Emily Duggan is an ambassador for the FIA Girls on Track Australia program.

Aiming to showcase women role models who have ‘dared to be different’, Girls on Track introduces schoolgirls to the world of STEM and motorsports, sparking the next generation’s interest in the male-led industry.

Girls on Track travelled to the ACT today, 1 April, to spread their message to local girls, and Emily sat down with CW to talk all things car racing, and the importance of female representation.

“All my friends couldn’t wait to turn 18 to drink, but for me? I couldn’t wait to turn 16 so I could get my licence,” Emily smiled.

“I was never good at school, the only thing that I studied was the learner’s booklet – I literally memorised it back to front.”

Girls on Track is an initative close to Emily’s heart, and she said it’s a much-needed program that she’s “thrilled” to be a part of.

“It’s so great to show young girls there’s a community of women out there that are already in the motorsport industry, already trailblazing their way through and creating a path for the next generation to come through,” Emily said.

“It’s really important to show girls there’s a supportive female community in motorsports, but then also showing them how to get into it with our mentor program. So, we are really about giving our experiences out to them.”

When asked what it’s like to be a V8 Supercar driver, Emily’s face lit up with pure exhilaration.

“I love the speed – but it’s not speed in a straight line, it’s speed going around a corner. When you’re committed to a corner, you can go around it at speeds of around 150km,” she smiled.

“That’s the thing that I love the most – the speed through corners. I love the competition too. To be honest, I just want to beat the boys.”

Wanting to leave her mark in the world of motorsports, Emily is focused on improving the future of female V8 Supercar drivers.

“I think that every single girl in motorsports, and I would dare say in a lot of other male dominated industries, just want to make it better for the next ones,” says Emily.

“Within where we are in society, we’re certainly moving forward, but we know it’s probably not going to be our generation that makes it – it’ll be the next one or the one after that.”

Jessica Dane brings FIA Girls on Track to Australia

Responsible for launching the UK-based program in Australia is Jessica Dane, team co-owner and commercial operations officer for Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Realising there was a gap in the market for Girls on Track, Jess felt like it was her way to give back to an industry that had given her so much.

“It sounds very clichéd I know, but I’ve always felt like there was a mark that I needed to leave on the industry somehow and I’m not going to jump behind a wheel like Emily, and I’m not about to win Bathurst or anything,” laughed Jess, “so I needed it to be in a different way and if that means working on equal representation of genders, than that’s what I’ll do.”

Growing up on the track, Jess says she feels fortunate to have been introduced to motorsports through her family.

“It’s in my blood. I lost touch of it a bit in my early to mid-teens, but I went to my first Supercars race when I had just turned 17 which relit the fire for me. It made me realise how much I loved the sport – I can’t imagine my life without it,” Jess said.

“For me, it’s so important that for us women who are in motorsports at the moment, that we’re doing the work now so girls in the future don’t have to go through the battles that we’ve had to. It’s not easy being a female in a male dominated industry.

“But, if we put in the hard work now to make it easier and to open these doors, then the industry, the sport, the community… they’re only going to benefit further down the line.”

As an ambassador, Jess helps run the Girls on Track program, and says the feeling is always so rewarding knowing you’ve opened a young girl’s eyes to possibilities they didn’t know existed.

“The best feeling is when I get to take the girls through a Triple Eight Race Engineering garage and show them the racecars up close. If they’re lucky, they even get to sit in a driver’s seat, and just seeing their faces light up gets me,” says Jess.

“That’s the moment where I think this is why we put in the extra hard work and hours – the labour of love – that’s why we do it.”

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