After three successful years of racing by women in the W Series, using the spec Tatus T318 1.8 litre turbo, the FIA has done an odd step back by creating a women's series using the slower Tatus T421 1.4 litre turbo.

Why?

W series racer Abbi Pulling recently did 50 laps in an F3, (six-cyl, 3.4 litre) and said the car was SO EASY to drive because an F3 car is extremely adaptable to any driver, whereas for some 'economy/equality' reason, the W Series cars were spec and
barely adjustable at all.

Three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick, who had won the UK's GT4 championship at age 16, could not get a seat with any F3 team

So why would the FIA imagine that a big slow F4 'academy' cars is the way to attract women or sponsors?

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On 11/18/22 09:46, bra wrote:

After three successful years of racing by women in the W Series, using the spec Tatus T318 1.8 litre turbo, the FIA has done an odd step back by creating a women's series using the slower Tatus T421 1.4 litre turbo.

Why?

W series racer Abbi Pulling recently did 50 laps in an F3, (six-cyl, 3.4 litre) and said the car was SO EASY to drive because an F3 car is extremely adaptable to any driver, whereas for some 'economy/equality' reason, the W Series cars were spec and

barely adjustable at all.

Three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick, who had won the UK's GT4 championship at age 16, could not get a seat with any F3 team

So why would the FIA imagine that a big slow F4 'academy' cars is the way to attract women or sponsors?

Reformatting and continuing a "W series" for women in open wheel racing
seems to me to be just continuing a failed concept.

If "Three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick" can not get a good
offer, what makes anyone think another year will do the trick?

The "W Series" is not a financial success. It seems to be that
a better way to spend the money is to sponsor Jamie, or another
driver in a series where women have had success in the past.

I think Pippa Mann is correct,
"Pippa Mann, one of GB’s best IndyCar racers has called the
new initiative ‘a backwards step.’ She would prefer to see
women racers encouraged and financially supported in already
existing competitions, elevating them to equal status.
Segregating female racing drivers highlights the perceived
disparity between men and women in motorsport."

A couple women have made decent inroads in Indycar racing.
Danica Patrick has won a race.
Simona de Silvestro has come in 2nd.
An investment in Paretta Autosport might make more sense
than reinventing an entirely new wheel.

see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paretta_Autosport

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On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 9:20:01 PM UTC-7, a425couple wrote:

Danica Patrick has won a race.

on fuel strategy
not speed

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On 20/11/2022 04:19, a425couple wrote:

[snipped]

Reformatting and continuing a "W series" for women in open wheel racing
seems to me to be just continuing a failed concept.

I may be wrong but I was under the impression that W-Series was going to continue so this would, in effect, be a competitor series. If I did
understand that correctly, that makes it harder for the efforts to succeed.

[snipped]

Cheers

Geoff

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W series never had a chance because it got no coverage. If they had gotten even one or two races a year on ESPN/Sky/ect it might have found an audience and some sponsorship money.

One of the perma back marker teams should try to put a female driver in the car, even if she isn't very good it get a ton of media and the money that seems to always come with that. (yes, the super license system makes that really difficult)

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On 11/20/22 00:23, texas gate wrote:

On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 9:20:01 PM UTC-7, a425couple wrote:

Danica Patrick has won a race.

on fuel strategy

That is true.

not speed

Well, partly true. She put herself in position by her speed,
to be one of only 7 on the lead lap, so that she had the fuel
conservation option. And she made it work, while all the
other tried driving too fast, so had to pit again.

"On lap 142, Roger Yasukawa stalled on the mainstretch with a brake
failure. The ensuing caution period set up an exciting finish due to
fuel strategy,[citation needed] as most teams were getting 51 laps on a
single tank of fuel. The top seven leaders all pitted together, with
Dixon coming out in the lead once again. On lap 148, Castroneves,
Patrick, and Carpenter all returned to the pits to top off their tanks,
in hopes of going the distance without one last pit stop, hoping that
the race would go green to the finish.

Shortly after the restart on lap 149, Patrick dropped back to seventh
place (last car on the lead lap) in a fuel conservation strategy to have
enough fuel to challenge the leader at the end of the race. With the
race remaining green, during the final ten laps, most of the leaders,
not having enough fuel to get to the end, ducked off the track for "splash-and-go" pit stops for fuel. Despite topping off his tank
earlier, Ed Carpenter, getting poorer fuel economy than the rest of the lead-lap cars, was forced to pit for fuel. Castroneves inherited the
lead with less than 5 laps to go, with Patrick charging in second place. Castroneves slowed his pace to conserve fuel, and Patrick took the lead
with 2 laps to go. Patrick held on to win, and became the first female
to win a race in the history of top-level American open wheel racing."

Everyone can interpret that win how ever they wish.
But Danica raced at pretty high levels of racing from 1998 thru 2004.
Then raced in Indycar from 2005 thru 2011.
Then raced in NASCAR Sprint Cup from 2012 thru 2016.

There are a fair number of posters around here that keep saying
the only way to get to the top levels of racing is to have very
rich parents.
Danica proves that false.
She worked very hard and did very well to market herself.
And, to me, that is the big thing.

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On 20/11/2022 21:39, XYXPDQ wrote:

W series never had a chance because it got no coverage. If they had gotten even one or two races a year on ESPN/Sky/ect it might have found an audience and some sponsorship money.

It probably got more viewers on Channel 4 in the UK than it ever would
have done on Sky. C4 gets higher viewing figures for their (now
occasional) F1 races than Sky does - this year they got 2.4m for the
British Grand Prix compared to Sky's 1.6m, and for last year's Abu Dhabi
finale they attracted a peak of 4.4m compared to Sky's peak of 3.3m.

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