Go-karting is for girls too

I am the mother of two boys who love go-karting. And I can see why as it is fantastic fun. It is also an activity that we can do as a family. I have to admit that I probably don't take it as seriously or indulge as competitively in it as the male members of my family. I am sure that they would argue that I go really slowly, driving like I'm on my way to run an errand rather than racing others at breakneck speed. My arms and shoulders tell a different story after a karting session. You see, to me, I am pushing the limits, trying my hardest to drive fast, following the driving line and generally, feeling the need for speed. I love it!

There is so much to like about it. I have always liked driving and couldn't wait to be able to drive myself in a car. Prior to that, we had quad bikes and as soon as I was allowed to ride on those, I did and, having grown up on a farm, this meant that I had hours of motoring across fields, some flat, some undulating and having that feeling of enjoyment that only comes from being in charge of a motorised vehicle.

I've obviously taken this joy of driving into adulthood but the responsibility of riding around with others and sharing tarmac roads means that there is an overriding duty to ensure that we all get where we want to go safely. And this is true of karting too. To a degree. But generally, it is more about the race.

Today, I have spent the morning surrounded by young, overall-clad and helmeted boys (and their parents) and the quite heady smell of engine fumes next to a rubber-trimmed piece of squiggly tarmac in the depths of rural England. Not your typical Sunday morning activity maybe - a far cry from reading the papers in bed with a breakfast tray and a steaming cup of tea and the dawn chorus as background noise. No, it was very different. Ah, the roar of the small engines like a troop of lawnmowers! And the squeal of the tyres as the corners are cut and the barriers are chafed by adolescents, and the adrenaline caused by the proximity of those nearing teendom careering recklessly only a few feet away from me on the other side of the barrier! What a way to spend a Sunday!

I sound sarcastic, I know, but it is actually quite thrilling. It did help that the sun was out, I will admit, but I love my sons and I love watching them do something that they enjoy and it is great to be able to share in that experience. I suppose the reason that I can relate so well to this is because, as I've said, I too love karting.

But there was one thing that was severely lacking today at the karting track which I noticed: girls. Where were the girls? There were other females there but they were other mums (and there weren't as many of them as dads) and there was one sister who may or may not have been dragged along but was certainly not interested in racing.

But why weren't there any girls racing? Now, it could be that there was a separate session for girls but I'm not sure that that was the case. Am I in the minority here? I mean, I probably am as there can't be many almost 50 year old women who regularly go karting with their family full of boys, but I think that might have more to do with matronly pride and the ungracious way that women of my age and physique have to get in and out of a very tightly packed kart. It can be almost humiliating but I have a thick skin.

However, for younger women and girls, karting seems like a great activity and I was almost envious of the fun that my sons were having. I know that my husband was probably itching to get out there himself too.

I have to say that I found it quite bewildering and disappointing and have been racking my brains to think why it could be. There is no doubt that the world of motor sport is male-dominated and the idea of driving fast and competitively has a male gender bias. I mean, I don't have the same drive to win as my husband and sons but I get a great deal of enjoyment from the experience. I'm not really there for the win. But I've never been a competitive sort and I think that that is more to do with my personality as opposed to my gender.

Is it that our assumptions of what girls will enjoy means that as parents we don't suggest motor sport to our girls as an activity? Are they more likely to do horse riding, for instance, because that is expected as an interest? I know that my niece enjoys horses and competing with them but my sister-in-law has always had that interest too and so, has naturally extended this to her daughter. She extended it to my nephew too. That makes sense to me. However, my niece also does shooting so her exposure to different activities is varied.

Would we only consider go-karting if our hypothetical daughter asked us if she could do it? Is it just not on our radar as an activity for girls, as parents? And is this something that we have learnt from society's expectations of what girls should be interested in?

When I discussed this with my mum, she said that maybe the girls would rather be learning about other things, like make-up, for instance. I reared up over this, this assumption, as the feminist in me batted it away, saying "I was never like that!" with indignation. And it is true. I bought make-up but I was never overly interested in it for its sake; only for making myself look prettier and that was more to do with how I wanted to look rather than wanting to look good for others.

My mum wasn't interested in that either, bizarrely enough, putting on make-up. So why she should say that perhaps says more about what we, as part of society, think girls should be interested in rather than what they actually might want to do.

I should add too that my mum is not overly interested in karting neither, for the sake of being unbiased. But we won't hold that against her.

I always remember Jodie Kidd, British supermodel, on Top Gear some years ago now, one of the finest moments on what was an overrated show, and feeling pride at the fact that she blew the times of the male drivers out of the park. She was awesome and beautiful. She probably knew a bit about make-up too, to be fair, but was also a pretty adept high speed driver. She was the embodiment of a stereotype being turned on its head and I loved her for that.

And there are other females who have competed in motor sport and made a name for themselves like Michele Mouton (rally champion) and others who are competing in motor sport and are on the ascendant like Jamie Chadwick. But these seem few and far between.

My 14 year old son is a motor sport fan and regularly regales me with news from the F1 circuit about the cars and the placings and the drivers. I asked him if he knew any famous female motor sport drivers. He knew one: Danica Patrick. And the reason that he knew her? Because she was the girlfriend of Aaron Rodgers, a famous NFL quarterback. Hmmm.

I'm not sure why I feel so disappointed about no girls at the track today but I do. I'd like to think that if I'd been given the opportunity as an eleven year old to head to a track and race around it, I would have taken it but you know, I'm not sure that I would have. And the reason? Because to do something so different to the norm at that age, probably on my own in a world full of boys would have taken courage that I just didn't have at that age. I think I would have wanted to do it but I think that I would have felt just too self-conscious, too out of place, too "out there". As an adult, I know that feeling like that is a restriction and as a woman, I am not constrained in the same way by society's expectations of what I should be doing. In some ways, I like usurping these created ideas, sticking two fingers up and saying "You're expecting me to act like this but I don't want to. This is me and this is what I am comfortable doing". But it's taken me years to get to this stage - years.

I wish that I had had my 48 year old confidence as an 11 year old girl because if I had had the chance, I would have been out there on that track, wearing those shapeless overalls, sweaty balaclava and helmet and having a go on that track with those boys as best I could.

Maybe I've hit the nail on the head. Maybe it's the rare female who steps outside of what is expected of them and says to their parents "I want to race go-karts". Maybe that confidence and self-assuredness is rare for a reason, so that the best and most determined rise above. But, you know, I really hope that just one time in the next few weeks when I visit that track with my boys, that there are more females there and they're not holding coats or drinking from a hot drink flask, waiting for their son to finish racing.

I hope they're suiting-up, adjusting that balaclava and ramming that helmet on their head and getting ready to race, breathing in the fumes and sensing the exhiliration of the sport in the hum of the engines and power of the drive.