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What do you want to be when you grow up?
Astronaut Chef. Jet pilot. Dancer. I’m a racing driver.
Children’s imaginations run wild, and these dreams can sometimes seem like a distant future, an intangible concept that is difficult to understand. But perhaps seeing their dreams featured in one of the most eye-catching liveries in all of international motorsport this year will help those aspirations feel even more real. As the Iron Dames’ 2024 Le Mans project said, “Every dream counts.”
Ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the first female lineup in endurance racing asked fans on social media, “What was your dream when you were young?” She later visited a primary school in Le Mans, France and asked her to draw how she imagined her future, and told the story of the Iron Dames being ‘women driven by their dreams’. With the help of AI, the drawing was converted into a symbol representing the symbol of the Iron Dames.
Iron Dames founder Deborah Mayer (in black) with Rahel Frey, Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting. (Courtesy of Iron Dames)
“We want to let our kids know that anything in life is possible, no matter what you dream of,” said Michelle Gatting, one of three women who will pilot the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2. She says, “As long as you have a dream and a vision in your head of what you want to achieve, it’s already a big deal.”
Who are the ‘Iron Dames’?
Six years ago, former racing driver Deborah Mayer founded Iron Dames to demonstrate that women can participate in motorsports in any capacity. As Gatting puts it, “It’s about proving that women can compete at the same level as men in motorsport.”
This is about investing in empowering women, alleviating the barriers to entry they face in the male-dominated world of motorsport, encouraging inclusion and helping develop young talent. But it’s also about being competitive and winning, and it’s not a fleeting moment, it’s a project that will last for years to come.
Gatting was one of the first Iron Dames, joining in 2019 before she even had a name.
“This project is basically not born yet,” she said. “While Deborah was working on the project, it was already in her mind that she had a vision.” Gatting received an email about testing a car that was then a Ferrari. This is the kind of offer you can’t refuse.
Gatting’s motorsports journey began by coincidence. Dane got into go-karting at the age of seven while on vacation in the south of France with his family. She went from not knowing much about her motorsports to making it her own life. “When she was very young she only dreamed of being a Formula 1 driver and she was probably a bit more naive,” Gatting said. Over time, she realized it was more than just F1. “I changed my vision, and inside I wanted to be an endurance driver,” she said.
“I wanted to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
The Iron Dames’ Lamborghini Huracan has received a special design for the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans. (Courtesy of Iron Dames)
Endurance racing is quite different from typical racing categories like F1 or IndyCar. Endurance racing is not about driving a set distance, but about riding as far as possible within a preset time limit. Given how tough endurance racing is, the World Endurance Championships (WEC) allow teams to split the race into stages and rotate drivers through the cockpit.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the WEC’s premier race. One of the triple crowns of motorsport, this 13.6 km (8.5 miles) long track features 62 cars of different classes and 184 drivers racing for 24 hours.
The Iron Dames gave Gatting that opportunity in 2019, and now she is preparing for her sixth 24 Hours of Le Mans. “This project changed my life and career. I always wanted to become a professional and make a living from these projects. But very few drivers in the world get that opportunity.” But getting to the top of endurance racing wasn’t easy. Gatting sacrificed her teenage years and doesn’t regret it, but she also endured financial hardships. At one point, she had to sit out a season because she “had no money” and “basically begged people and sponsors every year for money to go to the races.”
Every dream matters.💗
We’ve transformed your childhood dreams into a reality to compete with us. @24 Our Soplemans for round 4 @FIAWEC.
Every dream matters, and we’re here to prove it. It will be our good luck charm and symbolize our commitment to nurturing… pic.twitter.com/gPSc57Aqnz
— Iron Dames (@IronDames_) June 3, 2024
The other two members of the 2024 Le Mans driver lineup are Sarah Bovy and Rahel Frey, who replaced the injured Doriane Pin.
Frey is another OG member of the Iron Dames, along with Manuela Gostner. Brothers Giacomo and Andrea Piccini, team leaders at Iron Lynx (Iron Dames’ service provider), contacted Frey considering his level of experience. She started her go-karts in 1998, moved to single-seaters a few years later, and won the German Formula 3 race in 2007.
“They asked me to join the project because they already had good experience with endurance racing and were basically looking for a female racer who could join, guide and lead a crew of female drivers,” Frey said.
It was through Gatting and Frey that Bovy, the third member of the Iron Dames’ 24 Hours of Le Mans driver lineup this year, learned about the project. Belgian drivers heard about the two women and saw the project come to life via social media.
“At the time, I thought, ‘Oh, this is another great project I’ll never be a part of,’” Bovy said. “I would say my first impression was really, ‘Oh, I wish I had done that, but it’s too late.’”
Nonetheless, Bobby, who started racing karts at the fair, followed them on Facebook and Instagram. She continued her career by racing in the 24 Hours of Spa and the inaugural season of the Women’s W Series in 2019. But for 2021, she knew her team might be short on drivers, so she emailed them to see if they would be available. She was able to fill it in. Spoiler: The answer was yes.
We make your childhood dreams a reality. 💭
While the Iron Dames prepare to solve the problem. @24 Our Soplemans, I support everyone’s big dreams. One day, today’s young girls will be lining up to race at this iconic venue. It could be you. https://t.co/o21ZEFaRjL#WEC… pic.twitter.com/I9qckS1cVV
— Iron Dames (@IronDames_) June 5, 2024
“It is important to emphasize that nothing comes easy. For all the Iron Dames, I think we have worked, unfortunately, hard to get to this level,” Gatting said. “And I’m really excited about what we’re doing with this project right now. What doesn’t make it any easier is that we are giving young girls the opportunity to get involved in such projects at a very young age. I don’t want to think about where it would have taken me if I had had that opportunity when I was eight years old.
“But with this project we are changing the world of motorsport.”
‘Women led by dreams’
Once the Iron Dames are on track, you can’t miss it.
No, it’s not because they are women. It’s because of the car color. Bovy said they originally started with a black or dark blue base with pink details. “When we started getting stronger results, when we felt we were ready for more exposure in the industry, our media team came back to us and said: . The car will be pink with black details.’”
But it wasn’t just a bright pink car. The team’s perfect embrace of colors that have long been considered feminine colors included lace suits and shoes.
“The point is that pink isn’t a stupid color. Pink is not a weak color,” Bovy said. “Pink is the color we grew up with. We’re kids of the 90’s, and in the 90’s almost everything for girls was pink. So why should we hate it or call it a weak color? We don’t agree with that. If you like pink, they say pink can be a very powerful color.”
Ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Irondams visited an elementary school in Le Mans, France and asked students to draw what they imagined their future to be. (Courtesy of Iron Dames)
Before she joined the Iron Dames, if anyone asked her to race in a suit and pink outfit, Gatting was quick to say no. “I don’t want people to see that I’m a woman driving,” she says. But now? She later showed off her hot pink nail polish on her nails and said, “I wear it proudly.”
But pink brings an element of pressure. It is a vibrant pink that cannot be mixed with the pack. “We all looked at each other and thought, ‘Wow, okay, we’ve got to win the race with this car or we’ll look ridiculous,’” Bovy said.
In 2022, the Iron Dames will compete in GT racing’s top class, LMGTE Am, finishing third in the WEC with 93 points. The next season, he went one step further and finished second with 118 points. In both seasons, the Iron Dames also participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the same lineup as this year, finishing 7th in 2022 and 4th in 2023.
As time passed and they continued to rise through the ranks, women became more familiar with the colors of their cars, which Bovy equated with “representing your flag or your country.” It is a source of pride. In the end, as Bovy points out, they won with pink and other colors. Most recently, she won a WEC race and made series history as the all-female crew at last year’s LMGTE Am season finale in Bahrain.
“We no longer think that color just defines us,” Bovy said. “We wanted to increase visibility for the project.”
And it’s becoming more visible. Queues are forming for autographs at the track and women are noticing their merchandise becoming more and more prevalent in the paddock, especially among male fans.
“They’re really supportive of us and the fact that this project is something that really needs to be taken seriously,” Gatting said. “But people also respect us for everything we’ve done and everything we do. Every time we race, we want to prove that we’re not just here to drive and compete.
“We came here with one purpose: to win.”
Talking about the impact gives Gatting goosebumps and makes her emotional because of what they have accomplished and how they have grown over the past few years. “We are the best professional racing drivers. And we’re competing against some of the best male drivers in the world. And people no longer look at us strangely.”
And it all started with a childhood decision to follow my dreams. After all, the Iron Dames are “women driven by dreams.” The Iron Dames are bigger than these three women. The project is investing heavily in motorsports, with other drivers such as Doriane Pin and Marta García, but the Iron Dames are also involved in equestrianism. Total project staff, including background roles such as marketing, currently stands at 45 people.
This weekend Gatting, Frey and Bovy will all take part in one of motorsport’s biggest moments of the year, bringing their children’s dreams to life on the track as symbols, while also realizing their own aspirations.
“It started out as an idea to promote women’s motorsport and get more people involved, but it’s now become much bigger than that,” Bovy said. “(It’s) empowering women around the world to stand up and fight for whatever dreams they want to achieve.”
(Lead Image: Photo Credit: Iron Dames; Design: Dan Goldfarb/athletic)
