Recently on April 20th, the Kansas City Region Porsche Club of America hosted an autocross event in Independence, Missouri. This wasn’t a regular autocross though. The club set aside a separate time for just the women to experience autocross for themselves. With around 20 women signed up, we had our own 2 hours to get about 3-4 runs in around the course.

This was my first autocross experience. My dad had shared a lot about the times that he took his car out to drive it around the cones, but I had never watched or participated in an autocross event myself. I have a manual 2006 Mini Cooper S JCW that I’ve been driving around for about 8 months now. I was confident driving around town, but I wasn’t sure how I’d perform around tight chicanes and maneuvering through repetitive slaloms.

When I first heard about doing autocross, I was scared. Compared to many of the Porsche Club guys, I’m very inexperienced and I was initially afraid of messing up or holding up the group. However, this specific event was different. My dad told me that the club was hosting the all-women’s event. This immediately put me at ease. Although this was still going to be my first time, I knew I wasn’t doing it alone.

When I met the women that I would be driving with, everyone was so kind. We were all excited to get out on the course and to test the limits of our cars. There were some experienced women who were ready to give it their all, but alongside me, there were plenty of women that were just getting started with their autocross careers. Throughout our runs, the women were uplifting and cheering each other on.

Overall, the women’s event was a total success. It gave me the opportunity to try something new and to do it with people that I shared a lot in common with. Looking forward, I can’t wait to participate in the next all women’s event in August, and maybe move up to a more competitive event down the road.

-Rebekah