Girls On The Grid: Recent Episodes
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Join Priya and Tenayah for in-depth conversations with some of the most inspiring women in the motorsport industry.
We recorded this in February - and just never got around to releasing it - so join us for a catch up, where Priya and Tenayah unpack a hectic start to 2024, plus catch up with Maisie Place!
Welcome to 2024, and Episode 63 of the Girls On The Grid Podcast. Priya and Tenayah catch up to discuss all things 2024, and their plans for the season. Plus, Kate Peck joins us for a full chat about her career and life in motorsport.
After a hiatus from releasing podcast eps, Tenayah and Priya catch up to wrap up their 2023 season.
For Episode 61, Tenayah is joined by Renae Ferris for an awesome chat about doing "what we're supposed to" vs what we want to do. Renae followed the path of doing what everyone told her to do, and ended up miserable, until she took back control of her life, and did it her way. Renae is married to 4x Australian Motocross Champion, Dean Ferris, and shares her story on how she thrives being a mum, an entrepreneur and helping her husband succeed as a professional athlete.
Part 2 of 'Girls On The Grid' with Rhianon Gelsomino:
Australian navigator Rhianon Gelsomino joined Priya all the way from Idaho, to talk about her exciting career as a rally navigator, currently competing alongside Lia Block. She comes from a successful rally background, having raced with her brother Brendan Reeves in her early rally days. Rhianon is also married to rally driver Alex Gelsomino, and spoke to Priya about moving overseas, and starting up their driver training program that they run together, Oz Rally Pro.
Check out Oz Rally Pro - https://dirtfish.com/learn/gelsominos-shine-a-light-on-rallyings-secret-art/
This fantastic conversation will be available in 2 parts, with part 2 released next week.
Australian navigator Rhianon Gelsomino joined Priya all the way from Idaho, to talk about her exciting career as a rally navigator, currently competing alongside Lia Block. She comes from a successful rally background, having raced with her brother Brendan Reeves in her early rally days. Rhianon is also married to rally driver Alex Gelsomino, and spoke to Priya about moving overseas, and starting up their driver training program that they run together, Oz Rally Pro.
Check out Oz Rally Pro - https://dirtfish.com/learn/gelsominos-shine-a-light-on-rallyings-secret-art/
This fantastic conversation will be available in 2 parts, with part 2 released next week.
We pick up for Part 2 of the Girls On The Grid podcast with Rachael Eggleston. The girls discuss the challenges of running a race team at the top level, fostering talent through their development program, and how Rachael balances it all.
Rachel Eggleston has been around motorsport her whole life. Her father was a successful racing driver, and her love of the sport started early. Rachael joins us for part one, of this two part chat, to dive deep into her motorsport journey, how 4x championship winning team, Eggleston motorsport got started, and how it continues to thrive, even winning the latest Super2 round in Townsville. Rachael shares her story, and her love and commitment to being the best in this game is clear.
In Episode 56, Tenayah takes you inside the Motorsport Australia Girls On Track Pathways event, where over 60 young girls, aged 15-22 were introduced to the programs champions and ambassadors, and showed a wide range of opportunities in the motorsport industry. Tenayah chats with two participants, as well as ambassadors, Nadine Armstrong, Emma Notarfranceso and Kate Peck, and champions, Nicole Bryant, Courtney Steer and Emily Duggan, plus program manager, Priyanka Chadha.
BMW E30 Racing President, racer and BMW Drivers Club magazine editor Jess Bell spoke to Priya all about her involvement with the BMW brand in Australia. With a family background in the BMW E30 Drivers Club, it would be no surprise that Jess herself would become involved. With club championship wins under her belt, years of racing experience and also a law degree - Jess spoke to us all about her busy but exciting schedule, and her plans for 2023.
Former W Series contender and current Carrera Cup North America competitor Sabre Cook joins the podcast this week to talk about her career in motorsport so far. Sabre is a former karting champion, was one of the first people to ever race in the W series, and has now stepped into Carrera Cup North America. Sabre is also a mechanical engineer, and gave us an insight into what’s it's like being involved with Formula 1.
For Episode 53, we are joined by photographer AND rally navigator, Kass Brumley.
Kass spoke to Priya about travelling with the Supercars series being behind the lens, and rallying alongside Michele Van Der Wilk.
Having previously worked for Kelly Racing, she also told us about what it was like to work with former Girls On The Grid guest, Simona De Silvestro.
Joining Priya all the way from Canada, racing driver Nora Rhiannon Jordan spoke to Priya all about her short, but so far successful racing career. She is a Formula Woman finalist, and this year she will be racing in the Super Production Challenge. Nora is a passionate advocate for women in motorsport, and has big hopes for the future.
This week, former karting champion Jess Golding spoke to Priya about starting her own go karting team. The female led team focuses on developing drivers to the highest level of karting. Jess also spoke to us about her own success in karting, being the ReSa Light Australian National Karting Championship winner and Australia’s most recent female green plate winner.
To celebrate 50 episodes of the Girls On The Grid podcast, Priya and Tenayah are joined by Simona de Silvestro for an awesome chat about her racing career, IndyCar, Supercars, her love of Mount Panorama, being a Porsche Factory driver and her goal of going to the Olympics for bobsledding! It's a jam-packed ep, and we hope you love it!
Tenayah jumped into the archives of over 15 hours of podcast eps to pull out a few favourite moments from our first 49 eps. Plus, Priya joins us at the end to announce our guest for Episode 50, coming to your ears in a few days!
Another Bathurst 6 Hour has been run and won, and Tenayah took the opportunity to document the weekend of the only (and first ever!!) female-only entry. Car #999, driven by Courtney Prince, Ellexandra Best and car owner, Karlie Buccini had a challenging day, but drove an awesome race to finish 21st outright, and 3rd in Class B2.
Tenayah chatted to all three girls at various points throughout the weekend! Enjoy the ep!
At 19 years old, South Australian motorbike racer Tara Morrison is already racing at ASBK rounds in the SuperSport 300 series
Tara and Priya caught up to chat about her family's impressive motorsport background, her career highlights so far, and hopes for the future
Emma Notarfrancesco is a journalist and tv presenter, currently hosting the Drive TV show every Sunday. She has also spent plenty of her career around motorsport, hosting and presenting at Supercars, SpeedSeries and Superbikes events. Emma joins Tenayah and Priya for a chat about her career, her motorsport journey and what might be next.
This week we are joined by Targa Tasmania champion Kate Raymond, who is a successful rally navigator, having won the Targa Tasmania championship 3 times, twice with Tony Quinn & once with Paul Stokell. Kate spoke all things rally with Priya, including the incredible highs and the sometimes heartbreaking lows.
Tenayah caught up with the Ambrose sisters, Tabitha and Adelaide down in Tasmania at Round 1 of the SpeedSeries.
Priya caught up with Kiwi race car driver Rianna O’Meara Hunt to talk about her upcoming season in the SRO GT4 championship campaign in the USA, and all about her racing journey to getting there!
We also chat to Courtney Prince on her recent news that she will be joining the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia grid, and having the BWT Global brand backing her.
Chloe Grant is a 16 year old driver from the UK. She has just completed the 2022 season of GB4, finishing 9th in the standings. She had a successful karting career and has a few championships under her belt, which we spoke all about in the episode, and also her future aspirations.
Amber O'Keeffe joins Tenayah for a chat inside a studio in New York City.
Amber O'Keeffe is a young social media specialist and public relations officer, currently based in Europe and travelling around the world to sportscars and endurance events. Amber chats about how her career got started, what it's really like to date a race-car driver, and her plans for 2023.
Loren Hazelwood is a sponsorship executive at Motorsport Australia, and a very passionate champion for the Girls On Track program. She grew up around motorsport, watching her younger brother Todd, move through the racing ranks and followed her passion to build a career in the motorsport industry. Loren joins Tenayah to share her story, and speaks about how she has moved through different specialities to find herself in sponsorship and what she has learned after 10 years in the motorsport game.
Off-road racer, Eden Evans joins Tenayah for a chat about growing up with both parents who are rally champions, and how she was always destined to get behind the wheel! She drives a Kincrome SXS in the Australian Off Road Championship, and tells us about her journey so far!
Chloe Chambers is an American racing sensation, who competed in the 2021 W-Series, for Jenner Racing, alongside Jamie Chadwick. She joins Tenayah in New Zealand for a chat about her career, her current focus, the Castrol Toyota Regional Oceania Championship, and what might come next!
Beck Connell joins Priya to chat about her go karting career and life away from the track in Forbes NSW, and what she hopes to achieve in the coming years.
Thank you to our audience for all the support this year, we hope you have a safe New Years and we’ll chat to you in 2023!
Emma Gilmour is a professional rally driver from Dunedin, New Zealand, and is currently a McLaren Factory Driver in their Extreme E team.
Tenayah caught up with Emma Gilmour during a trip to New Zealand for a Castrol content shoot. They sat down, in person, for a podcast chat, to talk all things career, rally and what it means to be a woman in motorsport.
Zoe Woods joins Priya for a chat right off the back of the final round of the Australian Production cars at the Bathurst International.
The 21 year old has driven driven alongside Luke Youlden & Max Vidau in the 2022 season.
She talks about her family race team Tekworkx and her own business LuLu Lashes & Beauty, we also talked about her future plans and goals as a driver in the coming years!
A week filled of Bathurst antics has culminated in a podcast ep where Tenayah took the mic, and went wandering down the pit lane during the Great Race. We chat to Ainslie McCormick, Sarah Paul, Nicole Bryant, Charise Bristow and Hayley Moneith. And the man who really brings the Bathurst, Gary Reid joins us for a quick chat about the Repco Bathurst 1000.
We are back for the 2nd part of our interview with Coral Taylor. Head back to listen to Part 1 if you missed it! Coral Taylor is an Australian Rally Co-Driver, having won the Australian Rally Championship 4 times alongside Neal Bates. Having started her career at the age of 18, Coral has had great success over her rallying years, and most recently won with Harry Bates at Rally Launceston this year. She is also the mother of 2016 Australian rally champion Molly Taylor, whom she has also co-driven with. Coral has seen motorsport shape and change drastically over the years, and joined us for a very entertaining and in-depth chat about her own personal experiences in the sport.
Coral Taylor is an Australian Rally Co-Driver, having won the Australian Rally Championship 4 times alongside Neal Bates. Having started her career at the age of 18, Coral has had great success over her rallying years, and most recently won with Harry Bates at Rally Launceston this year. She is also the mother of 2016 Australian rally champion Molly Taylor, whom she has also co-driven with. Coral has seen motorsport shape and change drastically over the years, and joined us for a very entertaining and in-depth chat about her own personal experiences in the sport. Join us for Part 1 of this great chat with Coral, with Part 2 being released next episode.
Porsche Cars Australia Motorsport Operations manager Matleena Pukkila joins Priya for this weeks episode, to talk about her career working for Porsche. Having worked for the Brand in Australia, Finland and Germany, Matleena has a world of knowledge and a stand out passion for motorsport. Priya grew up watching Matleena manage the category her father Steven raced in (Porsche Carrera Cup). You can listen to them reminisce on all the memories in this week’s episode!
Maddy Dunston joins Priya Richards for a chat about her racing career, including Aussie Racing Cars and Toyota 86, and what is next!
Sally Parkinson's love of motorsport started when he Dad used to race cars against her future boss. In 2009, she landed herself a job at Garry Rogers Motorsport, and she has never looked back. She was there for some huge moments, such as GRM's Holden-to-Volvo change, as well as Scotty Mac's famous "just gave it some jandal and f**k yeah!" We chat about all these things, including what her role involves now, as GRM run up to 12 cars in the SpeedSeries, so tune in to have a listen!
For episode 30, we speak to a lady who is doing incredible things for women in motorsport. Priyanka Chadha is the national participation lead at Motorsport Australia, and is responsible for organising and excepting on programs such as Girls On Track. Girls On Track is a program that hosts workshops all around Australia, giving girls aged 8-22 the opportunity to take part in workshops focused around motorsport, and opportunities within motorsport. We are big fans of Girls On Track here at Girls On The Grid, and loved chatting to Priyanka about her story - how she first got interested in motorsport, after growing up in a non-motorsport family in India, and what the future holds for the Girls On Track program. Follow Priyanka: www.instagram.com/priworking Follow us: www.instagram.com/girlsonthegridpod Follow Tenayah: www.instagram.com/tenayahmcleod Follow Priya: https://www.instagram.com/priya_richards Check out our website: www.girlsonthegrid.com.au
Email us! girlsonthegridpod@gmail.com
Danielle Foot joins Girls On The Grid to talk about how she got started racing motocross, her motocross career and her switch the desert racing, including tackling Australia's Greatest Off-Road Race, the Finke Desert Race.
16 year old Formula Ford driver Imogen Radburn joins us on this week’s pod to talk about her experience so far in her debut Formula Ford season. Having recently graduated from karting, Imogen tells us what she’s been working on this year and her hope for the future to race in Supercars. Priya caught up with her again at the recent round of Formula Ford at Sydney Motorsport Park to see how she’s progressed throughout the weekend. Priya also had a chat with past pod guest Maisie Place, who was racing in the Mazda RX8 Cup series. Tenayah was on the ground for TCR Australia at Queensland Raceway this weekend, and also spoke with go karter Alice Buckley before she heads to France as part of the FIA Girls On Track program.
BJR Super2 Driver Elly Morrow recently had a chat with Priya to talk about her season so far in the Dunlop Super2 series. Elly is a passionate motorsport lover, having previously raced karts for 10 years at national level, and now hopes to take her racing career even further down the path of Supercars. In episode 26 of Girls On The Grid she also talks about how she hopes she can inspire the upcoming generations, and how she has noticed a positive change in the sport with many young girls now racing karts.
Maddi Scordia is an Australian-born MotoGP journalist currently living in Ireland, and recently sat down with Priya to discuss her successful career so far. Before becoming a journalist, she worked in sales and marketing which eventually lead her to her role today in MotoGP, however her initial introduction to motorsport was working as an umbrella girl. She has shown some amazing strength over the last couple of years after suffering a horrible accident in 2020, and has overcome some huge challenges to get to where she is today.
Priya has spoken to a few of our guests about horses, so now it's time for Tenayah to geek out over motocross. And the lovely Emma Milesevic joins Tenayah for Episode 24, to chat all things motocross. Emma is a professional motocross rider, currently racing in the WMX at ProMX for HRC Honda, and she sits 2nd in the championship with one round to go. Tenayah and Emma bonded over their similar childhoods, and have a chat about what it takes to succeed at the highest level of motocross both here and around the world.
Circuit Excel racer Cass Hoare recently sat down with Priya to talk about her racing career. The South Australian was hooked on motorsport after doing a tarmac rally with her brother Josh, and started racing competitively in 2019. She is also a Girls On Track Ambassador and is super passionate about girls getting involved in motorsport.
Making her mark on the motorsport world is Canberra based RX8 Cup driver and mechanic Maisie Place. Also a rally co-driver, Maisie chats about all things motorsport and her goals as a driver and dedicated mechanic.
Tahan Lew burst onto our tv screens in the 2013 Big Brother House, but around the same time - she had just started dating Supercars Driver, David Reynolds. Almost 10 years later, Tahan is still learning about motorsport and joins this weeks episode to chat about how she adapted to life in motorsport, her time in the Big Brother house, and her opinion on getting rid of grid girls...
Tenayah and Priya caught up, in person, to record the first GOTG vodcast - here's the audio only, and you can catch the full vodcast ep over on Youtube.
Romy Mayer is currently an engineer for Triple Eight Race Engineering, and will be the race engineer for the Supercheap Wildcard of Craig Lowndes and Declan Fraser at the 2022 Repco Bathurst 1000. She joins the girls for a chat about her motorsport background, how she juggles being a mum but also working in a demanding industry, and what we can do to help make the sport a more welcoming place for women.
Georgina Sadler is an associate producer for Sky Sports F1 and she joins Tenayah and Priya to chat about all things F1, her job, breaking her neck (yeah what!) and her love of horses!
The incredible Molly Taylor joins us this week, for a chat about all things motorsport, rally, tv presenting, TCR, kids books and women in motorsport.
It’s Winton weekend, and Tenayah & Priya are joined for a chat with Nadine Armstrong, who is an automotive journalist and presenter. she is also a consumer editor for Car Sales Australia and Women’s World Car of the Year, plus an ambassador for the Girls On Track program.
Priya is joined by Triple Eight Team Co-Ordinator, Charise Bristow for a chat about her story, and like always, women in motorsport. Plus, Tenayah and Priya caught up for a quick chat on the eve of the Bathurst 12 Hour - it's a bit of a giggle.
In honour of Mothers Day here in Australia, Priya and Tenayah have a special episode, where they chat to their mums, as well as a have a few drivers give a shoutout to their Mums, for everything they have done to help their career.
A jam packed ep, which includes a recap from the Supercars action in Perth with Charlie Bullis, and a great chat with Porsche Michellin Sprint Challenge driver, Courtney Prince.
Tenayah is ridin' solo this week, so she wrangled in a good friend, Madeline Stewart, who also happens to be a girl on the grid! Madeline, originally from NZ, is currently competeing in the Porsche Michellin Sprint Challenge with Earl Bamber Motorsport. Madz and Tenayah discuss her story, from how she first fell in love with cars, through to her more recent racing pursuits, including her jumping into a Radical at the upcoming Perth Supercars round.
Walkinshaw Andretti United physio, Nicole Bryant joins us for Episode 11, to chat about what its like to work within Supercars, what her main responsibilities are, and how important health and wellness for high performance athletes.
Charli Robinson is no stranger to the motorsport world. A very passionate fan, she became known as a member of HI-5 in her early adulthood. She loved Supercars that much, that if she wasn't in HI-5, she would have wanted to race in the category! Priya and Tenayah sat down with Charli for a chat about her love of sport, her recent decision to leave the Supercars broadcast, and everything Charli Robinson and women in motorsport.
Courtney Tyler joins us for Episode 9, to chat all things JAM Motorsport, Girls On Track and Women in Motorsport. Plus, Priya recaps her weekend at the National Capital Rally Championship across the weekend, and we preview the upcoming AusGP.
Before Simona De Silvestro and the Harvey Norman Supergirls, there was Melinda Price and the Castrol Cougars; a team spearheaded by Castrol, Holden and Larry Perkins to give an opportunity to rising female racers.Price and Cougars team-mate Kerryn Brewer still hold the record for the best result by an all-female driver combination in the Bathurst 1000 with an 11th place finish in 1998.After falling out of love with motorsport, raising a family and beating breast cancer, Price has returned to racing in the Hyundai Excel Series. Tenayah and Priya caught up with her for a chat.
Supercars presenter and SAS survivor, Riana Crehan joins Tenayah and Priya this week, for a chat about all things race cars, careers and women in motorsport.
It's a little bit of a different one this week. In honour of International Womens Day (8-03-2022), Priya and Tenayah put a call out to women in the motorsport industry, and podcast listeners to share what 'Break The Bias' means to them.Jamie Chadwick - 'I Want To Race' article by The Players Tribune - https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/jamie-chadwick-formula-one-car-racing
Having been around motorsport her entire life, Renee Winterbottom shares her story from being a data engineer for her brother in karting, through to raising a family with Mark Winterbottom - her husband, Bathurst winner and 2015 Supercars champion.
Aussie abroad, Caitlin Wood joins us for Episode 4, for a great chat about her racing career, and how she forged her path as a women in motorsport. She is a Puma ambassador, with the goal of being the first Aussie female to win Le-Mans. She recently competed as the only Australian in the W-Series, and is currently racing around the world in some pretty cool GT cars.
Charlie Bullis is a journalist at Supercars.com, and burst onto the scene in a rather quick way! She is an advocate for all things women in motorsport, and we had a really great chat with her in this episode.
Leanne Tander is one of the fastest females in Australian Motorsport. She's driven everything from Formula Ford, through to Porsche Carrera Cup, and she joined Tenayah and Priya for a chat about her motorsport future, and her thoughts on the future for women in motorsport.
In the first episode of Girls On The Grid, we spoke to Jess Dane - who has a lot going on at the moment. It's a busy pre-season for her, and the team at Triple Eight Race Engineering, and after her father Roland, stepped down at the end of 2021, Jess will step into a team owners role for the 2022 season, alongside Jamie Whincup and Tony Quinn. She is a busy lady, so it was great to grab some of her time, and chat all things women in motorsport.