Summary
Overview
Dax Shepard and Monica Padman welcome Susie Wolff, former professional racing driver and current managing director of F1 Academy, to discuss her groundbreaking career in motorsports. Wolff shares her journey from karting in Scotland to becoming one of the only women to drive an F1 car during a race weekend, her marriage to Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff, and her current mission to create pathways for young female drivers through F1 Academy.
Growing Up in Scotland's Racing Culture
Susie grew up in Oban, a small tourist town on Scotland's western coast, in a family steeped in motorsports. Her maternal grandfather was a professional motocross rider for BSA in the 1950s who later became paralyzed from diving, and her mother was a motorcycle racer who met Susie's father at his motorcycle shop. This created a uniquely supportive environment where gender was never a barrier to her racing ambitions.
- Her grandfather was a BSA works motocross rider in the 1950s, then became a commercial diver and got paralyzed from the bends
- Her mother rode motorcycles and met Susie's father at his motorcycle dealership in Scotland
- Susie's father owned a motorcycle dealership that sold everything from motorbikes to ATVs to jet skis
- Her childhood birthday parties involved riding on trailers behind ATVs through mud
" My memory is my dad bringing an ATV, like a four-wheel terrain vehicle, home with a trailer, nine, ten kids on the back of the trailer, hanging on for dear life, and him going through huge mud on this mountain behind the house, on a big hill. And I was going, faster, more mud! "
Starting Young: From PW50 to Karting
Susie began riding motorcycles at age five on a PW50, following her older brother David around their property and building tracks in the hills. When she was eight, her parents got her a secondhand go-kart after spending race weekends watching their father compete. Her first race was daunting with 100 aggressive boys, but her father's advice to hit back twice as hard set the tone for her competitive career.
- Started on a Yamaha three-wheeler, then moved to a PW50 at around age five
- Got her first go-kart around age eight, a secondhand Swiss Hutless that was rusty but beloved
- Her father's crucial advice at her first intimidating race: hit them back twice as hard
- Met Lewis Hamilton at age nine when he was eight, already known as the little boy with the yellow helmet
" I went out the first time and it was like scary and I came into the pits and I said to my dad I really don't like it out there. And my dad said well we got two options now toots, we put the cart back in the truck and we head home where you go back out there you try and go quicker and when they hit you you're gonna hit them back twice as hard. "
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