Girl Guides is all about getting girls revved up for the limitless possibilities ahead of them. Find out how Emma and Mary hopped into the driver’s seat to test drive career options at the Toronto Honda Indy.

This past weekend we went to the Toronto Honda Indy with our mom and another Girl Guide Trex unit. As someone who LOVES cars (that’s me, Mary!), there is no better place to visit than the Indy. Since we’ve never been, this sounded like a lot of fun. We both loved the roar of the engines and all the action trackside!

What was really cool about this opportunity is that Girl Guides worked with FIA Women in Motorsport to put this amazing day together.  We got to go behind the scenes and see that there are so many women involved in every aspect of the Indy. We met the assistant team manager for team Carlin, Silvia, who knew a lot about motorsport. Who knew there were so many opportunities for women in this sport, from the engineers to mechanics to marketing to being a driver. Silvia taught us about the different parts of the cars, the different flags used at the race and introduced us to members of team Carlin. We then left the paddock area where all of the teams were and went outside to the track.

We watched the cars in action from trackside as they raced the qualifying races for the Indy. It was AMAZING! It was so cool to see how quick the team could change tires and check the cars and send it back out onto the track to continue racing.  After the races we went back inside and had the opportunity to visit team Carlin again. This time we met one of the drivers, Charlie Kimball. He knew so much! He let us hold the steering wheel (which was crazy expensive) and check out all of the different parts of the car.  

This day was just so unbelievable. Thank you Girl Guides for giving us this opportunity, we will never forget it!

Guest post by Emma and Mary. They’re from Toronto and have been involved in Guiding in various branches for as long as they can remember. Their favourite thing about Guiding is all of the different opportunities they’ve been able to do, from camping, to being part of photo shoots, to going to the air show, and now the Toronto Indy – all with their mom.

Thank you to Women in Motorsport Canada for inviting members of GGC to the Honda Indy! Girls learned first-hand the careers and opportunities open to them in motorsport, and met amazing women role models who provided lots of inspiration.