Motorsport is still a male dominated arena, with few female role models. But the Formula Women Championship this summer is hoping to show they are just as competent as their male counterparts. Women's Editor Lindsay Jennings reports.

I'M approaching a corner in my souped-up Mini Cooper, doing about 70mph. The wall is looming fast. "Hard right, hard right," bellows my racing instructor, James Wilson, as the tyres screech and the back end of the car slides.

"That's superb," he encourages. "Now accelerate, accelerate, excellent. Keep following the racing line, you're doing really well."

James and I are racing around the 2.1km track at Teesside Autodrome, on the outskirts of Middlesbrough. Fifteen minutes earlier I had nervously clipped on the harness, wondering if I would manage to take the Mini faster than 30mph.

The boyfriend calls me "Driving Miss Daisy". Every time I manage to hit the national speed limit he goes "Steady there Miss Daisy" and starts humming the theme tune to The Archers. Now, the only tune in my head is synonymous with the Formula One coverage on television. I have turned from Jessica Tandy into Damon Hill, needing just one more point to become the Formula One world champion.

From June 21-23, female drivers in the North-East will get the chance to forge a name for themselves in the male-dominated world of motorsport by competing around Teesside Autodrome in qualifying rounds for the Formula Woman Championship. They will be among an estimated 10,000 women across the country attempting to win one of 16 places. The final 16 will then face a further battle to earn a seat in this year's Formula Palmer Audi Winter Series, which is open to male and female drivers, and the chance to have a test with the Mazda British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) team.

For Bob Hope, 50, owner of Teesside Autodrome, the competition represents the opportunity to attract more women into the sport. He believes women can drive just as fast as men, but there still aren't the numbers in sport for women to push through into the upper echelons, racing at Formula One level. He recently offered ten women the chance to compete for a place in the Lamont 24-hour race, for example, but no-one took up his offer.

"I've no idea why not," he says, shaking his head. "We have a lot of women come here, but a lot stand at the sidelines and watch their boyfriends go round. If you had more women wanting to do it, you would find that exceptional talent and you would have the critical mass to break through into the likes of Formula One."

Bob's daughter, Kat, 24, first got behind the wheel of a go-kart at three-years-old. Her dad used to run the British Endurance Series, and in the summer she would go with him everywhere, as he organised different races every week across Europe.

"When I was younger, I wanted to be a racing driver," she says. "But to have any hope of being a good kart racer, you needed to be smaller and I just grew and grew."

Kat is part-way through a printing degree at Cambridge University, but is also hoping to become a racing instructor. She believes there are plenty of women who are interested in motorsport, but says they aren't encouraged to consider motor-orientated careers.

"Little girls aren't really told they can be racing drivers, are they?" she says. "Lots of boys are racing karts at four years old and by the time they're 16, the next step is to race cars. There are not many girls who will be sitting in a kart at four, and the older you are, the harder it is to get into racing."

But series such as Formula Woman are giving women the chance to prove themselves, they just need to take it. The championship, now in its second year, is open to women aged over 18 who hold a driving licence but who have never competed in motorsports before.

Applicants will undergo written and practical tests to assess their fitness, reactions, driving and presentational skills. They will take the karts around the track before demonstrating their skills in a Mazda RX-8 sports car under race conditions.

Last year's winner, Natasha Firman, 27, from London, won a place in the 2004/5 Formula Palmer Audi Winter Series and became the first woman to drive for a manufacturer - Mazda - in the Brit Car Championship.

"Anyone can put their foot down and go fast, but it's about how you use that speed that matters; how you enter the corners, how you brake and an ability to balance the car," explains Kat.

"You're trying to balance the steering against the acceleration, otherwise you get understeer or oversteer, which will slow you down. Also, piling into the corner is not always the fastest way round. A lot of the time going straight through a corner, following the racing line, is the quickest. You also need quite a lot of physical fitness to race and stamina."

Confidence counts, too. According to Kat, none of the male racing drivers are lacking in confidence.

"They're very cocksure and they know when they get out there that they're the best and that they're going to win," she says. "Female drivers are generally a lot quieter, but they're very determined people. They have a calm confidence."

Later, Kat lends me a red racing driver's suit and a crash helmet for a spin in the karts. It feels like I'm on board a petrol lawnmower and the handling is difficult. Embarrassingly, I chug around at first, clipping the corners and tentatively pumping the accelerator on and off. Driving Miss Daisy is on the circuit.

Then our photographer decides he wants a race. Suddenly, at the thought of a little healthy competition, I fix my eyes on the task ahead, and we charge off into the distance, winding around the tight bends until I spot a gap in front.

I push my foot down and sneak up on his inside. Surging past him, I start giggling maniacally at my new found winner's status and almost veer off-course through an appalling lack of concentration. He goes on to win another race, but I have taken the first scalp. I am a racing driver. The Mini Cooper drive seals my new love of motorsports.

"With a few more lessons to take the seconds off, you would definitely be up there," says James, afterwards.

Perhaps I could even enter the Formula Woman, I venture. Would there be room for Miss Daisy?

"I think you should do it," he laughs. "I really do."

* For more information on Formula Woman or to apply log onto www.formulawoman.com. Teesside Autodrome, which also runs karting sessions and racing lessons, can be contacted on (01642) 231117.