Women Wednesday: Sabine Schmitz

What’s a better way to start off a segment than by featuring one of the most prominent women in the automotive industry? The name Sabine Schmitz is a name synonymous with the Nurburgring, the place where she literally grew up. What happens when you raise children around the smell of high octane fuel? They might just like it. Sabine and her sisters proved that because they were all involved in racing but she was particularly good at it so she pursued it further.

So much so, she was the first woman to win the 24 Hour Nurburgring race in 1996 and 1997. Sabine raced for Porsche and BMW but later she started driving taxis for a living. Her taxi was a special one though, it developed 373KW and had a V10 engine in it. The destination she drove people to, was from the beginning to the end of the Nurburgring in record times. She became known as the “fastest taxi driver in the world”.

You may have seen her on an episode of Top Gear racing Jeremy Clarkson around the Nurburgring. Jeremy was in a Jaguar S Type and she was in a Ford van and she lost, by a mere 9 seconds. She is also a television host on German television and she also owns a school that offers advanced driving course called “Sabine Schmitz Motorsport”. So next time your sister, girlfriend or wife says cars are a “guys thing”, tell her to visit this website every Wednesday and after, ask her if she still feels that way. Happy Women Wednesday Motorists.