First karting race at age 8
Susie and her brother David each received a secondhand go-kart around their 8th birthday, marking the start of her competitive racing career.
Snapshot · Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Susie Wolff (Managing Director of F1 Academy)
Explore episode
Jun 24, 2026
Where this was said
First Race Day: Aggressive Little Boys and a Dad's Perfect Advice
At 19:24 · chapter starts 19:15
The first race was a shock: instead of her brother, there were roughly 100 children, and the track was full of what she diplomatically calls 'aggressive little boys.' She came in after her first laps and told her father she really didn't like it. He gave her the binary: put the cart in the truck and go home, or go back out and fight. She went back out. She never looked back. Dax notes the parallel with his own daughter's experience — hating the kart track the first time, returning eight months later totally converted. Susie immediately connects it to F1 Academy's mission: if that little girl at 8 had seen another girl on track, her whole first experience might have been different. The conversation turns briefly to the three sports where men and women compete together at elite level: horse jumping, sailing and driving.
The Only Girl at the Kart Track
Susie's first karting race was a shock: instead of her brother, there were 100 other kids. She came into the pits scared and told her dad she hated it. His response: go back out, go faster, and when they hit you, hit them back twice as hard. She went back out. Racing became all-consuming.
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