Today is a heartbreaking day as the original RACEGIRL has been officially retired; removed from the Internet. True enough, she'll not entirely disappear, and we'll keep her history alive on MOTORESS, yet her decade of worldwide motorsport contribution has, and is now finished.
MOTORESS was created to replace RACEGIRL even so, it's not easy pulling the plug on a community that millions enjoyed.Its been thrilling and rewarding beyond expression bringing to the motorcycling community the first truly female motorsport focused website, the only one like it, ever, worldwide (we do our homework and research and with confidence can make such a claim). It was back in 1998 creation started which in January 1999 saw RACEGIRL launched into the world wide web. And what a gigantic hit she became, growing each year with interest and admiration by many. She did so well and became so popular that she even generated Internet traffic which assisted sales for the totally unrelated American t-shirt brand of same name RACEGIRL (introduced just after, and around the same time we did but with a focus on clothing and the famed American car cult of NASCAR).Now a decade later, the world has many more "racegirl's" and woman's only motorcycle race disciplines--Canada's Women's Cup and the European Women's Challenge, France's Dream Cup etc. and websites abound.
MOTORESS was born to provide a broader community than RACEGIRL could since RACEGIRL rather obviously spoke of racing--admittedly not a realistic goal for most women. MOTORESS relates to all women and even though many saw beyond RACEGIRL'S reference to racing, appreciating the portrayal of women in a new light, one of no limits, of intelligence, of skill, sophistication—and femininity, MOTORESS speaks to all.
For one decade she encouraged, supported and motivated women of all ages, of diverse origins and countries worldwide to pursue and discover motorcycling. So as many bid farewell to RACEGIRL she'll never be gone from our spirits, especially mine as she was created from my own passion for racing--a true RACEGIRL'S soul.
Three cheers RACEGIRL and in the language of your birth country, The Netherlands —“Gefeliciteerd--Lang zal ze leven in de Gloria”.
