Meet the women obsessed with supercars
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
In the world of classic-car collecting, women remain in the minority. In 2022 Footman James, a specialist in classic car insurance, reported that 91 per cent of its clients were male. But change is in the air. Hagerty, one of the world’s largest insurers of collector cars and speciality vehicles, released figures showing that the number of its female policy holders grew almost 30 per cent between 2010 and 2020; and last year it emerged that more than a quarter of Ferrari purchases in China were made by women.
All-female car rallies have been launched around the world, with Richard Mille’s Rallye des Princesses across France now in its third decade; there’s the off-road Rebelle Rally in America, the Rallye des Graces in Lebanon and numerous events such as the Duchess Club Car Rally in India. Celebrities are also making their mark, with notable collectors including Lady Gaga, Paris Hilton, Kylie and Kendall Jenner and Cardi B.
Here we talk to three women driving the change: the social media phenomenon Alex Hirschi, otherwise known as Supercar Blondie, who shares with her millions of followers her love of cutting-edge cars; Katarina Kyvalova, the record-breaking founder of an all-female classic Bentley racing team; and vintage Porsche owner Michelle Hambly-Grobler, who says she came into the collecting game “like a wrecking ball”.
“It’s the countdown, then green, then you step on it and you’re away” – Alex Hirschi
Alex Hirschi, the influencer behind @supercarblondie, has more than 19.4mn subscribers on YouTube. You might expect her to have a garage teeming with hypercars, but her life’s not like that, or at least not yet.
“I’m not at the point where I gather together lots of cars and just store them. If I’m going to have a car, I want to drive it,” says Hirschi. “For example, an Aston Martin Valkyrie is something I’d love to own, but that’s a $3.5mn car,” she says. “It doesn’t make sense for a car that’s going to sit there and that I might drive a couple times a year. I’d rather reinvest that $3m back into my business.” Earlier this year, she launched a digital car auction platform, SBX Cars, with $100mn in consignments.
Of the cars she does own and drive – two Rolls-Royces, a McLaren 720S TopCar Fury edition and a custom Brabus Mercedes G-Wagen – she sticks to three criteria: design, drive and power. Hirschi describes power as “the first off the lights”, she says. “It’s the countdown, then green, then you step on it and you’re away. Seeing everyone in the dust behind you – that’s what gives me the most joy.” Even her G-Wagen – despite a turbo lag “that annoys me” – still has 800 horsepower, she says. “You just fly – the bonnet lifts off it’s so powerful.” Hirschi has customised the brushed-metallic-grey vehicle with a bespoke Tiffany Blue interior and a skylight roof. “It looks understated from the outside but when you get in, it’s a reveal,” she says.
Hirschi is a fan of electric engines: “They’re just so quick. Even a non-expensive electric car is still doing zero to 100kmph in a couple of seconds,” she says, adding that the Lotus Evija is the electric car she would put her money on today. In her collection, she recently added the electric Rolls-Royce Spectre, which joins her Rolls-Royce Black Badge Wraith, another custom car that she initially kitted out with oversized 24in wheels (“it looked so bad boy”) and that comes in grey with orange accents.
“I never thought I’d be a Rolls-Royce driver,” she says. “But you feel like you’re driving on a cloud. It’s the complete opposite experience to driving a supercar – you don’t even have to slow down for speed bumps.”
Arriving imminently is the rare hypercar Ares S1, with 700-800hp and a V8 engine, in emerald green with caramel interior. But her McLaren may soon go, to the dismay of her fans. Hirschi has documented the car’s various iterations on her channels over the past two and half years – from its original baby-blue colour, to being fitted with a mean-looking body kit featuring a massive wing set with shark fins and punchy fluorescent green stripes.
She’s looking to replace it with the Lamborghini Revuelto, a V12 hybrid. The Italian marque was her first-ever supercar (a Huracán). “I need a Lamborghini in my life. I love the sound: the gurgles, pops and cracks when you’re driving it just bring me pure joy,” she says. “The McLaren is a super-quick car but feels more like a computer to drive. A Lamborghini feels very raw and very real.”
“I’m enjoying it and beating men – it’s fun” – Katarina Kyvalova
The Hamburg-based car collector Katarina Kyvalova is the founder of the all-female racing team the Bentley Belles. The idea began with a bet. In 2014, Kyvalova had been celebrating the finish of the Flying Scotsman vintage car rally with fellow drivers when, five whiskies later, she accepted the challenge to enter the Benjafield’s 24, a 24-hour endurance race at Portugal’s Portimão circuit. “I was going to get my racing licence and bring an all-female team,” recalls Kyvalova. “People declared me crazy but I’m used to that.”
Kyvalova has around 30 cars in her collection. She was the first woman to drive a Bentley at the biennial Le Mans Classic vintage car race, in which she participates religiously. “If you’re deep in the passion, that’s the one you don’t want to miss,” she says, adding: “I’m enjoying it and beating men – it’s fun.” She is also one of the few women behind the wheel of a Bentley at the Mille Miglia – a race that she has participated in eight times.
Kyvalova first got into vintage cars after tagging along with friends to various classic-car events, where she was drawn to prewar cars and their limousine-like designs. “It’s an object of art,” she explains. “They’re gorgeous and beautiful – just not very practical. But anyway, who cares?”
The first classic car in her collection was a 1967 Austin-Healey 3000, which Kyvalova fell in love with after seeing it driven on the road. “It’s a car with a really great sound and relatively powerful. I was already into cars that are good for driving so I went straight for the big engine,” she recalls. Meanwhile, the sky blue and white livery is “a very, very girly colour combination”.
The car is one of several British models in her collection, which also includes a 1931 Rolls-Royce Phantom II and a 1998 Jaguar XKR that was one of a handful used in the Bond film Die Another Day. A 1954 Cooper Jaguar T33 is regularly driven – it was her chosen ride for the Monaco Historic in May – but rather than any era or theme, Kyvalova says her collection is driven by practicality and having cars eligible for the eight to 12 events she participates in every year. She’s done endurance races in her 2019 Mercedes AMG GT4, while also hitting American tracks like Florida’s Sebring or California’s Laguna Seca, where in 2019 she raced her Bentley for the marque’s centenary. And she has recently returned from her first 14,000km Peking to Paris rally, which covered eight countries over 37 days, in her 1967 Hero-Era 1 Ford Mustang Fastback.
Her counsel is to collect whenever the possibility arises. “Life is short,” she says. “We don’t buy these cars because we need them. It’s about fulfilling a dream.”
“I came in like a wrecking ball” – Michelle Hambly-Grobler
A passion for cars was developed in Michelle Hambly-Grobler’s early childhood: her grandfather managed a Ford dealership and her father was always tinkering in the garage, while her uncle was a racer. Growing up in rural South Africa, she says, “we were always loaded into the car to go and visit the grandparents or aunts or uncles. Road tripping was very much part of our heritage.”
Hambly-Grobler learnt to drive in a V8 Ford Fairlane 500 and has fond memories of her and her sisters piled in the back on long road trips. “Distance for me is relative,” she says. “I don’t have a problem driving for hours.” The first cars she collected were iconic American V8s, such as a 1968 Mustang Fastback and 1958 Corvette. But when she was given the chance to get behind the wheel of a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 Lightweight, known as the holy grail of Porsche, “the lightbulbs went on”.
Her collection today is rooted predominantly in pre-1973 Porsches featuring the air-cooled engines designed by the legendary engineer Hans Mezger. There is also a 1958 Porsche tractor called Ferdinand that Hambly-Grobler regularly takes to the farmers’ market or for a spin near the woods. A 981 Cayman GT4 and 1969 911T are recently back from Hambly-Grobler’s participation in the Cape 1000, a local tribute rally to the historic Mille Miglia race. There’s also a 930 Turbo from 1983, in the four-speed that Hambly-Grobler describes as “absolutely and utterly original. She’s never been molested and never restored.” Nicknamed the Widowmaker for its dangerous handling, the 930 Turbo is a “very visceral drive”, she says. “If I want to scare myself, I take her out. She really is very beautiful. And she sounds phenomenal.”
Hambly-Grobler bought the car from the ex-president of the Porsche Club of South Africa, and despite an ever-growing international vintage car market, she is keen to keep cars in the country. “South Africa has a massive heritage and long history of automotive excellence,” she says, citing early Formula 1 races in the ’60s. “These cars should stay for young people who would like to own a beautiful vintage car, or a car with some provenance.”
A mother of six and 1.85m in height, Hambly-Grobler admits that being car-obsessive in a man’s world made her an anomaly in the early days. But then again, she says: “I came in like a wrecking ball. The men gave me a chance.”
“People ask me if I meditate or do yoga,” she continues. “I don’t – because I drive.”
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