A group of Queensland schoolgirls today got a taste of life, with Australia’s second Dare To Be Different event taking place in Brisbane.

Ahead of this weekend’s Gold Coast 600 Supercars event, Triple Eight Race Engineering generously gave the group a rare glimpse to the inner-workings of .

D2BD Ambassadors Simona de Silvestro and Molly Taylor passed on their racing knowledge and experience, with students challenging each other on a simulator.

“It’s quite cool, I wish I had that when I was in school and when I was younger to see a race car,” de Silvestro said to supercars.com.

“I think if you want to become an engineer as well, I think it’s quite special to be doing this. It’s not just a driving aspect… but you can be an engineer, mechanic, whatever you aspire to.”

Triple Eight Performance & Data Engineer Romy Mayer was also on hand for the STEM Challenge and spoke to the schoolgirls about her own engineering pathway in the global industry.

As part of the wide range of experiences, fellow ambassador and Australian Superbikes presenter Emma Notarfrancesco lead the Media Workshop component. 

Other activities included a pit stop, reaction & fitness, livery design workshop and a tour of the workshop by Commercial Operations manager Jess Dane

“I think it will inspire more girls to do that. A lot of times being around cars or racing, it’s usually more of a boys thing but having this opportunity as a young girl to check it out.. and if you like it - why not, go for it,” de Silvestro said. 

“I think this program with Dare To Be Different is opening the doors a bit of for that, and getting young girls exposed to that where maybe they wouldn’t at home.”

Information on future Australian Dare To Be Different programs, including expressions of interest, are available here: www.cams.com.au/d2bd