10 Women Who Know More About Cars Than You

Before you scoff, or laugh, or roll your eyes, or crack a joke about women being bad drivers to your bro, just stop with the attitude. Shut up, sit down, pay attention and accept the fact that, yes, there are thousands of girls that truly have far superior knowledge of how cars work, how to drive cars, and the culture of auto racing. We've assembled an all-star cast of females that have won rally races, written theses on diesel fuel, raced F1 and performed driving stunts for Hollywood movies. Learn about these 10 Women Who Know More About Cars Than You Do.

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Known For: Featured in Barrett-Jackson with massive car collection

It wasn't difficult for her, nor was it a surprise that Allen got into cars. Her dad was a car junkie, buying new cars every two years, and her first car was a '76 Ford Mustang. Her first collector's car was a '60 Jaguar. That collection is now up to 120 cars. One-two-zero, as in tens more than any of your favorite rapper car collectors. She keeps them in three airplane hangars in Grand Junction, CO and they include a '58 Austin Healey, an '89 Lotus Espirit, and a '49 Lincoln Cosmopolitan. Those are just ones she's purchased recently. You could probably spend the night in one of those hangars, and you'd come out the next morning extremely cultured, filled with random historical facts, and know where the water pumps are located on all '66 Chevys.

Known For: BMW Ring Taxi Driver

You know that little test track called the Nüburgring? Yeah, well, Sabine Schmitz grew up in the town where that track is located, Nürburg. She also grew up in her mother's hotel, one of few, where plenty of former Grand Prix drivers like Nelson Piquet would stay. Because of this fast atmosphere, she decided at the age of 13 that she wanted to be a driver, as well. Despite the 18-year-old minimum age to drive the test, Schmitz made her first lap in her mom's BMW, when she was 17. Decades later, she's won 45 races on the Nordschleife with BMW. Her favorite car is the M5, which she now uses for her job as a BMW Ring Taxi Driver.

Known For: Former Top Gear and Current Fifth Gear Presenter

She does TV, she races, she does radio, she writes, and she shoots clay pigeons. And all of these hobbies and skills are centered around driving. Well, minus the clay pigeons thing. We don't know what that's about. Butler-Henderson, who was born in Hertfordshire, England is a vet on the TV screen. She originally started in '97, when she was a part of Top Gear. When that was temporarily cancelled, she moved onto a show called Fifth Gear as one of the main presenters. Her Grandfather was a driver, her father was a racer, and her brother is a racer, so nobody's jaw should be dislocating at the knowledge that she's been racing since she was 12. Additionally, she has a power boat racing license and has worked on moto magazines Auto Express, What Car? and Performance Car. We wouldn't be surprised, if she holds the record for fastest Hot Wheels car, too.

Known For: F1 Test Driver

Maria de Villota, daughter of F1 driver Emilio de Villota, is a Spanish racecar driver. After de Villota had spent time racing in the Spanish F3, the Daytona 24 Hours, and the Superleague Formula Championship, she became the first female F1 test driver since Katherine Legge in 2005, when she tested a Renault R29 at Paul Ricard. She subsequently signed with the Marussia F1 Team test driver program. Unfortunately, on July 3 of this past year, she was involved in a serious aero testing accident. Although she survived the life-threatening crash, she lost one of her eyes and has been recovereing since. Even with only half her vision, she could surely still lap you in whatever race you challenged her to.

Known For: Head of Electrified Propulsion Systems and Hybrid and Powertrain Products for Chrysler Group

All we'd really have to say is that Jay's thesis for her second master's degree was about cold-start ability of diesel engines and diesel emissions. But we'll tell you more. Formerly the Head of Electrified Propulsion Systems and Hybrid and Powertrain Products for Chrysler Group, she was in charge of all electric properties in Chrysler Group vehicles. She left Chrysler May of this past year to become the VP of Aerospace Engineering and Technology for the Eaton Corporation. Basically, she could break down piece by piece by piece what makes a lithium-ion battery able to give electric vehicles that incredible torque that we all love.

Known For: Rally Drive and Playboy Model Crossover

No, these pictures aren't just of some race-themed modeling shoot. Inessa does model, but she's not an imitation rally driver. She actually does it, and she's pretty good too. She won a few Russian races two years ago, and now she's driving for PrintSport Racing in the Finnish Rally Championship. Like we said, she does model, and well, she's kind of already won the championship of modelling, posing for Russian, Lithuanian, and Ukranian editions of Playboy. Her reasoning? "Nobody likes women in racing sport, which is traditionally dominated by men, because it's easier for us to attract sponsors," she said. "This magazine is prestigious enough and helps with PR." Truth bombs all in your face. When she's not driving her Mitsubishi Evo IX rally car, she's got a Subaru wagon, a pair of Mitsubishi Evos and a BMW M6 at home. All that, and she'll just be turning 26 in July.

Known For: Former WRC champion

Some consider Mouton the greatest female rally driver ever and put her among the ranks of some of the best male drivers, as well. She started racing back in '74 with an Alpine-Renault. She raced in the French and European Internationals early and found victory in a Porsche Carrera RS in the Rally of Spain. It wasn't until '81 that she found her home with the Audi team, where she excelled, climbing to the top of the WRC. Considering how dangerous these racers were back in the '80s, the fact that she's still alive is one of the most impressive feats on this list.

Known For: Being one of Hollywood's leading stunt drivers

Georgia Durante created Performance Two, Inc., a company that became a leading name for stunt driving in Hollywood. She didn't just hire people to do her work, either, she's actually in the cars, performing precision driving you could only dream of. She's been in hundreds of commercials, movies and TV shows. Unfortunately, a crash and two neck surgeries put her out of commission. If you recognize her, it might be because of her modeling time as a Kodak girl.

Known For: Team Principal for Sauber F1 team

In October, Kaltenborn became the first female team principal in the history of F1. Not only that, she's taking over for Peter Sauber, the man who founded the Sauber F1 team. Forty-one-year-old Kaltenborn joined Sauber in 2000 to run the legal department, and took over as CEO in 2010. Unlike many women on this list, her background isn't largely in racing. It's in law, studying at the University of Vienna and earning a Master's degree in International Business Law at the London School of Economics.

Known For: Only woman to win the Paris-Dakar Rally

In '01 Jutta became both the first woman AND the first German to win the Dakar Rally. The win came after seven years of rally driving, starting with a race in Dubai back in '94. A ridiculous story actually came out of that race. As Kleinschmidt finished that rally, she also passed the local driving hero, who was a man. The Sheik that organized the race blasted her for doing such a thing on camera, claiming that all the women in Dubai would now want to drive and cause chaos in the streets. How's that for starting a movement?