Zoe Whittaker, Professional Female Driver to Promote Georgia’s Tourism Potential

Zoe Whittaker, one of the few women who races classic cars and is a track car driver and who has worked on Formula 1, is on a visit to Georgia to launch her new project ‘Driving with Zoe,’ the focus of which is the promotion of Georgia’s tourism potential.

The idea to do so came up on a visit to Le Monde’s famous 24-hour race in France, where Zoe, together with her Georgian friend, Berdia Kamarauli, founder of the UK-based Cenimex, a British import-export venture specializing in Georgian wine export to the UK under the Georgian Wine Club brand, suggested that Zoe taste Georgian wine, “because, of course, French wine is good, but Georgian is better”.

It was an ambitious statement which rightfully took Zoe Whittaker by surprise and so was born the idea of promoting the Georgian wine route by organizing a rally, which later expanded into a project for promoting Georgian tourism.

“The idea was then introduced to the Co-Founder and director of the British-Georgian Chamber of Commerce, Mako Abashidze, and Georgian Ambassador to the UK, Tamar Beruchashvili, who were both instantly hooked,” Kamarauli tells GEORGIA TODAY. “Zoe’s introductory trip to Georgia was then organized, involving important meetings with Shalva Obgaidze, Head of the Georgian Automobile Federation (GAF), where she was appointed the Non-Executive Director of GAF to promote Classic cars and Classic car international races in Georgia”.

During her trip to Georgia, Zoe visited the International Motor Park in Rustavi, where she was hosted by Archil Talakvadze, member of Georgian parliament. A joint test racing with the MIA Force Racing Club was organized, with Georgian champion, pilot driver David Kajaia. Zoe Whittaker also met Giorgi Alibegashvili, Chairman of Tbilisi City Council, where future partnership possibilities were discussed.

At a meeting with Sofio Katsarava, member of Georgian Parliament, women drivers and child road safety issues were discussed.

“The concept of the project is to promote Georgian tourism in the West,” Kamarauli adds. “We’re aiming to attract a slightly different category of people with it, as Georgia has the potential to be able to host classic car races, bringing yet another dimension for promoting Georgian tourism abroad”.

The current visit is just the beginning and is said to have received high interest from potential Georgian and foreign partners, including a number of major media outlets in the UK.

“With Moto sports, Georgia can easily become a center for organizing international sports events,” Kamarauli says. “Georgia has many possibilities, and we shouldn’t focus on promoting just food and wine”.

Zoe Whittaker’s decision to become a racer was influenced by her father’s racing career, and she followed in her father’s footsteps, starting out by driving the same routes at some of the rallies he used to in her “beaten up Ford Fiesta”.

Wanting to go deeper, she got into the motor school industry, and now boasts a career in Formula 1 British-American racing, in between which she attends classic car rallies, like Paris-Marrakesh, with around 20 years spent racing all over Europe.

“I want to get more women into racing to break away from the stigma [of it being a man’s sport],” she tells GEORGIA TODAY, recalling the reactions she gets when people see her racing and find out about the classic cars she owns. She tells us that one of her most challenging races was Paris-Marrakesh, some twenty years ago. “I was very young, and there were no women driving; women were all navigating, but now it’s slowly getting better”.

She claims woman are better drivers, “women are very calm and we have a better patience ratio. We’re getting to the stage where women are actually earning enough of their own money that they can afford such cars,” she says.

We asked her about her latest project in Georgia.

“I had no idea that Georgia produced wine. I wanted to see the country for myself and, despite warnings that the country wasn’t safe, I decided to get in my car and give it a go,” Zoe Whittaker says.

“Now I’m here, I’m absolutely blown away. The people are so friendly. Every single person I’ve met has welcomed me like I’m family, the countryside is absolutely stunning and the agriculture here, with all those walnuts and tasty pomegranates, is just outstanding,” she says.

“Everything is getting so commercialized nowadays, and Georgia still has that authenticity. In Tbilisi itself, I’m surprised at the mix of old and new, it’s all so real,” Zoe Whittaker adds. “I really want to promote Georgian tourism to the outside world with my new project, ‘Driving with Zoe’ as Georgia has so much to offer people”.

“Since I started posting images from the trip, I’ve had a huge response. I’ve been showing the roads, the countryside, the beautiful castles, monasteries and churches, and many people are already saying they’d like to come”.

The project will start in June next year, and before that, Zoe Whittaker says she’ll be back in Georgia for more exploring prior to setting her race itinerary.

Nino Gugunishvili