Not that long ago, Hanan Mazouzi Sobati faced flagrant sexism at track days in Dubai. An ardent petrolhead, Sobati would go to drive her sports car fast -- really fast -- but many of the overwhelmingly male drivers couldn't see past her gender. "They always thought I was someone else, accompanying someone. I was just there to support him, or to sit in the passenger seat," she recalls. "(It's) as if they didn't see me."
Fellow enthusiast Jalyn Jarvi echoes the sentiment. "You pull up and they expect you to be somebody's girlfriend or wife," she adds. "Everybody's staring at you and it's a little bit uncomfortable."
"It started hitting me that not only they don't expect you to be there, you're not really welcome," says Sobati. Amid the engine noise and tire smoke, an idea was sparked -- one that would become the Arabian Gazelles, Dubai's first all-female supercar club.
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