American artist Mickalene Thomas has designed a motorsport car for the feminist arts and racing initiative Driven Artists Racing Team Car (DART Car). This women-led initiative will debut with a McLaren Artura GT4 wrapped in Thomas’s original artwork. The car will officially be unveiled on February 18th at the Classic Car Club Manhattan in New York.
DART Car was co-founded by entrepreneur Zoë Barry, art advisor Spring McManus, and professional racecar driver Aurora Straus. This initiative aims to simultaneously showcase female achievements in the traditionally male-dominated fields of the arts and motorsports. According to the organization, only 4% of motorsport drivers are women.
Thomas’s original artwork features a cubist portrait of a woman’s face, complete with bold, reflective colors and various patterns made with glitter, Zebra print, and Ben-Day dots. Her contributions extend beyond the racecar; she has also designed bespoke driving suits and hand-painted helmets for the team.
“I’m passionate about the intersection of art and women in sports,” said Thomas. “This collaboration with DART Car embodies the perfect union of art and feminism as a potent fusion of creativity, speed, and female empowerment, challenging stereotypes by inspiring innovation and redefining the boundaries of power and beauty of women in the driver seat.”
DART Car’s first competition will take place from March 28th to 30th at Sonoma Raceway in California. The team intends to participate in the 24H Series Middle East Trophy in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where it will be the first all-women-led team in the series.
During her time as a brand ambassador for BMW, Straus was inspired by the BMW Art Car—most recently designed by Ethiopian artist Julie Mehretu in May 2024. Now, the DART Car will be the first initiative to partner with both women artists and women drivers for a competitive motorsport.
“Both art and racing are close to my heart,” said Straus. “As a veteran female driver, I am all too used to being the only woman in the room, and despite the push for diversity these last few years, we have so much further to go as an industry. We have purposefully chosen hyper-competitive, co-ed racing series to prove that women can compete against men on equal footing. And to the (few, but vocal) people in the racing industry who still say we shouldn’t be there—we’re looking forward to proving you wrong this year!”
