The acrylic nails aren’t the first thing you notice, but they’re definitely in the mix, alongside hot dust, hot air, thick engine oil, makeshift tracks, customised street cars, puffy one-piece racing suits. Oh yes, and women: Palestinian women, some of whom wear amazing nail art.

Meet the world’s first all-female racing-car driving team from occupied Palestine. There’s Maysoon Jayyusi, the team’s 38-year-old manager, from Jerusalem, who says her love for racing-car driving came from the frustration of being stuck in the West Bank’s constant traffic jams and checkpoints; Mona Ali, 29, from Ramallah, who was one of the first female racers in Palestine; Marah Zahalka, 23, who was a racing champion at 19; Noor Dauod, 25, from Jerusalem, who is determinedly persistent, if not always successful on the race track; and finally Betty Saadeh, 35, the only member who comes from a wealthy family of racers in Bethlehem.