ONCE NIGHT HAS FALLEN AND the streets have emptied of vehicles, Tehran’s motorways become a playground for many young Iranians. Escaping the day-to-day pressures of life, car drivers and motorbike riders rip around the highways at high speed, under the cover of darkness. Clup Ninja, a Tehran motorbike crew with over 400 members, descends on the city, en masse, three nights a week, holding drag races on the empty motorways. Among this swarm of superbikes and smoking rubber, Behnaz Shafiei, on her metallic blue Yamaha YZF-R25, is the only woman.
“When I ride my motorbike, this happiness and energy intensifies,” Behnaz explains. “With the adrenaline rush, all my problems vanish and I think of nothing but to ride. It gives me a sense of flying and freedom, a sense of power, a sense of having the whole world under my feet. I extremely enjoy it.” Globally, motorsport remains a boy’s club and it’s still pretty rare to see female riders. But in Iran, it’s almost unheard of, as women are prohibited from obtaining motorbike licences. Behnaz is breaking the law and risks arrest every
