Inès Taittinger

August 31, 2016, 3:22 pm

Inès at Le Mans

Inès Taittinger is best known for her appearance at Le Mans in 2016. She mostly races sportscars in her native France.

She made her debut in 2009, driving a Ligier prototype in the VdeV championship, at Magny-Cours. This was her only race of the year, and she was 22^nd, driving the car with her father, Hugues. They were sixteenth in class. She had been encouraged by her godfather, Philippe Alliot, who had let her drive a Ferrari a few years earlier.

She continued in this car in 2010, supported by the Blue One team, and scored her first points at Aragon. She entered five races that year. In the first race, at Jarama, she and Hugues finished, but were unclassified. Inès did not race at Mugello, but was eleventh overall at Aragon, tenth in class. Another non-classified finish followed at Lédenon, then a line-up change for the Paul Ricard race gave her a fourteenth place. Olivier Dupard partnered her instead of Hugues. Back together with her father, she did not finish at Dijon. Blue One entered two Ligiers at Magny-Cours, and Inès was seventeenth, with Philippe Alliot and David Tuchbant. The last round, at Estoril, led to another DNF.

In 2011, she remained in VdeV, driving another Ligier JS51 for two rounds, for Springbox Concept this time. She and Amandine Foulard were nineteenth overall at Dijon, seventh in the Open class. At Magny-Cours they were tenth and third in class, one above Hugues in a similar car.

Driving for a different team, she also raced a Formula Renault in the VdeV series’ Monoplace (single-seater) Challenge, at Magny-Cours. She took part in three races, with a best finish of seventeenth.

Away from VdeV, she drove in the SPEED Euroseries for Springbox, partnering Amandine Foulard in a Ligier again for four rounds, at Paul Ricard and Silverstone. Their best finish was seventh, at Paul Ricard, and they were 49^th in the championship.

2012 proceeded in a similar manner, with Springbox, although the car had been updated to a Ligier JS53. She raced at Dijon and Paul Ricard, sharing the car with Amandine Foulard and Jonathan Cochet respectively. She and Amandine were twentieth, but Inès and Jonathan Cochet did not finish. In the SPEED Euroseries, she entered the Paul Ricard and Spa races, four in all. She was eighth at Paul Ricard and ninth at Spa, leaving her in 37^th in the championship.

For 2013, she returned to VdeV full-time, in the modern Endurance Challenge. Her car was a Norma prototype, run by CD Sport, and her team-mate was K

vin Bole-Besancon. She started well, qualifying second at Catalunya, and finishing in eighth place. Despite qualifying quite well at Mugello and Paul Ricard, she did not finish at either circuit. She and her team-mates were then sixth at Dijon, and an impressive third in the Aragon 12-hour race. Inès finished the season with a sixth at Magny-Cours and a fifteenth place at Estoril. She and K

vin Bole-Besancon were eighth in the championship.

As well as a full season in VdeV, she took part in the TTE touring car series, which confusingly has a prototype class. She won one race at Albi in the Norma, and was third in a six-hour race at Magny-Cours. Proving that she had a taste for real endurance, she drove in the Fun Cup 25 Hours at Spa, as part of a six-driver Kronos Racing team that included Margot Laffite.

She drove the CD Sport Norma in VdeV again, in 2014. Her season started well enough with ninth at Barcelona. By the fourth round, at Dijon, she was really getting into her stride, and was third overall. She was then a disappointing 23^rd at Aragon, where she had run so well the year before. A little later, she was back on the podium at Magny-Cours, with second place. Her inconsistent but not bad season was enough for thirteenth in the championship.

2015 was the year that she started setting her career sights higher. She stated her aim to race at Le Mans in 2016. For the past few seasons, she had been working on her fitness and stamina, which had paid off in VdeV. Grabbing any chance she could for a Le Mans race seat, she signed up for a racing reality TV show called “Race to 24”, where the prize for the winning driver was to compete at the Sarthe classic. The show never made it into production, but Inès used the publicity generated to raise her public profile, with several TV appearances. This made her a more attractive prospect for sponsors, especially when public reaction to her was very positive.

She did do some racing in 2015, competing for CD Sport in VdeV, in the Norma again. Barcelona was a forgettable race for her and her team-mates, and Mugello was slightly more encouraging, despite being far from what Inès was capable of doing. Things improved at Dijon with an eighth place, but then she did not finish at Paul Ricard. The season ended well, with sixth place at Magny-Cours and tenth at Estoril. She was 23rd in the championship.

Everything changed at the start of the 2016 season. Inès left the CD Sport set-up and joined Pegasus Racing. Her former team-mate, Amandine Foulard, had been part of the team for some time a few seasons ago. She would be racing a Nissan-engined Morgan in the LMP2 class, both in the European Le Mans Series and at Le Mans itself. Her team-mates were Léo Roussel and Rémy Striebig. In interviews, she stated that her aim for 2016 was to learn, and it was certainly a tough beginning to the season, when the car only lasted 90 laps at Silverstone, after setting some strong times. She was twelfth at Imola, again setting very competitive lap times. The Austrian round was another disappointment, retiring after 123 laps. A seventeenth place at Paul Ricard was a little more promising.

Inès’s individual performance at Le Mans itself was barely criticised, but during one of her stints, the Morgan caught fire, meaning a risky trip back to the pits and instant retirement. Still, she was the only Frenchwoman to race that year, and her profile was higher than ever, which bodes well for future sponsorship.

Throughout her racing career, she has supported the French charity, Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque, which helps children born with heart defects. This is a cause close to her own heart, as she was born with cardiac problems herself. This has not stopped her from pursuing a sporting career at the highest level.

(Image copyright Frédéric Veille)

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Suzy Dietrich

September 4, 2016, 2:37 pm

≫ Next: Ada Pace

≪ Previous: Inès Taittinger

Suzy with her MG TC

Suzy Dietrich raced sportscars in and around the USA in the 1950s and 1960s. In the later part of her career, she took part in major races such as the Daytona 24 Hours.

Suzy began racing in 1953, after her marriage to Charles (Chuck) Dietrich, another racer. Away from the track, she worked as a school librarian, and the Dietrichs ran their own car dealership together.

Her first car was a supercharged MG TC, built in 1948. Her first race was at the Chanute Air Force base circuit. It was a ladies’ race, and she was fourth, winning her class. A month later, she entered another ladies’ race at Cumberland, and was second, behind the more experienced Margaret Wyllie in a Jaguar, who had started racing at the same time as Suzy.

In 1954, she scored two more second places in ladies’ races, at Cumberland and Akron. Both times, she was beaten by Margaret Wyllie again. This year, she branched out into mixed competition, entering some SCCA races at Chanute and a hillclimb at Brynfan Tyddyn. The results are not forthcoming.

Still in the MG, she achieved her first win in 1955, seeing off Margaret Wyllie in her Jaguar C-Type in a Cumberland ladies’ race. At the same meeting, she started a mixed Novices race, but did not finish. This was down to a mechanical failure. Later in the year, she ventured to Elkhart Lake for an SCCA National race at Road America, and was eleventh.

Her racing repertoire expanded further in 1956, with a new car and a first international outing. She drove a Porsche 550 in competition for the first time at the Nassau Speed Week in the Bahamas. In the Ladies’ event, she scored a third and a fourth place. The 550 was probably not hers, although she seems to have picked up its workings quite well. She would later claim that this was her favourite of all of her racing cars.

Among the other women she encountered on the Ladies’ racing scene was Denise McCluggage, who later described her as “an enormously cute librarian”. The two became lifelong friends.

She had some more races in at least two different Porsche 550s in 1957, earning three second places in Ladies’ races, and a twelfth in mixed competition at Watkins Glen, during the SCCA Nationals. This year, she had another new car, in the shape of an Elva MkII which belonged to Chuck. Suzy won a Ladies’ race at Watkins Glen in this car, as well as contesting some SCCA races. At the end of the season, when Nassau Speed Week rolled round again, Chuck and Suzy were supported by the Elva factory. Suzy was fifth in one of the Ladies’ races, but crashed out of another, damaging the car but escaping serious injury herself. She attempted to race again the next day, despite Chuck having to help her out of bed.

The Elva served her well again in 1958, helping her to Ladies’ wins at Dunkirk and Watkins Glen. This was the car she used in the Road America 500 Miles, sharing it with Charles Kurtz. They were eleventh overall, and second in class. At various times, she also raced Bernard Vihl’s 550; her best result in this car was a third in a Ladies’ race at Cumberland.

The next two seasons were much quieter for Suzy. The Dietrichs took delivery of at least two new Elva models, a IV and a V, which she used to good effect in a select few Ladies’ races.

It was back to a fuller competition schedule for 1961, and with a new car. The Dietrichs had acquired a Porsche 356, in which Suzy attacked the SCCA National championship. This time, it was mostly in the main races, rather than against the other women. Her best finish was fifth, at her lucky circuit, Watkins Glen. Mid-season, she dusted off the Elva and won the Ladies’ race at Dunkirk in it.

In 1962, she switched to single-seaters and campaigned a Cooper in Formula Junior in the States, among other cars. She used an Elva FJ much of the time, and was eleventh in the Governor’s Cup at Marlboro in this car.

The Cooper proved to be another good car for Suzy; she won a Formula Junior race outright at Dunkirk in it, in June 1963.

For the next couple of seasons, things were quieter on the racing front for Suzy. She was absent from the major entry lists until 1966, when she made quite a dramatic comeback, entering her first Daytona 24 Hours. She was part of an all-female team with Janet Guthrie and Donna Mae Mims, driving a Sunbeam Alpine for the Autosport team. Suzy enjoyed driving European cars, like the Porsches and the Cooper, so the Alpine probably suited her. The car was not a highly-tuned race machine, being barely more than showroom trim. Suzy and her team-mates finished the race in 32^ndplace, and were the only team in their class to finish at all.

In 1967, the all-woman team had become the “Ring Free Motor Maids”, sponsored by the Ring Free oil company. Suzy narrowly missed out on a spot in the main “Motor Maids” car for Daytona, a Ford Mustang, but raced a satellite Jim Baker ASA 411, which was another production car, albeit provided by the factory. Her team-mate was Donna Mae Mims. They were not classified. They raced the same car together in the Sebring 12 Hours, and were 25^th, not far behind Liane Engeman and Anita Taylor in a Matra Djet, the other Ring Free ladies’ car.

Ring Free also supported Suzy in some single-seater races, driving a Lotus 20. She raced in Formula A and Formula Continental. She had been competing in the Lotus since at least 1965.

At about this time, Suzy and Chuck went their separate ways and eventually divorced. This was one of the reasons why Suzy’s racing career really wound down after 1967. According to friends, she regretted the end of her relationship. She went back to working as a librarian, although she did make a comeback as a team owner in 1970, running a Brabham BT21 in Formula Continental under the “Team Suzy” banner.

She died in 2015 after a stroke, at the age of 88. For the last few years of her life, she lived in a care home, and in 2011, she auctioned off her memorabilia collection to pay for this.

(Image from http://www.rokemneedlearts.com/)

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Ada Pace

September 13, 2016, 2:12 pm

≫ Next: Women Drivers in the 12 Hours of Reims

≪ Previous: Suzy Dietrich

Ada Pace was an Italian rally driver and touring car ace of the 1950s and 1960s. She went by the nom de course of “Sayonara”.

Ada was from Turin, which would be her home base throughout her career, and her life. She enjoyed sports growing up, and her earliest memories are of riding on her father’s motorcycle and sidecar. All of her early racing experiences were on two wheels, not four; Ada raced scooters in Italy from quite a young age. In 1947, she started racing her Vespa, in both circuit events and long-distance trials. It was in trials that she really excelled. After 1948, she rode for the works Piaggio team. She would continue in scootering on and off until 1953; she won two Ladies’ 125cc titles in 1952 and 1953.

The date and nature of her first steps into four-wheeled competition is not entirely clear. Some sources claim that her first race was in 1950, when she was 26. Little additional detail is offered, although Ada was said to be disappointed with her own performance, as well as the car’s. The race may have been at the Circuit Piazza d’Armi in Turin, where Ada did drive a Moretti early in her career, although some sources have her first car as a Fiat 1500. Speaking in 1990, she describes the Turin event as her first race, held in heavy rain, although she says it happened in 1953. She did own and race a 600cc Moretti in 1953, which adds credence to her own recollections (or the reporting thereof).

In 1951, she is said to have earned her first win. This is said to have come in a “Torino-San Remo race”. Her car was a Fiat 1500 6C. The nature of this event is unclear; it could have been a time trial rather than a mass- or group-start race, or even a regularity rally. I have been unable to find any official records of this event.

She definitely did race a Moretti in 1953, and was fourth in class in the Sassi-Superga hillclimb.

The following year, Ada may have entered her first Giro Di Sicilia, driving a Fiat 1100. She is down as a starter, but her finishing position, if any, is not recorded. This is not certain, as another driver called Pace was active in Sicily at this time. Ada certainly did drive an 1100 at some point, but her car in 1954 was the little Moretti. She mainly raced locally, entering the Sassi-Superga climb again and a Coppa Michelin at Torino. She also became involved in the growing women’s motorsport scene in Italy, and entered both the Perla di Sanremo Rally and the Como-Lieto-Colle Coppa delle Dame, a hillclimb. She was second in class in Sanremo.

In 1955, she was fourth overall in the Coppa delle Dame, driving an Alfa Romeo Giulietta. Variations of this model would become her signature car. She also raced a Fiat 1100 in hillclimbs at Sassari and Corallo.

Her next major race was also her first overseas event: the 1956 Nürbrugring 1000km. For this, she teamed up with Gilberte Thirion, in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce. Gilberte, an experienced international sportscar racer, was the entrant. They were sixteenth, and fourth in class.

The same year, Ada, driving solo and normally in the Giulietta, was becoming a regular figure in Italian hillclimbs and races. She was fifth in the Perla di Sanremo and third in the Coppa delle Dame, as well as scoring some highly respectable finishes in hillclimbs, and the Supercortemaggiore regularity trial. She even tried her hand at a conventional rally, the Rallye dei Rododendri, and was tenth overall.

1957 was the year that Ada really committed to four-wheeled competition, and began to race as a professional driver. She underlined her new role with an entry into the Mille Miglia, driving the Giulietta, solo. Unfortunately, she did not finish, stopping near Rome. Later in the year, a run in the Coppa Inter-Europa led to a finish, albeit as the last runner. The race was a one-make affair for Giulietta SVs, at Monza. In November, she did proportionately better in the Targa Florio; she was 48^th, out of 129 finishers. This would be the first of four attempts at the Sicilian classic. A season-ending Vallelunga 6 Hours was good for eleventh place.

This schedule of major events was augmented with a busy calendar of domestic hillclimbs and rallies. These included the Perla di Sanremo, in which she won her class, and the Coppa Colle San Rizzo climb, which gave her a GT1300 class win. She ended the year as the Italian women’s GT champion.

She raced a Zagato version of the Giulietta SV in 1958, supported by the Racing Club 19 team, so-called because it consisted of nineteen drivers. She finished the Targa Florio on her second attempt, sharing the car with Carlo Peroglio and earning a fifteenth place. This year’s Targa was a race of high attrition, and it was an achievement to finish at all. The Vallelunga 6 Hours was a happy hunting ground for her, driving solo this time: she was third. She repeated her podium finish in the Coppa Sant Ambroeus at Monza, finishing third again. Her team-mate, Carlo Peroglio, was seventh, in a similar car. The Giro di Calabria was another good event for her; she was fourth.

That year, she took part in many hillclimbs, and won her class in the Stallavena-Bosochienesanuova event. This helped her to third in the GT1300 class of the Italian hillclimb championship. She retained her national Ladies’ title.

The Sant Ambroeus Cup was moved to May the following year. Ada entered the 1300cc GT race in the Giulietta, and was third again. A run in an Osca S1100 in the 1100cc sportscar race was not as successful; she did not finish. Three weeks later, she and Carlo Peroglio tackled the Targa Florio together for the second time, but did not finish. In June, Ada tried out a new Giulietta, a Speciale, and was fourteenth at Monza in the GT Grand Prix.

In a similar car, she contested the Mille Miglia, now run as a regularity trial. She and Piera Bertoletti were fifth overall, and won the GT1300 class. She managed another GT1300 win in her heat for the Vallelunga 6 Hours, but did not finish the final. She ran well in the Sestriere Rally, finishing second overall. This must have been very satisfying for her, as she dropped out of the previous year’s rally within sight of the finish.

In both the Osca and the Giulietta, she performed well in hillclimbs, including some long classic climbs such as the Catania-Etna event, in which she was sixth. Her best hillclimb moment came in the Veglio Mosso – Mosso San Maria climb, which she won in the Alfa. She was third in her class in the Italian championship at the end of the year, as well as defending her ladies’ crown, and adding the Italian ladies’ Sportscar title to her collection. In the overall Italian racing championship, she was runner-up in both the GT1300 and the Sport 1100 classes.

1960 saw a lot of change happening around Ada, but it seemed to bring out the best in her. She scored her first major race win in October, winning the Coppa d’Oro di Modena. Her car was an Osca 1100. She would later describe this car as her favourite. The same car gave her her career-best finish in the Targa Florio earlier in the year, an eleventh place. She was sharing the car with Giancarlo Castellina, and won the 1150cc Sports class.

Further excitement came from the furthest “away race” of her career. She was invited to Cuba for the Grand Prix, one of only a small number of “Western” drivers to compete there during Castro’s presidency. The race had begun in 1957, but this was the first edition to be run in Communist Cuba. She drove an Osca MT4 and was fifteenth. She also took part in the supporting Formula Junior race, making a rare single-seater appearance in a Stanguellini. She did not finish. Later in the year, she drove a De Sanctis FJ in the Pescara 12 Hours, but did not finish. She did tentatively enter another couple of single-seater races, but did not actually compete.

Once more, hillclimbs made up most of her sporting schedule, both in the Alfa and the Osca. She scored many class wins, and was second in class in the Italian hillclimb championship. A third ladies’ GT championship and a second Sports championship added to her tally, and she was runner-up in the 1150 category of the Italian racing championship.

In 1961, she spent much of the year competing under the name “Sayonara”. Much later, she claimed that this was to make it less obvious that she was a woman. During her early career, she experienced some quite open negativity. This sometimes came in the form of over-zealous scrutineering, based on complaints from other competitors.

She had intended to enter the Targa Florio again, in a works Osca, but this did not happen. For circuit racing, she normally used her Giulietta SV. Driving with Carlo Baghetti, she did not finish the Coppa Ascari at Monza, after a spectacular crash on lap 14, which sent the car rolling at 200mph. Ada escaped through a window just before it caught fire. The following month, she did much better in the GT Grand Prix at the circuit. She was seventh, and fifth in class. Breaking with tradition, she drove a non-Italian car in the Pescara 4 Hours: a Lotus XI, albeit Osca-engined. She drove with Roberto Lippi, but did not finish. Alone, she used the Lotus in some hillclimbs, finishing seventh in the Trieste-Opicina climb and winning her class. The Osca 1100 was her usual mount for hillclimbs, scoring some class wins.

It was back to Italian power for the 1962 season, although Ada expanded her car repertoire once more. She drove a Ferrari 250 GT in the GT Trophy at Monza, and was second overall. She was also second in two other events in the car: the Stallavena-Bosochienesanuova and Coppa Fagioli long-distance climbs.

Mostly, she drove a 1184cc Osca, in which she earned another outright win, in the Campagnana Vallelunga. She also had some outings in an Abarth-Simca. Her best result in this car was an eighth place in a GT race at Vallelunga. The Giulietta was sold towards the end of the year.

1963 was spent switching between the Osca and the Abarth-Simca, which she used in the Targa Florio. Driving the Osca, she was third in the Campagnana Vallelunga. This was her best result of the year. She was fifth in the Shell Trophy at Cesenatico, and managed some top-five class finishes in hillclimbs.

1964 was her last year of competition. She drove a Lancia Flaminia for HF Squadra Corse in the European Touring Car Championship, including the Spa 24 Hours. She shared the car with Claudine Bouchet at Spa, but did not finish. The car’s rear axle broke after just over five hours.Her best finish in the championship was eighth, at Zolder. She never really got to grips with the Flaminia and found it hard to drive. Driving for the same team, she drove a Lancia Flavia in the Polish Rally, but did not finish.

In her later years, she took to living alone with her menagerie of rescued dogs and birds. She occasionally appeared at historic races and rallies. At the time of writing, she is still alive, although she has retired completely from public life.

This post would not have been possible without the research published by John de Boer.

(Image from http://www.aisastoryauto.it/)

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Women Drivers in the 12 Hours of Reims

September 19, 2016, 2:26 pm

≫ Next: Gabriel Konig

≪ Previous: Ada Pace

Isabelle Haskell and Annie Bousquet with their Porsche in 1956

The 12 Hours of Reims was a major sportscar race that ran, on and off, between 1953 and 1967. It was held at the Reims-Gueux circuit in France, and was a round of the World Sportscar Championship (or the World Championship for Makes) between 1953 and 1965.

It is significant for the 1956 edition, during which Annie Bousquet was killed in a crash early on. This accident, and the negative publicity that stemmed from it, was the cause of women drivers being banned from major circuit races in France until the early 1970s, although the ban at Reims itself was lifted much earlier.

1953

Yvonne Simon/Jean Hémard (Panhard Monopole) – 14^th

1954

Gilberte Thirion/Olivier Gendebien (Gordini T15S) – 14^th

1955

Race cancelled

1956

Gilberte Thirion/Roger Loyer (Gordini T15S) – DNF

1500cc:

Gilberte Thirion/Roger Loyer (Gordini T15S) – DNF

Annie Bousquet/Isabelle Haskell (Porsche 550) – DNF

1957

No female entries

1958

No female entries

1959-1963

No race held

1964

Annie Soisbault/Claude Dubois (Porsche 904) – 13^th

1965

Annie Soisbault/Gérard Langlois van Ophem (Ferrari 250 LM) – DNF

1966

No race held

1967

No female entries

(Image from http://type550.com/)

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Gabriel Konig

September 30, 2016, 1:26 pm

≫ Next: Tomiko Yoshikawa

≪ Previous: Women Drivers in the 12 Hours of Reims

Gabriel with her Modsports MG

Gabriel Konig (not Gabrielle) was a much-travelled Irish driver who competed off and on from 1962. She was most successful in MG Midgets and a Chevrolet Camaro, winning 18 races in different series, at club and National level mostly.

Living at her mother’s Beaulieu House near Drogheda, she learned to drive very young; at ten, she was able to drive a tractor. She was a regular spectator at motor races with her mother, attending events at Dundrod and Curragh. She earned her driving license at seventeen, then four years later, began racing. By this time, she was married to Mark Konig, another racing driver and car builder, and living in London. Her first racing car was a Lotus Elite. A Lotus Elan soon followed. She rarely raced in her home country, but was a regular face on the scene in England, and also in continental Europe. In 1964, she was twelfth in the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood, in the Elan. The following year, she shared the Elan with Mark for the Nürburgring 1000km, driving for the WJ Moss team. They did not finish due to gearbox problems. That year, 1965, she entered the Autosport Championship in the Elan. Later in the year, she raced a much more powerful Ferrari 250 GTO at Silverstone, but crashed out.

In 1966, she took her first race win, driving a Hillman Imp. This was a National-level race. This year, she returned to smaller cars, and was rewarded with results that went with her level of experience.

After a quiet 1967, during which she may have raced an Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite, she was taken on by John Brittan’s team in 1968. The car she was given was an MG Midget, and she raced in the Modsports series. This style of competition suited her well, and she ended the year with fifteen class wins. One of her best overall results was fourth at Mallory Park, with a win in the 1150cc class. The year before, she had been a member of the Ring Free Oil “Motor Maids” team in the USA, and had travelled to America for the Daytona and Sebring sportscar races. However, she seems to have been a reserve driver, and did not get to race. Her winning year in 1968 must have gone some way to making up for that.

Her first international win came in 1969. She was first at Fassberg in Germany, driving an Austin-Healey Sprite. The Brittan MG was still competitive, and she travelled to Italy to race in the Mugello Grand Prix, with Garo Nigogosian. They were 31^st, fifth in class, from 65 finishers. Also in Italy, Gabriel and Mark did the Targa Florio together, in the Nomad MkII. This car had been designed and built by Mark, and was powered by a BRM F1 engine. Sadly, an accident caused by a puncture put them out of the event on their third lap.

1970 was another year affected by accidents. Gabriel did not do much racing at all this year, as she suffered broken vertebrae in an accident in Brazil. She had been driving in a Formula Ford race at Sao Paulo, and crashed when the steering on her car failed. Later in the year, she returned to UK club racing as part of the “Carmen Curls”, an all-female team who raced a Royale in Formula 100. They were sponsored by Carmen hairstyling products, and Tina Lanfranchi was the team manager.

1972 saw her career go international again, with her first attempt at the Spa 24 Hours. She drove a Chevrolet Camaro with Marie-Claude Beaumont, a driver with considerable experience of both Chevrolet power and endurance racing. Sadly, they did not finish, due to a loss of oil pressure.

Despite her experience, Gabriel liked the car, and bought it to race for the 1972 season. She competed in the Irish Group 2 championship, now that motor racing had grown in her home country. At the end of 1972, she had it shipped to Guyana, where she would live and race for the next twenty years.

One of her first sporting appointments was joining the BOAC Speedbird team, which took British-based racers to the Caribbean, in partnership with the Guyana Motor Racing Club. Gordon Spice was one of her team-mates. She won at least two races in the Camaro at the South Dakota track in Guyana, and was second at Bushy Park in Barbados.

Among the cars that she raced during her Caribbean years was a Byldenstein Vauxhall Viva, built as a sister car to Gerry Marshall’s famous “Old Nail”. In this car, she won at least one race at Waller Field in Trinidad, in 1976.

During her time in Guyana, she raced again in Barbados. She was part of the group of enthusiasts initially responsible for bringing UK-based drivers to Barbados for its annual rally, something which continues to this day.

Gabriel was one of the founder members of the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club, one of the first group of drivers to be invited to join. In 1968 and 1972, she received awards from the BWRDC for being the highest-achieving female driver in the British Isles.

She also rallied in the UK more recently, doing some classic events in a Ford Escort, among other cars, including a Hillman Imp and an Austin A40. In 1997, she entered the Tour Auto in France, driving a Vauxhall GT. Latterly, she owned her own motor museum at Beaulieu, based around a collection of her own racing cars.

She died in January 2013.

(Image from http://www.backroads.ie/forums)

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Tomiko Yoshikawa

October 4, 2016, 1:55 pm

≫ Next: Roxie Lott

≪ Previous: Gabriel Konig

Tomiko in 1993

Tomiko Yoshikawa raced sportscars in both Europe and Japan in the 1990s, including at Le Mans. She also competed in single-seaters up to Formula 3 level in Japan, from 1980 onwards.

She was born in Nagoya in 1954. Her first involvement with motorsport seems to have been a couple of races in Japanese Formula 3, in 1980. She made another guest appearance in the series in 1981, before committing to a bigger race programme in 1982.

1983 was her best season in Japanese F3. She was tenth overall. In 1984, she scored more points, but was eleventh. Both times, she was driving a Japanese-built Hayashi-Toyota.

It was in about 1985 that she switched to sportscars. Initially, she raced at her home circuit of Fuji, in the Fuji Grand Champion Series. Her car was a BMW-engined MCS 5, run by Maribu Motorsport. She entered three of the four rounds, with a best finish of sixteenth in the opening round, the 300km race in March. In 1986, she entered the first round of the FGC again in the MCS, but did not finish. Unfortunately, she was involved in a multi-car crash on the sixth lap, which brought out a red flag. She does not appear to have raced again for quite a while afterwards. There is little easily accessible information about this accident, although Tomiko may have been injured, causing her absence.

She returned to the circuits in 1988. This year, she drove in her first Suzuka 1000km. Her car was a Hiro HRS3, shared with Kouzou Okumura. They did not finish.

The following year, she did some more endurance racing in the All-Japan Sports Prototype Championship, in the Fuji race this time. She got to the finish in her Group C Mazda 757, but was not classified. Her team-mates were Kazuhiko Oda and Keiichi Mizutani.

After another break in 1990, she returned to the All-Japan Prototype series in a Spice SE90C. This was the start of quite a lengthy associated between Gordon Spice’s team and Tomiko. She narrowly missed out on a Le Mans start with the Euro Racing setup, which was running an all-female Spice team in a pink car. Tomiko practised, but Desiré Wilson, Cathy Mullerand Lyn St. James were chosen for the race itself. The team’s race ended quite abruptly anyway, in a crash.

Back in Japan, she drove the same car for the Aoshima Tsunemasa team in the Fuji 1000km. She and her team-mates, Hideshi Matsuda and Hideo Fukuyama, did not finish, due to an engine problem.

Tomiko raced at Le Mans three times, in 1992, 1993 and 1994. Her best result was in 1992, when she finished 15th in a Chamberlain Spice SE88C, although she had not driven enough laps for official classification. The all-female team had originally been built around her, and as she did not get to drive in 1991, she was placed in a mixed team for 1992, with Kenta Shimamura and Jun Harada.

In 1993, she had to retire in a Courage C30 after an accident, and in 1994, she was unclassified again, in a Porsche, in 22nd place.

At the same time, she did secure some successes in other events. She was seventh in the 1992 Suzuka 1000km, the second of her thirteen runs in the Japanese classic. Again, she was driving the Chamberlain Spice, and her co-drivers were Divina Galica and Jun Harada.

Chamberlain gave her another drive in the Suzuka 1000km in 1993, in a Lotus Esprit, but she did not finish due to the car overheating. She and her team-mates had qualified eleventh. Earlier in the year, she had raced a Tom Gloy Racing Ford Mustang in the Daytona 24 Hours. This was another mixed team, with Desiré Wilson, Ron Fellows and Peter Baljet. They were classified 47^th, but did not finish.

In 1994, she had a run in the Suzuka 1000km in a Ferrari F40, with Anders Olofsson and Luciano della Noce. They were disqualified for an illegal overtaking manoeuvre.

1995 saw her have a final chance at Le Mans, driving a Toyota-engined SARD MC8-R with Kenny Acheson and Alain Ferté. However, it was not to be. Tomiko did not qualify, and as in 1991, the team did not last long anyway, succumbing to clutch failure after 14 laps. Unfortunately, the Suzuka 1000km went the same way. Tomiko was listed as a driver alongside Fabien Giroix and Jean-Denis Delétraz, but did not make the start. The team also did not finish.

After that, she did not race in Europe again. She continued to make appearances in the Suzuka 1000km, driving for a number of teams, including Roock Racing in 1996 and 1999, in Porsches both times. Other cars she raced included another McLaren F1 (1997) and a Nissan Skyline (2002 and 2003).

Her best result in this race was ninth, which she achieved in 2004, driving a Porsche 996 for the Arktech team. Her team-mates were Shigemitsu Haga and Tamon Saitou.

She retired from motorsport in 2005. Language barriers have prevented more detailed research about Tomiko’s life and career.

(Image from http://www.les24heures.fr/)

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Roxie Lott

October 7, 2016, 2:04 pm

≫ Next: Monique Proulx

≪ Previous: Tomiko Yoshikawa

Roxie raced a Toyota-engined Ralt RT3 like this one in 1984, in pink!

Roxie Lott was an American driver who was probably most famous for her efforts in the British Formula 3 Championship in 1984.

She was born in Indianapolis in 1961. She attended her first Indy 500 at the age of three, and announced to her mother that she was building a racing car engine when she was six, as soapbox carts were not fast enough for her.

When she was twelve, she began racing in junior Quarter Midget events, in a car her mother bought on hire purchase. While still at school, she spent a lot of time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, sometimes missing classes to do so. She apparently became friends with both Mario Andretti and Al Unser. When she was there, she helped various teams out, polishing and cleaning cars and doing odd jobs.

She achieved some success as a midget racer. Between 1976 and 1978, she won fifteen races, and went to Grand National meetings twice. After spending some time learning about full-size midget cars, she became more interested in road racing, and enrolled at the Skip Barber driving school. In 1979, she got to race a Formula Ford at Mid-Ohio as part of her training. At around that time, she travelled to England for the first time, and drove a Formula Ford there. Apparently, she raced once “in Europe”, probably in the UK, and came third. This drive was arranged by Teddy Yip of Theodore Racing, for whom Roxie was working at the time.

In 1982, she went on record saying that her biggest ambition was to race in the Indy 500, in an interview with the Indianapolis Star. However, despite her friends in high places and enterprising nature, she struggled for sponsorship.

That year, she raced in Formula Super Vee in the States. She did at least one race for Bill Scott Racing, but no results are forthcoming.

1984 was meant to be a breakthrough year for Roxie. She returned to England to race in Formula 3, with RD Motorsport. Speaking afterwards, she said that this should have been a good experience, but it was not. She only got to start one race, the Marlboro International Trophy at Silverstone, in April. This race ended after four laps, when she was unable to continue after a spin. Her pink Ralt RT3 gained some media attention, but by and large, it was not a positive experience for its driver.

After her British disappointment, it seems to have been increasingly difficult for Roxie to gain sponsorship, and she only raced sporadically. As she was never in a championship long enough to learn the car and understand her opponents, she struggled for pace. In 1986, she managed to score a point in the Formula Super Vee championship in the States, driving for Arciero Racing.

In 1988, after another couple of guest appearances in support races, Roxie called time on her racing career. She was twenty-eight years old. Some sources claim that she tried to take the Indy rookie test, but nothing official says that she did. Her ambition to race in the Indy 500 was put on hold indefinitely.

After turning her back on motorsport, she proved herself in another high-speed arena: flight. She worked as a commercial pilot for several years and racked up enough flight time to be promoted to Captain very quickly. In aviation, she was known as Roxie Lott Strish, having married Larry Strish. She retired after his death in 1995.

Later in life, she gave driving tours of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. She died of ovarian cancer in April 2007, and was mourned by the Indianapolis racing community.

(Image from http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/galcar/Ralt-RT3-Toyota-29317.html)

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Monique Proulx

October 11, 2016, 1:51 pm

≫ Next: Female Single-Seater Drivers Around the World: Canada

≪ Previous: Roxie Lott

Monique with the BMW 2002

Monique Proulx was a Québécois driver who raced mostly in Canada in the 1970s.

She was born in 1947, and had a rather shaky start in life, contracting polio at the age of three, which meant that she had difficulty walking until she was a teenager. Initially, she worked as a teacher. This came to a temporary halt at the end of 1965, when she found herself with a baby son, Stéphane. As a single mother, she continued to work, but now as a model and actress. In 1971, she appeared in several Canadian TV adverts, including one for tights. She also owned a local chain of beauty salons.

She began racing in 1971, after becoming romantically involved with Jacques Fortin, who raced at club level. They shared a BMW 2002, and Monique also raced a Datsun 240Z. She started out in novice races, and often made the podium. She finished as runner-up in a Canadian Production endurance championship in the Datsun. Her start in motorsport apparently followed a court battle with the Canadian Auto Sports Club, which had vetoed her international license being awarded. Early in her career, she had a female rival, Louise Roberge. The press were keen to publicise their apparent dislike of one another.

In 1972, she bought her first single-seater, a second-hand 1600cc Formula Ford. This car was far more expensive to run than the BMW, so she continued to share her boyfriend’s car, making only a few appearances. In the BMW, she was eighth in the Sanair Trans-Am race.

Another run in the Sanair Trans-Am race in 1973, in the same car, led to a fourteenth place. She was the top Canadian finisher.

After some Formula Ford and Formula Vee races, she raised her single-seater game in 1974, and took the step up to Formula Atlantic. In her first season, she became the first woman to qualify for a race at the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, although it was a support race, rather than Formula One. This year, she raced Alan Karlberg’s car, with sponsorship from Kimberly-Clark.

Back in a saloon, she was the first, and still the only, woman to win a mixed race at Catamount Speedway. She was racing in Ministocks.

She competed in Formula Atlantic between 1974 and 1979, once scoring a pole position in 1976. Due to sponsorship pressures, she did not complete as full season during this time. In 1975, she was sponsored by New Freedom, a new brand of sanitary towels, which was somewhat shocking in the male-dominated world of motor racing. Driver and commentator David Hobbs is meant to have joked, “I’m only worried it will rain and the damn car will swell and not get between the guardrails!”

Monique was quite successful in getting innovative sponsorship deals, albeit short-term ones. She was apparently the first female driver to be sponsored by a tobacco company, although the details of this are proving hard to find. This was probably due to her TV work, which included acting, stunts and being a “traffic girl” in a helicopter. In 1976, she appeared on the Canadian version of “Superstars”, but was not among the leading sportswomen.

Later, she also raced a Chevrolet Camaro. In 1979, she did at least one race in Trans-Am, at Trois-Rivières, finishing eighteenth.

Her son, Stéphane, was also a racing driver. She retired from the circuits in 1980, in order to support him in his own racing activities. He was a contemporary of Jacques Villeneuve and was tipped as one to watch. He died in 1993, from head injuries complicated by advanced HIV.

Monique died in 2012, aged 65.

(Image from http://www.catamountstadium.com/mini_stock_competitors.htm)

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Female Single-Seater Drivers Around the World: Canada

October 13, 2016, 2:35 pm

≫ Next: Sophia Flörsch

≪ Previous: Monique Proulx

Ashley Taws

Female drivers have been a feature of the Canadian single-seater scene since the 1970s. Formula Ford has been particularly popular.

Amy Castell – began racing Formula Ford 1600 in Canada in 2012, at the age of sixteen. She was the youngest driver on the grid, and she was instantly competitive, despite driving a 40-year-old Zink Z10 car. Her best finish of the season was third, at Calabogie Motorsports Park. Later that season, she had a big accident and had to take some time off, but she came back in 2013, about half-way through the season. Since then, she has raced a 1990 Reynard SF90. In 2014, she won her first race, at Honda Indy, and was third in the Toyo Tires FF1600 championship. In 2015, she competed in the B Class of the Canadian F1600 Championship Series. She managed four podium finishes – one second and three third – and was third in the championship.

Molly Elliott – Canadian driver who raced single-seaters in her home country in 1986. She competed in both Formula Ford and Formula Vee. Formula Ford 2000 was her most successful series, and she was ninth in the Canadian championship. Molly’s later activities are not well-documented, but she was still racing in Formula Ford in Canada in 1991. She was 20^th in the championship, with a best finish of eighth, at Mosport.

Caitlin Johnston– races in Formula Ford 1600 in Canada. Her first season was in 2007, after she won a senior karting championship.Her best year has probably been 2010, when she was third outright in the Formula Ford Ontario Championship, with two runner-up spots at Mosport as her best finishes. That year, she also competed in three rounds of the NASCAR Canadian Tyre Series. Periodically, she has raced in the US as well as Canada, and has tried 2000cc Formula Ford as well as 1600. After a couple of quieter years, she was fourth in the 2014 F1600 championship, earning one podium position and a start from pole. She has been much less active since then.

Louise Roberge - Canadian racer of the late 1960s and early 1970s. She was a contemporary and rival of Monique Proulx. She began racing in a Mini Cooper S, in 1968, and was fifth in her first race. In 1970, she started in Formula Vee. Her first single-seater car was a Lotus 61, which was replaced by a Lotus 69 later in the season. In 1971, driving the 69 in Canadian Formula B, she was sixth at Mont Tremblant. She may also have owned or raced a Lotus 51, although further race results have proved very hard to track down.

Patricia Smith – raced in Formula B in Canada for a part-season in 1973. Her car was a Ford-engined March. She was a rival of Linda Wilson. That year, she was 23^rd in the championship. She scored at least one finish, a seventeenth place at the Sanair circuit in Quebec. Patricia was from Montreal herself, and was sponsored by PS Transport, which looks to have been a family firm.

Carol Soucy - Canadian driver from Quebec, who raced in Toyota Formula Atlantic in 1997. She was 33rd overall in the championship, having entered three races. Her best finish was thirteenth, at Trois-Rivieres. She did not finish the other two races. In 2002, she did at least a part-season in Formula Ford in Canada. Prior to her Atlantic exploits, she had also raced in Formula Ford in 1996.

Ashley Taws - successful young Canadian Formula Ford driver between 2000 and 2002, recognisable for her pink, "Barbie"-sponsored car. She was a race-winner at 1200cc level and scored seconds and thirds in her one season of 1600cc competition. In only her first season, she won two races, and she was second in the championship in 2001. She moved up to the more competitive 1600cc class in 2002. Her career was almost ended by a serious road traffic accident at the end of 2002. She only returned to motorsport full-time in 2007, in a BMW, and later, a CASCAR stock car. Although she showed promise, finishing second in only her third CASCAR race, she did not take to oval racing and quit in 2009. She is now pursuing a business career.

Linda Wilson – Canadian driver who raced in single-seaters in the 1970s. She took part in Formula B in 1972 and 1973, driving for the Fergusson-Wilson team. Her car was a Chevron B20. She scored at least one fifteenth place at the Sanair circuit in 1973, one of six races in Formula B that she did that year. She was seventeenth in the championship.

(Image from http://www.motorsport.com/)

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Sophia Flörsch

October 20, 2016, 2:18 pm

≫ Next: Ivy Cummings

≪ Previous: Female Single-Seater Drivers Around the World: Canada

Sophia Flörsch is a German driver who began racing in the UK in 2015. She is one of the most talked-about and highly-rated female drivers of the past few years.

Her senior debut followed a six-year karting career, which included two championship wins: the ADAC Kart Bundeslauf Bambini B title in 2009, and the 2010 60cc Easykart European Grand Finals. She was picked up by the Red Bull talent scouts, and although she is not an official Red Bull junior team member, she is still associated with them.

She took part in the Ginetta Junior championship in 2015, and was one of the younger drivers in the series, aged fourteen. Despite her age and inexperience, she was one of the fastest drivers in the series, winning twice at Thruxton. She was the youngest driver to win a Ginetta Junior race. After Thruxton, she was second at Croft. Her season had built slowly, from a fifth at Brands Hatch. Observers from the media and teams sat up and took note.

In a somewhat controversial decision, she left the championship after five rounds, in order to conserve money and to train for a season in Formula 4 in 2016. Single-seaters had always been her ultimate goal, but she was unable to start racing them until she was fifteen.

She returned to Germany, and duly entered the ADAC Formula 4 series, with the Motopark team. She was only just fifteen.

It was a tough year. The season started well enough, with a ninth place at Oschersleben, rising to fifth in the third race. After the first break of the season, Sophia’s lack of testing time started to show, and her results slipped. Other, older drivers working with better-funded teams were able to devote time to testing; Sophia had to take her final school exams instead. The team also had problems with strategy, often involving tyres, which were linked to the lack of testing time, and therefore experience of new tyres. She battled into the top ten on three more occasions, at Oschersleben, Red Bull Ring and the Nürburgring, but too many other races were marred by emergency pit stops, small accidents, poor starts and race plans that did not pay off.

Towards the end of the year, she adjusted her expectations to finishing the season, and learning as much as she could. F4 had been intended as a one-year springboard to Formula 3, but another season was needed for Sophia to prove what she was really capable of. She was 19th in the championship.

She intends to progress up the single-seater career ladder, with the ultimate aim of a Formula One race seat.

(Image copyright Alexander Trienitz)

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Ivy Cummings

October 24, 2016, 2:41 pm

≫ Next: Renee Gracie

≪ Previous: Sophia Flörsch

Ivy and friend at Gaillon, 1921

Ivy Cummings is most famous for being the youngest person ever to lap Brooklands, aged twelve, in 1913. She became a successful racing driver as an adult, and particularly excelled at hillclimbing.

According to the story, Ivy and her father had driven down to Brooklands in her father’s SCAR touring car. While his back was turned, watching the flying from the airfield, the pre-teen Ivy drove off in the car, and got onto the track. She was driving surprisingly quickly, and resisted being caught. She was only apprehended when the car developed a puncture, and she hurt her hand trying to jack it up.

There may have been some exaggeration going on with this story, which has become something of a Brooklands legend, but it certainly started somewhere. No date is ever given for when it happened, but it has remained remarkably consistent over the years. Ivy’s age is often quoted as being eleven at the time, but she was born in 1900, so she was twelve or thirteen.

Just a few years later, during the First World War, Ivy was driving around in her own car, a Peugeot. She helped out at a convalescent home for injured soldiers, and kept their spirits up by taking them out for drives, as well as taking her mother and grandmother on errands.

She started her legitimate racing career after World War I, possibly as early as 1919. In 1921, she raced a Coupe de l’Auto Sunbeam 12/16 in France. It is said that she won a race, possibly on sand, but further details are rather hazy. Pictures from that year show her posing in the car at Gaillon, which ties in with contemporary reports of her entering the hillclimb there, driving a 130hp car.

She won the 1922 Duke of York Long Distance Handicap in the Coupe de l'Auto Sunbeam. Shortly after, she drove well in the Sunbeam in the Car Speed Championship, finishing third in the Essex Senior Short Handicap, and second in the Essex Junior Long Handicap.

In June 1923, she won a Bexhill speed trial in a Bugatti. Further details about this car are not forthcoming. In September, a second speed trial was held at Bexhill, over a mile. Ivy won this event, too. Her car on this occasion was the famous 5000cc 1913 Bugatti, “Black Bess”, as named by Ivy. In March, she had driven “Bess” in the Kop Hill climb, in Essex.

In 1925, she won her class in the Skegness Speed Trials in this car. Ivy was not the only female driver; Cecil Christie was there with her Vauxhall, and the two seem to become friends. Reports in Motor Sport suggested that this would be Ivy’s last event before marrying, but this does not seem to have transpired just yet.

In between, Ivy also raced the GN “Akela”, normally in hillclimbs. She won her class in the South Harting climb, organised by the Surbiton Motor Club. In the Arundell Speed Trial, which, like the South Harting event, was run over a half-mile course, she also won the 1500cc class, finishing just four-tenths of a second behind the winner, Woolf Barnato in a Hispano-Suiza. The GN appeared at the Spread Eagle Hill climb, the Brighton Speed Trials and the Herne Bay Speed Trails that year. Akela was sold on at the end of the season. For the Aston Clinton hillclimb, she drove the Bugatti instead.

In 1926, she raced the Bugatti in France. She entered the Grand Prix de Boulogne, run on sand, and led for the first three laps, but rolled her car into a ditch and did not finish. After this mishap, she is reported to have telephoned her father, to tell him that she was all right. Motor racing was very much a family thing for Ivy, who sometimes had her mother in the car with her, as her riding mechanic. She had also taken a Frazer Nash along, which she used in the speed trial.

Back in England, she raced again on the sand at Southport, in a Frazer Nash, with Cecil Christie. In June, she was back at Brooklands for the JCC High Speed Trial.

After 1926, she competed much less frequently. She drove a Riley in the JCC Half Day Trial, which seems to have been her last event.

Ivy married a radiologist and this put an end to her racing career. She died in 1971.

(Image from http://gallica.bnf.fr/)

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Renee Gracie

October 28, 2016, 2:39 pm

≫ Next: Jacquie Bond-Smith

≪ Previous: Ivy Cummings

Renee in 2016

Renee Gracie currently races in V8 Supercars in Australia.

She was quite sporty from an early age. In common with many other speedqueens, she was initially drawn towards horses. She only got interested in motorsport after trying karting on holiday, in 2008.

She began her senior career in 2012, aged 17, in Aussie Racing Cars, after three years of karting. She drove a Yamaha-engined Commodore in four rounds.

In 2013, she entered the Australian Porsche Carerra Cup, a first for a female driver. She was supported by the “Cool Driver” youth development programme run by Fujitsu, who sponsored her, and had been supporting her for the last two years. In her first season, she held her own in a large field (the winner was Craig Baird), and was 19^th overall.

In 2014, she had a second season in the Porsche Cup. She got into the top ten five times, and had a best finish of sixth, at Phillip Island. She was 15^th overall. In addition to this, she was one of only two drivers to have a 100% finishing record, the other being Craig Baird.

In 2015, she moved into V8 Supercars, driving a Ford Falcon for Paul Morris’s team, in the Dunlop development series. Her best finish was twelfth, at Townsville. Towards the end of the season, she did improve: her best meeting overall was the last one, at Sydney Motorsport Park, where she was thirteenth and fourteenth.

She also gained a lot of attention for her entry into the Bathurst 1000 with Simona de Silvestro, the first all-female team for many years. The team was run by Prodrive Australia, and they were 21st in their "Supergirls" Ford Falcon, after an accident by Renee lost them a lot of time.

A second season in the Dunlop series followed in 2016, still with Paul Morris Motorsport and driving the Falcon. She repeated her twelfth place best-finish at Adelaide and Sandown. It was another challenging season, but she was a steady finisher, and was 21^stin the championship, just behind the other female driver in the series, Chelsea Angelo in her Dragon Racing Holden Commodore. Her car was outclassed by the newer models on the grid and it was hard to keep on the pace. Before the end of the season, Renee made the decision to leave Paul Morris Motorsport, in order to find a new deal and concentrate on her wildcard entry into the Bathurst 1000.

Renee teamed up once more with Simona de Silvestro for the Bathurst 1000. This time, they were driving a Nissan Altima for the Australian Nissan team. They raced as the “Harvey Norman Supergirls”, and were fourteenth overall. Their race was free of major incident in a race of high attrition.

Renee’s long-term aim is to compete full-time as a professional driver. At the time of writing, she is looking for a race seat for 2017.

(Image from http://www.speedcafe.com/)

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Jacquie Bond-Smith

October 31, 2016, 3:32 pm

≫ Next: The Women's Automobile and Sports Association

≪ Previous: Renee Gracie

Jacquie in the Marcos in 1967

Jacquie Bond-Smith started in club motorsport in her father's car, a “Wavendon Wombat” special, in 1960. She was then known as Jacquie Cook. The Wombat was an 1172cc clubman’s car built by her father, Arthur Cook. Results for Jacquie in this car are proving tough to track down. Both she and her sister, Joey, raced it on occasion.

Some time in the early 1960s, she married John Bond-Smith, a racer and businessman. At the same time, she seems to have made her way up through the club racing ranks, and was awarded the Chris Bristow Trophy by the BRDC in 1964, in recognition of “the most promising performance at Silverstone.” This may well have been in a Ford Cortina, or possibly a Lotus single-seater.

She definitely did race a Cortina in 1965, a Lotus model. She drove it in some rounds of the BSCC, and secured a best finish of tenth at Snetterton, followed by seventeenth place in the St Marys Trophy at Goodwood. For the next round, she drove a Ford Galaxie, at Silverstone, but did not finish. It was her only BSCC outing of the year in that car, although she did race it in the European Touring Car Championship. In August, she was thirteenth in the Snetterton 500km, winning her class.

In club races, she used a Lotus Elan. In this car, she was third in a GT race at Silverstone in October, winning her class.

In 1966, she returned to sportscar racing, campaigning a Lotus 23 in British club races. She was twelfth in one race at Silverstone, just behind sister Joey in the Wombat.

Jacquie’s big project for 1967 was the FLIRT all-girl racing team. FLIRT stood for “First Ladies International Racing Team”, and it was made up of Jacquie and Joey, plus Jacqui Smith, another young driver who had had some success in British club events in a Hillman Imp. Their car was a Mini Marcos, supplied by the Marcos factory. The team picked up quite a lot of publicity, with a Pathé film being made of the three of them testing at Castle Combe.

FLIRT made three appearances in the World Manufacturers’ Championship in Europe. Jacquie and Joey were the chosen drivers. They did not finish the Nürburgring 1000km due to engine problems, but they got to the end of the Mugello Grand Prix, in 37^thplace. Later in the season, Jacquie drove the Nürburgring 500km solo, and was 21st overall, fourth in class. Joey drove a sister car, but did not finish. The FLIRT team may well have done some more British races, but the results are proving elusive.

As well as her FLIRT activities, Jacquie raced in the British Sportscar Championship. She was seventeenth in the Silverstone round, in a Porsche 904, and may also have raced a Ferrari 250LM belonging to her husband.

She disappears from the entry lists at the end of 1967. Not long after, her marriage broke up. After her racing career ended, she adopted horseriding as her sport of choice.

(Image from www.minimarcos.org.uk)

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The Women's Automobile and Sports Association

November 6, 2016, 2:36 pm

≫ Next: Joan La Costa

≪ Previous: Jacquie Bond-Smith

A WASA car badge, belonging to motorcyclist Marjorie Cottle

The Women’s Automobile and Sports Association was one of the foremost women’s motor clubs in Britain between the world wars, and the one with the greatest emphasis on competition.

It was founded in 1927 by a group of female motor enthusiasts, encouraged by their experiences in the Wood Green & District MC women-only trial, held in January of that year.

The club’s first event was in 1929. It was a night running of the Exeter Trial, an established trial route usually run by the MCC. The route was 300 miles long, and included three “observed sections”: two hillclimbs and a starting and stopping test. Thirty-eight cars took the start, with seventeen of those being driven by all-female crews. The drivers included Paddie Naismith in a Ballot, Patricia McOstrich in an Alvis, Victoria Worsley and Mrs Dobson in their MG Midgets, Lady Iris Capell in an Alvis and future RAC Rally winner, Kitty Brunell, in a Talbot.

In 1930, the club held its own Land’s End Trial, another classic MCC route. Twenty-five drivers took part. Among them were Brooklands stalwarts like Elsie Wisdom, in a Frazer Nash, and Irene Schwedler in her MG Midget. Kitty Brunell was another entrant, as was Florence Scudamore in a Triumph, and founder member Lilian Roper in her AC. It is not recorded who won the event, but Miss Roper only just managed to finish, due to engine trouble. Lilian was one of the senior members of the club, who had been active in motorsport since before WWI and had previously been the Treasurer of another Ladies’ Motor Club.

WASA members would go on to distinguish themselves in other trials. Florence Scudamore won the Ladies’ Prize in the 1931 London-Gloucester Trial, in her Triumph, and Joan Weekes succeeded her as the ladies’ champion in 1932, driving a Ford. After 1932, Florence Scudamore usually drove a Singer, supported by the works team.

Margaret Allan, who was a race-winner at Brooklands and drove at Le Mans, began her career in WASA trials, using her parents’ big Lagonda. She had watched one of the events as a spectator, and was initially unimpressed with the standard of driving. This spurred her on to have a go herself, as she believed she could win.

Lord Wakefield presented WASA with a trophy in 1930. This was awarded between 1932 and 1938, for the club member judged to have performed the best over the year. The trophy was awarded for penalty-free runs in the Monte Carlo Rally (Mrs Montague-Johnstone in 1932) or for Brooklands heroics (Mrs Wood, 1938), or for the highest scores in the club’s own trials. Mrs Wood kept hold of the trophy during the war, and it was she that gave it to the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club in 1973. It is now awarded for the most meritorious performance for a woman in motorsport during the year, if warranted.

By 1932, WASA was accepted as a bona fide motor club, and was invited to take part in the Inter-Club Meeting at Brooklands. Grace Hedges and Irene Schwedler upheld the honour of the club by taking first and third place in the Sports Long Handicap.

The club carried on organising its own trials, as well as social events. A Cotswold Trial was held at least twice, in 1933 and 1937, as well as a WASA “Day in the Hills” in 1934, which ran in the Chilterns. Margaret Allan, Doreen Evans, Florence Scudamore and Morna Vaughan were among the winners of First Class Awards in the trial, which was also open to male drivers.

The 1937 Cotswold Trial was also a mixed affair. Frazer Nash cars predominated, with five of the awards given to Frazer Nash drivers. Two of these were for Midge Wilby and Miss E.V. Watson in the team trophy, and Miss Watson also won the Iris Capell Trophy, donated by the founding Lady member. Midge Wilby earned a First Class Award in the trial.

Motorsport ceased for the duration of WWII. After the war ended in 1945, WASA did not regroup. Some of its members, including Morna Vaughan and Irene Schwedler (now known as Charlotte Sadler), continued to race and rally for some time. At least one other all-female motor club was formed, but it did not last. The closest parallel to WASA today is the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club, founded in the 1960s, which keeps a link to WASA through the Wakefield Trophy.

(Image from http://www.hvauctions.com/)

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Joan La Costa

November 17, 2016, 2:50 pm

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Joan LaCosta was a flamboyant French driver (apparently), mostly noted as a daredevil and speed triallist in the USA in the 1920s. Her usual car seems to have been a Miller special.

Joan’s origins are obscure. She appears in the mid-1920s, and by 1925, was proclaimed as the “women’s international champion”, as reported in the Santa Cruz Evening News. The Danville Bee, a Virginia newspaper, elaborated on this, claiming that she won her title in a women’s championship meeting at Indianapolis that year. No details of such a meeting are forthcoming, and Indianapolis was not a welcoming venue to women drivers. The event must have been held somewhere else. Reports from this time suggest that she was most active in Florida. Later, she would claim to have been racing on dirt tracks since about 1923, but this is proving hard to confirm.

There is more concrete evidence of one of the most dramatic incidents of her short career, from 1926. Whilst practicing for a speed record run on Daytona Beach in April, her car caught fire, travelling at about 130mph. The cause of the fire was a broken fuel line. A photographer was on hand to capture Joan leaping from the car, as she steered it into the sea in an attempt to douse the flames. She was not seriously hurt. Only a few days later, she made the record run in a different car, and set a series of new female records, driving at 138mph. The dramatic photos were reprinted in newspapers all across the United States.

Later in the year, she made another record run at Jacksonville beach, also in Florida. This time, she got up to 145mph, smashing her own record. The car was a Miller Special, although not much detail about it is available.

Her talents did not stop with record-breaking. In 1926, Joan entered a match race on a half-mile dirt track, as part of an IMCA (International Motor Competition Association) event in Toronto, Canada. IMCA was the only sanctioning body that allowed women to race at all. She won, beating Louis Disbrow. The two had considerable history, having raced against each other twice, in Canada and Mississippi. The same year as their Toronto battle, Disbrow apparently led a protest against Joan’s inclusion in a Lakewood starting grid. His objection was overturned, partly because her speed-trial times proved that she was faster than several of the male entrants.

IMCA’s leading promoter of the time was J. Alex Sloan, who believed in motor racing as spectacle, and used several woman drivers to add controversy and a touch of glamour to IMCA meetings. At the same time as he was promoting Joan, he was also using Elfrieda Mais, usually as a stunt performer, although she did race occasionally. The row with Disbrow must have had him rubbing his hands together with glee. Disbrow’s position on female drivers was also rather puzzling; his own career had been launched in the 1900s, as a riding mechanic to Joan Newton Cuneo, the first notable American female racer.

Her activities in 1927 are unclear. Her name does not appear on any published start lists for IMCA meetings, but she may well have continued to race at fairgrounds and horse-racing tracks.

In 1928, Joan won a women’s race in Milwaukee, but this was one of her last triumphs. At the end of the year, she announced her intention to retire and take up flying.

This did not happen, although she continued to appear in the news due to a conviction for robbery in 1929. She attempted to steal jewellery from another woman, using a replica gun in a hold-up situation. In defence, she claimed that she had lost “all of her money” at a horse race, and was unemployed. During her court appearance, she fainted and burst into tears of remorse.

By 1931, she had married a meat salesman called Joseph Maurer. At the time, she worked in the offices of a stationery firm, and pronounced herself “through” with both motor racing and aviation.

Joan LaCosta was almost certainly not her birth name. Marriage records show that Joseph Maurer married a woman named Marion Martins in 1931. There was a racing driver named Marion Martin or Martins active in Canada in the summer of 1925, just before Joan LaCosta appeared. She raced against Elfrieda Mais three times, winning once, over a mile, at Regina. Her car was a Frontenac-Ford. She also took part in open races at Edmonton, and set a speed record at Toronto. At the Canadian National exhibition at Toronto the following year, Joan LaCosta makes her confirmed debut. On her arrest for robbery, she was named as Marion Carver. Reports of her trial mention parents living in Memphis, and a former husband named Waldo Martins.

Her original nationality is not clear; she was probably not French, but American or perhaps Canadian. Given the showmanly nature of IMCA’s promoted events, it is not completely surprising that some drivers hid behind noms de course, or exaggerated their origins to make themselves stand out. There was perhaps an element of hiding from a disapproving family or a grudging husband.

She and Maurer had children at some point. Her life after her marriage was spent as a private individual.

(Image source unknown)

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Cora Schumacher

November 22, 2016, 2:01 pm

≫ Next: Mary Handley-Page

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Cora in 2005

Cora Schumacher has raced in a number of one-make series in Germany. At one point, she was the highest-paid female racing driver in the world.

Cora came into motorsport quite late. She married Ralf Schumacher, then a Formula One driver, in 2001. Her own racing career began in 2004, at the wheel of a BMW Mini.

For her debut, she was part of the celebrity team in the Mini Challenge in Germany, with four other drivers who were all TV presenters. She qualified in 22^nd place out of 24 for her first race, at Lausitz, and finished in 18^th. Her part-season that year gave her a 27^th place. Many had been rather disparaging about her going racing, given her “F1 WAG” status and former work as a model, but she kept out of trouble and surprised a few people. One of her most vocal critics was former DTM racer, Ellen Lohr, who made remarks about Cora’s breast implants adding weight to the car.

She surprised even more onlookers in 2005, when she returned to the Mini Challenge and scored her first top ten, and eighth place. Unfortunately, her season was curtailed by a nasty accident, which caused her to sit out much of it. She was 34^th in the championship.

After that, she signed up for the 2006 SEAT Leon Supercopa alongside Christina Surer, in a deal that was said to make her the highest-paid woman driver in the world, and the fourth highest-paid German driver, according to the German press. This was billed as the first step on the way to a drive in the DTM. Cora and Christina shared the car, and Cora ended up only racing in two of the rounds.

After her short run in the Supercopa, she took a break from motorsport. In 2010, she returned to the MINI Challenge, with Lechner Racing, for the second half of the season. Her best finish was thirteenth, at Hockenheim, and she was 19^th overall.

Her finishing positions improved a little in 2011, and she was more consistent. She just missed the top ten on three occasions, all at Hockenheim, finishing eleventh each time. She was 14^thoverall.

In 2012, she drove in the Dubai 24 Hours in a MINI, winning class A2. She and her four team-mates were 25^thoverall. She also spent some time testing a Chevrolet Camaro GT3 car. For most of the season, she raced in the MINI Trophy, scoring six top-ten finishes, the best being an eighth at the Red Bull Ring. This was good for 15th in the championship.

Another break from motorsport followed, during which time she did more modelling, appeared on the German version of Strictly Come Dancing (in 2015) and split up with Ralf Schumacher. They were divorced in 2015.

In 2016, she made a comeback, and signed up for the DTC (Deutsche Tourenwagen Cup), racing a Mini in the 1600 Production class. She joined the championship for the second half of the season, and scored two class seconds in her first races, at the Red Bull Ring. She was also third at the Nürburgring, and was sixth overall in class.

Cora’s racing plans at the moment include the 2017 Dubai 24 Hours, in an Audi TT.

(Image from motorsport.com)

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Mary Handley-Page

November 26, 2016, 2:05 pm

≫ Next: Christine Cole (Gibson)

≪ Previous: Cora Schumacher

Mary in a Sunbeam Rapier

Mary Handley-Page was one of a group of British female drivers who were part of works teams for British manufacturers in the 1950s and 1960s.

Her family was involved in engineering; her father, Frederick Handley-Page, gave his name to a series of aircraft, and his company built the famous Halifax Bomber. Mary was his youngest daughter, born in 1923 and originally christened Patricia.

As a young woman, she rode horses and hunted to hounds. Equestrianism has proved to be a surprisingly good training for rally drivers, the best example being Pat Moss.

Her first major appearance seems to have been the 1956 RAC Rally, driving a Rover. Her co-driver was Jo Ashfield. They were second in the Ladies’ standings. The pair rallied together again on the Tulip Rally, sitting in the opposite seats. The car was a Standard, and they were 169^th overall.

Mary returned to the Tulip Rally in 1957, at the wheel of a Sunbeam Mark III. She was back in the driver’s seat, with Francoise Wilton Clarke on the maps. They finished, in 134^thplace.

She was part of the works Sunbeam team from 1958 to 1960, driving one for their ladies’ team, with other female drivers. For the 1958 Monte Carlo Rally, she was the leader of a three-woman Sunbeam team, with Lola Groundsand Doreen Reece. Mary and Lola were a good team. As a duo, they were 21^stin the 1958 Tulip Rally, in a Rapier. Mary was then sixteenth in the Alpine Rally in the summer.

Lola had moved to the Ford team for 1959, and Mary had a new co-driver in Daphne Freeman, who had got into motorsport through her work as Stirling Moss’s secretary. The new pairing entered the Monte, with Joyce Howard as a third driver, but had an accident and could not finish. As a two-woman team, Mary and Daphne were 39^th in the Tulip Rally, again in a Sunbeam Rapier.

Away from rallying proper, Mary was part of a team of female Rootes Group drivers sent to prove to the Belgian motorsport authorities that a Hillman Minx was able to manage 15,000 miles of bad Belgian pavé. Averaging 40mph, the team covered the distance in three weeks during the Rallye des Routes Pavées. The team included Nancy Mitchell, Sheila van Damm, Patricia Ozanne and Francoise Clarke. They were said to be responsible for a sharp spike in continental Hillman Minx sales.

At the beginning of 1960, Mary went back to the co-driver’s seat for the Monte, assisting Jimmy Ray to eleventh place. It was quite unusual for her to be part of a mixed team. With a new co-driver again, Nesta Gilmour, she finished 105^th in the Tulip Rally, in a Rapier. The Alpine Rally was another of her favoured events, and she was 27^th in 1960, co-driven by Patricia Ozanne.

She continued to drive private Sunbeams in 1961, including a Rapier on the Monte Carlo Rally, with Pauline Mayman and Daphne Freeman. They had been running well, but a puncture prevented them from claiming a penalty-free run. Mary and Pauline drove the same car on that year’s Tulip Rally, and were 43^rd overall.

For the 1962 Monte, she co-drove for Patricia Ozanne, in a Mini, which Patricia had bought from the works BMC team the previous year. They started from Warsaw, but do not appear to have finished. This was Mary’s last major rally.

She died in 1992.

(Image copyright alamy.com)

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Christine Cole (Gibson)

December 5, 2016, 6:37 am

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Christine Cole, who also raced as Christine Gibson, was an Australian touring car veteran, whose career spanned three decades.

She took part in nine Bathurst 500/1000 races between 1968 and 1984. Her team-mates included Glenn Seton, Sandra Bennett and Marie-Claude Beaumont. She drove a variety of cars, including a Nissan Pulsar, Ford Falcon, Mini and Holden Monaro. Her first try at the event was in 1968, in a Mini. She was part of an all-girl team with Midge Whiteman, whose second time at Bathurst it was. This happened in only her second year of racing: she began in 1967, with a Mini.

Christine was from a family of racers, and it was not surprising that she got into the sport. An early boyfriend raced Minis, and lent her a car. Her first season was spent in a women’s championship based at Oran Park. She won every round of the championship apart from the first one, in which she was third.

Her second Hardie-Ferodo 500 was at the wheel of a Fiat 125, in another ladies’ team with Lynne Keefe. They did not finish. Christine later described how the small, light Fiat was pulled across the track in the wake of the bigger cars.

In 1970, she used one of the bigger cars herself, a Holden Torana. She and Sandra Bennett were a more accomplished thirteenth overall, driving for the Holden Dealer Team. The same driver pairing tackled the Sandown Three Hour 250, but it is not clear whether or not they finished.

She took a break in 1971; this year, she married fellow racer, Fred Gibson, returning as Christine Gibson.

A second ride in the 500 in a Torana in 1972, this time with Pat Peck as a team-mate, led to a DNF. The following year, she switched allegiance to Alfa Romeo, driving a GTV 2000 in the big endurance races. Christine and Sue Ransom did not finish the Hardie-Ferodo 500 or the Phillip Island 500.

She was then absent from Bathurst for a couple of seasons, partly due to a sabbatical from motorsport, and, for 1975 at least, to concentrate on the Australian Touring Car Championship. She was still “in” with the Alfa Romeo team, and drove the GTV to fifth overall in the series, with four class wins. This was her best result in the ATCC.

Away from Bathurst, she competed on and off in Australian Touring Cars, later, often for her husband Fred Gibson’s team. Her best season for this was 1975, when she was fifth overall after winning the 2000cc class four times and remaining a regular feature in the overall top ten. Her car was an Alfa Romeo GTV 2000.

During her absence from the Hardie-Ferodo 500, the French driver, Marie-Claude Beaumont, had stolen her place as the premier female Bathurst racer. In 1975, she was sixth in the 500, driving an Alfa Romeo GTV 2000 with John Leffler. On Christine’s return to the 500 the following year, they teamed up, in an Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTAm, but sadly did not finish.

Christine retired from active competition for the rest of the 1970s, only to return in 1981. That year, she drove a King George Tavern Ford Falcon in endurance races, with Joe Moore. In spite of her lack of current seat time, she took her “top lady” honours back from Marie-Claude Beaumont, with a sixth place. The same driver pairing was tenth in the Hang Ten 400.

In 1983 and 1984, Christine was a works Nissan driver, alongside her husband, Fred. As part of the Australian Endurance Championship, she drove a Pulsar with Bob Muir in the 1983 500, but did not finish, due to a mainshaft failure. She did not finish the Sandown round of the AEC either,

The same year, she took part in some races in the AMSCAR championship, driving a Bluebird.

She used the Pulsar for both series in 1984, and managed eleventh overall in AMSCAR. She drove in the 500 again with the experienced Glenn Seton, did not finish, due to a broken half-shaft.

1984 was her last season of competition. She has remained active in Australian motorsport, as an administrator and organiser, and is still remembered as the First Lady of Bathurst.

(Image copyright News Corp Australia)

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Suzane Carvalho

December 14, 2016, 2:21 pm

≫ Next: Fabrizia Pons

≪ Previous: Christine Cole (Gibson)

Suzane Carvalho is a former winner of the South American Formula Three Championship (B class), in 1992.

She got quite a late start in motorsport, only taking it up in 1989 when she was 26. Previously, she had been an actress and model, starting out as a child model, and had achieved some fame and notoriety in her home country of Brazil.

Despite its unorthodox timescale, her racing career progressed in the normal way, beginning with karting, then junior single-seaters in the form of Formula 1600 in 1990. She did some of her race training in Canada, and also competed in Formula 2000 there.

She took her first steps in Formula 3 in 1991, with a part-season in the SudAm championship. In 1992, she contested the full SudAm F3 series for the first time, and won the B class on her first attempt.

As a result, she was invited to test a Larrousse Formula One car, but she did not have the funding to do so. This would have made her one of a very small and select group of women who have driven current F1 machinery.

She carried on in F3, although results are proving hard to find. Photos exist of her and Maria Cristina Rositoposing next to a Formula Chevrolet car in 1993, which suggests that they raced each other at some point that year. She did at least some of the SudAm championship in 1994, and one or more races in 1997. Throughout her single-seater career, she was usually short of money and 1992 was the only full F3 season she completed.

As well as F3, she took advantage of any opportunity to race. Between 1993 and 1997, she did four Mil Milhas races at Interlagos, with a best finish of third in 1993. She was driving a Stock Car-spec Opala. Her second attempt, in 1994, she was ninth, driving a Japamovel with a Brazilian-Japanese team. She sat the race out in 1995, but returned in 1996, driving an Aldee TTE prototype as part of an all-female team, with Delfina Frers and Marisa Panagopulo. They did not finish. In 1997, she drove the Aldee to eighth place, with Delfina Frers.

In 1995, she began racing touring cars seriously. She raced in the Copa de Damas women’s championship in Argentina, winning three times. However, her achievements were not fully recognised as she was not eligible for the championship, for some reason.

The following season, she tackled mixed competition, in the Carioca Touring Car Championship. Her first year in the series consisted of four races, three of which she won. Her first full season, in 1997, was not such an immediate success. She earned one pole position and was often near the front, but she had to contend with some very “physical” driving from her male rivals, and incurred some DNFs. Her car for this part of her career was usually a Nissan Sentra.

In 1998, she came to the UK to take part in Formula Palmer Audi and the Vauxhall Vectra Challenge. Her FPA season consisted of four races, and she managed to pick up a few points. She was 25^th in the championship. That year’s winner was Justin Wilson.

Suzane’s own career highlight happened in 1999. She was invited to the USA to race in the Indy Lights Panamericana series, and was able to put together a budget for five races, mostly in Mexico. For the next year, she picked up sponsorship from UOL, and had a best finish of second.

Sadly, she did not get her big break in American oval racing, and returned to Brazil for the 2001 season. That year, she was a racewinner in the Campeonato Brasileiro Ford Fiesta Femenino, a women-only one-make series for the Ford Fiesta. She battled with Maria Cristina Rosito throughout the season, but Maria emerged as the victor.

Her last major competitive activity was four rounds of the Brazilian Clio Cup in 2002, although she did come out of retirement for a guest appearance in one round of the 2011 Sud-Am F3 championship. She did two races at Jacaperaguá, earning a class win and third, and a seventh and sixth place overall.

Since then, Suzane has worked on establishing her own driving school, for both driving and motorcycle riding. She also works as an automotive journalist and broadcaster, often testing new cars, on screen and in print.

(Image source unknown)

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Fabrizia Pons

December 18, 2016, 2:43 pm

≫ Next: Paula Elstrek

≪ Previous: Suzane Carvalho

Fabrizia Pons is Italian, and is best known as Michele Mouton’s navigator during the most successful part of her career, sitting beside her for all four of her rally wins. She is also a driver in her own right.

Even before she started rallying, she competed in motocross between 1971 and 1975, in Italy, starting off in the junior categories. She combined a motocross racing schedule with studying to be an architect. It was only a major accident that made her re-evaluate where she wanted to be in motorsport, and switch to rallying n 1976.

Her first rally car was a Group 1 Autobianchi A112, which she used in Italian events, including the Rally Ciocco, in which she was 19th. Her navigator was Gabriella Zappia. The pair also drove an Alfasud in the Sanremo Rally, finishing 29^th overall. Among her rivals for the Coupe des Dames was Michele Mouton, in an Alpine-Renault, who went out with a broken radiator.

Fabrizia and Gabriella won the Italian ladies’ championship that year, which was no mean feat for a crew in their first year of competition.

For 1977, she changed to driving an Opel Kadett, still in Group 1. She and Anna Gatti took part in that year’s Sanremo Rally, but did not finish. They were more successful in Italian rallies, and defended her ladies’ title.

1978 was her best year in that car; her third attempt at Sanremo gave her a ninth place, making her one of two people to have scored world championship points in the same event as both driver and co-driver.

The Kadett was run by Conrero Squadra Corse, and Fabrizia earned herself another strong finish on the Targa Florio Rally, finishing fourteenth overall. They were behind sixth-placed Anna Cambiaghi, in a Lancia Stratos, but had accrued enough points for Fabrizia to take a third Italian ladies’ title.

This was her final full year as a driver. At the start of the 1979 season, she swapped seats and launched her career as a co-driver. She had done two Monte Carlo Rallies as a navigator, but she was now in the role full-time. By the end of the year, her navigation and organisational skills had helped Lucky Battistolli to two outright wins, in Austria and Germany.

When Michele Mouton was signed by Audi for the 1981 season, she was on the lookout for a new co-driver, having parted ways with Françoise Conconi, who had been her regular navigator for some years, and not quite clicking with Annie Arrii, her replacement. Fabrizia joined her for the Rally of Portugal, and began a five-year partnership that included four WRC wins, the FIA Ladies’ Trophy and the 1982 Halda Trophy for the best navigator.

After a disappointing season in the 1985 British championship, Fabrizia retired from full-time competition to have a family. Before her sabbatical, she had one more go at the steering wheel herself, driving an Audi Quattro in the Lady Rally dei Castelli Malatestiani, held on the island of Rimini in 1985. She was the winner, from Paola de Martini in a Ferrari.

Her career got going again in 1995, when she teamed up with Ari Vatanen at Ford, and she was back to winning ways in 1997, assisting Subaru driver Piero Liatti to victories in Monte Carlo and Portugal.

In 2008, she and Michele did the Rally of Otago together in a Ford Escort, finishing 35^th. Prior to that, she was Jutta Kleinschmidt’s regular rally-raid navigator at Volkswagen, having done the same for Ari Vatanen.

In recent years, she has paired up again with Lucky Battistolli in the Italian Historic Championship, normally in a Lancia.

She is a member of the FIA’s committee on women in motorsport, and is also sought after by representatives from other sports for her organisational expertise. Teams and events she has supported include the New Zealand Olympic squad, and the European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships. She now runs her own school for rally co-drivers.

(Image copyright Victor Patterson)

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