tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30055254656273896252024-03-17T20:00:54.092-07:00SpeedqueensWomen in motorsport from 1897 to the present day.Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.comBlogger759125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-78190837898214121502023-12-02T15:13:00.000-08:002023-12-02T15:13:11.574-08:00Maite Caceres<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNxta6sWvPlCgwA4UG4BUUoAthZFiGdg_HhxiHZ3j0pOoDDoKLk76rDooZEFgAjFTHm9X_I8GR332mExhlLoDuq5jgCdUzHB8Eca1CsrfXEuPP5nAs6Pds8-eLWoIwsxio1I9vOdcPqvg4VSBHm1peCAIRQThlIKB9gZj6I-DgWa8i3EeYFSxk_Xd1awYR/s1078/maitecaceres.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="1078" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNxta6sWvPlCgwA4UG4BUUoAthZFiGdg_HhxiHZ3j0pOoDDoKLk76rDooZEFgAjFTHm9X_I8GR332mExhlLoDuq5jgCdUzHB8Eca1CsrfXEuPP5nAs6Pds8-eLWoIwsxio1I9vOdcPqvg4VSBHm1peCAIRQThlIKB9gZj6I-DgWa8i3EeYFSxk_Xd1awYR/w400-h251/maitecaceres.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Maite Caceres is a Uruguayan driver who has done most of her racing in the USA. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She entered the 2022 US F4 championship, driving for International Motorsport, after testing an F4 car as part of an event organised by W Series. She was not selected to go further with W Series testing. Her best result in US F4 was a twelfth place at Road America. She missed several races in the middle of the season. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As well as F4, she entered the last part of the USF Juniors championship, managing eleventh places at Road America and COTA. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Previously, she raced in the Uruguayan F4 series, beginning in late 2021. She scored one third place at El Pinar. She was ninth in the championship.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For 2023, she competed in the all-female F1 Academy F4 championship, driving for Campos Racing with Nerea Marti and Lola Lovinfosse. It was not a good year for her and she was 15th in the final standings, out of 15 drivers. Her best results were two eighth places, achieved at Monza and Paul Ricard. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As preparation, Campos had entered her into the Formula Winter Series at the beginning of the year</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her brother is Juan Caceres, who raced in Champ Car.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Image from rginternetpress.com</span></span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-70745621646785854372023-11-22T16:08:00.000-08:002023-11-22T16:08:56.384-08:00Helene Bittner<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsj5I52qfcAm1-2QvyBEwPHM0vchHu5eMyv-tRPvbK1Tmu1VZ_ur6b6xta-xjW5wxJpYIZ-QEOj6PUzSvVInBqjBq5OP5cMZG4lP_TseJxzLgBZ9H_Y_flGl26TvUfjENw1l2a06SDq9-kGLuuRK2w-fBRXLvsIyYF16gYbA8FhZbVYJGw3uYInmQ9T5AB/s657/helenebittner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="657" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsj5I52qfcAm1-2QvyBEwPHM0vchHu5eMyv-tRPvbK1Tmu1VZ_ur6b6xta-xjW5wxJpYIZ-QEOj6PUzSvVInBqjBq5OP5cMZG4lP_TseJxzLgBZ9H_Y_flGl26TvUfjENw1l2a06SDq9-kGLuuRK2w-fBRXLvsIyYF16gYbA8FhZbVYJGw3uYInmQ9T5AB/w400-h265/helenebittner.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Helene Bittner was an Australian driver who raced single-seaters in Formula Libre events in the 1960s. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She began in 1961, at her home track of Mallala which had opened recently. Her car was a 1200cc Vitesse-Ford. In her first year, she entered the Australian Grand Prix, which was then run as a Formula Libre race. Sadly, she retired after only one lap, with a broken gear lever. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She raced the car on and off for the next couple of seasons, finishing eighth in the Australian Gold Star championship round at Mallala in 1963. In 1966, the Vitesse was replaced by the 1500cc “Rebelle” special, also Ford-engined. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Helene was the only woman racing at the level she did and that in itself attracted attention, but she was also known for her glamour in the car and the paddock. She favoured open-face helmets and always wore red lipstick. According to Wayne Wilson in the Historic Sports & Racing Car Association newsletter, a rumour abounded that scrutineers objected to the lipstick in case it proved flammable. Another commenter, Wes Dayton, remembers her using a cigarette holder in the paddock.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mallala was one of her favourite circuits. She entered a round of the 1966 Australian Gold Star series there in the Rebelle, finishing seventh. In 1968, she qualified for the same race but did not finish.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She continued to race this car until the 1970s. Her best major result in 1970 was a fifth place in the Advertiser Trophy at Mallala, although she continued to finish strongly in club races. She was second at Mallala in a short race for racing cars held at the SCC Trophy, then won the handicap race at the same meeting.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She competed in three more Australian Grands Prix, and finished one, in 1970, in thirteenth place. These races were part of the Tasman series.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1972 she was second in another club race at the Adelaide International circuit. This was a race on scratch, supporting a round of the Australian Sports Car Championship. She followed this up with another second at the next ASSC meeting. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Later, she raced historics, still in the Rebelle, until 2011. She died in 2012. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Image copyright Peter Schell)</span></span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-40161384783078838262023-11-17T14:38:00.000-08:002023-11-17T14:38:48.063-08:00Ayla Agren<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlebliGYLNEljSggrC6Lnqjd2NEV_zNqctpZ5B6kmWN5YrsMt4vLPJJwqxRjNrg9X_AE6kZr87VWIdJlXeN3UhU03y9r9w2JsCMqQk4Cq4n_JPgY8ERSooOeADPEwyKecXFbZVL2tF-OKTDFQ4XgBDfKNh3N5jXAls-vkeiLLURUSH9qmggbM3enwbbYNJ/s966/aylaagren.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="609" data-original-width="966" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlebliGYLNEljSggrC6Lnqjd2NEV_zNqctpZ5B6kmWN5YrsMt4vLPJJwqxRjNrg9X_AE6kZr87VWIdJlXeN3UhU03y9r9w2JsCMqQk4Cq4n_JPgY8ERSooOeADPEwyKecXFbZVL2tF-OKTDFQ4XgBDfKNh3N5jXAls-vkeiLLURUSH9qmggbM3enwbbYNJ/w400-h253/aylaagren.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ayla Ågren is a Swedish/Norwegian driver, born in Norway who has done a lot of her racing in the USA. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She won the US F1600 championship in 2014 after taking three wins and five podium positions. This was her second season in F1600, having finished fourth in the series in 2013. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2013 was only her second season as a senior racer, having graduated from karting in Scandinavia at the end of 2011. Like many single-seater racers in the States, she began in the Skip Barber championships. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Between 2014 and 2019, she did not do quite as much active racing, but was involved with the Mazda Road to Indy training programme, in the hope of getting onto the oval racing ladder. To this end, she took part in the Cooper Tires USF2000 series, for three seasons. She did the full season in 2015 with Pelfrey Racing, who had helped her to her F1600 title. In her first season, she was tenth overall, with a best finish of sixth, achieved at Indianapolis and Mid-Ohio.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2016, she switched to John Cummiskey’s team and did three-quarters of the season, missing the Toronto and Laguna Seca races. Her best finish improved to fourth at Road America and she was eleventh overall. Back with Pelfrey for a third year, she only managed seven rounds on her budget. The best of these wasa seventh at Indianapolis.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She also worked as a spotter for Paretta Autosport and other teams in oval-based series, and drove the safety car for Indycar races.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2019, she attempted to qualify for the W Series but was unsuccessful at the first selection. Despite expressing some misgivings about the event, she tested again at the end of the year and was accepted for 2020. She was also awarded a significant scholarship by World Rally champion Petter Solberg.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The 2020 W Series season was deferred until 2021, but she took her seat and finished 17th overall. This was not helped by missing the Spa race due to a six-car qualifying crash, but her best finish was only ninth at Circuit of the Americas and she was not one of the drivers automatically invited back. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At the start of the season, she also drove at Duqueine prototype in the Le Mans Cup, finishing 19th in her class at Paul Ricard. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She continued as a reserve driver in W Series in 2022, making one appearance for the Puma team at Singapore, substituting for the injured Tereza Babickova. She was 16th. After W Series was cancelled, she did not race in 2023.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Image from vg.no)</span></span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-74033193108807650602023-11-11T15:52:00.005-08:002023-11-11T15:52:30.191-08:00Annie Neil<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguCrlNHNcjnW4W1TgTP6eN_3b9ek75x75MFrqOefFDLI_r8VoHGpysdo96wcLJCunf2f1QXkJvC6qyDgHArdZmrH1jl7EBHq9Bsrr3LXHERigSEhRGiyb69pA2oYgKkYRncsu6RdYgYB6bQwQIx73HDQo8AB58BaEBJuitpdIbulWe1VkXjGD5O-yP2tMl/s599/anniechrissieneil.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="599" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguCrlNHNcjnW4W1TgTP6eN_3b9ek75x75MFrqOefFDLI_r8VoHGpysdo96wcLJCunf2f1QXkJvC6qyDgHArdZmrH1jl7EBHq9Bsrr3LXHERigSEhRGiyb69pA2oYgKkYRncsu6RdYgYB6bQwQIx73HDQo8AB58BaEBJuitpdIbulWe1VkXjGD5O-yP2tMl/w400-h176/anniechrissieneil.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Annie Neil, alongside her navigating sister Chrissie, rallied in the 1950s. Their first international event seems to have been the 1953 RAC Rally, driving a Morgan Plus 4, which was given to Annie by Peter Morgan, in recognition of her performance in a trial. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4b43de00-7fff-b62f-c53c-2d7707a4ccdd"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Annie’s given name appears to have been Ines or Innes and she was sometimes known as Andy as well. Chrissie was also known as Kiki. She was awarded a Silver Garter in recognition of her being the “best woman driver in Britain” in 1953, following her Coupe des Dames in the Hastings Rally.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having been interested in motorsport for a while, Annie entered her first rally and named her sister as her navigator, even though Chrissie could not drive. Her niece Candy says that she had to take a week-long crash course in order to be allowed to compete. They initially rallied mostly in Scotland and in the north of England, including the Morecambe Rally.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Quickly they became popular local media figures and even donned Edwardian outfits for a Glasgow-Largs-Kilmarnock veteran car race in 1957. They were driving a 1912 Vulcan.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As well as the RAC Rally in 1953, the Neil Morgan made an appearance in the Daily Express Rally in November. It had been successfully repaired after a roll on the RAC event.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The sisters competed abroad for the first time in January 1954, driving the Standard Vanguard they would become associated with in the Monte Carlo Rally. The Scotsman described them as being welcomed with flowers by spectators. The Morgan came out again for the MCC National Rally later in the year. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1955, they entered the Monte Carlo Rally again, but retired after a lighting failure on their Standard Vanguard in Belgium. They drove the same car in the 1956 Monte, but appear to have retired again, possibly after missing a time control at Besancon. As ever, the reports of their Monte adventures mentioned their matching tartan-lined ski suits and tartan berets.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They are on the list of finishers for the 1955 Scottish Rally but their final position is not noted.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Neil sisters were regulars in Scottish rallies until 1957, when Annie retired from major competition to start a family. Her daughter Candy was born in early 1957. Chrissie carried on for a short while, co-driving for her brother-in-law, Annie’s husband Frank Dundas.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Both were involved in motorsport administration as well as competition and were committee members for the Lanarkshire Motor Club. Chrissie even ran a local rally with an all-woman organising team in 1954, calling it “La Flop Des Dames”.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Annie had learned to drive during the War, and after her rallying days were over, ran the family pig farm in Tollcross. She died in 2004 aged 80. Chrissie became a fashion designer. She died in 1991, aged 64.</span></p><br /><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Listen to a podcast featuring Candy and Donald Dundas </span><a href="https://tales-fae-the-east.com/2021/05/07/candy-and-donald-08/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Photos from the same page.</span></span></span></div>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-67108709842689948282023-10-21T15:36:00.004-07:002023-12-31T15:28:45.142-08:00Lindsay Brewer<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4wwyAgK7pBaJsTM03fcLtteyPNJR3H3m7Y8TW7iS9nYGwx08EaZQWIlBtmUf8rOpW7vWq7wKkbc-pROhyphenhyphenxa52pkptE5iVSscEk6ZCyYye2TCSuuhNmda6WpEo0I9qSY1YyHSPMVI9DdplDucoDADzL970qHauOk3I8clranaQqOO34Cl4p_b66muEwhQa/s596/lindsaybrewer.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="596" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4wwyAgK7pBaJsTM03fcLtteyPNJR3H3m7Y8TW7iS9nYGwx08EaZQWIlBtmUf8rOpW7vWq7wKkbc-pROhyphenhyphenxa52pkptE5iVSscEk6ZCyYye2TCSuuhNmda6WpEo0I9qSY1YyHSPMVI9DdplDucoDADzL970qHauOk3I8clranaQqOO34Cl4p_b66muEwhQa/w400-h269/lindsaybrewer.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lindsay Brewer competes in the Indy Pro 2000 championship in the USA, a part of the Indycar development ladder.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She has raced single-seaters, touring cars and sportscars. After some races in the Skip Barber series, she entered the 2022 Indy Pro 2000 championship with Exclusive Autosport. She did not do a full season. Her best finish by far was eighth at Indianapolis and she was 15th in the championship. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Early in the season, she also did some guest races in the F1600 championship, driving a Spectrum. Eighth was her best finish there too, at Barber. At the end of 2022, she tried out for the all-female W Series, using an F4 car, but was not selected.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her second Indy Pro 2000 season was also run with Exclusive Autosport. Sadly, she did not do as well and finished 18th overall this time. Her best finishes were a pair of eleventh places at Indianapolis and Portland.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2021, she raced in the TC America touring car series, driving a Honda Civic Type R run by the Skip Barber school team. She did the first four rounds of the championship, with a best finish of eighth at Circuit of the Americas. The team was second in the TC championship, mostly thanks to Eric Powell, but Lindsay was fourteenth overall. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Throughout her career, Lindsay has been accused of not being a real racing driver and of using motorsport to further her internet influencer presence. She responded to comments made by NASCAR driver Hailie Deegan about female drivers who are Instagram models first and racers second by challenging Deegan to a race, which did not happen. Her commitment to the Indy Pro 2000 series since 2022 should have gone some way to dispelling some of this negativity, but a series of newspaper reports describing her as “the world’s sexiest racing driver” have not helped.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She entered one race in the 2019 Saleen Cup after taking four years away from competition to attend college. Before that, she raced Legends at club level, as well as testing stock cars. She had raced karts from an early age and finished fifth in the PSL Racing TAG Minimax championship in 2009, when she was twelve.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At the end of 2023, it was announced that she would join the IndyNXT (formerly Indy Lights) grid in 2024.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Image copyright Times10)</span></span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-61383597452963139852023-10-11T15:16:00.007-07:002023-10-12T02:10:03.536-07:00Dorothy Patten<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCiu6o6QY4_l4Ghs0pQs0MDBWHZOzW_ply7x-3FKfgO2I0RDmWNfty-IKyiypx2oInuHuVTNRO__cz2JuTzh8CQRQhszNzVQR8l8ZJnWWwInJlme7fjlC3ok5uTElLzcm_H-ynj5iR2o6g9FvyZmbkkFFR04_Q8pXMbSuiq82F7fl-R625suyCMhl0RoB0/s4096/39%2005%2000%20circa%20Dorothy%20Patten%20Darlmat%20b.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3364" data-original-width="4096" height="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCiu6o6QY4_l4Ghs0pQs0MDBWHZOzW_ply7x-3FKfgO2I0RDmWNfty-IKyiypx2oInuHuVTNRO__cz2JuTzh8CQRQhszNzVQR8l8ZJnWWwInJlme7fjlC3ok5uTElLzcm_H-ynj5iR2o6g9FvyZmbkkFFR04_Q8pXMbSuiq82F7fl-R625suyCMhl0RoB0/w400-h329/39%2005%2000%20circa%20Dorothy%20Patten%20Darlmat%20b.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Dorothy Patten was a British driver who mainly competed in rallies, but also raced before and after the war. </span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-1ce0d0e8-7fff-7c15-6608-f147b71ecea7"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her origins are rather obscure and “Dorothy” was not her real given name. It is likely that she was originally named Alice Minnie Patten and had come from a working-class background. Both of her parents died before she was ten and she and one of her sisters were sent to St Mark’s Home for Girls, a domestic science school where Minnie trained as a maid. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A 1939 summons for speeding close to Brooklands in the name of Dorothy Minnie Patten, in her car, seems to prove her identity. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alice Minnie Patten was born in 1906 in Flintshire. As a teenager, she worked as a housemaid in a surgeon’s house, but at some point in the 1920s or early 1930s, she seems to have come into some money and moved to the south of England.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She got her start in motorsport very early, in 1933. Her first car seems to have been an Alvis, which she drove in that year’s Alpine Rally, finishing fourteenth in class and 53rd overall. She tried again on the 1934 Alpine but does not seem to have finished. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Starting from John O’Groats, she tackled her first Monte Carlo Rally in 1935, still with the Alvis. She was 79th overall.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another of her early cars was a British Salmson, which was the first she used for circuit racing. She was second in the Unlimited Standard Sports Car class for women in the 1936 Brighton Speed Trials in it, narrowly beaten by <a href="http://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2010/07/kay-petre.html">Kay Petre</a> in a Frazer Nash. The following year, she raced it at the Crystal Palace circuit, finishing third in an Unlimited Sports Car handicap at the United Hospitals and University Motor Club meeting.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She drove the Salmson in the 1936 RAC Rally and the 1937 Monte Carlo Rally. The same, or a similar, car, also finished the 1938 Monte. This car belonged to Rainer Dorndorf. It took her to a 43rd place in the 1937 Monte, from 81 finishers. Some results lists have Dorothy entered as a co-driver to Rainer Dorndorf in a Salmson in the 1938 Monte and crashing out, but this sounds unlikely given her own entry.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She was named as a car entrant for R.E. Dorndorf's special-bodied Darl’mat Peugeot in the 1939 Sydenham Plate. This was a car that Dorothy didn’t race much herself at the time, although she used it in rallies. Her first major result in it was probably an eleventh place in the 1939 <a href="http://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2011/01/the-parisst-raphael-rally.html#:~:text=This%20rally%20was%20the%20premier,Marianne%20Hoepfner%20and%20Christine%20Beckers.">Paris-St. Raphael Rally</a>. She was fourth in Class B, for drivers with no previous podium finishes.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Later, she married Rainer Dorndorf, a German based in Ireland, and began styling herself “Baroness von Dorndorf”, although her husband does not appear to have held such a title. As a British national married to a German, she was briefly interned during the war, although she was soon cleared of being any risk and released. By 1942, the pair had divorced and Dorothy was apparently engaged to Captain Anthony Ryan. They never actually married. It was claimed in the Tatler that Rainer Dorndorf had died in a hunting accident in 1938, but this was untrue.In 1947, she did remarry, to David Treherne. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Unlike many of her contemporaries, Dorothy was able to resume her career after the war. She entered the speed trials held at Elstree Aerodrome in April 1946, taking the Peugeot to a class win. She covered the quarter-mile course in 22.8s.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The following year, she went back to the Brighton Speed Trials, but could only manage 17th in class and sixth-fastest lady. Her only circuit race in this car seems to have been a three-lap contest at Goodwood in 1948, although her finishing position is not recorded.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She died in 1975, aged 68.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks to Adam Ferrington for information.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-89661668729103264162023-09-26T15:32:00.002-07:002023-12-31T15:31:10.756-08:00Bianca Bustamante<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLmyilSBGao3sXuzx0YpHnDQXH6W56n6ythLEupvPlQpB1EtcnMYyYiKm1x_sHZHGqpDAzlGSh2uhFRGm3ox2QLaN0iLmaFShpcMc2MdSmd1nNGkGpuTK79ct5Y8w-oYxjvSe0cNSWKM7MWtJawy64NT-8vqpepNTnt1LpvBlfRJmd5jU_-O4hR4pfY187/s625/biancabustamante.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="505" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLmyilSBGao3sXuzx0YpHnDQXH6W56n6ythLEupvPlQpB1EtcnMYyYiKm1x_sHZHGqpDAzlGSh2uhFRGm3ox2QLaN0iLmaFShpcMc2MdSmd1nNGkGpuTK79ct5Y8w-oYxjvSe0cNSWKM7MWtJawy64NT-8vqpepNTnt1LpvBlfRJmd5jU_-O4hR4pfY187/w324-h400/biancabustamante.png" width="324" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bianca Bustamante is a Filipina single-seater racer who began racing cars in 2022. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She was selected for the third season of the all-female W Series and finished 14th overall, scoring a couple of points for the W Academy team. This followed some guest appearances in the 2022 USF Juniors championship and a spot in the FIA’s Girls on Track shootout in 2021. She did the first two meetings in USF Juniors with IGY6 Motorsport and had a best finish of tenth. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Later in the 2022 season, she drove for the Bangalore Speedsters in the Indian Racing League and was 17th in the individual standings. The Speedsters were fifth out of six teams. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Moving back to F4, she joined the Prema team for the 2023 UAE F4 series. Although she was usually a backmarker, she did manage a tenth and ninth place at Kuwait and Dubai. This was preparation for a season in the 2023 F1 Academy with Prema, another all-female championship using F4 cars. She won two races at Valencia and Monza. F1 Academy coverage shows her combative and determined driving style, although she also had some scares, including a collision with Chloe Grant’s flying car at Monza. She was seventh in the championship.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her second part-season in USF Juniors gave her a pair of ninth places at Circuit of the Americas, driving for Exclusive Autosport. In a busy year, she also replaced Aurelia Nobels for one round of the Italian F4 championship, finishing 19th twice and 25th once at Spa.</span></span></p><p>For the 2024 season, she switched teams in F1 Academy, moving to ART. She was also chosen as McLaren's supported driver in the series, despite some controversy at Christmas over some tweets about Lance Stroll.</p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Before switching to cars, she raced karts with some success in the Philippines and the USA throughout her childhood. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Image copyright Vogue Philippines)</span></span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-44708419075494811522023-09-21T15:50:00.005-07:002023-09-21T15:50:37.665-07:00Louisette Texier<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivBDoa-MWYMR0CvnUHlF7SMsLQDoHbyx54tgZP64c-fJSgdttbQ7jWnhq5zBw2_sZsEpXqXmdbbtx__pSUMK4qb65VRrqLuUsh6EwKZFJQlIKteHbxYP5cEry5egJyDGEro3FGxWjufw467q9PxdaW0mXjhBQThwAioZue6vMot4rnwuWsfWn2RFrMPbcX/s499/louisette.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="499" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivBDoa-MWYMR0CvnUHlF7SMsLQDoHbyx54tgZP64c-fJSgdttbQ7jWnhq5zBw2_sZsEpXqXmdbbtx__pSUMK4qb65VRrqLuUsh6EwKZFJQlIKteHbxYP5cEry5egJyDGEro3FGxWjufw467q9PxdaW0mXjhBQThwAioZue6vMot4rnwuWsfWn2RFrMPbcX/w400-h271/louisette.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Louisette (right) with Annie Soisbault and Germaine Rouault</i></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Louisette Texier was an Armenian-French driver and rally navigator in the 1950s and ‘60s. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her ten-year driving career began when she was in her mid-forties and running her own clothes shop. She had been born in central Turkey to Armenian parents and her birth name was Arpine Hovanessian. Evacuated to Greece and then to Marseille, she escaped the 1915 Armenian genocide which claimed her father. Her mother also survived, but the two did not meet one another again until Arpine was an adult. At the age of 15, she left school and became a showgirl in Paris. This may well have been when she changed her name. She would have been a contemporary to the likes of </span><a href="https://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2010/07/madame-helle-nice.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Helle Nice</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and perhaps saw her compete in the Coupe des Artistes. A much later meeting with Grand Prix driver Jean Behra during a visit to Montlhery in 1955 is said to have been her inspiration to take up motorsport herself.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An ambitious competitor nicknamed the Bulldozer, her first major rally was the 1958 Acropolis, which she tackled in a Simca Aronde Montlhery model. This was a car she was already familiar with, having co-driven for </span><a href="https://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2011/09/germaine-rouault.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Germaine Rouault</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in one for the 1956 Monte Carlo Rally. She had raced a slightly different model on track during the same season, finishing sixth in class in the Coupes de Vitesse at Montlhery. Later in the year, she was thirteenth in the Coupe de Salon, held at the same circuit.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The 1956 races were the only times she took to the circuits for dedicated races, but she got more experience of the French tracks during the Tour de France. She entered four times between 1961 and 1964, as both co-driver to </span><a href="https://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2013/03/annie-soisbault-de-montaigu.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Annie Soisbault</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and named driver. In 1961, she drove an Alfa Romeo Giulietta, and in 1964, a Jaguar MkII. Her co-driver both times was Marie-Louise Mermod of Switzerland. On the other two occasions she navigated for Annie Soisbault, also in a Jaguar. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Monte Carlo Rally was another favourite. She first entered in 1959, still driving a Simca Aronde. Louisette and co-driver Francoise Archambault narrowly missed the cut to enter the final leg and finished 106th overall. She switched to a Renault Dauphine in 1960, but she and Helene Cherret did not finish. Driving an Alfa Romeo Giulietta and Renault 8 respectively, she entered again in 1961 and 1964. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As well as events, Louisette was quite loyal to team-mates. Between 1960 and 1963, she co-drove for Annie Soisbault in the Tour de France and in French rallies such as the 1960 Stuttgart-Charbonnieres event, where they shared an Alfa Romeo. Marie-Louise (or Mary Lou) Mermod was another regular colleague; she navigated for Louisette in the 1962 Monte and the 1964 Tour de France, then Louisette returned the favour for the Geneva Rally in 1964. They were 30th in an Alfa Romeo.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Louisette was also a participant in the </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3005525465627389625/274835428044938186#" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Paris-St. Rapha</span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ë</span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">l</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> womens' rally, in which she used a Renault Dauphine in 1962.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her last rally was the Rallye du Maroc in 1968. She drove a Renault 8 Gordini but joined a lengthy list of non-finishers.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She died aged 108 in 2021. In her final years, she achieved some fame in France due to her great age, adventurous life and wartime heroics in the French resistance, helping to hide Jewish families. She worked in womenswear retail until she was 92 and enjoyed karting with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren when she was even older.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For an interview with Louisette as an old lady, click </span><a href="https://centenairesfrancais.wordpress.com/2020/05/22/louisette-texier-105-years-old/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Image copyright Le Monde</span></span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-80654404190151320572023-09-07T15:13:00.003-07:002023-09-07T15:13:26.212-07:00Suzie Brailsford<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8kvvxq0alwBlwGbLtaYhkj2ybBnXfEtK7Km5_YONPSvSo6TPu5cqkIHnqBiLvtWtMZ_Sbl4vpySp8Syy9w5mtlEgPjE2-QJ6r7_OyNjVZoi7D-TM8fjMs93Zy0zC3hk-mSpT-V2il_vFfo_tRvS-42tzL57gIrMLvNpiDQp5htMpxacUwiZGqn2XNHFw5/s388/suziebrailsford.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="388" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8kvvxq0alwBlwGbLtaYhkj2ybBnXfEtK7Km5_YONPSvSo6TPu5cqkIHnqBiLvtWtMZ_Sbl4vpySp8Syy9w5mtlEgPjE2-QJ6r7_OyNjVZoi7D-TM8fjMs93Zy0zC3hk-mSpT-V2il_vFfo_tRvS-42tzL57gIrMLvNpiDQp5htMpxacUwiZGqn2XNHFw5/w400-h393/suziebrailsford.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Suzie Brailsford competed in rallycross in the UK in the early 1990s.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her career began in the summer of 1989, driving a Mini in the Minicross class. She was in her mid-20s and working as cabin crew for British Airways, which she used as a promotional talking point.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">She raced a Vauxhall Nova in a one-make championship class of the British championship in 1990 and 1991. The 1990 edition was the first one-make series in British rallycross, apart from Minicross. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Nova and Suzie proved capable of good laps. At Lydden in July, she won a heat and was the fourth fastest in the championship, but she could not keep up the momentum through the other heats, with rain not helping matters. Among her rivals was boxer Barry McGuigan. By December, she had improved and was into the second day of heats at Brands Hatch, despite some rain, but contact with another driver put her out of the final. In between, she finished fifth at Cadwell.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1991, she won a race at Lydden Hill, but was later disqualified. She was announced as a driver for the 1992 series and did at least some of the races, including one at Lydden in April.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">From the beginning, she was sponsored by Texaco. In 1992, she was part of a public competition organised by the company. The winner, Joyce Robertson, won herself a Renault Clio by guessing how far Suzi could drive the car on 7.5l of Texaco fuel.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">She also raced a Nissan Sunny at some point, possibly a little later. In 1998, she made a comeback and competed in autocross in Suffolk, driving a Mini which she shared with Tim Compson, another former minicross competitor. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">(Image copyright Farnborough News)</span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-89650102193038785872023-08-26T14:22:00.000-07:002023-08-26T14:22:42.847-07:00Frankie Bogg (Francine Duncan)<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_qWmRRb_doMgA0mb4sGMlQ48aSuCyg4eO73pJjJFXXAyrBR_xRKQWpSZwgiwtqF3l88_aFnJ3_fnKjmhF0Hh7-5njLmLzq3h3ERLnLHCMFWYVkI1NpqoAxrIWbYi-Dh3DqeSk0R3lIhDI6rhUpyHJhGKyXLF4oHLn8wtZwzwQFztjCeAZxq6tWBH0yopp/s314/frankiebogg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="293" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_qWmRRb_doMgA0mb4sGMlQ48aSuCyg4eO73pJjJFXXAyrBR_xRKQWpSZwgiwtqF3l88_aFnJ3_fnKjmhF0Hh7-5njLmLzq3h3ERLnLHCMFWYVkI1NpqoAxrIWbYi-Dh3DqeSk0R3lIhDI6rhUpyHJhGKyXLF4oHLn8wtZwzwQFztjCeAZxq6tWBH0yopp/s1600/frankiebogg.png" width="293" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Francine Bogg, known as Frankie, was one of the youngest-ever participants (at the time) in the RAC Rally. She first entered aged 19, in 1991. </span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-8347127e-7fff-78c9-f3ee-7c78b40874e7"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her final position was 68th, from 82 finishers. This was her only World Championship rally, but she enjoyed quite a long career in the 1990s and early 2000s.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The RAC Rally drive came about after she won the Radio Times “Rally Quest” competition, held in conjunction with Top Gear. There were 36,000 competitors for the £80,000 prize drive in a works-supported Vauxhall Nova, which included the RAC entry and a programme of British rallies beforehand as training. The latter part of the competition was televised and Frankie became popular with Top Gear viewers.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although Frankie had already done a couple of rallies before Rally Quest, she had thought her career was over as the car she bought herself suffered a blown engine. She found herself in a similar situation at the end of 1991, when the prize drive concluded.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The RAC Rally was one of six events she did in 1991, including the Audi Sport Rally, which was a round of the British championship. She was 34th, sixth in class. In real terms, the RAC Rally was her best event, followed by the Dukeries Rally, where she was 99th out of 116 drivers.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She did manage to drive her Vauxhall Nova in the second round of the British Championship in 1992. Unfortunately, she only got to the third stage of the Pirelli Rally before retiring with steering problems. Her only other outing that year was the Rally Cars Forest Stages in September. She was 57th overall. Despite sponsorship drives in local newspapers and something of a media profile, Frankie then disappeared from the stages for five years.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1997, she reappeared as Francine Duncan, now married and running a skid training facility with her husband, Ecosse Skid Control. She had picked up some sponsorship and a new SEAT Ibiza, which she took to the Scottish islands for the Tour of Mull, finishing 82nd. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The following year, she competed more extensively in the Ibiza, concentrating on asphalt events. Her seasons started badly with a fire on the Apex Cheviot Rally in February, then another retirement from the Tour of Epynt. However, three class wins followed in the Tour of Cornwall, Mewla National and Wexford rallies. The Wexford event, her first rally in Ireland, was her best: she was 42nd from 72 finishers. At the end of the year, she was awarded the Motorsport UK Asphalt championship’s junior award.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1999 began with another class win in the Cheviot Rally, again running on asphalt. Frankie was 29th overall. She also finished the Tour of Epynt this year, finishing 28th from 71 cars still running at the end. The Jim Clark Rally gave her another 28th place to finish her season. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After this, her career goes into hibernation again. Apart from one rally in 2004, the RalliTrak Premier Rally, she did not compete again.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As well as rallying, Frankie competed in mountain biking. She is from Hull.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Image copyright Hull Daily Mail)</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-64030639238791781922023-08-19T15:36:00.001-07:002024-01-01T16:06:58.708-08:00Taylor Hagler<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK2NPb5h6EcXEOSVh0A7J125xLGdMgspJ-ylzXqBRmIsN4ikaBKF1cgZQrO5yitIBf6RQjuKRtn6y3OYA8pt8YQcEBZJnhaX8w4IjwJR_lewur3ejxYqhz_UbRrg4d_SWv9hdoXr2NaCsPop3iKOOQoV3uk0dtwox623degUknWtw5-F2K7sWGvXzs6j-i/s441/taylorhagler.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="441" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK2NPb5h6EcXEOSVh0A7J125xLGdMgspJ-ylzXqBRmIsN4ikaBKF1cgZQrO5yitIBf6RQjuKRtn6y3OYA8pt8YQcEBZJnhaX8w4IjwJR_lewur3ejxYqhz_UbRrg4d_SWv9hdoXr2NaCsPop3iKOOQoV3uk0dtwox623degUknWtw5-F2K7sWGvXzs6j-i/w400-h328/taylorhagler.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Taylor Hagler is an American driver who has been most successful in TCR-spec cars, winning the TCR class of the Michelin Pilot Challenge outright twice.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her four-wheeled career began in 2018 after ten years of equestrian competition. Her sister had received a gift voucher for the Skip Barber race school which she didn’t want, so Taylor used it instead. She was hooked straight away.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She raced a Mazda Miata in 2018 and won NASA races in her home state of Texas. She also won at least one SCCA race in the Miata at Road Atlanta in early 2019. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She moved into TC America in 2019, driving a Honda Civic in the TCA class. She was fifth in her class and the second of the four X-Factor Racing entries, behind fourth-placed Chris Haldeman, the team’s owner. Her best finishes were three class thirds at Circuit of the Americas, Watkins Glen and Road America. Road America was her best circuit and she was tenth overall. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She also did her first major endurance race, the COTA 24H event. Her car was another Civic, shared with three other drivers, but they did not finish.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2020, she continued in TC America for two races, finishing fourth twice at COTA, which was becoming her favoured track. She spent most of the year in the TCR class of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, driving a Civic with Ryan Eversley for LA Honda World Racing. Her best finish was a second place at Mid-Ohio and her championship position would have been higher than ninth without some DNFs. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She won the TCR class of the 2021 Michelin Pilot Challenge, with one outright win at Lime Rock and five additional podium finishes. Her car was a Hyundai Veloster run by Bryan Herta's works-supported team and she shared it with Michael Lewis. As well as this, she was a multiple winner in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Pro-Am Cup, driving an Acura NSX for the Racers Edge team. She was second in the Pro-Am championship with three class wins, in what was only her first season in GT3 cars. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2022, she successfully defended her TCR trophy, driving a Hyundai Elantra and winning once at Virginia. She and Michael Lewis were also second four times and third twice. She then raced the Acura at Indianapolis in the GT World Challenge, finishing seventh in Pro-Am and 19th overall. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She took her first steps into an international career at the beginning of 2023 when she was announced as part of Hyundai USA’s team for the Nurburgring 24 Hours. Her usual team-mate Michael Lewis joined her, with Harry Gottsacker and Mason Filippi. They were 29th overall and second in class, behind the European Hyundai works car.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Nurburgring appearance made an impression in Europe and Taylor was invited to take part in the GT4 European Series later in the season, deputising for W&S Motorsport’s Charles Lawson who was injured in the first round. Alongside Swiss driver Gustavo Xavier, she joined the championship at Paul Ricard. They were 18th in the Pro-Am championship, their best finish has been a 25th place overall at Misano, driving a Porsche 718 Cayman. They were fifth in the Pro-Am class</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The US had not been forgotten either. Sharing the Bryan Herta Elantra with Michael Lewis again, she set about adding another IMSA Michelin Pilot TCR title to her collection. The season did not begin as well as previous ones, with the pair earning an eighth place at Daytona. They were seventh in the TCR class, not managing to reach the podium this year.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her future plans include more racing in Europe.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Image copyright Taylor Hagler Motorsport)</span></span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-66776473317607205322023-08-03T15:31:00.004-07:002023-08-03T15:31:21.717-07:00Claire Descollas<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5aXls7q4FFg6OhQFa6CqYGnHXM2B8TSsTP08Iv08k2jk48UY8ud6a0NR-fVnh3eeWN7SFT_--DrTnANUv-I4d4isRAnLXnq_ZZlE-nCIfOFasYHizTEhtHiCFijzaFdWSlDEwyPoTXuShW29rfgq7gcUrGEByGN9xk01DIed35Saji_F9gb2rtBseiRBY/s3065/Claire_Mancis_sur_Amilcar_lors_de_la_course_de_c%C3%B4te_d'Allauch_(13)_du_28_janvier_1923.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1886" data-original-width="3065" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5aXls7q4FFg6OhQFa6CqYGnHXM2B8TSsTP08Iv08k2jk48UY8ud6a0NR-fVnh3eeWN7SFT_--DrTnANUv-I4d4isRAnLXnq_ZZlE-nCIfOFasYHizTEhtHiCFijzaFdWSlDEwyPoTXuShW29rfgq7gcUrGEByGN9xk01DIed35Saji_F9gb2rtBseiRBY/w400-h246/Claire_Mancis_sur_Amilcar_lors_de_la_course_de_c%C3%B4te_d'Allauch_(13)_du_28_janvier_1923.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Claire Descollas was a French rally driver who enjoyed a long career in the 1930s and 40s. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Born in 1905 as Claire Mancis, she began competing very young, and was driving an Amilcar in French hillclimbs from at least 1923, when she was seventeen. She normally raced in the Marseilles area where her family lived and her father worked in the motor trade. Earlier, he had been an agent for Le Gui and Zebre cars in modern Vietnam, where Claire was probably born.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Claire continued to race after her marriage to Gaston Descollas, the brother of a childhood friend. Her car at the time was an Amilcar, described as white with a 5hp engine. her first major result as Madame Descollas was a sixth place in the 1932 </span><a href="https://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2011/01/the-parisst-raphael-rally.html" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Paris-St.Raphael Rally</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Claire was second in her class and the first Amilcar finisher. That year, she ran in her first major open rally, the first running of the Rallye des Alpes Francaises. She did not finish and also did not finish in 1934, when Gaston Descollas won.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">With Gaston, she won several class awards and rallies, often in a distinctive and quite famous Bugatti Type 57 Atalante with aerodynamic bodywork. She entered the 1935 Paris-St. Raphael in this car, but retired with mechanical problems. In 1936, she used it again for the Alpes Francaises event, and in 1937, for another Paris-St. Raphael, but she could not get it to the finish. As a consolation, she did win the Mont Ventoux hillclimb section in the Alpine rally and was third in her class.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Amilcar was still very much in evidence. She won her class in the 1936 Chamonix Rally and was ninth overall in the Rallye de Lyon.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the later part of her career, particularly after World War II, she favoured Lancia cars. She won her class award and finished without penalties in the 1939 Rally des Alpes Francaises, driving an Aprilia. She was 17th in the same event in 1947. One of her best Paris-St.Raphael showings was in this car in 1938; she was third and won the 1500cc class.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">She does not appear to have driven in any more rallies after 1947, although she co-drove for Gaston in an Aprilia in 1948. The couple divorced in 1953.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As well as rallying, Claire was part of the Yacco speed trial team in 1937, although she withdrew after the first runs. Her team-mates for the Montlhery record attempt were </span><a href="http://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2010/07/madame-helle-nice.html" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Helle Nice</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2012/08/simone-des-forest.html" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Simone des Forest</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="https://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2010/07/odette-siko.html" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Odette Siko</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Claire may have clashed with Helle Nice. Despite her departure, the Matford car itself was named Claire, possibly after her.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Claire died in 1985, aged 80.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For more information, see this </span><a href="https://www.lezebre.eu/car/descollas%20mancis/photo%20gallery%20descollas%20mancis%20palmares.htm" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zebre site</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Image from Wikimedia Commons</span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-29623136335263721212023-07-20T16:12:00.002-07:002024-01-01T16:10:29.210-08:00Victoria Blokhina<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi52Axta9aUr1ekb44H-ntt6-fkZ-iX7gPqA2OwtsKT00JWe4agRiybw6JFPa1jfabVYp5dZ8abXMMJfeuXQ2Ba6LY3UVzdwkrRE8JxtlDhMGC2mnxx86SpsKpi-jromybtM9mgv7I3TzdVIWUyXvIL_L6KWZS1Uwl62-AGwQSH9yTKF3jVYfrch7SX3yI2/s639/victoriablokhina.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="639" height="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi52Axta9aUr1ekb44H-ntt6-fkZ-iX7gPqA2OwtsKT00JWe4agRiybw6JFPa1jfabVYp5dZ8abXMMJfeuXQ2Ba6LY3UVzdwkrRE8JxtlDhMGC2mnxx86SpsKpi-jromybtM9mgv7I3TzdVIWUyXvIL_L6KWZS1Uwl62-AGwQSH9yTKF3jVYfrch7SX3yI2/w400-h329/victoriablokhina.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Victoria Blokhina races junior single-seaters in Europe. She currently competes under an Italian license although she is Russian.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She made her single-seater debut in 2022 aged 16. She entered the UAE F4 championship with R-ace GP and did 16 of the 20 championship rounds, sitting out the last meeting at Yas Marina in favour of Maksim Arkhangelsky. She usually finished, but struggled for pace and had a best finish of 19th at Yas Marina, early in the season. Her final championship position was 32nd. This was followed by a season in Italian F4 with PHM Motorsport, which yielded a 34th place, driving for PHM Racing. Her best finish by far was a twelfth place at the Red Bull Ring.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She also did three Spanish F4 races at Catalunya, finishing 28th twice. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The UAE championship runs over the winter season and Victoria returned at the end of 2022, driving for the R2Race Cavicel team this time. A single outing in the non-championship Trophy race gave her a sixth and eleventh spot, her best of the year, driving for the Xcel team. Her season with R2Race was more of a challenge, and two 22nd places in the final meeting at Yas Marina were her high points. She was 44th in the championship.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although she was eligible, she decided against entering the all-female F1 Academy and signed again for Italian F4. She rejoined the PHM team as part of a four-car squad. The early part of the season was more promising for her and she finished 15th at both Imola and Misano, one of three top-twenty finishes. Her year took an unwelcome turn at Spa, where she had a frightening crash in Race 1 which destroyed her car. Neither she nor Guido Luchetti, who sent her car flipping over into a barrier, were injured. She returned for the Monza round. At the end of the season, she was 35th in the championship and second the three-driver women’s championship.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Prior to her F4 debut, she competed in karting internationally in 2019 and 2020. She was a finalist in the FIA Girls on Track competition in 2021.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Image copyright PHM Racing)</span></span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-66465010197384814602023-07-06T14:56:00.007-07:002023-07-06T14:56:42.924-07:00Sybil Lupp<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTrSzuxtFtlQ0AfK8xHHUnqeKdi0LsNs07XFsaZrJQKukyfTNsjJPZzxwnWbXNs0KfgZrKgJmuXhxs3TxbCbO9Msx8OTRpI-tk92v_8vTeCP41r2gLcZq6LJ06juRInkocE6ctuXpgVhMEprY9ofyXXs8wUr6As1U-5wLHqGBTdL3gKLv8jeeI_wc1dsWa/s655/sybillupp.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="655" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTrSzuxtFtlQ0AfK8xHHUnqeKdi0LsNs07XFsaZrJQKukyfTNsjJPZzxwnWbXNs0KfgZrKgJmuXhxs3TxbCbO9Msx8OTRpI-tk92v_8vTeCP41r2gLcZq6LJ06juRInkocE6ctuXpgVhMEprY9ofyXXs8wUr6As1U-5wLHqGBTdL3gKLv8jeeI_wc1dsWa/w400-h371/sybillupp.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Sybil Lupp was New Zealand’s first female racing driver. </span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-d51ba3b1-7fff-8369-f435-3e4234849a15"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her interest in cars began on the engineering side in the 1930s, and she was one of New Zealand’s first female mechanics, taking a job at JG Ingrams garage in 1938. She started racing after her second marriage, in 1947. She took part in the first hillclimb organised by the Otago Automobile Club.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Initially, she only drove in hillclimbs, scoring several wins in MG cars. She had learned to drive aged eleven and her first car was an MG M-Type, bought for her by her father three years later. The Australian Women’s Weekly reported in November 1948 that Sybil had won her second Otago hillclimb championship in succession, and that she held their circuit’s track record. Her records included the full hillclimb for her class and for the standing quarter-mile sprint.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Circuit racing was quite slow to get going in New Zealand after the Second World War, having been quite sporadic before that anyway. In 1949, she entered the first road race held in the country, the appropriately-named Road Racing Championship. The event was a 105-mile circuit, consisting of 50 laps of an aerodrome. She drove an MG TC and was fifth on scratch, fourth on handicap.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1950, she was second in the same race, driving the TC, and first on handicap. She had made considerable progress from twelfth on the grid.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After a year when she does not appear to have raced at all, she returned with an MG TD in 1952. She was seventh in both the Lady Wigram Trophy and the CWF Hamilton Trophy. The RRC’s original organisers had switched their attentions to another track and the Lady Wigram Trophy was its replacement. Her Wigram result was another run from the back of the grid. The CWF Hamilton event was held at the 4km Mairehau circuit, run over 40 laps. Sybil had been given a substantial ten-minute handicap.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1953, she changed from an MG to a Jaguar XK-120. In this car, she was seventh in the CWF Hamilton Trophy, driving with “HR Brown”, who was a Dr Bruce Hay driving under a pseudonym. Driving solo, she was seventh in the fifth RRC, now held at Dunedin. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As well as racing, she was one of the founder members of the Otago Motor Association, and ran a series of garages and car dealerships. Her first marriage ended when Jack Lupp died in 1945; two years later, she married his brother Percival. They divorced in 1961. After 1969, when she married Lionel Archer, she was known as Sybil Archer. They had been partners in a Jaguar garage.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite her choice of occupation, Sybil always distanced herself from “women’s lib” and claimed that a woman should be led by her man, although she also bragged about being quicker than her husband early in her career.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She died in 1994, aged 78.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Image copyright Wellington Evening Post)</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-23233174429295563562023-06-28T15:32:00.003-07:002024-01-01T16:12:54.539-08:00Ashton Harrison<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5hj3N8I3Wt3WqkLgTzNQcXdh7VKXOXmQba1GM4tSaAmFZen7Qf04He9GPorvksWlS9X3OEgtEhb0_ML1IY7VrIEZvDXmbyJ5JvnEHyQH2mg0UOfIhbcxwM6ZrKRDvCDbarXCv2Y7P7heCt9JDC9iEE2KwG3jxmEHRjpgj-43WFu8UO8N3UX3w0CmOUP0Y/s679/ashtonharrison.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="679" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5hj3N8I3Wt3WqkLgTzNQcXdh7VKXOXmQba1GM4tSaAmFZen7Qf04He9GPorvksWlS9X3OEgtEhb0_ML1IY7VrIEZvDXmbyJ5JvnEHyQH2mg0UOfIhbcxwM6ZrKRDvCDbarXCv2Y7P7heCt9JDC9iEE2KwG3jxmEHRjpgj-43WFu8UO8N3UX3w0CmOUP0Y/w400-h265/ashtonharrison.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">A<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">shton Harrison is the winner of the 2022 Fanatec GT World Challenge Pro-Am title in an Acura NSX GT3. She has raced sportscars in the USA for several seasons.</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-a86f4f50-7fff-9670-45f0-d49966b8f1ee"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Early on, she raced in the Mazda MX-5 Cup in the USA. She was twelfth in the 2017 championship. This was her second attempt at the series, after a part-season in 2016. In 2018, her third season, she was 15th, with three top-ten finishes. The best of these were two ninth places. Her Mazdas were always noticeable by their pink roll cages, something she began when she did her first club races two years earlier.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In a change of direction and increase in power, she was second in the LB class in the 2019 US Lamborghini Super Trofeo, with six second places and one third. She was sharing the car with Stephanie Cemo. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her second season in the Super Trofeo featured her first Pro-Am win at Sebring, plus two second places and four thirds. She was third in the championship alongside her team-mate Andrea Amici. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another third came her way in 2021, with wins at COTA and Road America. Additionally, she won a round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Pro-Am Cup at Indianapolis in an Acura NSX, with Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry. This was her first race in the category and the first win for a female driver.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Following her Indianapolis win, in 2022 she was named as a Honda junior factory driver after taking part in their academy programme, with Farnbacher as her coach. This earned her a seat with the Racer’s Edge team. She and Mario Farnbacher won the Pro-Am Cup, winning four times in the Acura. They also entered the Sebring 12 Hours. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Super Trofeo had not been forgotten either. She and Thomas Long were third in Pro-Am with one win and ten podium finishes.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Staying with the Fanatec GT World Challenge and Racer’s Edge, she entered the Pro Cup in 2023, still sharing the GTD-spec NSX with Mario Farnbacher. The pair earned two class wins and four further podiums and were second in the Pro Cup. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Image from dailysportscar.com)</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-34370605563755279162023-06-10T16:04:00.006-07:002023-06-10T16:04:42.237-07:00"Mrs AC Lace"<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpzEC1DNm8Qgv1koorFPjXiGj3nS2CKbwfXC910TlW3QVxltvsi0vLXl4FSnAlZBnFisVvgOtE-zCn8bo3hwuI8BR58riiB6Lz_JFxs1Y7xZWSXF4WwCDsev93paLRupVd56pw3nQnOoHv9Cy2v7tHRPDcgT9OY7BcMVB9geZy9JnjzLWWhtgL2tgy2w/s1920/1938%2005%2007%20Betty%20Lace%20Brooklands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpzEC1DNm8Qgv1koorFPjXiGj3nS2CKbwfXC910TlW3QVxltvsi0vLXl4FSnAlZBnFisVvgOtE-zCn8bo3hwuI8BR58riiB6Lz_JFxs1Y7xZWSXF4WwCDsev93paLRupVd56pw3nQnOoHv9Cy2v7tHRPDcgT9OY7BcMVB9geZy9JnjzLWWhtgL2tgy2w/w400-h225/1938%2005%2007%20Betty%20Lace%20Brooklands.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-d98c361d-7fff-0b90-11f7-c63edc22e494"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Mrs AC Lace” is the name used by Phoebe Elizabeth McQueen, born Mylchreest in 1910, when she raced between the two wars. AC (Alfred Clucas) Lace was a driver himself and was in a relationship with her, but the two never married. She often used the forename Betty.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her first event under this name seems to have been a hillclimb at Shelsley Walsh in September 1934, driving a Hispano-Suiza. In March 1935, she appears at Brooklands for the first time, racing a Singer in the New Haw Long Handicap. It appears to be the same car that she used at Donington in May for a women’s handicap. She was not placed in either race. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Singer was still her car of choice for the 1936 First Mountain Handicap, held at the March Handicap meeting at Brooklands. Again, she was not placed, nor in the Second Mountain Handicap at the same event. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A run in a Fiat followed, as part of a three-car, three-woman Fiat team for the 1936 Light Car Club Relay race at Brooklands. She and her team-mates Elsie Wisdom and Dinah Chaff, the team leader, were fourth, from eight finishers.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A gap then follows before she reappears driving a works-supported Alta in 1938. She won the Ladies’ Cup race held at Crystal Palace as part of the London Grand Prix. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She did enter two Brooklands races in Talbot-Lago: the JCC International Trophy and the BRDC Road Race. It was possibly the Road Race she was practising for in September when she was hit on the head by a passing seagull “at over 100mph”. She “swerved violently” but was unhurt and able to continue. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Both times, she was co-driver to AC Lace, but did not get to drive. AC himself seems to have pulled out of the latter event and their relationship may well have broken down by then. Both were declared bankrupt at different times in 1939.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her first forays into rallying appear in 1936, when she drove a Marendaz in the RAC Rally. The only other Marendaz entries were driven by DMK Marendaz, the car’s creator, and Aileen Moss, mother of Stirling and Pat Moss. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By the time the RAC Rally came round again in 1937, she was driving a Railton, but she was disqualified from that year’s event. This was her only time out in that car. Driving a French Delahaye 135, she also entered the Scottish and Welsh rallies, plus an MCC rally in Torquay. That car also disappears at the end of the summer.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Making up for this somewhat, she managed to out-drive AC Lace on the 1938 Monte Carlo Rally, finishing 27th to his 47th, navigated by Elsie Wisdom. They were both driving Talbot-Darracq cars. It was a successful year on the stages for her; a month later, she and the Talbot were second in the Paris-St.Raphael women’s rally, behind Betty Haig’s MG. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She returned to Monaco in the Talbot in 1939, and was 25th. Her co-driver was the famous pilot Amy Johnson, in what was her last rally. They had previously competed against each other in the Paris-St. Raphael. Betty’s bankruptcy later in the year was almost certainly a factor in the end of her own career.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After leaving motorsport and AC Lace behind, Betty married Brian Carbury and had two sons. The fact that she was still married to Gerald McQueen did not deter her; she possibly remained married to him until her death in 1971. It did not deter her either from marrying twice more, in 1944 and 1958. Multiple bigamous marriages were only one aspect of a dishonest and criminal side to her character, which becomes obvious after she left AC Lace. Throughout her life, she was convicted many times of theft and financial fraud, usually in the form of passing bad cheques from accounts that were either closed or non-existent. Brian Carbury was also convicted of cheque fraud in 1941 and both were accused of stealing savings from their children’s nanny in 1943. A pattern emerges of her being caught, then changing her name and carrying on as before. As she got older, she tended to move her date of birth forward by a few years with each name change.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Later, she spent a long period of time living in South Africa, where her father had previously had business interests. She married a waiter called Antonio Giocondi and began calling herself Babette Giocondi. Under this identity, she embarked on a high-profile career as a boxing promoter in 1961, alongside her husband who managed the fighters. They made very little money and attempts to bring South African boxers to the UK failed. There may have been an element of fraud involved in this. “Babette Giocondi” gave interviews to the South African press and claimed to have raced at Le Mans.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Betty died in a car crash in Worthing in 1971. She was a passenger in a Daimler Sovereign driven by pub landlord Brian Samain, who also died in the accident. At the time, she was calling herself “Babette Dale-Lace” and it took the police some time to discover anything close to her real identity.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Thanks to Adam Ferrington for sharing his research on Betty/Phoebe/Babette.)</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-57188037202752428972023-05-14T15:58:00.005-07:002023-05-14T15:58:41.361-07:00Elyane Imbert<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjThqI19RLNU6YsODoChQZbiNeqo4XEh-7jAOYSDhVtHXzkmHx-SUhXCVd9aMWUvST5Bp10y_eRS45iW_lf9k3KDQVC213oTaG3UgAV0kLqS_GCt-DJ6YstAqVglO78GEw7TVqWhC0I8l0yuGRv8sUTwCppkd8aiyzZ92Hxm2iJEiFyF-nKtCC3vPSXg/s678/elyane.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="678" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjThqI19RLNU6YsODoChQZbiNeqo4XEh-7jAOYSDhVtHXzkmHx-SUhXCVd9aMWUvST5Bp10y_eRS45iW_lf9k3KDQVC213oTaG3UgAV0kLqS_GCt-DJ6YstAqVglO78GEw7TVqWhC0I8l0yuGRv8sUTwCppkd8aiyzZ92Hxm2iJEiFyF-nKtCC3vPSXg/w400-h299/elyane.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Elyane, left, in 1953</i></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Elyane Imbert was a French driver who raced sportscars in the mid-1950s. </span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4d02cc31-7fff-4882-3c8c-c26f8bd16c38"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A rather elusive figure, she first appears on the circuit entry lists in 1952, racing a Porsche in the Coupe d’Automne, held at Montlhery. The same year, she drove a Simca Sport in the Rallye Maroc.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1953, she and </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3005525465627389625/6122560905339913961#" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Simone des Forest</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> drove a Porsche 356 Super 1500 together, starting with the Monte Carlo Rally. Elyane drove with Simone as navigator and they were 281st overall, from 346 crews that finished. This was Simone’s last major rally.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the circuits, they competed in two World Sportscar Championship races: the Spa 24 Hours and N</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ü</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rburgring 1000km. They were disqualified both times, once for receiving assistance. Driving solo, Elyane was fourth in the Rouen GP. The car appears to have been the same one each time and it belonged to Elyane. The pair were photographed together at both the N</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ü</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rburgring and Monte Carlo.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1954, she returned to Morocco and was third in the Marrakesh Grand Prix. She was then third in the Circuit de Bressuire race for cars of more than 1100cc. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She did not enter any more World Championship races. The retirement of her usual co-driver Simone may have been a factor. She did, however, do some more rallies in France that year, including the Rallye Sable Solesmes, driving for a team called “Ecurie des ecureuils”, or “Team Squirrel”. She had joined the team in February, alongside Gilberte Thirion. After 1954, she disappears completely from the entry lists.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Image copyright Mike Copperthite)</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-48528538528325992062023-05-02T15:30:00.005-07:002023-05-02T15:30:45.918-07:00Susann Bergvall (Hansen)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Dqm7LmgZnmvU5xPtiVhTbJKTRD_8bgS6XNxNbDxHOzTy1YRGlcUEZzvcHZMwJsBhGzFbX5Uk2zXRxV17PTB4TNig4kwq7tUcMjaCzCixqsmHpHSS0AgB1wVdFovU2IGfxiK_H1Nog70Px5vCg0w4gCprFFMDNSQ0hCjyVnxLEVge1wLOdWCfeCa1-g/s561/susannebergvall.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="561" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Dqm7LmgZnmvU5xPtiVhTbJKTRD_8bgS6XNxNbDxHOzTy1YRGlcUEZzvcHZMwJsBhGzFbX5Uk2zXRxV17PTB4TNig4kwq7tUcMjaCzCixqsmHpHSS0AgB1wVdFovU2IGfxiK_H1Nog70Px5vCg0w4gCprFFMDNSQ0hCjyVnxLEVge1wLOdWCfeCa1-g/w400-h265/susannebergvall.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Susann Bergvall is a Swedish rallycross driver who is still the only woman to win an FIA-sanctioned rallycross title.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b36ea735-7fff-3602-116d-ec4c19718e89"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She is mainly known for her successes in the 1400cc class of the European Championship in the 1990s, after several years of running on a very low budget. She had begun her career in folkrace at the age of 18, driving a Volvo, before switching to rallycross in a Volvo 240. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A couple of years in Swedish championships followed, including a run in a women-only category in 1988. She was not even able to afford wet tyres for some events and mostly competed for fun. This changed when she joined forces with Kenneth Hansen in 1990. They ran their team together, with both of them competing, and gained significant support. In 1993, they were approached by Citroen to run their works cars and Susann found herself with a really competitive car for the first time.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her title win came in 1994, driving a Citroen AX Sport. She won three rounds outright at Lousada (Portugal), Lyngas in Norway and Estering in Germany. Her nearest rival, Manfred Beck, only finished fifth at Estering, which secured her the championship.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1995, she was fifth in the European 1400 Cup, driving two different AX models for the Hansen team. This was her last season of racing. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After that, she left active competition, but stayed involved in rallycross through management within the Hansen team. She introduced them to working with data logging, a role she still carries out, but which was quite a new concept in 1995.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She and Hansen married and rallycross drivers Timmy and Kevin Hansen are their sons. Timmy was nearly two when Susann won her European title.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Image copyright Hansen World RX Team)</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-86853056446652901092023-04-20T14:57:00.003-07:002024-01-02T15:02:54.170-08:00Aliyyah Koloc<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBMaZIkQXd_InqfDCdMoHlNGadIBEsHWz0QlkKo0qpjlQFpYRTm_xS9zoBvTNnRw9ULs4n7GmR8CVV7rNmwFDzquvusEUAVsWsi_D0a1ff4iisUA4BuyIJ-p3gvB0K_PYBrp7-BiHixBDVBc7LN3kL5XRH_VXV8uJUyOX6Qibi1we47I642Pgjc2oodw/s745/aliyyahkoloc.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="745" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBMaZIkQXd_InqfDCdMoHlNGadIBEsHWz0QlkKo0qpjlQFpYRTm_xS9zoBvTNnRw9ULs4n7GmR8CVV7rNmwFDzquvusEUAVsWsi_D0a1ff4iisUA4BuyIJ-p3gvB0K_PYBrp7-BiHixBDVBc7LN3kL5XRH_VXV8uJUyOX6Qibi1we47I642Pgjc2oodw/w640-h362/aliyyahkoloc.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aliyyah Koloc is a Czech driver of Emirati and Seychellois descent who races trucks and GTs in Europe, as well as competing in cross-country rallies for the Buggyra team. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Born in Dubai, she grew up around motorsport; her father Martin Koloc races a number of different cars and is now the principal of Buggyra. Both she and her twin sister Yasmeen began competing as seniors as soon as they were old enough.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It began with a few races in a Renault Clio in the 2019 Eset series. She was only 15 years old and had only just recovered from an injury that put a halt to a promising tennis career. Her first appearance was at Gronik in Croatia, where she won her class in both sprint and endurance races.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She was still only 16 years old when she first got in a truck, entering the French and European championships for the Buggyra team. The French championship was the most successful for her, with a third and a second place at Nogaro. The second place was updated to a win, as on-track winner Adam Lacko was not registered for the championship. Her best result in the European series was eighth, at Most. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She also set a series of speed records over the 500m distance in July 2020, driving a streamlined Buggyra-Freightliner truck. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2021, she did races in both the French and European truck championships, concentrating on the French. She earned four podium positions: two seconds and two thirds. Her final position on the leaderboard was fifth. The best result of her European part-season was a ninth place at Jarama. This year, she expanded her circuit experience further with some races in the Club Challenge section of the Whelen Euro NASCAR series. Her car was a Ford Mustang, run by the CAAL Racing team. Her sister Yasmeen was her team-mate in a Chevrolet Camaro.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She spent 2022 preparing for her first attempt at the Dakar in a Buggyra prototype, as well as racing GTs in Europe. She competed in some more Eset races in 2021, driving a Mercedes AMG GT3 and GT4 car in different classes. With Yasmeen and Adam Lacko, she entered the 12 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in a similar car, but did not finish. Yasmeen crashed during the first part of the race and injured her wrist.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aliyyah teamed up with Buggyra designer and racer David Vrsecky for the FFSA GT championship, in another Mercedes GT4 car. He replaced the injured Yasmeen, who had shared the car at Nogaro. She was eleventh in the Silver drivers’ championship. In August, Aliyyah and David raced at the Silverstone Classic for the first time, in the pilot event for the Masters GT4 series. Aliyyah was fourth and third. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her Dakar training was based around the Middle East Cup for Cross Country Bajas, driving a Can-Am light prototype run by Buggyra. She won one event outright and scored podiums in two others and won a the championship.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her Dakar run itself was compromised by problems on the second stage, dropping her and co-driver Stephane Duple to the bottom of the leaderboard. She did steadily improve over the course of the rally and had a best stage result of 36th, on the twelfth competitive section. She was 104th overall.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Less than a week after finishing the Dakar, she was back on the circuits, driving the Mercedes with David Vrsecky. They entered the non-championship 6 Hours of Abu Dhabi and won their class.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her first 24H Series race of 2023 was the Mugello 12H, in which the team, including Adam Lacko, finished second in the GT4 class, 26th overall. She and her two co-drivers were second in the GT4 class of the championship, with one win at Spa. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">She has also tested a bigger T1 Dakar prototype, in preparation for the 2024 Dakar, where she is entered in a Red-Lined Revo T1+ with Sebastien Delaunay. Her build-up included testing in Abu Dhabi and some off-road bajas in South Africa.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aliyyah is open about having Asperger’s syndrome* and considers it an asset when on-track, as she is able to assess risk efficiently and concentrate.</span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Image copyright AS Sports Communication</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*This is how Aliyyah describes herself, although others do not like this terminology.</span></span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-61006780676397443322023-04-15T14:54:00.004-07:002023-04-15T14:54:32.206-07:00Kattlyn Magno<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib1Dp_BeHSN-QJifG8sQCG71d4P4sldGf4URVhK5u9QLXXhJQ1rg5u2UGCPmLeYqlGywmlrXpizH60NF4yZqNDokejJd50lirOiN2tEYF0QAW3osq2FA1orfKN0TaY05qI8zxe741jjcwOwtddw87tDselc5SQGsnEFpy5Gxs4twQssNupywfpMdx-pQ/s565/kakamagno.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="565" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib1Dp_BeHSN-QJifG8sQCG71d4P4sldGf4URVhK5u9QLXXhJQ1rg5u2UGCPmLeYqlGywmlrXpizH60NF4yZqNDokejJd50lirOiN2tEYF0QAW3osq2FA1orfKN0TaY05qI8zxe741jjcwOwtddw87tDselc5SQGsnEFpy5Gxs4twQssNupywfpMdx-pQ/w400-h191/kakamagno.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kattlyn Magno, known as Kaká, is a Brazilian driver who has raced in multiple disciplines, in Brazil and Europe.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">She began her senior career in 2012 in Formula Premium Light, a single-seater series. She also tried out the Veloce sports prototype championship. It was quite a late start in cars for her; she was 24 and had been karting since she was 16. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2013, she mostly seems to have competed in kart races, but she did do some dirt-track racing in aid of a breast cancer charity. At the end of 2013, she was chosen as Brazil’s candidate for the FIA Women in Motorsport VW Scirocco-R Shootout, competing for a Scirocco prize-drive in 2014. This was her first racing trip to Europe. A key supporter in this adventure was Emerson Fittipaldi, who met Kaká through </span><a href="http://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2011/01/ana-beatriz-bia-figueiredo.html" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bia Figueiredo</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She did not win the championship spot, although she performed well in the event. A move to race in a Lotus-based championship, possibly the </span><a href="http://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-lotus-ladies-cup.html" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ladies’ Cup</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, also did not come off.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back in Brazil, she made some appearances in the 2014 Mercedes Benz Challenge C250 Cup. She was second at San Pablo, a highlight of her career that showed what she was capable of. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">She raced in the Mercedes one-make series again in 2015, but was not among the front-runners. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2016, she changed direction again, and entered Formula Inter, a junior single-seater series in Brazil. She scored at least one second place. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">She moved on to SudAm Formula 4 in 2017, having sold raffle tickets to be able to afford the fees and pay her mechanic. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">After a single season in F4, she then raced Superkarts in 2018. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2021, she did some rounds of the Italian prototype championship, sharing a Wolf sportscar. This was a second attempt at a move to Italy; she had planned to race in the Griiip G1 single-seater championship in 2020 before the global coronavirus crisis intervened. Instead, she made do with a Griiip sim racing series.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sadly, her Prototype challenge ended after the Monza races, which she did not even start.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a switch of disciplines, she competed in the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games in the Slalom category. She and Bruno Pierozan were 17th overall. She is contesting the Stock Car series in Brazil in 2023, competing in its second-tier championship. From her earliest media interviews, she has always claimed this is her goal. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Image copyright Acervo Pessoal</span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-44194684608497485982023-04-11T14:51:00.004-07:002023-04-11T14:51:49.303-07:00Ruth Urquhart Dykes<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0HQ5qzo8L90vVTTSsq-drynWPidrw4g3yQksCcpTIJJi_kaFX5Ofir2DcX77aAbAnucG7Hpm1LfBNI4nfhih9NaMeBf6gLkRF6ixo45UHfj6xGflvXVLf1W_9ZyI7X7RDD3J0Wfjh44yaB1sLIiIhRnwhgN5JxfJjH5h5LPahJ5QwM800BQ9mjSL8kQ/s473/ruthud.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="268" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0HQ5qzo8L90vVTTSsq-drynWPidrw4g3yQksCcpTIJJi_kaFX5Ofir2DcX77aAbAnucG7Hpm1LfBNI4nfhih9NaMeBf6gLkRF6ixo45UHfj6xGflvXVLf1W_9ZyI7X7RDD3J0Wfjh44yaB1sLIiIhRnwhgN5JxfJjH5h5LPahJ5QwM800BQ9mjSL8kQ/w226-h400/ruthud.png" width="226" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Ruth at the 1927 Alvis meeting, on the right and in the car below</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ruth Urquhart-Dykes was a very able racer and speed record setter in the late 1920s, usually at the wheel of an Alvis. She tends to slip under the radar, partly due to her short career and partly because she appeared to be very sporting and uncontroversial.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-75765343-7fff-93f6-378f-bf2b5cd3a075"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She was born Pauline Ruth Hegarty in 1894, in the Irish town of Oughterard. She married William (Bill) Urquhart-Dykes in 1921 in Dublin. They later settled in Surrey, England.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She competed between 1924 and 1929, almost always driving an Alvis and often with her husband, Bill. Their cars were variations on a 12/50 model which they kept at home. The second, bought at the start of 1927, was named “William” after its serial number, WM 47, and may have started life as a works car. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The first big event she appears in is the 1925 Auto Cycle Union London-Gloucester Trial, held just before Christmas. She was recorded as a finisher, alongside another woman, Miss A Dupre. The following June, she was third in her class at the Brooklands high-speed trial. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After two years of occasional trials competition, she started entering races at Brooklands. At this time, the main organising club at the circuit was not keen on women drivers and only allowed them to run in ladies-only races. Other clubs, however, had allowed mixed competition almost from the start. In June 1927, she took part in an all-Alvis meeting, winning a scratch race for Alvises “capable of 75mph” and finishing second in a ladies’ scratch race, behind Mrs Maddison Brown. She continued to trial the Alvis too.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her first international race was the 1928 Coupe Georges Boillot in France, part of Boulogne Motor Week. She was ninth in the Coupe, driving the 12/50. The winner was Ivanowsky in his Alfa Romeo. Her fellow Brit and the only other woman in the competition, Margaret Maconochie, did not finish.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Back at home, she entered the Surbiton Motor Club’s August open race meeting at Brooklands. The Surbiton MC was one of the clubs which encouraged female entries and there was a ladies’ race as part of the weekend’s card, in which Ruth was second, behind Jill Scott. Ruth, Jill and Henrietta Lister then contested the 50 Mile handicap race against the men, with Ruth taking the lead at almost half distance and holding on to win by about a mile. WB Scott was second.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ruth and Jill renewed their rivalry the following year in May, meeting in the prestigious Double Twelve race and in a two-lap ladies’ handicap at the Gold Vase meeting.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1929, she and Bill made their names by setting a new Twelve Hour speed record at Brooklands, driving William. The weather during the run became increasingly wet and treacherous, not letting up into the darkness. Ruth had been worried that she had fallen below the average speed she needed to maintain, but when she handed over to Bill, she had been exceeding the average comfortably, lapping at 87 or 88mph. The existing record was just over 80mph and the Urquhart-Dykes exceeded it with 81.3mph, despite William being considerably less powerful than the previous record holder. That year, Winifred Pink, another racer, wrote a rather waspish piece in The Woman Engineer in which she expressed doubt that women were really capable of handling bigger cars, with the exception of Jill Scott, Ivy Cummings and Ruth.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They were less fortunate in that year’s Double Twelve race and did not finish. Bill and Ruth completed the first twelve hours with few problems and were managing the rain on the second day when a rear spring was found to be broken during a pit stop. Ruth would have carried on, but the mechanics put a stop to that.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Both Bill and Ruth stopped competing shortly afterwards. Bill had decided to concentrate his energies on his growing patent agency, while Ruth also retired as she felt it was unfair to carry on without him. It cannot have helped that they were witnesses to a rather nasty road accident that September, in which a sidecar passenger was killed. Ruth did make one appearance in a Lagonda later that year, but it was in a concours d’elegance.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ruth was a cheerful and generally non-combative character, but she wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself or other women on occasion. As a member of the Auto Cycle Union, she argued for full female inclusion in the club’s major trials in 1929. She was also not above showing a more frivolous side, talking to the Daily Mirror about her distinctive “egg blue” overalls and helmet, although she stressed that her racing attire was functional. “My overall is only designed for safety, but of course, I try to make it as attractive as possible.”</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">William was sold in 1934 after “surviving” a road collision, replaced by a Railton Fairmile.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When the war broke out, both Urquhart-Dykes joined up, with Ruth serving as a driver in the FANY.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She died in 1981.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For a more thorough discussion of William by a friend of the Urquhart-Dykes family, Peter Lord’s article can be found </span><a href="http://phils-pba-hstry.com/present-generation/peter-lords-article-for-the.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It was very helpful in writing this biography.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Image copyright Daily Mirror</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span></div><p><br /></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-63551867891899096682023-03-31T14:56:00.004-07:002023-03-31T14:56:40.049-07:00Viviane Evina<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8UGG1fzkFN-QLM2Mtw0zvLsyVql2PwJyzNxWI7z6g3arO_VhtvRv3kkdIzRIhfD3ZQdLjc2oTJkcRi_cEpZKWvyPGilZsFWZsRdNiEtjmSsD1Ok6S6CcGhOlJm3NspoNDTCFb1mUp4exjveK-Icj_yMpLoFXjz2I09AduhpfY9alq-fWMtP3pTakHfA/s594/vivianeevina.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="454" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8UGG1fzkFN-QLM2Mtw0zvLsyVql2PwJyzNxWI7z6g3arO_VhtvRv3kkdIzRIhfD3ZQdLjc2oTJkcRi_cEpZKWvyPGilZsFWZsRdNiEtjmSsD1Ok6S6CcGhOlJm3NspoNDTCFb1mUp4exjveK-Icj_yMpLoFXjz2I09AduhpfY9alq-fWMtP3pTakHfA/w306-h400/vivianeevina.png" width="306" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Viviane Evina is a Cameroonian driver who is one of the few women to have scored points in a World Championship rally. She is the only one from Africa to record a points finish.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-8db0a87b-7fff-515b-8621-7141cb0b84c8"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her points came from when she finished eighth in the Bandama Ivory Coast Rally in 1990. She was driving a Toyota Corolla FX 16V and won class N2. This single WRC finish led to 47th in the championship, level with Safari specialist Ian Duncan, Sebastian Lindholm and David Llewellin.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The following year, she entered the Bandama again, in the same car, but retired after an accident, having run as high as sixth. Her third attempt at the event in 1992 also ended in retirement, very early in the event. The rally was removed from the WRC calendar for the 1993 season and has not returned.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the year of her Bandama top ten, she scored another impressive finish in the Rallye de Gagnoa, also held in Cote d’Ivoire. With Jean-Charles Suzeau on the maps, she was fifth in the Corolla. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sadly, very little information about Viviane or the rest of her career seems to exist.</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span></div><p><br /></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-21912272220379253152023-03-27T15:34:00.005-07:002023-03-27T15:34:45.598-07:00Anne-Sophie Lemonnier (de Ganay)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvfZdO5_WWYuRvcFWp5a5hpuuV_5m8vhNSXwX6dMCvHt89UH8qKSuqOrjo5_lP-Hy22ES5q2obNqIxyXAOYCIw_g3cY2WCCGd9XFZaToza25M8viW1XmsS9Z4SZiSNfMHC-zxwvnjxRirWiOd-rNZReI1WtSX8Wu_Xc8m2UrXB-OBCS8sxNR-LmMfSjA/s937/lemonnier.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="937" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvfZdO5_WWYuRvcFWp5a5hpuuV_5m8vhNSXwX6dMCvHt89UH8qKSuqOrjo5_lP-Hy22ES5q2obNqIxyXAOYCIw_g3cY2WCCGd9XFZaToza25M8viW1XmsS9Z4SZiSNfMHC-zxwvnjxRirWiOd-rNZReI1WtSX8Wu_Xc8m2UrXB-OBCS8sxNR-LmMfSjA/w400-h240/lemonnier.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i> Anne-Sophie and her father at the 2011 Andros Trophy</i></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anne-Sophie le Ganay, who was previously known as Anne-Sophie Lemonnier, competes in ice racing in France. She was previously active in rallycross as well.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was actually in rallycross that she got her start. Her first championship was a ladies’ Citroen Saxo series in 2003, the <a href="https://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2010/09/citroen-challenge-feminin.html">Citroen Challenge Feminin</a>. She and her sister Marie-Laure competed together. The Lemonnier family is involved in both rallycross and stage rallying: Anne-Sophie and Marie-Laure’s father is Herve Knapick, a multiple rallycross champion, and their cousin Xavier Lemonnier is also active in rallying. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Challenge Feminin retired the Saxos in 2004 and began using the C2 instead. Anne-Sophie competed in one between 2004 and 2006. During her first season in a C2, she remained behind sister Marie-Laure, finishing fifth to her third. In 2005 and 2006, she leapfrogged her for championship third. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Citroen one-make series was cancelled at the end of 2006, so in 2007, she moved up to Division 4 of the French championship. Her car was not as competitive as those of the S1600 drivers in the series. After part-seasons without much of an impact, in 2010, she raced a Citroen Saxo kit car in Division 1A. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2011, she was 18th in the Super 1600 championship, driving the same car. She did not compete in the championship in 2012. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the ice-racing side, she won the Andros Trophée Féminin “</span><a href="http://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2010/08/andros-trophee-feminin-ice-girls.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ice Girls</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” championship in early 2008, driving a sprint car. In 2010, she was the Andros Ladies’ champion, as the highest-placed woman in the main draw. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She competed mostly in the Elite class, beginning in 2009. She was a strong finisher in the 2012 Trophy, driving a BMW.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2014, she was 18th in the Promotion class, driving a BMW 1-Series. The car was shared with her father, Hervé Knapick, and run by their family team. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anne-Sophie reappeared in 2015 as team-mate to her father for the Alpe d'Huez round, driving a Renault Clio. By this time, she was racing as Anne-Sophie de Ganay. After a gap, Anne-Sophie and her father campaigned an Audi A1 in the 2022-23 Andros Trophy, competing at the Isola 2000 event.</span></span></p><p><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Image copyright Icon Sport/Getty Images)</span></span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-12057216062058684872023-03-22T15:22:00.004-07:002023-03-22T15:22:50.430-07:00Daisy Hampson<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlu3Mj9YUJkBcRqspvronbu7a3Zhk1TmHMG0XGWJaAW7zIXQ0sSuS5nbcDv4wjbvxOHZlPfjeq0AnCrIFYr25HA0OII01iazLHHZv3ZpEDcSWVR4saDv_xK_mx_rCo0N0mau6783a9I-P5km306Q8vG5q-jr3MEXbvvg-rhR0vCu76qQFqoBHyRb0gvw/s823/daisyhampson.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="823" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlu3Mj9YUJkBcRqspvronbu7a3Zhk1TmHMG0XGWJaAW7zIXQ0sSuS5nbcDv4wjbvxOHZlPfjeq0AnCrIFYr25HA0OII01iazLHHZv3ZpEDcSWVR4saDv_xK_mx_rCo0N0mau6783a9I-P5km306Q8vG5q-jr3MEXbvvg-rhR0vCu76qQFqoBHyRb0gvw/w400-h254/daisyhampson.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Daisy in her 120hp Fiat, 1906</i></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Daisy Hampson was known for driving extremely powerful cars in Edwardian beachfront speed trials.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She was a rather enigmatic driver, active in a variety of cars from about 1904. She was from Southport near Liverpool, very wealthy, and could drive from at least 1903. Her first car appears to have been a Lanchester, which she did not race. When she presented trophies at the 1903 Southport Speed Trials, she was described as an “experienced motorist”.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1904, she entered the Bexhill Speed Trial, possibly her first big seaside meeting. She drove a 60hp Mercedes in the Touring class and was defeated in her heat by Sidney Girling. It was claimed afterwards in The Motor that she had borrowed the car and was not as familiar with it as she might have liked. It is unclear whether she was driving the same car for the event’s opening “Parade of Motor Vehicles”, although the Bexhill Observer described her car as a “powerful-looking Mercedes.”</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Dublin Daily Express was similarly impressed by the Mercedes when she entered it into the Portmarnock Motor Races shortly afterwards, calling it “the largest car ever driven in a race by a lady.” The results of the Portmarnock races themselves are not forthcoming.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At the end of 1904, she is documented as breaking a women’s endurance record, with a 317-mile journey made in one day in a 60hp Mercedes, although perhaps not the same one she used at Bexhill. She was driving through Wales as part of a 1035-mile tour.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After familiarising herself with racing on asphalt and sampling an actual beach race in Ireland, she set her sights on mastering promenades. Her next British event was the 1905 Blackpool speed trials, in the Mercedes. She is described as an entrant in “Class 4”, but she does not appear to have been among the leaders.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From 1906, she owned an even more powerful car, a 120hp Fiat. A report on the Manchester Motor Show from February 1906 claims that the Fiat was the Gordon Bennett runner-up driven by Felice Nazzaro, which was exhibited by coachwork builders Cockshoot. Further articles suggest that Daisy won some prizes in this car, perhaps in speed trials, but no results are forthcoming. A 1915 article about female motorists in The Gentlewoman mentions an Itala “of large horsepower”, although this may have been a road car, like the Rolls Royce that Daisy enthuses about in the same article. Talking about the Fiat in a 1906 edition of The Car, she does say it is “too speedy” for British roads, which suggests its intended use was touring. In the same interview, she expresses sadness that the Blackpool and Brighton events have been stopped, and states that “I mean to enter any races, however, which may suit my cars and try my luck.”</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She is mentioned again in The Gentlewoman in 1917, with the Rolls referenced once more.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her motoring career also hit a low point during 1906, on the open road rather than the circuit. She was sued for damages by a motorcyclist who was involved in a crash with her car in Southam, Warwickshire. The accident itself happened in October 1905, when a Mr GH Field was knocked off his motorbike, over a bridge and into a field by Daisy’s car, causing serious injuries. She was sanctioned as the owner of the car, but it may well have been her chauffeur driving.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like Dorothy Levitt who was active at the same time, Daisy’s origins are mysterious and her disappearance from public life abrupt. One clue as to who she was comes from a 1996 edition of the Liverpool Echo, in which a 1963 interview with a “veteran motorist” called John Dickinson was quoted. Dickinson describes the first lady motorist he ever saw, in Ormskirk in 1904. “Her name was Daisy Hampson, and she too hailed from Southport, as did her car, a Vulcan”.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Vulcan car company was run by brothers Thomas and Joseph Hampson between 1902 and 1916. Research by Nina Baker shows that there was a large Catholic family in the Southport area called Hampson, although she was unable to place Daisy within it. Her given name was probably not Daisy; no records for a “Daisy Hampson” exist.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After around 1917, she stops appearing in the press, save an article in the Sunday Dispatch from 1935, in which Sir Harry Preston describes being driven around Brighton in a “mighty Mercedes” by Daisy in 1905, in preparation for that year’s Speed Trials. Their trip occurred early in the morning, before daytime traffic built up. “She had to go out in her monster at dawn,” he recounts. “I could not appear timid before a good-looking young woman, so I said I would be charmed.”</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Daisy had made some modifications to her car, removing the windscreen for greater streamlining. This proved prescient, as a flying detached mudguard whizzed harmlessly over their heads instead of shattering the glass. That said, Sir Harry asks to finish their ride at this point. Sadly, he offers no further information on what she was doing at the point the article was written.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is possible that Daisy married and started using a different name, but public records provide no supporting information for this.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can read more of Nina Baker’s research </span><a href="https://womenengineerssite.wordpress.com/2022/02/09/finding-miss-daisy/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Image from The Car, 1906, via prewarcar.com)</span></span></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005525465627389625.post-75343158498676092852023-03-03T15:47:00.004-08:002024-01-02T15:13:01.055-08:00Chloe Chambers<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWKimxefAaantqZmfOg8opRCdhJcZxWRZrbpE4DdjbiRpVwERTkVG6ST2XPxXVTaTAkQmj1ltHLkVlux8H0NC7qDtfikXyQszwh-_GcYQx94PHxrxGhMazpvJh-0Wh1wpvDrFmij0C0ESgxlnER87c6W9mXsp3ePJU5Pn15vMcB0zLk5M8tVKhU7LTw/s2048/329380839_844380519960919_5711153642482076597_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWKimxefAaantqZmfOg8opRCdhJcZxWRZrbpE4DdjbiRpVwERTkVG6ST2XPxXVTaTAkQmj1ltHLkVlux8H0NC7qDtfikXyQszwh-_GcYQx94PHxrxGhMazpvJh-0Wh1wpvDrFmij0C0ESgxlnER87c6W9mXsp3ePJU5Pn15vMcB0zLk5M8tVKhU7LTw/w300-h400/329380839_844380519960919_5711153642482076597_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chloe Chambers is a Chinese-born American single-seater driver who became the first woman to win a round of the Formula Regional Oceania series (formerly the Toyota Racing Series).</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-b19660a9-7fff-a58a-f83e-d11fefcbf8f4"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She started her senior career aged 16 in 2021, after eight years of karting, during which she won several regional titles. She joined the US F4 Championship having won the inaugural PMH “Powering Diversity” scholarship, driving for the Future Star team. Her best finish in F4 was a seventh place at Brainerd, although this was only her second top ten of the year. The first was a tenth place at Mid-Ohio in June. She was 26th in the championship. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Using the same Ligier F4 car, she entered two rounds of the Eastern Pro 4 Challenge at Autobahn, finishing fourth and third. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She was selected for the 2022 W Series championship, racing for the Jenner team. Her best circuit was Miami, where she was tenth, and she was 16th in the championship. On the track, she had managed a seventh place in the first Miami race of the season, but a penalty for overtaking during a safety car period dropped her to seventh. Her W Series connections led to an FIA F3 test organised by Bruno Michel, but nothing seems to have come of it and no times were published.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Using the same car as she had used for part of the W season, she entered the 2023 Formula Regional Oceania championship, driving for Giles Motorsport. It was not the most consistent of seasons, but she took advantage of a reversed grid at Taupo to secure her win, leading the entire race and only challenged by Kaleb Ngatoa. Her previous best result had been a fifth place at Highlands and she was usually in the lower reaches of the top ten. She was ninth in the championship. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During the summer season, she moved into sportscars and raced in the Porsche Sprint Challenge in the USA. She did most of the season and was a front-runner in the Cayman class, finishing sixth in Pro-Am. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In addition to this, she holds a world record for auto slalom, driving a production Porsche 718 Spyder. She is an ambassador for the Gift of Adoption Fund, being an adoptee herself.</span></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">(Image copyright Chloe Chambers)</span></div></span></span></div><p><br /></p>Rachel H-Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04972195637079157039noreply@blogger.com0