Elena Samsonova

Elena Samsonova was one of Russia’s earliest female racing drivers, active before the 1917 Revolution.

She was born in 1890 and began competing shortly before the First World War, having learned to drive Warsaw after graduating from high school.

In 1913, she was tenth in an off-road trial near Moscow, driving an American Hupmobile. The trial was run on a dirt track over 2.134km, which equates to two versts in old Russian measurements. Elena was one of two Hupmobile drivers, both of which were using 12hop models. She was not really competitive on her first time out, finishing tenth from fourteen starters and over three minutes behind the ninth-placed car. 

In 1914, she drove the Hupmobile in a race and another trial, on roads this time. Both events were held near St. Petersburg; the trial was on Volkhonskoe Road and the race may have been in the same area. 

Her run in the seven-lap Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de St. Petersburg ended on the third lap due to a damaged wheel. She had been in sixth place. Only seven of the fifteen cars that started made it to the end.

She set a time in the trial but her position is not recorded. The record runs were marred by the death of another driver and no other times seem to have been published. Interestingly, she raced against another female driver, named Suvorina, in an Excelsior.

Not long before her first race in 1913, she earned her pilot’s license. After her racing career ended in 1914, she studied medicine, later working as an Army nurse and then taking the exams for the transport corps.

She escaped the purges of the 1917 Revolution and may even have served in the Bolshevik air force as an observer, although this is debated as her name does not appear in official military records. 

She died in 1958.

(Image copyright Miron Dolnikov)

Elfrieda Mais

Elfrieda Mais was a star of the early 20th-century fairground race circuit in the USA. She died in 1934 when a driving stunt went wrong.

She raced in the USA between 1912 and 1934, initially alongside her husband Johnny Mais. She was born Elfrieda Hellmann in 1893 and married Jonny in the summer of 1911. She always raced under the name “Miss Mais”, although her marriage to Johnny was short-lived and the first of four. 

As women were prohibited from driving in sanctioned events, she mostly did speed trials and demonstration runs. The early part of her career is a little unclear as she was sometimes mixed up with Arline Mazy, another driver. 

It is in 1915 that her name starts to become a common sight in American newspapers. She took on another woman, Bunny Thornton, at the “Record Aviation and Auto Racing Meet” held as part of the Minnesota State Fair. Elfrieda was driving Johnny’s Mais Special. Bunny Thornton was referred to as the English champion, although she was probably not English. Their wheel to wheel race was over five miles and was won by Elfrieda. The pair renewed their rivalry at the Illinois State Fair, reputedly for a prize of $1000. Bunny was the first of many high-profile female rivals that Elfrieda had over the years.

Her first major male rival was De Lloyd Thompson at the 1916 Minnesota State Fair. This race was even more remarkable because Thompson was flying an aeroplane and Elfrieda was in the Mais Special. This was one of a series of car vs aeroplane races that Elfrieda did, including one in South Dakota shortly after her match with Thompson. She may have even raced against a female pilot, Ruth Law. It was reported in the Springfield News-Leader that noted aviatrix Katherine Stinson defeated Elfrieda by an eighth of a mile in a similar race at the Tri-State Fair.

At around this time, she set a series of speed records, but as she was not part of the motorsport establishment, these were not official. Nevertheless, she periodically bragged in the papers of how she was the "champion woman driver of the world". She continued to work with Johnny and the Mais Special, sometimes presenting herself as Johnny’s sister. In a syndicated 1928 newspaper article she claimed that another Mais sibling, Dolores, had been among her rivals. Elfrieda did have three sisters: Lui, Margaret and Alice, but their name was not Mais.  

For the time being in 1918, Elfrieda and Johnny were still publicly a couple and they began promoting their own car and motorbike race meetings. Both the Mais Special and a Mercer were usually on the bill. They put on events in Kansas, New Mexico and Arizona. In 1919, Elfrieda also drove an Essex car for speed record runs and in 1920 she added a Dodge to her stable.

After a couple of years spent attempting speed records, she made a return to wheel-to-wheel competition in 1921. A women’s race was organised at El Paso between Elfrieda in the Essex, Marie Jones in another Essex and Lottie Sanders in Stutz, probably all owned by the Mais family.

During the 1920s, Elfrieda competed less, partly due to the increasing professionalism of the US motor racing scene and its continuing sidelining of female drivers. She had also separated from Johnny by this point. She still attempted a series of record runs, often in her adopted home state of Kansas where she and Johnny were the leading promoters. These were not sanctioned events and reporting of them is inconsistent, with times stated as new records that contradict earlier ones. The fairground racing scene owed as much to show and spectacle as to sporting principles and promoters were not above stage-management of their events. The skill of the drivers is not in doubt although race results are not hugely reliable.

Ditto drivers’ backstories: Elfrieda claimed in her 1928 interview that she retired from the circuits in 1923 after seeing off another woman driver called Phoebe Miller. I have found no evidence of the mysterious Ms Miller, supposedly a ”millionaire sportswoman” from Memphis who retired herself following her marriage. Elfrieda was certainly less active as the 1920s wore on. She did find herself some more female rivals in 1924 in the shape of Jane Stanage and Mrs Robert H Radtke, who raced her at the North Shore Polo Club speedway. Only Jane Stanage turned up on the day and Elfrieda defeated her.

She took on another female driver, Marion Martins, in Canada in 1925. The two went head-to-head at Regina, Calgary and Edmonton fairgrounds, all half-mile dirt ovals. Elfrieda won one race at Victoria Park, Calgary. Her car was a Briscoe. Marion was almost certainly the driver who went on to become Joan La Costa. 

Joan La Costa eclipsed Elfrieda in the next few seasons, both in speed and in flamboyance. Elfrieda attempted to gain prominence once more in 1928 and her already-mentioned, largely fabricated media interview was part of this. She was now a German driver and had won a ladies’ title in 1927, although she had actually been relatively inactive. 

Increasingly, she turned to stunt driving at fairground dirt tracks to earn money and satisfy her taste for danger. She had tried to enter official AAA events in California in 1931, but her entries were refused and the leading US motorsport authority reiterated its ban on female drivers. In May, she was one of three women who tried to enter the Indianapolis 500. She continued to challenge both male and female drivers on dirt tracks, sometimes in a Duesenberg. 

She was killed in 1934, when one of these stunts went wrong. Having survived driving through a burning wall, her car went through a guardrail and overturned on a bank at the Alabama State Fair. She had previously performed the act successfully on several occasions. 

She is buried in Indianapolis. 

(Image from theoldmotor.com)

Speedqueens at War

This weekend’s commemorations of the Battle of Passchendaele have inspired me to write something slightly different for Speedqueens.

Women served in and alongside the military in many ways during the First World War. Ladies who had been part of the motoring scene were well-represented among them.

Muriel Thompson was probably the most famous of the military Speedqueens. Muriel, who had raced at Brooklands, served in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry from 1915. She was stationed in Belgium. Her motoring experience made her an ideal choice for driving ambulances; transporting casualties and performing battlefield first aid were among the duties of the FANY.

Her first diary entry of 1916 reads:

Jan 1st We have started the first woman’s M.A.C. (Motor Ambulance Convoy) ever to work for the British Army. Our camp is on a little hill near the sea, behind the Casino. Most of us live in tents and bathing machines. I share a small chalet with three others. The weather is fiendish, gales and torrents of rain. The cars are old and in a bad state, and we are short of drivers. We mess in a big tent, all together. Lots of work but are all so very pleased to be here.

“Thompers”, as she was known, received the Order of Leopold II from the King of the Belgians, in recognition of her courage under fire. This was in addition to the French Croix de Guerre and the British Military Medal. The British award was for “conspicuous devotion to duty during an hostile air raid”, during which the FANY drivers continued to work under aerial bombardment.

She rose up the FANY ranks and was commanding convoys before the end of the war. Aside from occasional testing, she did not return to motorsport after the Armistice.

Muriel’s greatest rival in the Brooklands Ladies’ Bracelet Handicap of 1908 was Christabel Ellis. Christabel also served in the military and used her motoring skills. She was one of the original leaders of the Women’s Legion and served as a Commandant in the Motor Transport section. The Legion was formed in 1915. Christabel is said to have driven ambulances in France and Serbia prior to this, as a Red Cross volunteer. Her main job post-1916 was handling recruitment to the Legion. She was also involved in managing teams of despatch riders. She was made an OBE in 1918 and a CBE the year after.

Christabel Ellis sometimes hillclimbed a sidecar combination with her cousin, Mary Ellis. Mary was much younger than Christabel, but the pair were good friends. The younger Miss Ellis was an ambulance driver too and served with the Red Cross in 1917. At about this time, she became one of the first qualified female medical doctors in the UK.

Ethel Locke King was one of the founders of Brooklands, the first woman to drive on the circuit and runner-up to Muriel Thompson in the 1908 Ladies’ Bracelet Handicap. She did not venture to the front herself but she did found fifteen auxiliary hospitals in Surrey for injured soldiers. One of them was set up in her own house at Brooklands itself. Ethel was the Assistant County Director for the Voluntary Aid Detachment, a female nursing corps. She was in charge of 19 companies of VAD nurses, over 700 individuals. For this, she was made a Dame in 1918.

Some Speedqueens began their racing careers after the War, perhaps having developed their driving skills in military service. Gwenda Hawkes, the Montlhéry and Brooklands record-breaker, drove a Red Cross ambulance on the Eastern Front. She may have been a colleague of Christabel Ellis. She was Gwenda Glubb then, and began racing motorcycles with her first husband, Sam Janson, whom she met during the war.

Morna Vaughan and Lady Iris Capell would become senior figures in the Women’s Automobile and Sports Association in the late 1920s. They both competed in rallies, including the Monte Carlo Rally.

Like Mary Ellis, Morna Vaughan (then Morna Rawlins) was a medical doctor, one of the UK’s first female surgeons. She is believed to have served in a military hospital. Her specialism was gynaecology and genito-urinary medicine, so it is unclear what sort of medicine she was practising at the front.

Iris Capell joined up as a nurse with the Red Cross, aged nineteen. She worked in military hospitals in the south of England. Iris was a lifelong committee woman and a senior figure in the Women’s Voluntary Service during the Second World War.

This is not an exhaustive list and it is very Anglocentric. Please feel free to comment with your own suggestions, or email me.

(Image copyright Mary Evans Picture Library)

Muriel Thompson

Muriel in her FANY uniform

Muriel Thompson was Brooklands’ first female winner in 1908, when she won the Ladies’ Bracelet Handicap and the Match Race that followed it, defeating Christabel Ellis.

She was a member of the Berkshire Automobile Club from at least 1904. Among her earliest practical motorsport experiences was a run in the club’s Gymkhana in 1904. She drove a Wolseley in a “Legal Limit Race” on a grass track at Hall Place near Maidenhead. She was second overall.

She made another appearance in the Berkshire AC’s Gymkhana in 1905. She was third in the “Bending Race”, a slalom between markers, driving an 18hp Siddeley, belonging to her brother.

Her first motorsport success seems to have been a win in a Blindfold Test at the Berkshire Club’s 1907 Gymkhana. The competitors were required to drive blindfolded towards a flag 75 yards away, from a stationary position facing away from the flag. Muriel got within forty feet of the flag, in 25 seconds.

Her car was an Austin, nicknamed "Pobble", which had belonged to her brother, Oscar, a regular racer. He was a member of the BARC, and as such, was able to enter his car into the first ladies’ event at Brooklands, held in July 1908. Eight ladies entered the Ladies’ Bracelet Handicap, with five making the start. Muriel won comfortably, after the favourite, Christabel Ellis, ran into trouble. Commentators likened Muriel’s upright driving stance to that of “an American jockey”. Shortly afterwards, Muriel and Christabel challenged each other to a match race at Brooklands. Muriel won again.

In 1908, she also went up against Dorothy Levitt in the Aston Hill Climb, driving the Austin. She was eighth overall. Her achievements were reported in Queen magazine.

Opportunities for Muriel to race "Pobble" were quite limited, due to the BARC's ban on women drivers, but she did make some other appearances.

In 1909, she was part of the winning Berkshire Motor Club team in the five-mile Inter-Club Team Trophy, at Brooklands. She was permitted to race due to the meeting being a non-BARC sanctioned event.

The same year, she was appointed by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) as an official driver. She acted as chauffeur to Emmeline Pankhurst and other prominent suffragettes in the WSPU’s own Austin. She was succeeded as chauffeur by Vera Holme, but was still an active member of the Union in 1912.

In July 1911, at the RAC's Associated Motor Clubs meeting, she won the Declaration Handicap, in the Austin. At the same meeting, she revisited her blind-driving skills, winning another blindfold driving competition.

The following year, she returned to Brooklands for the RAC Associated Clubs meeting once more. She drove Pobble in the Skilful Driving Race. She posted a very fast time in the hillclimb section up the Test Hill, but clipped an obstacle in the reversing section. In yet another blindfold driving competition, she did not live up to her usual high standards and did not stop when she reached the marker.

She later became a decorated war hero, as a WW1 ambulance driver and medic, in the FANY. Among her awards was a British Military Medal, French Croix de Guerre, and from Belgium, the Order of Leopold II and Queen Elisabeth Medal. Muriel commanded convoys and delivered aid to soldiers on the frontline. She took her own Cadillac, named “Kangaroo”, over with her and it was used as an ambulance. Muriel kept a detailed diary throughout the war, which has been useful in piecing together the history of the FANY. Her nickname among her FANY colleagues was “Thompers”.

She continued testing cars occasionally until the 1930s. In 1939, she died of encephalitis lethargica (sleeping sickness), probably contracted during a flu epidemic. She was 65.

(Image from http://www.ocotilloroad.com/geneal/thompson3.html)

Female Drivers in North American Circuit Racing, 1910-1950

Joan LaCosta

Female drivers were banned from competition by the USA’s main motorsport authority, in 1909, but between then and the 1950s, a number of women found ways to race. Many of them competed in speed trials, which were still allowed, and these were often part of fairground “daredevil” exhibitions. The International Motor Competition Association (IMCA) presided over many of these fairground meets, usually run on dirt tracks, and they allowed men and women to race together, as well as putting on women’s races, particularly match races between female drivers. IMCA also promoted motorsport in Canada. Below are profiles of some of these racers. See also The Speederettes for details of an early group of dirt-track racers. Zenita Neville now has her own profile, as does Elfrieda Mais.

Marion Martins - French driver who raced in the 1920s in Canada, usually in IMCA events and driving a Frontenac Ford. In 1925, she competed in Edmonton, Calgary and Regina, on the half-mile dirt oval tracks there. At the Edmonton Exhibition, she won a match race against a driver called Al Cotey. At Regina, shortly before, she defeated Elfrieda Mais in a ladies’ match race. As well as various races, usually of very short distance, she took part in speed trials. For at least one of these, at Ottawa, she used a Bugatti. After 1925, she seems to disappear. Marriage records suggest that she and Joan LaCosta could have been the same person, racing under different names. However, they will remain as separate entries until this is more certain.

Arline Mazy - American stunt driver and occasional racer who was active in the 1910s and is sometimes mixed up with Elfrieda Mais, against whom she competed. In 1918, she claimed in the Muncie Evening Press, and Indiana paper, that she had never been beaten by another woman driver. The same year, in July, she won a race on the Lima Driving Park dirt oval, driving a Hudson and defeating seven other competitors. Two months later, she won another race outright at the track and her car was described as “easily the snappiest car entered.”

May Smylie - raced a Lyons Motor Special at half-mile dirt tracks in the US in 1923 and 1924. She first appears at the North Shore Polo Club in Chicago in July, competing in two races against five other women. She entered the same event in 1924 and despite a dramatic spin in qualifying that nearly ended in a roll, she was second in the first race. In September, she returned to the polo club for a ten-mile challenge race against eight female drivers, including Elfrieda Mais. The winner of this event was set to take on the winner of a men’s race, but the result is not forthcoming.

Simmone Soudan - raced at dirt tracks in Illinois in the mid-1920s. She was active in the series of women’s races that took place at the North Shore Polo Club in Chicago, competing there in 1923 and 1924. The results of these races are not fully forthcoming, although she appears to have been unplaced in 1924. Later, in 1925, she hit the news when her husband of one month, Clyde Beetley, was accused of bigamy by a former wife.

Helen Temme (Pyott) - raced in Chicago and Indiana in the 1910s and 1920s, usually under the name “Mrs. Oliver Temme”. She raced on fairground dirt tracks in a single-seater, and may well have raced in mixed events at least once. A press clipping from 1923 describes a meeting at the North Shore track, where the winner of the ladies’ race would take on the men. She may also have raced at North Shore in 1924. She may have begun racing as a teenager, in 1916, although details of this race have been lost.

Bunny Thornton - racer and daredevil who was a star of the dirt track scene in the 1910s. She was an early rival to Elfrieda Mais. 1915 was her biggest year in a car and she took on Elfrieda Mais several times in states as far apart as Minnesota and Missouri. She earned more media attention when she used her “dainty” Scripps-Booth car to tow Louis Disbrow’s burning car to safety at Michigan State Fair. She acquired a Sunbeam for 2016, but it is unclear whether she ever actually raced it. She later worked as a car sales demonstrator and flew with Katharine Stinson. Bunny was usually referred to as being English and in her early twenties, but a newspaper report of a divorce case involving her gave her real name as Frances Goate, who had first married in 1904. She had previously been an actress.

(Image from https://www.flickr.com/photos/shushmuckle/7002149122/. Originally from the Danville, Virginia newspaper, The Bee.)

The Speederettes

Helen Summersby at Ascot Park

The Speederettes was the name given to a group of women who took part in a high-profile all-female dirt-track event in California in 2918

During the First World War, motorsports ceased almost entirely in Europe. This was not the case in the USA. Although racing was quite limited, the dirt speedways and board tracks, many of them in fairgrounds, continued to operate.

Women had been banned from official, wheel-to-wheel motorsport competition since 1909. They were allowed to run in speed trials, during which they were the only car on the track, but not in actual races. However, in 1918, promoters had the idea of putting on women-only races, which circumvented the prospective scandal of women racing against men. The group of drivers hired to take part in these events became known as “The Speederettes”.

“Speederettes” itself sounds like the title of a B-movie, and the story of these drivers would go some way to creating a plot for a film.

The first all-female race of this period took place in February, 1918, at Ascot Park, a dirt track in California. It was not a single event, but a series of speed trials and qualification sessions on Saturday, in support of a “big race” on Sunday, itself part of a four-race schedule. 

It was promoted as an exciting spectacle, and billed as a “Carnival of Femininity”. Newspaper reports claim that all the race officials and marshals were female as well as the drivers, with only a few male mechanics and spectators permitted to join in. Ruth Weightman ran without a riding mechanic, claiming she was saving weight. The starter for the meeting was Mrs Barney Oldfield.

Following official practice sessions the previous week, the first race was a match race for cyclecars held over five miles, between Ruth Weightman, Rose Harmon (possibly Marmon) and Nina Vitagliano. Ruth Weightman was the winner, having led from the start. Nina Vitagliano was second and Mrs Harmon did not finish, skidding off during the fourth lap and crashing through a fence. She was not seriously injured but did not figure in any of the other races.

Two heats were held for the five-mile feature race, of two miles each. Mrs CH Wolfelt, in a Stutz, defeated Nina Vitaglioni's Roamer in the first. Bertie (or Birdie) Priest was the winner of the second, from Mrs Cecil George in another Stutz.

The “big race” was won by Mrs. Wolfeld, from Mrs George and Bertie Priest. She was awarded the Katharine Stinson Trophy, named after the pioneering young aviatrix. Katharine herself provided extra excitement by landing her plane at the racetrack. As well as these races, there was a handicap billed as a “Women’s International Championship”, which was won by Mrs Wolfeld again. All five women raced, including Ruth Weightman who had been barred from her heat due to her Mercer being a racing model rather than a touring car. 

Helen Summersby apparently won a time trial during the weekend, driving a Roamer. Other women who attempted to qualify included the actresses Bebe Daniels and Anita King, both famous for their driving stunts, and Mrs Willie Hoppe, who was married to a billiards champion and had also taken up shooting recently. Her car was a Simplex. Mrs Frank Chance, Mrs William Watts Jones, Ora Carew and Margaret Allen (not the Brooklands racer) apparently practised, with Mrs Chance taking tuition from Barney Oldfield. Ora Carew was another actress and singer who was famous for doing her own stunts, including a parachute jump.

 

Not much is known about most of the first batch of Speederettes. Ruth Weightman, as mentioned previously, was a pilot. She was only 18 years old at the time, but had connections in the racing world through her cousin, Bill Weightman. Pictures show them together with his cars. Bertie Priest was apparently a pilot too. Nina Vitagliano was an Italian-American, married to a shipping company boss, with ambitions of more racing, becoming a pilot and driving an ambulance in Europe. If the “Marmon” spelling of her name is correct, it is conceivable that Mrs. Harmon/Marmon was part of the Marmon family, which owned the car manufacturer of the same name, but she may well have been someone completely different. The others are more obscure: Mrs. Wolfeld was married to a shoe shop owner.

The first Speederettes event was a great success, bringing in 10,000 or more spectators. Omar Toft, a sometime racer himself, quickly set about organising a second meeting. It was held in March, at Stockton Park, a mile-long dirt track. The meeting was billed as a “World Championship” for women drivers. At least four women took part. Among them were Ruth Weightman and Nina Vitagliano, who were building up something of a rivalry between them. There was talk of Joan Newton Cuneo coming out of retirement to take on the winner in a "women's world championship", but this did not happen.

The Ascot Park race had utilised lightly-tuned stock cars and some very small cyclecars, but this next instalment of Speederette action was set to involve far more horsepower. Nina and Ruth had the use of what appeared to be some genuine racing cars: Nina had a well-known Stutz (“No. 8”) belonging to Earl Cooper, and Ruth was to drive a Mercer owned by Eddie Pullen. There is now some debate as to whether one or both of these cars were the genuine article, and it is fair to say that a fair amount of downtuning had happened before the event, to allow amateur drivers to get these temperamental machines around the track. Promoter Omar Toft himself is said to have told the Speederettes to be careful, especially when overtaking on turns.

Nina Vitagliano

The first race on the programme was a single-lap sprint, which was won by Nina Vitagliano in the Stutz. The second race was run over five laps, and Ruth Weightman took the lead. Nina tried to overtake her on a bend, lost control of the car, and crashed through a fence and over the bank and ditch surrounding that part of the circuit. It was quite a similar crash to the one she experienced at Ascot Park, but far more serious. She was killed instantly. Her riding mechanic, Bob Currie, and three spectators also died as a result of the accident. The cause of the crash was never fully established, but a tyre blowout may have been the catalyst.

The meeting was not halted, although according to the Oregon Daily Journal, which reported the event quite thoroughly, most of the spectators left. Ruth Weightman won an Australian pursuit race from another driver called Eleanor Baumbauer and was also the victor in the final two-lap "free for all for the woman's championship."

This ended the Speederettes. Newspapers report that the promoters of the Stockton event placed a ban on women drivers in their competitions, but this may have been short-lived. Ruth Weightman went back to aviation, and the other women who had participated seem to disappear back into their own lives. The events of March 1918 did not help the cause of female drivers with the AAA, the motorsport sanctioning body in the USA, as there was considerable media reporting of the accident, and the accompanying disapproval.

Nevertheless, the Speederettes did manage to inspire some other women to race; in the 1920s, there were other events for female drivers organised, and even some international drivers attended them. However, women would remain prohibited from major competitions in the States for many years, and barred from top-line open-wheel racing until the 1970s.

Nina Vitagliano was apparently much mourned by the California Italian-American community. Interest in her, and the Speederettes, has increased since the publication of some articles about them by Patricia Yongue, Harold Osmer and others. These articles have formed the basis of the research for this post.

Patricia Yongue in Veloce Today: http://www.velocetoday.com/people/people_39.php

(Images from www.coastal181.com and www.velocetoday.com/Stockton Library)

Joan Newton Cuneo

Joan in the Knox Giantess, in 1911

Joan was born in 1876, to an industrial family who seemed to have both interest in technology, and a rather progressive attitude towards women’s involvement in it. Before she learned to drive a car, she apparently learned to drive a train; her family operated their own narrow-gauge line. She only got behind the wheel of a car after her marriage to Andrew Cuneo, and probably owned her first car, a Locomobile, in 1902. At first, she was driven around by a chauffeur, but she soon started to drive herself.  This story was recounted by Joan herself to the press, although she sometimes claimed that she had been driving for five years, making the date of her first car 1900.

Her competition career definitely did begin in 1905, almost certainly making her the earliest female motorsport competitor in the USA. The Frenchwoman, Camille du Gast, had tried to enter the New York-San Francisco road race in 1902, but her entry was not accepted. Joan chose the Glidden Cup Tour, a multi-surface, long-distance reliability trial over a thousand miles long, to make her debut. Her car was a White Steam Tourer, the most up-to-date 1905 model with 15 hp. Her team included her husband, and Lou Disbrow, her erstwhile chauffeur, as riding mechanic. She was the only female entrant, and attracted a lot of attention, particularly when she swerved into a stream, in order to avoid another driver reversing out of a dangerous spot. No-one was injured, and Joan carried on, apparently re-lighting the boiler herself, but there were photographers present, and it made the news. Later, despite running well, she was prevented from completing a hill-climbing section of the Tour by the organisers, who decided it was too dangerous for a woman driver. She eventually did the climb, but was not allowed to have her time recognised officially by the organising body, the American Automobile Association. This meant that she was not part of the official, “first class” classification for the Tour.

Later that year, she took part in her first circuit races. The biggest of these was at Atlantic City. This was meant to have been a thrilling match between Joan and another female racer, Mrs. Clarence C. Fitler, who had won races at Cape May. However, Mrs. Fitler pulled out. Joan was third in the one race she entered. Shortly afterwards, she was invited to try dirt track racing at Poughkeepsie, mainly doing demonstration runs.  After her Glidden Cup exploits, she was invited to various tracks and beach courses, and performed quite well. She secured her first win at the Point Breeze dirt oval, in the three-mile race, and was second in a one-mile race for light cars at Ventnor Beach.

Early in 1906, she bought a new car, a Maxwell Speedster. Her first competitive outing was the beach racing meet at Atlantic City, in March. This time, a female opponent was found for her, a Mrs. Ernest Rogers. Joan defeated her in their mile-long match race. She then went on to finish second in a mixed race, then set another ladies' speed record in an exhibition run, in the White. In April , back in the Maxwell, she drove in the Ventnor Beach races, winning the one-mile Trial for petrol-powered cars, and coming second in the one-mile race for that category. She was pleased with the Maxwell, and wanted to enter a second Glidden Tour, but instead, she spent much of the year accompanying her husband on business trips to Europe. There is no concrete evidence that she did any competitive motoring whilst there, although at least one contemporary source claims that she had a match race against the British driver, Dorothy Levitt (named as “Dorothy Revell”). Dorothy was big news in the UK at this time, so it is odd that no British media mention this race happening.

She returned to the States in September, in time do some auto gymkhanas, modelled after equestrian gymkhanas, and some more exhibition races. These included a run at a fairground short-track in Nyack.

For 1907, she acquired another new car, a Rainier touring model. Her first event was a 100-mile dirt track race at Bennings, a horse racing course. The Rainier proved highly unsuited to the short circuit’s corners, and was not quick enough. Joan finished, but in sixth and second-to-last place. The papers still published stories about her nevertheless, some of which were becoming more and more outlandish. The number of speeding tickets she received in the course of her adventures seemed to increase exponentially with every retelling of the story.

The Rainier was a poor choice for dirt-track racing, but its more generous suspension made it a more promising Glidden Tour car. Joan entered again in 1907, and encountered further opposition from the organisers. This time, a rule was made that to be eligible to win, drivers must be a member of an AAA-affiliated club. None of the appropriate clubs permitted female membership, which again excluded Joan from the full classification. She was undeterred by this and carried on anyway, going on to finish the Tour, now 1500 miles long. This was in spite of a series of car problems, including broken suspension, a bent rear axle and various punctures, at least one a full-on blowout. Later, sponsored by the Rainier motor company, she wrote a little book about her experiences during this event.

The Rainier was updated to the most recent spec for the 1908 Glidden Tour. The Tour was now almost 2000 miles long, and Joan was still one of its most newsworthy entrants. She was in the papers yet again after a near miss at a level crossing, where she only just skidded the car out of the way of a passing train. She and her crew were uninjured, and the car was not seriously damaged, unlike the level crossing’s fence. As she was now part of the Chicago Motor Club’s team, she was eligible for points and awards, and achieved a perfect score of 1000, as well as a gold medal from the AAA, and a silver cup for good sportsmanship. The Rainier was subsequently put on display in a showroom for some time, complete with Tour dirt and damage. It was called into action again in September, when Joan entered a two-day “Mechanical Efficiency Contest” around Long Island. Her five passengers were all women, something she often did. Her riding mechanic, Lou Disbrow, also competed, in another Rainier.

1909 saw the start of a partnership with Knox cars. Joan’s newest vehicle was a Knox Giant, with 50hp, a similar power output to the Rainier. She entered the inaugural Mardi Gras races in New Orleans, held in February. Initially, a match race was set up with another lady driver, Alice Byrd Potter, but she never showed up. Joan put her name down for every race for which she was eligible, and travelled to New Orleans with Andrew, Lou Disbrow and her two children. Her first event was a one-mile time trial, in which she was fourth. Later, in a ten-mile trial, she broke her own womens’ speed record. The first of her actual races seems to have been the 50-mile handicap, in which she was a strong second, behind Ralph de Palma. She then went on to win two races the next day: the Amateur Championship and the Klaxon Signal 10 Mile race.

On the third day, she started off with an exhibition speed run, breaking the women’s record again. She was third in the TC Campbell Trophy, then won an amateur five-mile race. The biggest event of the day was a 50-miler, in which Joan struggled, and she was only tenth. However, this did not dent her confidence, and she was second in a ten-mile handicap later in the day.

Despite her triumphs in New Orleans, the AAA were not impressed with Joan, the attention she was getting, or the idea of female racing drivers in general. Within a few weeks, women drivers were banned from all of their sanctioned competitions. She attempted to enter a race meeting in Massachusetts in August, but they held firm. This was the end of her active competition career.

Despite the prohibition on women in organised circuit races, Joan continued to drive the Giant. She did exhibition runs and speed trials throughout 1909 and 1910, continuing to better her own ladies’ speed records. Despite official disapproval, she was still a popular figure and a draw for spectators. She continued to use Knox cars, but not exclusively, and in 1910, she set a record of 112mph in a Pope Hummer, on Long Island. Some of her other cars included a Darracq Bluebird and a Lancia Lampo. Later in 1910, she beat her own record, in the Knox Giant.

In 1911, the Knox factory built her a new Giant, which was christened the “Giantess” in her honour. It was used in demonstrations and record runs, and was also raced by Lou Disbrow.

Joan continued to make appearances and attempt to break records until 1915, by which time, her marriage was failing. She moved to Vermont in 1918 and lived the rest of her life in rural obscurity, close to her son and his family. She died in 1934, aged 56.

For more information about Joan and her life, Elsa Nystrom's book, Mad For Speed: The Racing Life of Joan Newton Cuneo is the most comprehensive source.

(Image from http://blog.hemmings.com/)

Maria Antonietta d'Avanzo

The Baronessa in a 1922 Bugatti T29

Baronessa Maria Antonietta d’Avanzo was a pioneering driver of the 1920s. She was born in 1889, and learned to drive very young, encouraged by her father. When she married, later, her husband, Eustacio d’Avanzo, also encouraged her driving talents, and bought her a 35hp Spa sportscar to race. Her first big race was the 1919 Giro del Lazio, and she won her class, despite having to replace an errant wheel during the event.

She arrived fully on the scene in 1920, entering the Targa Florio in a Buick. Like many other entrants that year, she did not make the finish, retiring during her third lap.

In 1921, she drove an Ansaldo 4CS in Italy. This was as a reserve driver, as another team member had dropped out. She was team-mate to Tazio Nuvolari. At the Circuito del Gardo she was seventh, third in class, while another lost wheel put her out of the Circuito di Mugello. She also drove an Alfa Romeo ES to a third place finish in a "Gentlemans'" Race in Brescia, during Speed Week. Paradoxically, she finished Speed Week with the Coupe des Dames. In another American car, an enormous twelve-cylinder aero-engined Packard, she entered the speed trials at Fano beach in Denmark. Here, she was notable for surviving a fire to her car, partly due to her quick thinking in driving the burning Packard off the dunes and into the sea. The car, and by token, its driver, caught the attention of a young Enzo Ferrari.

Her second Targa attempt came in 1922, in the Alfa this time. Again, she did not finish.

It is here that the Baronessa disappears from the scene for a few years. In 1925, she is said to have raced in Australia, but few actual results have ever surfaced. Contemporary newspaper articles state that she definitely stayed there for some time in 1924. There is one report of her driving an Essex in a “match race” at Penrith Speedway, although this may have been an exhibition. During this time, she took part in some of her other adventurous activities, such as flying, and wrote articles about sport for various publications.

She returned to Europe. and motorsport, in 1926. According to some sources, she raced a Mercedes in that year’s Coppa della Perugina.

Later, in 1928, she entered her first Mille Miglia, driving a Chrysler Tipo 72 with Manuel de Teffé. They did not finish, after a mechanical failure. The following year, she and Carlo Bruno retired early on, driving an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 SS.

After a break in 1930, she made another attempt at the Mille Miglia, in a Bugatti T43, driving with Carlo Castelbarco. Once again, the treacherous Italian roads denied them. Back in the Alfa, she scored a third in the Coppa Pierazzi, and another third in the Grosseto-Scansano hillclimb.

1932 saw her final try at the Mille Miglia. This time, she was part of the official Scuderia Ferrari entry, driving an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS Spider Touring with Francesco Severi. Sadly, they did not finish. There was disappointment later in the year, also. She was invited over to the USA by Ralph de Palma, to test his Miller Special at Indianapolis. Regulations forbade women from racing, but she would be allowed to do some demonstration laps. Unfortunately, she struggled with the car, having not handled a huge American racer for years, and did not post good times. She returned to Italy before she was due to make her appearance.

After that, she began to wind down her motorsport career, and made only a few starts. Some sources have her as a driver in the 1933 Targa Abruzzi, but her choice of car is unclear. She definitely entered the 1938 Targa in a Stanguellini Fiat 1500, but probably did not finish. Her last recorded race was the 1939 Tobruk-Tripoli race, driving a Fiat. She was sixth in the 1100cc class, ahead of the other Italian female competitor, Lia Comirato Dumas.

In 1940, she is listed as an entrant for the Mille Miglia, driving a Fiat 1100 with Angelo Della Cella. They did not make the start.

Throughout her life, as a social personality, journalist and writer, Maria Antonietta was a vocal supporter of female drivers, on the track and on the public roads. She was adopted as a heroine by early Italian feminists. As well as this, she had many friends and allies in the male-dominated motorsport world, such as De Palma and Enzo Ferrari.

She died in 1977.

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

Pre 1950 Female Drivers: "Les Autres"

Joan Gerard

This post covers a few pre-1950 female drivers who do not fit into any of the other categories, chiefly those who competed in British National events in the late 1940s, and one driver who raced earlier, but not at Brooklands. US-based racers of the 1920s can be found here. Lady Mary Grosvenor now has her own post.

Nancy Binns - included in this section as she appeared on the scene in 1949, coming second in three different British National races at Silverstone and Goodwood. Her cars were two different Rileys. The following year, driving a Riley Sprite, she won several races at various meetings at Goodwood, Gamston and Silverstone. She changed to a Jaguar XK120 for the 1951 season, and was rewarded with a second and two thirds at Silverstone, but no wins. After this, she disappears from the entry lists.

“Miss D Chilton” - raced an Arrol-Johnston in the UK in the 1920s. She was second in the Unlimited class of the 1922 Sutton Coldfield Hillclimb. By this time, the car would have been quite old. Photographs of it exist and describe it as a 15.9 bhp model. She may have been related to John Chilton, who was advertising his Arrol-Johnston dealership in Worcestershire in 1910. In 1922, the Arrol-Johnston concern was being taken over by the women-run Galloway company, of which Miss Chilton may have been part.

Joy Ching – mostly competed in sprints and hillclimbs, but occasionally raced on the circuits. She took part in a VSCC Handicap at Silverstone in 1949, driving a Bugatti T37, but was not among the front-runners. As well as the Bugatti, she drove a BMW and an Alfa Romeo on occasion, both of which she shared with her husband, John, a car collector who raced himself. The Bugatti had previously been raced by May Cunliffe. Joy was a regular at the Brighton Speed Trials in the late 1940s, and usually did well in the Ladies’ classes.

Marguerite Dupêchez – winner of the Coupe de l’Auto Club at the first Journée Féminine de l’Automobile, in 1927. Her car was an Amilcar. The same year, she took part in a Ladies’ Handicap, also held at Montlhéry, and appears to have won. 1927 was not her first year of competition; she drove the Amilcar in the 1926 Rallye Féminin between Paris and La Baule. She was eleventh. In 1928, she competed in the mixed Paris-Nice Trial, still in the Amilcar. After this, she disappears from the entry lists.

Joan Gerard - one of the first lady drivers to resume motorsport after WWII. She was second in a British National race for 1500cc cars at Gransden Lodge, driving a Riley Sprite. Later, she used the White Riley, once raced by Kay Petre, in speed events. She also took part in a Ladies' race at Brands Hatch for 500cc Formula Three cars in 1950, and was third. She always competed alongside her better-known husband, Bob Gerard.

Marie Jenkins - one of Australia’s earliest female racing drivers. She drove a Bugatti Brescia at Sydney circuits in 1925 and 1926 and was the first woman to win a race at Maroubra Speedway. Her victory was in January 1926 in a “Motor Car Handicap” for cars between 1250 and 2000cc. She won her heat and the final convincingly, taking advantage of a generous handicap. This was her second race win, having won a Two-Litre Handicap at Aspendale in March 1925. Reports suggest that she was already a familiar name by then and she was sometimes described as being from Victoria. She was third in another handicap at Maroubra in December 1925.

Estelle Lang – raced and rallied in France in the late 1920s and early 1930s. She finished fifth in the first edition of the  Paris-St. Raphaël women’s rally in 1929. The same year, she entered the Journée Féminine de l’Automobile, and was one of the leading drivers, in a Rosengart. In a similar car, she won the 1931 Paris-St. Raphaël Rallye, after winning her class. She was a semi-regular in French races at the time, and a rival to both Violette Morris and Hellé-Nice at different times. In 1930, she entered the Tour de France Auto, in a Rosengart, and won her class at least. 

Lilian Heimann-Mayer – raced a 500cc BMW-engined Condor in German Formula 3, in 1949. She managed to finish a race at Schotten, but was not classified. She entered the Kölner Kurs race later in the year, but did not finish. Photographs of her exist at the Nürburgring that season as well, but no results. Later, in 1953, she drove a BMW in the Gaisbergrennen hillclimb, and won her class.

Yvonne Morel - MG owner and racer, active in the late 1930s. She competed in speed trials and hillclimbs mainly, including the 1937 Whitchurch Speed Trial, but also raced at circuits. In 1938, she drove a 1500cc MG at Crystal Palace for the Crystal Palace Plate handicap

(Image source unknown)

The Belles of Brooklands

Ivy Cummings

The Brooklands circuit in Weighbridge was the UK's first purpose-built full racing circuit, and was in operation between 1907 and 1939, when it was partially demolished and used as an aircraft manufacturing centre for the war effort.

The Brooklands organising club, the BARC, only sanctioned two races open to women there before the First World War: the 1908 Ladies' Bracelet Handicap and a match race between two of its leading competitors, Muriel Thompson and Christabel Ellis. This was in spite of the presence and influence of Ethel Locke King, wife of the circuit's owner, Hugh. She herself raced in the Bracelet Handicap.

Other clubs that used the circuit allowed women to race, either against other women, or against men.

During the 1920s, the various motor clubs that ran races at Brooklands relaxed their attitudes to women drivers, and during the 1930s, the BARC followed suit. Female racers were a common addition to meetings, winning some titles in the process.

Below is an alphabetical selection of the previously unprofiled ladies who raced at Brooklands, and some of their achievements.

Daisy Addis Price – raced at Brooklands in the 1920s. Her first major result was a second place in the JCC Ladies’ Handicap in 1920. This was one of the first women’s races held since 1908. Her car was a Douglas, which she continued to race until at least 1923, when she entered it into the JCC 200 Mile race. In 1922, she did take part in a “lesser race” in the Douglas, but further details are not forthcoming. Other drivers sometimes raced Miss Price’s Douglas on her behalf, and she commissioned and designed coachwork for at least one car.

Psyche Altham – raced at Brooklands in 1933, finishing third in a Ladies’ Mountain Handicap in an MG Magnette, behind Rita Don and Kay Petre. Earlier in the year, she won her class in the Brighton Speed Trials, in a Magnette, and entered a hillclimb at Shelsley Walsh. She did not record a time, due to a problem with the Magnette’s carburettor. After the 1933 season, she disappears from the motorsport scene. Away from the track, she was a dancer and actress. In contemporary reports, she is referred to as “the London dancer, Psyche Altham.”

“Mrs G. Briggs” – raced a Riley 9 Brooklands at Brooklands itself in 1936. Her first race was the First Mountain Handicap at the March Handicap meeting, in which she was unplaced, but only a month later, she won the First Easter Sports Handicap. At the Whitsun meeting, she was second in the First Short Handicap. Despite her obvious skill, and the praise she received from the likes of Motor Sport, her last race seems to have been the Second August Short Handicap, in which she was unplaced. Her husband, whose car the Riley was, also disappears from the entry lists.

“Miss D.M. Burnett” – drove in the 1930 Brooklands Double Twelve, sharing her own Aston Martin with Goldie Gardner. They did not finish, due to a broken valve spring. This was not her first foray into motorsport; she was disqualified from a Ladies’ Race at Brooklands in 1929 for jumping the start. Even earlier, in 1928, she entered the JCC’s High Speed Trials at the Weybridge circuit, driving an Alvis. Later, in 1932, she attempted the JCC 1000 Mile race in a Riley 9, partnering P.R. Mitton-Waterfield. They did not finish.

“Miss D Chaff” (Dinah?) – raced a Fiat Balilla at Brooklands. In 1936, she led an all-female team of Balilla drivers to fourth place in the LCC Relay, with Elsie Wisdom and Mrs Lace. She first appears on the Brooklands entry lists in 1935, as an entrant in the Ladies’ Mountain Handicap, although her finishing position is not given. In March 1936, she took on the Mountain circuit again in an open race, but does not seem to have finished. She also raced at Donington, but retired with a broken trackrod. Her given name is never used.

Cecil Christie (often credited as “Mrs. C. Christie”, although Cecil was apparently her given name) - South African driver who raced at Brooklands in the 1920s, although not in any of the major races. She was a member of Southport Motor Club and drove in the their beach race in 1926, using a Vauxhall. The previous year, she had won a beach race at Skegness, also in the Vauxhall. 

Dorothy de Clifford (“Lady de Clifford”) - initially a Brooklands hanger-on, who later became a race and rally driver. She first appears in Barbara Cartland’s 1931 “Society Ladies’ Private Handicap” film hoax, as riding mechanic to Princess Imeretinsky, who appeared to win the staged race. In 1932, she raced an MG in the Duchess of York’s race for lady drivers, at the Guys Gala at Brooklands. Also that year, she entered the RAC Rally, driving a Lagonda. Her finishing position is not recorded.

Violette Cordery - most famous for her record-breaking exploits in Invicta cars in the late 1920s and early 1930s. She set records for speed and endurance around the world, sometimes assisted by her sister, Evelyn. In the 1920s, she won a number of club races at Brooklands, also in Invictas, but was forbidden to take part in major events. Later, she was tenth in the Large Car class of the 1933 Scottish Rally, driving an Essex Terraplane.

Rita Don - winner of a ladies’ race over the Brooklands Mountain circuit in 1933, defeating the favourite, Kay Petre. She was driving a Riley 9 belonging to Freddie Dixon (sometimes described as her brother, which he was not). Dixon acted as her riding mechanic, and stories abound of his pricking her with her hatpin when she needed to go faster. Photographs of her in 1934 appear to show her ready to race, at Brooklands, chatting to Kay Petre, and she did indeed race a Marendaz, a Lea-Francis and the Riley that year. She entered the Ladies' Mountain Handicap again, but was unplaced. She was the sister of Kaye Don, and her married name was Livesey.

Bessie Duller - raced at Brooklands and in the south of England in the 1920s. In 1923, at Brooklands, she won an "Impromptu Handicap for Any Car or Motorcycle", then in June, she won one of the Surbiton Motor Club's Brooklands races, both in an Amilcar. In 1925, she appears on the start list for a ladies’ race in Kent, driving a Lancia. In 1926, she raced an Austin Seven at Brooklands, in the Surbtiton 150 Mile race. She was often credited as “Mrs. George Duller”.

Colleen Eaton – Australian racer who competed at Brooklands and Le Mans, occasionally as an MG works driver. She was Margaret Allan's team-mate for MG at Le Mans in 1935, and they were 26th.

Marjorie Eccles - raced between 1934 and 1939, often alongside her husband, Roy. She was an occasional entrant in Brooklands races of the time, driving a Singer, or the "Eccles Rapier" Lagonda special, which she also raced at Brooklands in 1935, and Crystal Palace in 1936. After 1936, her profile becomes higher. She partnered Roy at the Ards Tourist Trophy in a Singer that year, then drove at Le Mans in 1937 in a Singer Nine, with Freddie de Clifford. They did not finish. Later, she turned to rallying exclusively, after Roy's untimely death early in 1938. In 1938 and 1939, she entered the RAC Rally. Her car in 1939 was a Daimler.

Mamie Frazer Nash - raced a GN in the Brooklands ladies’ races in the early 1920s. She was one of three women who entered the BARC’s second official ladies’ event in 1920. She raced the GN again in 1922, in another ladies’ race, but did not finish. She may have also competed in hillclimbs. Mamie, born Alice, was married to Archie Frazer Nash of the eponymous car company, who also owned GN. Mamie became a director of Frazer Nash in 1932.

“Miss G" (Geraldine) Hedges – raced in and around Brooklands in the 1930s. She first appears in the entry lists in the JCC’s High Speed Trial, in 1932, driving a Riley, but she was most associated with Talbot cars, one of which she owned jointly with Patricia McOstrich. In 1932, she scored her first Brooklands win, in a Talbot 90, the Sports Long Handicap at the Inter-Club Meeting. Other notable results include a second in the Cobham Long Handicap in 1933, and third in a 1933 Lightning Short Handicap. Later on, she raced a Singer and a Frazer Nash-BMW, in which she was part of a Frazer Nash team with Kay Petre, for the Light Car Club Relay in 1936. She was also active in rallying in the UK, with Patricia McOstrich and Lady Iris Capell. She had been an ambulance driver during WWI and worked as a "motor consultant", advising her customers on car purchases, modifications and repairs. She opened her London garage in 1935 by holding a well-publicised party in it.

Joyce Houldsworth - raced a Bugatti at Brooklands and in hillclimbs. She first raced in 1933, in the Ladies’ Mountain Handicap. In 1934, she was second in the novice class of the Bugatti Owners’ Club hillclimb at Lewes. That year, she also raced the Bugatti at Shelsley Walsh, and in a second Ladies’ Mountain Handicap at Brooklands. She returned to Shelsley Walsh in 1935, driving a Houldsworth Special. Her husband, John, was also a racing driver. Joyce continued to compete in his car after his death in an accident in 1934.

Henrietta (Mabel) Lister – owned and raced an Aston Martin in the 1920s. Pictures of her in racing garb, next to a car at Brooklands, exist from 1924, but no race results. In 1925, she was second in two editions of the Essex Long Handicap. Similar pictures show her car in action at meetings of the Essex and Middlesex Motor Clubs. In 1928, she was one of the entrants in a Surbiton MC Ladies’ Race. There is some confusion about when exactly Henrietta competed, as other drivers often used her car, and she was named as the entrant. The car itself was sometimes looked after by Jack Waters, who would later find fame as the actor Jack Warner. After her time as a racing driver, she married William Burrill-Robinson and took up watercolour painting, exhibiting regularly in Yorkshire. She had previously been a ballet dancer, using the name "Henrietta Listakova".

"Miss MJ Maconochie" (Margaret?) - winner of the first official BARC race for lady drivers at Brooklands, in 1927. Her car was a Salmson. She had previously won gold medals in high-speed reliability trials, and continued to race after her 1927 appearance. In 1928, she took an Amilcar to Boulogne for the Coupe Georges Boillot.

Patricia Oxenden – Jersey-based driver who raced at Brooklands, as well as on short tracks in Midget cars, and on Jersey itself. Her usual car for Brooklands was an Alta, in which she won a Ladies’ Mountain Handicap in 1935. As well as races, she also occasionally competed in trials at Brooklands, in the Alta. Another of her cars was an SS90, which she has said to have used in Jersey. As well as motorsport, Patricia (sometimes referred to as “Dot”) was involved in the early surfing scene in the UK, alongside her husband, Jeremy.

Winifred Pink - raced a number of cars in the UK in the 1920s. She was an expert at beach racing and competed at Skegness in 1926, driving an AC, and at Southsea in 1923. One of her earlier cars was a Horstman, in which she won BARC Ladies’ races at Brooklands in 1922 and 1923. She used this car in hillclimbs at Shelsley Walsh, Caerphilly and other venues. Later in her career, she hillclimbed an Aston Martin and an Alvis. In the late 1920s, she wrote quite extensively on the motor racing for women, claiming that most women were not strong enough to drive the fastest cars. She suggested smaller touring cars instead. In 1927, she was elected President of the Ladies’ Automobile Club.

Part 2

(Thanks to Naomi Clifford for information on Geraldine Hedges)

(Image copyright Octane)