Jenny Tudor-Owen

Jenny Tudor-Owen raced and rallied, mostly in Europe, during the 1960s. She normally drove British cars.

Her first car, lent to her in 1962 by John Coombs, was a Mini, which she crashed. Her then-boyfriend Mike Parkes built her another Mini, in which she qualified on pole for her first race at Brands Hatch, only to over-rev on the startline due to valve bounce. 

She quickly moved on to an MGB. This particular car is the one most associated with her, and she raced several different versions. The first of these was run by Barwells in 1963. 

In 1964, she was fourth in the Copenhagen Cup at the Roskildering. Her MGB was the first one to race in Denmark.

Tracking down her race results has proved difficult, but she did enter at least some of the Freddie Dixon Challenge Trophy and other club meetings organised by the BARC and BRSCC. The MGB was often up against much more powerful cars, such as Ferrari 250s and Jaguar E-Types. Among her rivals were Jackie Stewart, Bernard Unett and Alan Minshaw. Her best result in the MG, in the UK at least, was a fifth place at Oulton Park in June. Later in the year, she tried out a Lotus Elan for a couple of races, and she was third at Mallory Park in a 1600cc GT race. 

The Elan was her main focus in 1965, although it looks to have been a much shorter season for her. The biggest event on her calendar was an early-season race at Goodwood for small-engined sportscars, in which she was eleventh. She also tried out single-seaters, in the shape of a Formula Vee. 

After another spell in the MGB, which included an entry in a BWRDC ladies' race at Oulton Park in 1967, she acquired a Jaguar E-Type, which she used in 1967 and 1968, winning the 1968 BWRDC Racing championship following an outright second place at Thruxton. She had been leading the race on a wet track and recovered from a spin to hold on to the runner-up spot.

Racing a Bamford MGB at Oulton Park in October 1968, she managed to crash during practice and write off the car at Cascades. Her accident was overshadowed by James Hunt famously throwing an Alexis Formula Ford in the lake at the same meeting. That year, she also raced an E-Type for Warren Pearce's team. 

On the rallying side, she is best known for her Coupe des Dames in the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon, driving a Volvo 145. She was part of a four-woman team with Elsie Gadd, Anthea Castell and Sheila Kemp. The car belonged to Elsie Gadd, who had no rallying experience, so she hired Jenny and Sheila as her lead drivers. They were 41^st overall, just in front of Jean Denton’s MGB, which had been the favourite for the Ladies’ prize. They had their share of troubles, including a fire in the car's battery in the closing stages in Australia, and large cracks in the car's bodywork, which needed to be welded, after crossing the gravel roads of Turkey and the Middle East.

After the London-Sydney, Jenny disappears from the entry lists. Her marriage ended and she seemed to retire from motorsport completely, although she occasionally popped up in the papers. One such appearance was in the Kent Evening Post in 1970, where the "really expert driver" opined that other women drivers "don't concentrate enough".

She moved to America and then South Africa, where she used her skills at the wheel as a film stunt performer. She also bred Pekinese dogs successfully.

(Image courtesy of Greening Australia)

Jenny Dell

Jenny Dell raced sportscars and saloons in the 1960s and ‘70s. She drove in the fore-runner to the British Touring Car Championship in 1972.

Her first car was an Elva Courier which she first raced in 1967, when she was 22. 

She was most associated with the Nathan GT, which she used between 1969 and 1970. This was a Hillman Imp-engined special built by Frank Costin and Roger Nathan. Her car was formerly used by the factory Nathan team and had a BMW engine. She won at least one race outright in it, a GT event at Brands Hatch in April 1970.

The Nathan replaced a similar GT car, a 1100cc Diva. This was not the most reliable of cars, although she did manage a sixth place in it in the Brands Hatch STP round in 1969. She later sold it to Wendy Hamblin, another British driver.

Her car for the British Saloon championship was a Ford Escort, which she also tried to qualify for the 1971 Spa 24 Hours. She also drove a Mini Clubman in Special Saloons.

She did at least some rounds of the 1972 BSCC in a Vauxhall Firenza, as a team-mate to Gerry Marshall and Denis Thorne. Her best result seems to have been a class win in the final round at Oulton.

A fellow saloon car racer, Wendy Markey, had Jenny as her co-driver in the 1973 Avon Tour of Britain. Their car was a BMW 2002 and they won the ladies’ award, finishing 19th overall.

She carried on racing until at least 1975, when she is recorded as entering one of the BWRDC’s Shellsport Ladies’ Escort races. She had won a round of the first Shellsport Escort championship in 1974. Jenny was an enthusiastic member of the BWRDC from early on, winning the club’s Goodwin Trophy in 1969 as its highest-performing member. In 1972, she entered the one-make “Fast Girls” Ford Consul Challenge, mostly contested by club members, and finished eleventh.

Jenny’s sister was dating motorcycle racer Bill Ivy when he died in 1969. Jenny herself died young of cancer at some time in the 1980s, having been ill for some time.

(Image copyright Phillip Jackson/Shutterstock)

Micki Vandervell (Chittenden)

 

Micki Vandervell, also known as Micki Chittenden, raced at national level in the UK in the 1970s. 

She was a member of the Vandervell racing family, the niece of legendary car designer Tony Vandervell and the cousin of racer Colin Vandervell. “Micki” was short for Michaela.

Her earliest adventures in motorsport were in autocross, driving a Mini in 1967. She gained some attention early on, not due to her family connections, but to finishing third in one of her first races in 1968 with a wrist in plaster. The event was at Sherwood Farm in Drayton and she won the ladies’ trophy.

By 1969, she was racing a Mini on track as well as on the dirt circuits of autocross, mainly in the south of England. At the end of the year, she took the Mini to Lydden Hill for the Grandstand Trophy, which was broadcast on BBC television. 

She continued to race the Mini in 1970, including at least one run in the Triplex Saloon Championship at Silverstone and an appearance at Brands Hatch. According to newspaper reports, she combined her racing with a job as a lab technician.

In 1971, she was part of "The Carmen Curls", an all-female racing team who competed in Formula F100. She raced a Royale sportscar alongside Gabriel Konig. The team was sponsored by Carmen hair products (“The House of Carmen”), and managed by Tina Lanfranchi. Among the four team officials was Roz Hanby, who later found fame as the face of British Airways. Neither of the team’s drivers completed the whole 20-round season and Micki was not as quick as Gabriel. She was thirteenth in the championship, which folded at the end of 1971.

She was an enthusiastic early member of the BWRDC, and competed in their women-only events. Her best result in one of these was a third place in the “Fast Girls Consul Challenge”, held at Brands Hatch in 1972 as a support to the Rothmans Formula 5000 championship. Gillian Fortescue-Thomas was the winner, ahead of Jenny Birrell and Micki, who finished ahead of her Carmen Curls team-mate Gabriel Konig. 

Much later, she took part in the Brands Hatch rounds of the 1976 Shellsport Ladies’ Escort series, scoring two seventh and one eleventh place.

For at least part of 1973, she raced an MG Midget in the STP Production Sports Car Championship.

She raced less often after her marriage to Mike Chittenden. Tiffany Chittenden and karter Tamsin Germain are her daughters.

(Image copyright Reading Evening Post)

Ilsa Cox

 

Ilsa Cox is a multiple champion in UK club saloon car racing. 

She began in 1987 at Castle Combe, which would be the scene of many of her future triumphs. Her first car was a Suzuki Swift that she entered into the Production Saloon Car Championship. She became a Combe regular despite living in Brighton, a considerable distance away.

In 1997 she was the Castle Combe Saloon Car champion, driving a Peugeot 205 GTi. Even in her first year in that championship, 1995, she won eight times, and was narrowly beaten to the trophy. 1995 was the first year that the series ran and Ilsa became one of its established stars very quickly. 

Much later, she won back to back Castle Combe GT championships in a SEAT Cupra, in 2017 and 2018.

It’s not only Combe-based series in which she has triumphed. In 2008, she won Class A of the 750MC Hot Hatch Championship, driving a Peugeot 206 GTi. 

More recently, she has been racing the SEAT Cupra in various club championships. One of her first successes was in the Eurosaloons championship, where she won a race outright at Oulton Park in 2009. She was second in the “B” class of the series, with three wins. 

She continued to race the SEAT in the CNC Heads Saloon/Sports championship. In 2014, she won one race and was second in Class D. 

As well as racing in the CNC Heads series in 2015, she took part in the Classic Thunder Touring Car Championship, still in the SEAT. She was fifth and seventh in these championships, respectively and won her class in the first.

Her schedule for the next couple of years took in some of the CNC Heads rounds. She was 26th overall in 2016 but did not do enough of the championship to mount a serious challenge in 2017. 

She was back to winning ways again in 2018, picking up another Castle Combe GT crown in the Cupra and winning nine races outright. This was not her only championship either; she won the Hammerite Classic Thunder Touring Car series as well.

She attempted to defend her CTCC Classic Thunder crown in 2019, winning at least one race at Silverstone and three others on the way to a class win. The shortened championship ran in 2020 but Ilsa did not race.

As well as this, she works as a performance driving instructor, and promotes women’s track days. Her driving career began with her working as a road driving instructor in the 1980s.

Ilsa won the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club’s Gold Star award in 2010. She was also part of a BWRDC team in the 2013 Birkett Relay at Silverstone, driving the Cupra. The Birkett is an event she has returned to, finishing ninth in 2017 as part of an all-SEAT team.

(Image copyright paddock42.com)

Lydia Walmsley

 

Lydia Walmsley is one of Britain’s leading female Mini racers.

She has been racing a BMW Mini since 2018 and has recorded wins in the UK Mini Challenge.

After a successful stint as a junior karter, she started her career in cars in 2016, driving a Citroen Saxo in the Junior Saloon Car Championship. She was fourteen when she entered the championship and combined her part-season with karting. Her best result was a sixth place, at Knockhill. After four races, she was 26th in the championship. 

She returned to the JSCC in 2017 and proved a competent driver. Her best finishes were two fourths at Silverstone and Rockingham at the start of the year. A roll into the tyre wall and subsequent non-start at Knockhill interrupted her momentum somewhat, but she was still seventh overall.  

In 2018, she graduated to the Mini Challenge, competing in the Cooper Pro class. At sixteen, she was the youngest driver on the grid. She was ninth overall. 

This improved to third in 2019 and included her debut win at Snetterton, in the last race of the season. Her win followed four other podiums. She was second at Donington and Croft and third at Oulton Park and Brands Hatch. Her qualifying pace was often good and she started near the front of the grid.

Although she did not win again in 2020, she was third in the final standings, despite missing one race at Thruxton. Her best finishes were two second places at Oulton and Snetterton. Seven of her eight race finishes were top-tens, with five of these being top-fives. She was the leading female driver in the championship. This year, the Mini Challenge ran alongside British Touring Cars and Lydia’s races were shown live on television.

She was awarded the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club’s Goodwin Trophy for 2020 as the club’s highest-performing eligible member. Not long after, she was named as one of Motorsport UK’s “Academy Class of 2021-2022”, having been chosen as a particularly promising young driver worthy of further support.

She stepped up to the JCW class for 2021, the fastest class in the championship. It was a hard learning year, but Lydia pronounced herself satisfied with it, having completed a full season of racing and testing. She was fourth in the rookie class and 22nd overall.

A second attempt at the JCW championship led to a 19th in the final leaderboard. She came close to the top ten at Knockhill and Brands Hatch, picking up an eleventh place. She was tenth in the same series in 2023, with three fifth places towards the end of the season at Silverstone and Brands Hatch.

In 2024, she picked up her first JCW podium, finishing third at Snetterton. She was ninth in the championship.

(Image copyright minichallenge.co.uk)

Maggie (Margaret) Anderson

Renault 5 ladies' race at Monaco

Maggie Anderson raced saloons in the 1970s. She was the first person to win a Renault 5 one-make race in the UK and raced the same car in Monte Carlo.

She came to prominence as part of John Webb’s Shellsport promotions in the mid-1970s. As she had been a professional hot-air balloonist, Webb was keen for someone of her background to get involved. Her first races were at the Brands Hatch racing school in 1973. This was then part of Webb’s operation. Maggie’s debut outings in a Ford Escort Mexico led to Driver of the Meeting awards and podium positions. Her first public event was a Shellsport Celebrity Escort race and she was fourth behind male drivers from other areas of motorsport, including Tony Lanfranchi and Bernard Unett.

Maggie did not just impress Webb with her interesting background. Her fast learning and early speed led to a test in a Shellsport Formula 5000 car in 1974, but a puncture meant the session was a short one. 

In 1974 and 1975, Maggie raced a Renault 5, backed by Elf. She won her second ever public event in the car, a one-make race at Brands Hatch. This was the first Renault 5 race ever held in the UK. The championship lasted for 30 years and was superseded by the Clio Cup. That year she finished runner-up in the British Renault 5 Trophy. 

She drove the 5 in an invitation-only ladies’ race at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1975, against eleven other women including eventual winner Marie-Claude Beaumont, Christine Beckers, Judy Witter, Gabriel Konig and Eeva Heinonen. Maggie was extremely aggressive in the opening laps and made up several places, but she outbraked herself at the chicane and went off-track.

Still backed by Elf, she also raced a Renault 17, in which she won the Ladies’ class of the Avon Tour of Britain, with Susan Tucker-Peake. They were 22nd overall. 

She became a regular in the BWRDC Ladies’ Shellsport Escort series after proving her mettle in other one-make series. This eventually led to her winning the Shellsport Ladies’ Escort Championship in 1977. 

Maggie’s career was short, lasting just four years. After her time in active competition ended, Maggie married Wilf Loynd and alongside him, worked as an organiser for the Tour of Mull rally for many years.

She came out of retirement for the 2004 Renault Festival at Thruxton, driving a 5 among past Renault 5 championship and race winners.

(Image from renault-5.net)

Alison Davis

Alison Davis was one of Britain's most successful female club racers and the first woman to win a club championship outright. 

She won the 1979 BRDC Production Sportscar Championship in a Ginetta G15 and also won races in the 1984 MG Metro Challenge. 

The first racing car that she owned was a Diva GT which she and her husband Roger bought from Frank Williams in 1970. Before that, she had done some hillclimbs and sprints in borrowed cars or her roadgoing Austin Healey. The Diva helped her to transition from speed events to wheel-to-wheel racing but it was replaced for the 1971 season by a Ginetta G15.

The Ginetta was her most successful car; it also gave her a string of class wins in the few-holds-barred Modsports championship 1971 and 1972. She was voted Driver of the Day at Brands Hatch in 1972 and won the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club’s Embassy Trophy for the best performance by a club member in circuit racing. This was one of a collection of trophies she earned that year.

Alison’s time in Modsports was supported by an unusual sponsor: feminine hygiene product Femfresh. She even appeared in 19 magazine as part of a promotional competition where a reader could win herself a Ginetta sportscar.

The Femfresh G15 was sold at the end of the 1972 season. Alison experimented with a number of different cars. She was a leading competitor in the BWRDC Shellsport Ladies’ Escort series, finishing second in the 1976 and 1977 championships with several wins. Two further standalone ladies’ races were held in 1978 and Alison won one of them. 

One of the cars she raced was a Fiat 124ST and it was this that she used on the 1973 Avon Tour of Britain. She was partnered by Sheila Scott, a pilot. They competed against eventual winner James Hunt, Graham Hill, Rosemary Smith and others.

Most of her outings during this time were in production saloons. She often competed alone, but sometimes teamed up with other drivers, including future Le Mans starter Juliette Slaughter, with whom she shared a Triumph TR7.

Coming back to a Ginetta brought her back to winning ways in 1979. Her new car was a yellow G15 that she and Roger converted from road spec. It always carried the number 33 and became a common and popular sight in parc ferme. Alison had the most successful year of her career in it, winning the BRDC Prodsports championship with a clean sweep of class wins. This was the first time a woman had won a British racing championship outright and she was awarded the BWRDC Wakefield Trophy, for outstanding contribution to motorsport by a woman. 

The trophy was not just the result of her BRDC Prodsports win. Her BRDC campaign was run in tandem with a strong attempt on the similar BRSCC CAV championship, finishing second ten times and setting three lap records at Silverstone, Castle Combe and Brands Hatch.

Although she did not win the championship again outright, she was joint champion in the DB Prodsports series in 1981, winning five times. In between, she scored two further wins and twelve second places in the 1980 season.

Despite her success in the Ginetta, Alison moved on to an MG Metro for the 1982 MG Metro Challenge. It was a steep learning curve for her and she crashed out of her first race. She made up for this by becoming a permanent fixture in the top six by the end of the season. This continued during the 1983 season while Roger and her team of mechanics got to grips with the Metro.

In 1984, she was offered a seat in Terry Drury’s Alfa Romeo GTV for the Tourist Trophy Six Hours at Silverstone. According to newspaper reports at the time, she had to embark on a funding drive to be able to take up her drive. She managed it, although she and Paul Everett were unable to finish the race itself.

For the Metro series itself, she was sponsored by the Melitta coffee brand.

Away from this disappointment, the team had finally got to grips with the Metro and Alison was flying at last. She won the first three races of the 1984 championship and cemented her reputation as a wet-track specialist with a victory at a rainy Silverstone. After her third win, a protest was lodged and she was accused of having an illegal car. A thorough examination by the scrutineers proved this allegation to be false and probably the result of wounded male pride.

Alison left motorsport on a high, as a leading driver in Metros and in Prodsports. She turned to showing Irish draught horses and entered the Horse of the Year Show on five occasions.

Her husband Roger points out that she would have been eligible for membership of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, but it would be another few years before that august organisation permitted female members.

(Thanks to Roger Davis for the information and picture)

Janet Brise

Janet Brise raced sportscars in the UK in the 1970s. She took to racing after the death of her husband, Formula One driver Tony Brise. 

Janet was a model prior to her marriage. She married Tony in 1975 and he bought her a course of lessons at a racing school for her birthday. He was killed in the plane crash that also claimed the life of his team boss Graham Hill in November. A widow at the age of 23, she turned to motorsport to fill the void. At first, she competed alongside her father in trials. Reg Allen was a noted triallist and Janet sat alongside him in his Kincraft car as a “bouncer”.

In the years following Tony’s death, Janet was involved with a compensation claim against Graham Hill Racing. Hill himself had been flying the team plane when it crashed and he was found to have been in breach of several flight regulations. She said at the time that she hoped the action would not lose her the friendship of Bette Hill; pictures show Bette congratulating Janet after a podium position a few years later. 

She began competing by herself in 1978, intending to make her debut at Brands Hatch during its Easter meeting. The plan was for her to race a Formula Ford and photos exist of her sitting in a Rolatruc Elden belonging to the Brands Hatch racing school, but it is not clear whether she actually raced the car. The Cheshire Observer reported that her debut was at Oulton in July, when she entered the Elf Renault 5 Challenge. She was ninth after spinning early on. Shortly afterwards, she was second in an all-female Shellsport Escort race, behind Desire Wilson. James Hunt presented the prizes; his girlfriend Jane Birbeck was among the entries. 

 
She took part in both rounds of the official Shellsport Ladies Escort Championship that year and scored two third places. 

 
In 1979, she did a season in the Chequered Flag Sports 2000 championship, sometimes sharing a car with Desire Wilson. She was sponsored by the Kelly recruitment agency, which was then called “Kelly Girl”. Janet had worked for the company as a secretary. Her car was a Lola. She was not one of the leading drivers in the series but she held her own on the track. Juliette Slaughter, who had raced in Sports 2000 the year before, said of her “Janet knows her racecraft.” 

Janet married John Finch in 1979. He was an insurance under-writer and he met Janet at a racing school.
Her motorsport career ended after the 1979 season, when she had raced a Debenhams-sponsored Ford Escort. Some time later she ran an antique shop in London with her fellow Formula One widow Nella Pryce, who lost her husband Tom in 1977.

She remains close to the Brise family.

(Images courtesy of Alan Cox)

The Oulton Park Ladies' Handicap

This picture was possibly taken at the Ladies' Handicap. Gabriel Konig is in dark overalls and Rosemary Smith is next to her in a raincoat

A Ladies’ Handicap was held at Oulton Park in April 1967, during the Spring Trophy. Most of its entrants came from the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club.

The race was held over ten laps and was a handicap for saloons and sportscars. It formed part of a “ladies day” held at the circuit, which also included a fashion show sponsored by local department store Browns of Chester. Rosemary Smith was promoting her “Rally Girl” clothing line at the time and her designs were modelled at the show. The event was in aid of the International Grand Prix Medical Service.

Eleven drivers started. Three of them, Anita Taylor, Mary Wheeler and Gabriel Konig, had competed in the Fast Girl Trophy four years earlier. Gabriel Konig, winner of the Fast Girl Trophy, was the winner of the handicap. No incidents were reported.

Results

1. Gabriel Konig (Austin Healey Sebring Sprite)
2. Mary Taylor (MGB)
3. Anita Taylor (Ford Lotus Cortina)
4. Margaret Cooper (Alfa Romeo GTC)
5. Jean Denton (MGB)
6. Natalie Goodwin (Ford Lotus Cortina)

(Image copyright BWRDC)

Chrissie Ashford

Chrissie Ashford's Vauxhall Magnum

Chrissie Ashford was Britain’s leading female rally driver in the mid to late 1970s, picking up two ladies’ championships in the later part of her career.

She rallied in the UK in the 1970s, starting as a navigator to her first husband, Paul, in around 1973. They competed together in road rallies. By 1974, she was driving a Vauxhall Magnum herself in Yorkshire club events. 

Throughout her career, she favoured Vauxhall cars, including the Magnum, Chevette and possibly a Firenza. She enjoyed the long-term support of Tyreservices garages, a business which had a major depot in her home area of North Yorkshire. At some point, she worked as a fashion model and apparently appeared in Vogue magazine, which helped her from a promotional point of view.

She entered her first RAC Rally, in 1976, driving a Magnum with Tony Gilhome. They do not appear to have finished. Her second attempt in 1977, driving the same car but with Mary Fullerton on the maps, also ended in retirement.

Chrissie also raced on the circuits occasionally. She was invited to take part in the Shellsport Ladies’ Escort Race at Brands Hatch in August 1978, by the BWRDC and promoter John Webb. Against strong opposition including former ETCC racer Susan Tucker-Peake, she was fifth overall. She also took part in sprints occasionally, including the 1977 Graham Hill Trophy at Curborough. 

In 1978 and 1979, she was the BRTDA British Ladies' Champion. The second championship came after a break while she had the first of her four daughters.

1979 was probably her most successful year of competition. She drove a 2300 Chevette around the UK in rounds of the BTRDA and British National championships. Her best overall result was 25th on the Hadrian Centurion Rally, out of 94 finishers. She was also 31st out of the 84 recorded finishers on the Esso South West Stages.

Shortly after, she left rallying for family life and business interests, although she did make a brief comeback in 1983 when she entered the Lindisfarne Rally. She was 52nd overall in a Chevette. 

After rallying, she concentrated on her business interests in the catering world, heading Danby’s Foods, a frozen-food manufacturer. She later worked with the Food Standards Agency. Her marriage to Paul Ashford did not last and she remarried; in the business world, she was known as Christine Dunn.

She died in 2009, aged 60.

(Image copyright Neil Robins)

Jessica Hawkins

Jessica (centre) on the winner's podium in 2017

Jessica Hawkins was second in the John Cooper Mini Challenge in 2017. She was a multiple race-winner in her first really successful season, finally displaying the talent she showed in a kart.

As a junior, she won several karting championships, and featured strongly in some major ones.

In the face of a series of difficult sponsorship situations, she got onto the grid for the 2014 Renault Clio Cup. This was in part thanks to winning a testing shootout organised by the BWRDC, and was helped by some further experience in the car in the 2013 Autumn Trophy. In the end, she only seems to have driven in two rounds, at Brands Hatch, but she was third and fourth. Her team-mate was Jodie Hemming, recently returned to competitive action. Jodie was acting as her driver coach too.

Later in the season, she raced in the British Formula Ford Championship, at Silverstone, scoring two tenths, and an eleventh place. She was team-mate to Michael O’Brien, a fellow youngster.

In 2015, she chose the single-seater route, and entered the MSA Formula series. This was a transitional formula between Formula Ford and Formula 4, as it would become in 2016. It was a difficult season, and she just missed out on a top-ten spot at Rockingham and Snetterton. She was 23rd overall, after competing for just over half a season. She was part of a strong field, including Lando Norris, Dan Ticktum and Enaam Ahmed.

During the winter season, she raced in the MRF Challenge in the Middle East. She managed two fifteenth places at Bahrain. These were her only two races in the championship.

Part-way through 2016, she joined Team HARD Racing for the VW Racing Cup, and was ninth and eighth at Brands Hatch, driving a Golf. She did enter the third race at Brands but did not finish. This experience put her back on her original track of saloon racing, which would pay off.

Jessica’s first race in the 2017 Mini Challenge ended in a win from pole. She followed that up with another win from the front. She aimed for a clean sweep of the Snetterton meeting, but had to settle for third in the third race. She repeated this exactly at Silverstone: two wins, two poles, then a third. She won one more race at Rockingham and earned a further six podium places from eleven races. She could have won the championship if her early momentum had lasted, but she was still a strong second in what was her first full season of competition.

Her sights are now set on a career in tin-tops and she has completed the first year of a three-year plan, which will take her into the BTCC.

This plan had a slight setback in 2018, when she did not race very much, apart from a couple of guest appearances in the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup at Snetterton. She spent most of the year working as a stunt driver.

In 2019, she returned to single-seaters, applying successfully to enter the female-only W Series. She sometimes found herself mixed up in on-track accidents during the season itself and had a best finish of seventh, at Assen and Brands Hatch. She was eleventh in the championship and therefore invited back for 2020.

W Series was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus, but Jess went back to tin-tops and managed to take a big step forward in her career. She signed a one-round deal with Power Maxxed Racing to drive their Vauxhall Astra in the BTCC and raced at Snetterton. Her best finish out of her three races was 20th, but she had been running much higher than that when she was pushed off-track by Andy Neate. She also had to contend with significant ballast in her car due to starting the season late.

Before that, she had a guest drive in the Jaguar i-Pace eTrophy, alongside her partner Abbie Eaton. She was eighth and ninth at the Berlin street circuit.

She made three further BTCC guest appearances in 2021, this time driving a Ford Focus ST run by Racing with Wera and Photon Group. Snetterton was the scene of the action again and she finished all three races, narrowly missing out on a top-twenty placing once to finish 21st.

W Series beckoned again too, but it was not a stellar season for her and she only really got on the pace towards the end, earning a sixth and fifth place at Spa and Zandvoort. She was a backmarker for much of the eight-round championship and finished eleventh overall, meaning she will not be invited back automatically.

She was also announced as a Driver Ambassador by the Aston Martin F1 team. Although this is a non-competing role at present, she travelled with the team for several events in 2021. Her stunt work, which has included appearances in a James Bond film, continued.

Her third W Series season began with a second place at Miami, but it was soon eclipsed by her first win in the British TCR series, driving a SEAT Leon for Area Motorsport and FASTR. Her win, at Oulton, was her only one of the season. She had too many non-finishes to make an impact on the final leaderboard, but she did manage a fifth and sixth at Castle Combe. She was fourteenth in the championship.

Her W Series season was also inconsistent and she was ninth after the shortened seven-race programme. This proved to be her last W Series season as the championship folded at the beginning of 2023. 

Her competitive action was UK-based in 2023. She took part in the Praga Cup, driving for the University of Wolverhampton team with Teddy Wilson. They won one race and were second in the championship. Using the same car, she entered the Zeo Prototype Cup with Shane Kelly. They were frontrunners in that series too, winning their class in five out of six races to finish second.

Away from active racing, Jessica continued to work with Aston Martin and was even allowed to test the AMR21 F1 car in September. She was the first woman to drive a current F1 car for several years. The team also gave her a job overseeing their F1 Academy entry.

She raced an Aston Martin in 2024, although not the F1 car. She drove for the Beechdean team in the British GT championship, in their Vantage. Her co-driver was Andrew Howard and she did six rounds of the nine-race season. She was 19th in the drivers' standings, with  a best result of seventh, achieved at Donington. 

(Image from www.excelr8motorsport.com)

Sarah Moore

Sarah with the John Cooper Mini

Sarah Moore made history in 2009 by winning the Ginetta Junior championship outright. She was the under-17 series’s first female champion. She has since gone on to race saloons and sportscars in the UK and Europe.

She completed her first season of the Ginetta Junior series in 2008. She managed to finish in the top ten six times, with a best result of sixth. This followed a part-season in 2007, when she was fourteen. As well as full-size cars, Sarah also raced karts.

Her championship-winning season included five wins, making her the first female driver to secure victory in a TOCA-sanctioned race. She was awarded a BRDC Rising Star at the end of the year.

She returned to the series in 2010 for a final year, but did not manage another win. She was seventh overall. This year, she moved from her family’s team, Tockwith Motorsport, to Eurotech.

In 2011, after turning seventeen, she switched to single-seaters and raced in the Intersteps Formula, supported by Tockwith again. Her best finish was fourth, achieved twice at Silverstone, and she was sixth overall. Later, she described her foray into single-seaters as “difficult”.

She also did four races in the Smart 4Two championship, scoring two podium finishes. This was a new championship for the UK, based on the unlikely Brabus-prepared Smart micro-car.

She continued in the 4Two series in 2012, and scored a second at Spa and a two thirds at Snetterton. Her team-mate was her younger brother, David. They have another brother, Nigel, and all three pair up at various times.

A career hiatus followed. For a season, Sarah concentrated on her work as a driver coach, and only competed in karting. Even then, it was to help develop her student drivers.

In 2014, she was ready to race again. Alongside her brother Nigel, she travelled to Germany, to compete in the VLN, held on the legendary Nordschleife of the Nürburgring. She was racing in the Toyota GT86 Cup class. They won the class twice.

The pair aimed to return to the VLN in 2015, but it was not to be. Sarah kept her hand in by racing in kart enduros. She was the European ProKart Endurance Champion, with her team-mate Matthew Greenwood.

After another year spent mostly on the sidelines, Tockwith Motorsport entered Sarah into six rounds of the LMP3 Cup. She was driving a championship-standard Nissan-engined Ligier. If she had been able to complete the season, she would have been in line for a good position: she and co-driver Richard Dean were third at Donington and second at Spa.

As well as sampling prototype racing, Sarah continued to gain experience in different saloons. She entered five rounds of the UK Mini Challenge, all at Brands Hatch. She drove in both the Cooper Pro and JCW classes. Her best finish was fourth in the JCW car, in August.

Minis were a theme during her 2017 season. The intention had been for her to run a full season of the Mighty Mini championship. This was restricted to four rounds, but she won two of them.

The other cars she raced were a Smart ForFour, which she used for some rounds of the Britcar championship, and a Ginetta G50. The latter car she used in the BWRDC’s Ladies’ Handicap in November. She was the runaway winner on scratch, lapping almost all of the field twice. However, she was given a very low handicap, and was tenth in the final results.

In 2018 she drove a Ginetta in Britcar with Matt Greenwood. They won the Endurance championship in the Tockwith Motorsport G50.

2019 involved another season in Britcar and Sarah also tried to get back into single-seaters in the female-only W Series. Her season started well enough and she led during the first race at Hockenheim, but she could not get onto the podium and had a best finish of fifth, at Hockenheim and Zolder. She was eighth in the championship and will race again in 2020.

In mixed competition, she entered the Algarve round of the GT4 South European Series, driving a Ginetta G50 run by Tockwith. She and Moh Ritson were second in class in both races.

W Series was cancelled for 2020 due to the coronavirus crisis but Sarah picked up a drive in the UK Porsche Sprint Challenge. She raced at Donington and Croft, earning two fourth places and a sixth.

Her 2021 season was based around W Series, in which she finished fifth. She began the season well at the Red Bull Ring with a second place and was a fairly consistent top-ten finisher, apart from a mid-season dip in form. She was due for automatic inclusion in the 2022 championship and was picked for the Scuderia W team. 

In 2022, she was a consistent finisher in the lower half of the top ten in W Series. Her best result was seventh, achieved in Hungary and Singapore, and she was eleventh in the championship.

W Series folded at the start of 2023 so there was little competitive racing for Sarah that year. Late in the season, she was signed by the Bangalore Speedsters for the Indian Racing League, sharing the car with Kyle Kumaran. Sarah won the first race at Madras and was fourth and seventh in her other two races, leading the Speedsters to a championship win. Individually, she was fourth.

Moving away from competiton, she was announced as a driver coach for the More Than Equal female driver training programme.

(Image copyright Marc Waller)