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)

Hannah Chapman

 

Hannah Chapman is a Scottish driver who races a Mini Cooper, in Scotland and around the UK.

She began racing the Mini in 2013, with a part-season in the Celtic Speed Mini Cooper Cup. This followed a successful karting career from the age of 14. Her campaign was shortened by a crash which wrote her car off; another competitor went off-track in front of her and she was unable to swerve.

She was both Newcomers’ and Ladies’ champion in the 2014 Scottish Mini Cooper Cup. In the main championship, she was 18th, after a somewhat up and down season. 

Another three seasons racing in Scotland followed, during which time she got right on the pace. In 2015, she was fifth in the overall championship, with a best finish of sixth. She won the Ladies’ trophy from Taeler Shand, her biggest rival at the time. The following year, Taelor fought back for the Ladies’ title. She prevailed despite Hannah having the stronger finishing record, as she had completed more rounds. Hannah was tenth overall but had the consolation of earning her first outright win at Knockhill. 

She returned in 2017 and was fifth in the main championship again, with two wins. 

She was seventh overall in 2018 with two second places at Knockhill. 

Competition further afield beckoned. In 2019, she was ninth in the Cooper Pro class of the UK Mini Challenge, which supports the British Touring Car Championship. It was something of a learning curve but she really improved towards the end of the season, picking up a second place at Cadwell Park. 

She moved up to the JCW class in 2020 and had best finishes of 14th at Knockhill and Silverstone. Her switch-up came about quite quickly and she joined at the fourth round, held at Knockhill. She was 23rd in the final standings, ahead of her Lux Motorsport Team B team-mate. The JCW class uses 240hp+ turbo cars and is the most powerful and competitive in the championship.

Her final position improved to 19th in 2021 and she was the best female driver in the championship. Her best circuit was Knockhill, her home track, although she suffered contact in the first race and had to play catch-up.

Another JCW season beckoned in 2022. After a part-season of just under half of the rounds, she was 28th overall. Oulton Park was her best circuit this year; she earned a 15th and 16th place there.

She did not race in 2023 but planned to return. Her 2024 campaign was another part-season in the JCW Sport class, but she made the most of it by finishing on the podium in all five of her races, winning one at Knockhill.

Hannah is famous for her pink car. She enjoys adding a little femininity to her racing.

(Image copyright Hannah Chapman)

Jo Polley

 

Jo Polley races Minis in the UK. She came close to winning the 2018 Super Mighty Mini Championship. 

She began in short-oval racing, including Ministox and BRiSCA F2 Stock Cars. From a short-oval family, she raced alongside her brothers for two years from the age of 15, picking up twelve wins in emulation of her champion father, George. Although she wanted to race as a senior, the funds were not there for her to compete alongside her two brothers and she temporarily retired.

She finally moved into long-circuit racing in 2007, having bought her own car. For her first race in the Mighty Mini Championship, she qualified in fourth and finished eighth. 

In her first full year, 2008, she earned one pole position at Mallory Park. She was fourteenth overall, despite having to miss most of the season. She had crashed heavily at Mallory and her car needed extensive repairs.

A second season in Mighty Minis in 2009 gave her her first podium finish, driving a rejuvenated car. She was eighth in the championship at the end of the year. Sadly, financial pressures forced her to sell the car and take another break from motorsport for a few years. 

After a while, she briefly returned to the Mighty Mini series in 2013, before moving into the modern Mini Challenge in 2014, driving a BMW Mini. In an interview with Sky Sports, Jo explained how this was down to sponsorship from PowerMaxed detailing products. The deal led to her working as a grid girl for the PowerMaxed BTCC team as well. She was thirteenth in the Cooper class of the Mini Challenge. 

In 2015, among some other projects, she attempted to win an entry to the Rally Aïcha des Gazelles. She spent most of the season in the PowerMaxed Mini Challenge and was eleventh in the Cooper class. 

In 2016, she continued to race her Mini, and also travelled to Spa for the Mini 24 Hours, in which she and her team-mates won their class. 

She raced in the JCW class of the Mini Challenge in 2017, as part of a three-car Eurotech team. Her best finish was eleventh at Oulton Park and she was 27th in the championship after a part-season. Eurotech also ran a BTCC team and Jo managed their sponsorship as well as standing on the grid for them at races. 

In 2018, back in a classic Mini, she came close to winning the Super Mighty Mini Championship, having led for much of the season after an early win. She was fourth. 

She switched to Mini 7evens the following year and was 16th in the championship, although her pace picked up dramatically towards the end of the season with a couple of top-five finishes. She also raced a classic Mini at the Silverstone Classic with Jeff Smith, whom she had met at Eurotech and was by now her partner.

Jeff and Jo raced together again in 7evens for the shortened 2020 season. She was fifth in the championship, with a best finish of third at Thruxton.

They raced together again in 2021, this time taking on the Masters Pre-'66 Mini Championship. Driving a Mini in her father's signature "Polley purple", she had a best finish of fifth at Brands Hatch. As well as this, she was a regular top-ten finisher in 7evens again and ninth in the championship.

She was third in the 2022 Se7en championship, with third places at Silverstone, Cadwell and Castle Combe. The 2023 championship led to a tenth place, but a one-off Masters Mini outing at Brands gave her a class third.

Her final position in the 2024 Mini Miglia championship was tenth again. She was a regular top-ten finisher and had a best finish of sixth, at Donington.

(Image copyright ByKathryn)