Yvonne Simon

Yvonne and her co-driver Regine Gordine at the 1951 Monte

Yvonne Simon was a versatile French driver who showed skill in both sportscar racing and rallying in the 1950s.

She raced Ferraris at Le Mans twice, in 1950 and 1951. Her first attempt, partnering Michel Casse in Luigi Chinetti’s 166 MM Berlinetta, ended with an empty fuel tank on lap 25. However, a second run in the same car in 1951 gave her and Betty Haig a 15th place, third in class.

Her two Le Mans entries came in the later part of her career, which had begun in the 1930s. Among her earliest achievements was a second place in the 1937 Paris-St. Raphaël Rally driving a Hotchkiss Grand Sport. She was only 20 years old. Two years later in 1939, she won the all-female event outright, in the same car. A few months earlier, she had won her first Monte Carlo Rally Coupe des Dames, driving the Hotchkiss with Suzanne Largeot and starting from Athens. This was her third attempt at the Monte, after failing to finish the 1937 event in a Matford and co-driving Louise Lamberjack’s Hotchkiss to eleventh in 1938.

Among her other notable pre-war rally results was a seventh overall in the 1939 Criterium Paris-Nice, in the Hotchkiss.

She began circuit racing not long after her rally debut, in 1938. She and her rally team-mate Suzanne Largeot entered the Paris 12 Hours at Montlhéry, driving a Simca belonging to Yvonne. They were eighth overall, second in the 1100cc class.

Her earliest win was in a ladies-only race using Renault Juvaquatres. It was held at the Péronne circuit as part of that year’s Picardie Grand Prix. Yvonne defeated Hellé Nice to win. She entered one other women’s one-make race that year at Comminges, but the result is not known.

As soon as motorsport recommenced after the war, Yvonne was back in action. She shared a Delahaye with Germaine Rouault for the Spa 24 Hours in 1949 and was eleventh overall, first in the 4000cc class. The car was probably Germaine’s.

It seems to be about this time that Yvonne got to know Luigi Chinetti. She raced against him in that year’s Spa 24 Hours, which he won. In 1950, she started racing his Ferrari 166 MM. It is sometimes credited as Yvonne’s own car, but its chassis number, 0042M, remains the same.

Her first race in this car was the Circuito de Porto, in which she was fourth overall and won her class. She also competed in the Rouen and German Grands Prix, although the results are not forthcoming.

In the same car, she won a 3-litre race in Nice and finished the Mille Miglia, 90th and seventh in class with Alberico Cacciari. Later in the year, she was sixth in the Circuito di Senigallia.

She even drove the Ferrari in the Paris-St. Raphaël Rally and was second overall. Rallying was far from forgotten: she had already finished second in the women’s standings in the 1951 Monte Carlo Rally in a Simca. The Ferrari made another unlikely rally appearance in the Rallye du Maroc, held in the Atlas mountains. Yvonne and Alberico Cacciari were 19th.

Entering a different Ferrari herself, she had another go at the Senigallia race in 1952, but did not finish. She was also eighth in the 1952 Reims GP and thirteenth in the Bari GP. This car was another 166, but had a Zagato body. For the St. Raphaël Rally, she drove a Renault 1063 and posted the first of three consecutive wins.

The same car and driver combination won the 1953 Paris-St. Raphaël, ahead of class winner Paola della Chiesa’s Lancia Aurelia.

1953’s racing season was meant to start with the Mille Miglia, but the Fiat 1100 that Yvonne was scheduled to share with her St. Raphaël rival Paola della Chiesa did not make the start. A couple of months later, a last outing in the Ferrari led to an eleventh place in the Monza Grand Prix. Most of Yvonne’s major races this year were in Italy; she raced another Ferrari in her only attempt at the Pescara 12 Hours in August, sharing with a driver called Giarelli.

Her biggest home race of the year was also the major debut of her new car, a 745cc Panhard Monopole. She was fourteenth in the Reims 12 Hours with Jean Hémard in this car. Early in the season, it had proved itself a decent rally car with the first of two St. Raphaël wins.

In 1954, driving the Monopole, she was fourth in the Nimes GP, just behind Elie Bayol. She entered the Reims 12 Hours again with Jean de Montrémy in the same car, but they crashed out.

The same car and driver pairing attempted the Bol d’Or in 1955. The race was held at Montlhéry over 24 hours and they were tenth, second in the 750cc class.

This was Yvonne’s last major circuit race. She continued in rallying for another couple of seasons and won her final St. Raphaël event in 1957, driving the Panhard.  

She died in 1992, at the age of 75.

(Image from http://www.kwa-kwa.pl)

Lucette Pointet

Lucette (right) with Jacqueline Fougeray and the DS, after their 1966 Monte Coupe des Dames

Lucette Pointet was a French rally driver and co-driver, who often drove a Citroen DS.

Born in 1936, she started rallying at a young age, acting as a navigator to a family friend, Nicole Pizot, the daughter of Paul Pizot, another rally driver. Nicole’s rally car was a DB Panhard, which was an unusual choice, but seemed reliable enough. Some sources say that the duo began their automotive adventures in 1954 or 1955, with Lucette’s parents arranging her entry for the 1955 Monte Carlo Rally, but her name does not appear on the 1955 Monte entry list. They were definitely competing together early in 1959, when Nicole, with Lucette on the maps, was second in the Paris-St. Raphaël women’s rally. They first appear in the Monte in 1960, in the DB, starting at Paris, but are missing from the final classification. Apparently, their first event together was the Rally of Beaujolais, but the date of this is uncertain. Other sources state that Nicole Pizot only started rallying in 1958, which fits in with the Monte start lists.

Early in her career, she apparently drove karts as well as rally cars, but no information about this is forthcoming.

In 1961, she drove a Renault Dauphine 1093 in hillclimbs, running particularly well on snow and ice. This was her first experience of driving herself. As well as the climbs, she did some stage rallying, and proved a very capable driver, finishing third in the Neige et Glace Rally with Simone Petit. Navigation had not been forgotten, and this year, she sat beside drivers including Gérard Larrousse. The following year, she drove a Volvo in rallies and hillclimbs. The results are not forthcoming.

For the 1963 season, she became involved with the Paris-Île de France Citroen team, having met its manager, René Cotton, the previous year. This was her first time with a fully funded car, with her own recce vehicle and service crew. The car was a DS19; the DS was a model that would become almost synonymous with Lucette as a rally driver. She repaid Cotton’s confidence in her by winning the Paris-St. Raphaël Rally, despite a small crash and an attempt by another team to get her disqualified. They claimed that the loss of some bodywork in the accident left Lucette’s car underweight, but this was thrown out.

The rest of the 1963 season was spent as a navigator to Claudine Bouchet in another DS19. The pair figured strongly in Coupes des Dames, and Claudine was sixth overall in the Tour de Corse. After Claudine moved to the Lancia team for the 1964 season, Lucette took over as the team’s main Coupe des Dames hopeful.

Her 1964 co-driver was usually Françoise Houillon. The pair tackled the Monte Carlo and Acropolis rallies together, although it is not clear whether or not they finished. The Acropolis was a difficult event for them, as Lucette was struggling with illness, and had quite a severe crash at one point. As well as driving herself, navigation still remained part of her rallying life. She read the maps for Jean-Claude Ogier on the Alpine Rally.

The Paris-Île de France operation took over the running of the works Citroen team in 1965, taking Lucette with them. She continued in her dual role, utilising both the familiar DS19 and the newer DS21. She drove the latter on that year’s Monte, and was a respectable 25^th overall, third in the Coupe des Dames rankings. She reverted to the DS19 as part of a ten-car Citroen attack on the East African Safari, and was fourteenth, third of the DS19s and winner of the Coupe des Dames. As it often was, the 1965 Safari was a real car-breaker, and the fact she finished at all is a testament to Lucette’s driving skill.

In 1966, Lucette and her new co-driver, Jackie Fougeray, finally won a Coupe des Dames on the Monte. Later in the year, in September, she added another Coupe to her collection, in the Alpine Rally, finishing in thirteenth. In between, she took part in the Geneva Rally, and was an excellent tenth. This was a privateer outing in a Panhard 24CT; Jean-Claude Ogier was third in a similar car. At the end of the season, she tackled the Rallye des Routes du Nord in a Citroen, but crashed out heavily at Reims, and had to be airlifted to hospital.

In addition to her international rallying activities, Lucette was a regular fixture in the French championship, usually in a Citroen. She won the French ladies’ championship in 1967. One of that year’s best results was an eighth overall in the Mont Blanc Rally. Her international outings that year were limited to a run in the Monte Carlo Rally, in which she was 33^rd, behind Sylvia Österberg for the Coupe des Dames.

In 1968, she was runner-up in the French rally championship. On the international stages, she achieved a twelfth place in the Rally of Portugal, driving a DS21 with her new co-driver, Michèle Veron. Her two other world outings were the two classic French rallies, the Monte and the Tour de Corse, but she did not finish either. As a navigator, she was once again paired up with her partner, Jean-Claude Ogier, and helped him to win the Safari Calédonien Rally. Her brother lived on the island of New Caledonia, and the pair only entered after deciding to visit him, and being persuaded by a Citroen team.

Away from Citroen, Lucette also acted as a navigator to Rosemary Smith in the London-Sydney Marathon, in a Ford Lotus Cortina. They finished the gruelling event in 48^th place. Rosemary had been tipped to win the Coupe des Dames, but a series of problems, including a cylinder failing on the car, having to drive backwards up the Khyber Pass, and almost becoming the victims of a highway robbery, dropped her and Lucette down to third. Communication difficulties between the pair did not help matters.

A much quieter year followed in 1969. Lucette, having travelled the world with Rosemary Smith in 1968, only did one major international rally, the Rally of Portugal. She drove a DS21, but did not finish. As a navigator, she helped Jean-Claude Ogier to another win in the Safari Calédonien Rally.

Lucette and Jean-Claude married in 1970, and continued to rally Citroens as a couple, with Lucette using the name Pointet-Ogier. Breaking one long-term relationship as she cemented another, she did some rallies in France as a driver, using a Ford Capri and Escort prepared by Ford France. Among the rallies she entered in the Escort was the Tour de Corse, which she did not finish. She was sixteenth in the Critérium Alpin and 24^th in the Rallye Neige et Glace.

1971 was her last active season as a regular competitor. She navigated for Jean-Claude Vinatier in an Alpine-Renault, in France and also in the Rally of Jamaica.

Along with her husband, she came out of retirement for one event in 1982, to drive a Citroen Visa in the Acropolis Rally, which had been one of her first major rallies. Sadly, they did not get to the end. After that, she worked on the organising committee for French rallies, including the Tour de Corse and the Monte.

During her career, she was twice French ladies’ rally champion, although the dates are proving hard to track down. She was (and remains) quite a private person and not as much has been written about her as about some of her contemporaries, such as Claudine Trautmann. Relatively few photographs of her have been published.

Her daughter, Catherine Ogier-Falzon, has competed in rallies, and in recent years, has navigated for her father in historic events. Her son, Jean-Francois Pointet-Ogier, played ice hockey internationally prior to his untimely death in 2009.

Camille du Gast

Camille, driving solo

Camille du Gast was probably the first internationally-known female racing driver. She was French, and drove in grands epreuves between 1901 and 1904.

Camille was born in 1868. She had a lifelong love of sports; as a child, she was labelled a tomboy. Contrary to prevailing ideas about the role of married women at the time, marriage did not slow her down one bit. Her husband, Jules Crespin, positively encouraged her in ballooning, shooting, equestrianism and a variety of winter sports. When she became the first woman to complete a parachute jump in 1895, he was with her all the way. She jumped from the gondola of a hot air balloon, and her parachute was proudly printed with the logo of Dufayel, a Paris department store of which Jules was a director. She always used her own family name in public, perhaps to avoid the suggestion that her feats of daring and sport were purely publicity stunts for her husband’s business.

Sadly, Jules died at the end of 1895, at the young age of 27. Camille was now a widow, albeit a very wealthy one. Marriage had not slowed her down, and the loss of her husband would not either. Some time between 1895 and 1901, she travelled across Morocco on horseback, alone.

She learned to drive in 1898, and became the second French woman to receive her brevet (license). She owned a Panhard and a Peugeot, one or both of which may have originally belonged to Jules. After watching the start of the 1900 Paris-Lyon race, she became interested in motor racing and was determined to try it herself.

In June, she entered the Paris-Berlin Trail, organised by the ACF. She was the only female starter in the main Trail, although a sister event was held that year, in which Hélène de Zuylen took part. Camille’s car was a Panhard et Levassor with 20hp. It was not a sports racer by any means, being a fairly standard road model. She ran it in the “Heavy Car” class for vehicles over 650kg. Her riding mechanic was Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord, the Duke of Sagan. Like Camille, he was a habitué of the Paris social scene. The pair were close friends and possibly lovers.

The trail was a road race of 1105km, run in three stages. Camille and the Panhard ran well, and finishing in 33^rd place overall, 29^th in the Heavy Car class. There were relatively few dramas on the way.

Motor racing was still quite new in 1901, so the Paris-Berlin was her only event that year. She does not seem to have entered any of the hillclimbs or speed trials that were starting to appear across Europe. Camille’s activities for 1902 are not completely certain; some French sources claim that she entered the Paris-Vienna race, but she does not appear on any entry list I have found. It is possible that she attempted to start, but her entry was not accepted. This was the case with the New York-San Francisco race that was held the same year. The burgeoning motorsport authorities in the States were never keen on female drivers, as Joan Newton Cuneo would find out.

It is sometimes written that Camille spent much of 1902 on an “extended cruise” somewhere, although the destination is not mentioned. What is certain is that she spent some of this year clearing her name in the French courts, after it was claimed that she was the model for a painting by Henri Gervex, “La Femme au Masque”. The 1885 picture, which does look somewhat like Camille, is of a woman naked apart from a Venetian mask. The accusers appear to have been family members, and the case went on for a long time, despite Gervex and the model herself, Marie Renard, giving evidence.

Her next grand epreuve was the 1903 Paris-Madrid race, driving a De Dietrich prepared by the factory. The Paris-Madrid trail was halted at Bordeaux after a string of fatalities to both drivers and spectators. She was doing well in this "Race to Death", and had been running as high as sixth in her 30hp De Dietrich. Unfortunately, a stop to rescue her team-mate Phil Stead after an accident dropped her to 77th. He was trapped under his car, and Camille helped to free him.

Her drive impressed the Benz factory team enough to offer her a seat in a works car, but women were barred from competition by the ACF in 1904, so nothing became of it. The dreadful publicity that came with the Paris-Madrid deaths probably had a part in this; the public outrage over the death of a female driver would be considerable. The ACF had one eye on protecting the future of motorsport, although one eye was clearly on keeping women “in their place”. The reason given for the ban was “feminine nervousness”.

After her four-wheeled career came to its abrupt end, she turned to racing motor boats, mostly around France. Her battling performance in the 1904 Toulon-Algiers boat race, which was abandoned due to atrocious conditions, lived up to her nickname in her native France: l'Amazone.

It is sometimes claimed that Camille made a return to terrestrial motorsport in 1905, taking on Dorothy Levitt in a match race, as part of the Brighton Speed Trials. In the available documentation, there is no mention of Camille taking part, although Dorothy and several other women appear on the entry lists. Any race that they had must have been organised privately. Camille was racing one of her boats at the time, and reporting of the two female protagonists at two separate events may have become confused.

After her enforced retirement from high-speed activities, she trained horses, gave piano recitals and founded the French equivalent of the RSPCA, as well as a charity that provided healthcare to disadvantaged women and children, both in France and North Africa. She retained an affinity with the region, and travelled there extensively, sometimes writing about her experiences. Her concern for other women did not just extend to poorer women needing medical assistance; she was a member of, and contributor to, the early French feminist movement, campaigning for the vote and equal rights.

This new, socially-conscious Camille still enjoyed action and danger, however. In 1930, she organised a protest against a bullfight at Melun, in which a group, co-ordinated by Camille, jumped into the bullring, blew whistles and set off smoke bombs.

Earlier, in 1910, she had been involved in action and danger of a less welcome kind, when her own daughter tried to have her murdered, for financial gain. She survived unscathed.

It is the charitable part of her life that is most remembered in France, although her sporting activities are still recognised.

She died in 1942.  

(Image source unknown)