Olympic Speedqueens

 

Divina Galica (left) and Ann Moore

Many Speedqueens have achieved success in other sports. Here are five of the best-known Olympian female racing drivers. This is in no way an exhaustive list.

Divina Galica was a downhill skier who competed in four winter Olympics between 1964 and 1992, in the downhill and slalom skiing events and later, speed skiing, a demonstration discipline. She attempted to qualify for three grands prix between 1976 and 1978 and enjoyed success in Group 8 single-seaters, truck racing and sportscars. Her introduction to motorsport came through a Shellsport celebrity race for sportspeople.

Showjumper Ann Moore also got into motor racing through the Shellsport organisation and its celebrity events. As an equestrian, she won a silver medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics, riding her horse Psalm. Her racing career was short, beginning with one ladies' race in 1975 and six further outings in a Formula Ford 2000.

Belgian swimmer Chantal Grimard made a surprise switch to touring cars in the 1980s. She first raced in the Belgian championship in 1985, driving a VW Golf, before appearing in the 1986 Spa 24 Hours in a Toyota Corolla. This was part of an all-female team. She also did some rounds of the French F3 championship in 1987 before retiring. As a swimmer, she had entered four events at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

Swiss sportscar racer Lilian Bryner was another equestrian, competing at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. As a racing driver, she was the first woman to win the Spa 24 Hours in 2004, driving a Ferrari 550. She had won the GT class the year before, finishing second. She has raced multiple times at Le Mans and has World Sportscar Championship wins in a Ferrari 333 prototype.

Carole Montillet of France won a gold medal in downhill skiing and also had a decent career in rally raids after her retirement. She won the all-female Rallye Aicha des Gazelles rally raid in 2011 and 2012, after class wins in the quad class in 2004 and 2005. In 2007, she took part in the Dakar, driving a Nissan, but did not finish.

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)

Susan Tucker-Peake

 

Susan and Maralyn Tucker-Peake with one of their trophies

Susan Tucker-Peake raced between 1966 and 1989, starting in club saloon races in the UK and progressing as far as the European Touring Car Championship. 

She won two rallycross races in 1972, in a Ford Anglia, and was the winner of the 1975 Ladies’ Shellsport Escort Championship. 

Although she raced a wide variety of cars throughout her sporting career, she was probably most associated with saloon cars, spending some time racing in the no-limits Special Saloon championship in the ‘70s. In 1973, she raced a Ford Escort with Graham Goode, against the likes of Gerry Marshall. She continued to race in this series until at least 1975, driving an Escort.

Trying yet another discipline, she partnered Maggie Anderson in the 1975 Avon Tour of Britain. Their car was a Renault 11TS entered by Renault Elf Racing, who were running Maggie in their one-make Renault 5 series.

This was combined with regular appearances in the Ladies’ Shellsport Escort Championship. Despite not winning a race, she won the first championship in 1975, ahead of Divina Galica. Divina was the 1976 winner, with Susan in second. She was fourth in 1977.

In 1977, she drove a Renault 5 herself in most of the British Touring Car championship, which led to a works drive with Skoda in the 1978 ETCC. She and Petr Samohyl contested four rounds together in a 130 RS, with a best finish of 21st at Brno. The car was not reliable and this was their only finish. 

After her ETCC adventure, Susan bought a Brabham BT21 F3 single-seater and rebuilt it with her husband. 

During the 1980s, she raced in Formula 4, and in a number of relay races for the BWRDC.

Her earliest motorsport experiences were in trials, competing with her sister Maralyn in their father’s self-built Tucker Nipper car.

After retiring from active competition she served as the President of the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club. In 2003, as Susan TP-Jamieson she wrote Women in Motorsport from 1945 with Peter Tutthill, a book chronicling female drivers since the war.

(Image copyright classictrials.co.uk)

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)

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)

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)

Ann Moore

Ann leaps over her FF2000 car on Psalm

Ann Moore was a British showjumping champion who had a brief motorsport career in 1976, promoted by John Webb of Shellsport.

Ann won a silver medal in individual showjumping at the 1972 Munich Olympics, riding her horse Psalm. This made her the most successful of Britain’s female equestrians at a time when showjumping had a sizeable TV audience. She was voted the Sports Journalists’ Association Sportswoman of the Year in 1973, having been runner-up in the two years previously.

John Webb was the director of Brands Hatch circuit at the time. He was both sharp to the promotional value of female drivers and supportive of their abilities. He had one of his biggest successes the year before with Divina Galica, a former Olympic skier who would go on to attempt to qualify for a Formula One race in the same year that Ann Moore took the wheel. Ann’s public profile was far higher than Divina’s was due to the relative popularity of her sport. There was also a strong history of successful female drivers having first competed in equestrian events. Pat Moss was a showjumper like Ann, and another of the Webb protegees was Gillian Fortescue-Thomas, a former amateur jockey. The appeal to John Webb and his publicist wife Angela was obvious. Ann was signed up for what was referred to as the Webb “Charm School”.

Ann’s first race was in 1975. She was one of the celebrity racers hired to fill out the grid for the Shellsport Escort Ladies’ series, at Brands. Previous celebrity entrants had included TV announcer Linda Cunningham and actress and porn performer Fiona Richmond. The championship used the Shellsport fleet of Ford Escorts, which was kept at the circuit. Ann was eleventh after a spin. Divina Galica was the winner.

The next phase of her career was a move into single-seaters. It was announced early in 1976 that Ann would compete in “around 30 races” that year in an Elden Formula Ford 2000 car, arranged by the Webbs and sponsored by Rolatruc. She made her debut at the start of the season with two races at Brands, then one at Mallory Park in March.

Among her events that year was a charity single-seater race in aid of a sports-related cause. Ann’s car, complete with her livery and name, is seen being used by boxer Joe Bugner for training. 

The FF2000 car was perhaps not the best choice for a novice; Formula Ford 1600 may have been more suitable, or more outings in the Escort. Spectators of the time remark that Ann was slow and often spun her car. Her much-vaunted “professional” racing career came to a halt after only six races. 

A statement made to the press explained that she had not realised how much of her time would be taken up by motor racing, and that she would only take part in occasional celebrity races in the future. It is not clear whether she did appear in any more of Shellsport’s celebrity races, which usually used Escorts, but they were held throughout the season and there would have been plenty of opportunity.

Ann had already retired from showjumping two years previously, aged 24.

(Image by Nick Rogers, copyright Shutterstock)

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)

The Fast Girls Consul GT Challenge

Gillian Fortescue-Thomas

1. Gillian Fortescue-Thomas

2. Jenny Birrell

3. Micki Vandervell

4. Rosemary Smith

5. Yvette Fontaine

6. Gabriel Konig

7. Susan Tucker-Peake

8. Margaret Blankstone

9. Carolyn Tyler-Morris

10. Sheila Islip-Underwood

11. Jenny Dell

12. Juliette Scott-Gunn

13. Jill Robinson

14. Vicki Graham

15. Tish Ozanne

DNF Liz Crellin

DNF Trisha Morris

The “Fast Girls Consul GT Challenge” was held on August 26th, 1972 at Brands Hatch, during the Formula 5000 meeting.

It was a launch event for a Ford Consul one-make series and was intended as a one-off. The British Women Racing Drivers’ Club supplied many of the drivers. Some had come through the Shellsport “charm school” at Brands Hatch, including winner, Gillian Fortescue-Thomas, and Juliette Scott-Gunn. Some very experienced rally drivers took part as well as circuit racers. Tish Ozanne, Liz Crellin and Rosemary Smith had been active much earlier. Jill Robinson was more current. Yvette Fontaine was the only international entrant.

It was run over ten laps of the club circuit. Jenny Birrell started on pole.

The winning driver was presented with a mink coat by none other than Graham Hill.

(Image copyright Autosprint, 1971)

Gillian Fortescue-Thomas (Goldsmith)

Gillian Fortescue-Thomas (Goldsmith) was active in sports and touring car races in the UK and Europe between 1970 and 1975, then later in historic motorsport.

She rose to prominence in 1971, when she drove in the Ford Escort Mexico series, almost winning a race from Jody Scheckter. This was her second year as a racing driver. In 1970, she had campaigned a Formula 1200 Rejo and won one race at Lydden Hill, despite losing second gear. This car proved too expensive for her to run, as did the TVR Griffith that preceded it.

Ford were using female racing drivers to promote their cars at the time. Their competitions manager, Stuart Turner, had previously capitalised on Pat Moss’s success at BMC as a marketing tool, and was now doing the same at Ford. Gillian entered a driver search for women, organised by Ford. Rallycross featured heavily. She emerged as one of the victors, and earned a drive in the Ford Escort Mexico Challenge.

Through the Mexico series, she became involved with the Shellsport team, which usually used Mexicos. This was run out of Brands Hatch by John and Angela Webb, two more proponents of the publicity value of female racers. Her first major Shellsport event was a “Fast Girls Consul Challenge” at Brands Hatch in 1972. This race supported the Formula 5000 meeting and was highly publicised. Seventeen women took part in Ford Consul GTs. Gillian, as the winner from Jenny Birrell and Micki Vandervell, received a mink coat, presented by Graham Hill.

Gillian also travelled to Spa in 1972, to drive in the 24-Hour race in an Escort. This was one of her semi-works drives that she had won in 1971. Her team-mate was Yvette Fontaine, and they had to retire after a head gasket blew. They had qualified in eleventh spot. The pair had raced against each other in the Consuls, with Yvette finishing fourth.

In 1973, Gillian continued to appear at Shellsport events, including a “Relay Triathlon” at Brands. The traditional swimming leg was replaced by a four-lap race around the track. She was not part of the winning team, although she was one of the leading drivers. At the time, she was a popular figure in British motorsport and appeared in the likes of the Daily Express, jumping over her cars on a horse. She was usually described as a “farmer’s wife”.

At Llandow, she took part in another Ladies’ race, run by the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club. It was a handicap race, and she won in her Mexico.

As a Ford driver, she started the BSCC in an Escort. The engine failed at Brands Hatch. She did most of the rest of the season, although it is unclear whether she was driving for Ford, or her own team. The car was very unreliable, although she did manage a seventh place in the Silverstone GP support race. This was definitely a works entry.

Ford also provided a Mexico for her in the Avon Tour of Britain, as part of a works team that included Roger Clark and Prince Michael of Kent. Her co-driver was Carolyn Faulder.  

Later, in 1975, Gillian drove a Triumph Dolomite in BTCC races in the UK. Her car was run by Shellsport again, and she was sixth at Brands in her first appearance. She was then ninth in the very competitive Thruxton race. Her best finish was fourth at Silverstone, just behind her Shellsport team-mate, John Hine.

1975 was her last season for quite a while. She drifted back to her early love, horses, and became a successful amateur jockey, initially in point to point racing. In 1976, she was the first female National Hunt champion jockey.

After one retirement and a marriage, she started competing again as Gillian Goldsmith in the early 1980s. One of her first cars was an HWM-Jaguar.

She returned to the circuits in 1989 in an Aston Martin DB4. Since then, she has appeared at many major historic meetings, including the Goodwood Revival and the Le Mans Classic. She normally drives an Aston Martin, most frequently the DB4.

She still works as an ARDS instructor and races occasionally, as well as supporting her daughter, Samantha, in her own equestrian and motorsport career.

She is still fondly remembered from her BSCC days, when Gerry Marshall nicknamed her “Gillian All-Askew Thomas”.

(Image copyright Ronald Speijer)

Juliette Slaughter

Juliette with the Kelly Girl Lola

Juliette Slaughter (née Scott-Gunn; also Brindley) was most famous for her Le Mans entry in 1978.

Her racing career began in 1970, as Juliette Scott-Gunn, after she inherited some money. There was some history of motorsport in her family; her father had the distinction of being a racing vicar at Brooklands. In 1971, she won the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club’s Helen Spence Trophy, for the best newcomer. She competed in Class C of the Castrol Production Saloon Championship in 1972, in a Ford Escort, scoring one class win at Brands Hatch. In August, she raced in the BWRDC’s “Fast Girls Ford Consul Challenge” at Brands, and was twelfth, out of seventeen drivers, after a spin. The winner of this event, Gillian Fortescue Thomas, was presented with a fur coat by Graham Hill.

She met her first husband, Andy Slaughter, on-track, when he drove into her car! They were both racing in Production Saloons at the time. Between 1972 and 1974, she concentrated on her career in personnel. At one point, she was part of Mark Thatcher’s management team.

When she returned in 1975 as Juliette Slaughter, she was involved in the sport both on and off the track. Her day job was in the press office at Brands Hatch, under the management of John and Angela Webb. The Webbs were skilled promoters, and Juliette gained a reputation is a marketing expert.

One of John Webb’s favourite marketing ploys was using female drivers to create media interest. He had trained up a “stable” of women racers, some from the world of celebrity, or other sports, who raced under his Shellsport banner. They became known as “the Charm School”, and were not always taken seriously. Although John Webb always had one eye on the promotional value of his drivers, he also believed in them as racers, and helped to launch the careers of Divina Galica and Desiré Wilson.

Shellsport acted as the sponsor for the BWRDC’s invitation Ford Escort one-make challenge. It began in 1974, and Juliette took part in two of the three races, with a best finish of second. This was achieved at her home track, Brands Hatch. The series ran as a championship proper in 1975, and she entered three of the four rounds. She was sixth twice, this time at Mallory Park and Snetterton. She managed another two second places at Brands in 1976, behind Divina Galica, but had the consolation of a joint fastest lap and class record in the second race. She set another lap record at Snetterton in 1977, in the same car, and was second in the race itself.

She was an enthusiastic member of the BWRDC. Their 40th anniversary book, Mary’s Girls, tells of her participation in a women’s Demolition Derby in 1975, and a humorous imaginary film called “The Bird Life of a Northamptonshire Village”, in which she was going to discuss “fashion on the grid”.

In 1977, Juliette mainly raced a Shellsport Renault 5 in the Production Saloon championship. She scored at least one fourth place, at a Christmas meeting, and won her class at Thruxton, leading to another BWRDC accolade, the Embassy Club Championship. That year, she was also announced as the second driver in Divina Galica’s Sports 2000 Lola T290. Reports suggest that she took part in at least one event in the car, which was sponsored by the Kelly Girl employment agency. This may have been down to Juliette’s own negotiation, as she had previous experience in the field, and was now a marketing manager at Brands Hatch.

The Lola was one of several cars she raced in 1978. The Renault was kept on for use in Production Saloons, and she also had the use of a Triumph TR7 for production sportscars.

Her biggest race of 1978 was undoubtedly Le Mans. She was driving a Kelly Girl-sponsored Lola T294S, with Ian Harrower and Brian Joscelyne. They suffered engine trouble and did not finish, only managing 61 laps. That said, all drivers had put in some respectable times, particularly considering the age of their car, and their lack of big-race experience.

The following year, Juliette drove a Porsche 924 in the Brands Hatch 6 Hours with Win Percy, and they won their class, finishing 22nd overall. Again, this was a strong performance in an underpowered car, which had proved hard to qualify.

At the same event in 1980, she was ninth with John Sheldon and John Brindley, in a Lola T492. They won the Sports 2000 class.

Away from the major races, and after her Le Mans outing, she accepted a drive from Gerry Marshall Racing in Production Saloons, driving a Triumph Dolomite, in 1979. Unfortunately, no results are forthcoming for this car/driver combination.

Later, she drove a VW Scirocco in the same championship. She finished on the Production Saloon podium six times during 1980, with a best finish of second. This included a drive in the Willhire 24 Hours, as part of a team that included Stirling Moss and Desiré Wilson, and was sponsored by the “mens’ magazine”, Mayfair. She continued with the Scirocco in 1981, when she teamed up with Tony Lanfranchi.

She retired in 1982 to pursue her business career, and other interests. For many years, she put her promotional and organising expertise to good use on the committees for various horse trials, having taken up riding.

Sadly, she died in 2012, at the age of 67, after an eleven-year battle with cancer.

(Image copyright Getty Images)

Lorina McLaughlin (Boughton)

Lorina with her 1992 Benetton

Lorina is best known now for racing and hillclimbing Formula One cars from the 1970s and 1980s, but her career goes back much further than that.

She has been racing since 1970, having begun in an Alexis Formula Ford, as Lorina Boughton. Unlike many of her Speedqueen contemporaries, she is not from a family with a history of motorsport, but was introduced to circuit racing by a friend, who took her to Goodwood.

In her first year of racing, she won the BWRDC’s Newcomer award. By 1973, she was their Racing champion.

In 1974, she took over the running of a GRD Formula 3 car from her erstwhile team-mate, Jeremy Gambs, who was stepping down from the cockpit. The car was eligible for the Formula 4 championship that year, so Lorina entered. She was one of the star drivers of the series, and would have won it outright, if she had not had to drop some of her scores to get her final position. She was second overall, with three wins, and two “Man of the Meeting” awards, causing it to be renamed “Driver of the Meeting”.  This achievement netted her a BWRDC Embassy Trophy, and second in their racing championship, as well as the prestigious Lord Wakefield Trophy, for outstanding female contribution to motorsport.   

For the next couple of seasons, Lorina raced a Sark Formula Ford, and a Royale FF2000 car, with some good results, in Formula Ford and Formula Libre. She was also very active in the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club, and was one of those chosen to take part in the Shellsport Ladies Escort Championship, from its beginning in 1974. Her best year in the championship was 1975, when she had her best result of second, at Brands Hatch, with a fastest lap as a consolation. She was fourth in the final standings.

Between 1978 and 1980, she was a multiple championship winner at club level. She won the BARC Teddy Lawry Championship in 1978 and 1980, using one of her single-seaters, and in between, won the BARC FF2000 championship in the Royale, and set a Fastest Time of the Day at the Lydden Hill sprint. The following year, she was awarded the BARC’s Sydney Allard Trophy. A second win in the Teddy Lawry championship was hers in 1980.

Lydden Hill was a favourite track with Lorina; she won the Lydden racing championship in 1982. In the early and middle part of the 1980s, she was active in several different historic Formula Junior cars, including a Gemini, in which she set a Snetterton lap record in 1983. In 1984, she set another record at the same track, this time driving a Lotus 22. This achievement came on the way to a second place in the Historic Formula Junior Championship.

In 1982, she was part of a BWRDC all-female team in the Oulton Park 4-Hour Relay race, driving a Davrian. The other two members of the team were Julie Thwaites, in another Davrian, and Sue Davies, in a Hillman Imp. They were second overall on scratch.

Towards the end of the 1980s, Lorina became increasingly focused on historic competition, and she was proving her mettle in very powerful cars. In 1989, she raced an ex-James Hunt McLaren M23 Formula One car, and won Class B of the Historic Formula One Championship. Her best result was a fourth place, at Magny-Cours, in a Grand Prix support race. In 1991, she took the lap record at Silverstone in a Climax-engined Lotus 20 F1 car, racing in the F1 FISA Trophy. Between then and 1994, she was a regular in historic events, usually in the McLaren. Almost twenty years earlier, she had watched James Hunt race the car.

Lorina took a break from competitive motorsport lasting from 1994 to 2000, during which she concentrated on other things. She had married David McLaughlin in 1989, and together, they promoted historic Formula One, under the banner of “The FORCE” (The Historic European Formula One Car Entrants). Lorina continues to work as a race organiser to this day.

On her return to competition in 2000, she did not ease herself back in with some club meetings in a Formula Ford or a little saloon – she went straight back to the McLaren, demonstrating it at the Coys Festival. Slightly less powerful, but not much, was the Formula 2-spec Brabham BT30 she raced in the Classic Grand Prix championship.

After her return, she became a regular fixture at the big historic motorsport events, including the hillclimb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. She has won the Ladies’ Award at the FOS seven times, usually in the McLaren, but it is not the only car she has taken up the hill. In 2012, she drove an Arrows A9, and in 2011, an ex-Denny Hulme McLaren M19. Her car in 2013 was an ex-Michael Schumacher Benetton B192 from 1992. In 2015, she drove an Osella F1 car.

Wheel-to-wheel racing had not been forgotten. During 2003, she raced in Europe, and managed at least two sixth places at the Pau Historic Grand Prix. In 2004, she raced the McLaren M23 at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix Historique, and was twelfth, out of 30. She has also raced a March 711 in the States.

As well as her multiple Ladies’ awards at Goodwood, she set the fastest ladies’ time of the day at the 2008 Cholmondeley Pageant of Power.

In 2012, she travelled to Azerbaijan, for the inaugural Baku City Classic Grand Prix. She drove the Benetton, but it was not one of her best moments, due to fuel pipe issues, and she counts it as her worst race.

In 2015, Lorina was still a regular fixture at historic meetings around the UK, normally in the Benetton, and she demonstrated that car at the Silverstone Classic. In 2016, she took the Arrows up the Goodwood hill again. She is still active as an organiser for The Force.

She was elected President of the BWRDC at the start of 2019.

(Picture copyright Lorina McLaughlin)