Maria La Caze de Noronha

Maria La Caze de Noronha was a noble Portuguese-born driver who rallied in Europe in the 1930s. She married into a French family in 1913 and lived for quite some time in North Africa. She was usually named as "Dona La Caze de Noronha".

Her motoring career began in the women's rallies that started up in France at the end of the 1920s. Driving an American Oakland, she entered the first running of the Paris - St. Raphael Rally. Other cars she used included a Morris-Leon-Bollee, which she took to eleventh place in the Paris-Vichy Rally, also a women-only event. 

She is most associated with the Amilcar marque, and she started rallying one in 1930. In her first year, she secured a joint win in the Paris-Pyrenees-Paris Rally, a mixed event. Earlier in the year, the same car and driver combination tackled the Paris-Vichy Rally, another mixed one, although she could only manage 35th then. She was eighth in her class and ninth in the women's standings. Her other two big rallies were female-only, organised by the French Ladies' Automobile Club. She was fourth in the Paris-St.Raphael with a class win. 

The French "Eve" newspaper covered her 1931 adventures, in which she narrowly avoided crashing her BNC out of the Monte at the end of the concentration stage, near Nice. She had the 2000 miles plus solo, singing Portuguese fado music to keep herself awake. Unfortunately, she was over the time limit once she got going again. Other reports sya that she struggled on the braking and acceleration tests.

As well as rallies, she sometimes drove in wheel-to-wheel races. Driving a Ruby-engined MLC cyclecar, she finished the 1931 6H Routes Pavees, held at Pont-a-Marcq. She was 24th overall and fifth in class. Earlier in the year, she entered the Bol d'Or at Montlhery, driving the same or a similar car. She does not appear to have finished.

She drove an Amilcar in the 1932 Monte Carlo Rally and a Mathis in the 1934 event, although she may have retired very early in 1934. Her start points were Lisbon and Valencia respectively. 

Although she mainly competed in France, she also did some events in her home country. In 1932 and 1933, she took part in the Grand Prova de Resistencia, held at Foro near Estoril. The first time, she drove her Amilcar, but the second time, she was in an MLC, which was a similar car to both the Amilcar and the BNC. She was sixth overall in this car. 

After 1933, she appears to stop competing.

Away from rallying, she worked as a journalist, sometimes reporting from French-occupied North Africa. She was the Paris correspondent for a Portuguese magazine called "Illustracio". She was related to Formula 1 driver Robert La Caze through her husband.

She died in 1974, aged 85.

(Image copyright Biblioteque National de France)

Nuria Vinas

Nuria in 1968

Nuria Viñas Panades was a double winner of the Spanish women’s rally championship, in 1972 and 1973. She also won the Catalan women's championship in 1969, 1971, 1973 and 1975.

Born in Barcelona, she was from a motorsport family. Her brother Jordi was a rally driver who competed as "Jorge Chi" from the mid-1960s onwards. 

Her first steps in motorsport were apparently in 1962, when she entered the Rally Femina, which was based around Barcelona. Jordi encouraged her, according to an interview in Mundo Deportivo in 1968. The results for this all-female event are elusive, but her car was a Fiat 850, and she competed in the rally several times, possibly winning in 1963 and almost certainly winning in 1971. The rally was organised by Club 600, a Catalan motorsports club of which Nuria was a member. 

Her first rally looks to have been the Rally Invierno in 1963, where she and the SEAT were 36th. Returning to the event, she was 45th in 1964, this time in a BMW. Among her other cars was a Simca 1000, which she used for the Gerona Rally in 1965. She continued to switch between the SEAT, BMW and Fiat in 1966, with the Fiat being the quickest; she was twelfth in that year's Rally de las Tres Cuestas in it. She concentrated on smaller cars in 1967, changing between the SEAT and the Fiat. The Fiat was once again the best car for her, giving her a season's best of 18th in the Rallye Costa Brava.  In the same car, she was 23rd in the Rallye de Invierno, 19th in the Rallye Gerona and first lady in the Trofeo Maite Trepat and the Barcelona-Andorra Rally. She returned to the Barcelona-Andorra event in 1968. With the BMW and her regular co-driver Immaculada Juncosa, she won the Circuito de Llobregat Rally that year. 

At the same time, she appears in hillclimbs in Catalonia. Her first notable event was the 1964 Circuito Garraf, a hillclimb outside Barcelona. She drove a SEAT 600 and won both the novices' and the women's class. 

She and her brother sometimes entered the same events, althought they never shared a car. Both took part in the 1966 Puig Major hillclimb, both in Fiat-Abarth 850s, but in different classes.

The siblings competed against each other again in the 1967 Montseny climb. Nuria, in a Fiat-Abarth 850TC, was 40th overall, and Jordi was unplaced in his 1000cc Abarth. The following year, he had the upper hand, finishing 28th to Nuria's 43rd. She was driving a SEAT 600 again this time. 

The following year, she was the Catalan ladies' champion in hillclimbs and 32nd in the main championship.

As well as rallies and hillclimbs, she also raced on circuits, and was the first woman to participate in the Barcelona 6 Hours race, held at the Montjuich Park street circuit. Although she never raced single-seaters, she did compete at a Grand Prix weekend at least once, driving a little SEAT in the one-make Copa SEAT that ran as a support in the early 1970s.

She is most associated with a BMW 2002 Ti, and was especially effective in the women-only rallies organised in Spain in the early 1970s, but she first appears in the Spanish Touring Car Championship in it in 1970. She won her class in it in the Puig Major hillclimb, then a round of the championship. She is recorded as the winner of the 1971 Rally Femina in the BMW, and the same year, she did at least two rounds of the Sapnish Touring Car championship, finishing 16th at Montjuich and ninth at Guadalope. Her car was a Group 1-spec machine. She entered the Barcelona 3 Hours and was fifth in class. Hillclimbs were very much still a priority too, and she won her class in the La Rabassada event, after finishing second in Group 1 at Puig Major.

Her first Spanish women's championship win was also in this car. Nuria won the 1972 Rallye Femenina Saibil and the Rallye Primavera, with Maria Angeles Pujol, her regular co-driver in the middle part of her career. 

Her second women's championship in 1973 came off the back of six wins in all-female events, co-driven in the BMW by Ana Maria Garreta. She was more than twenty points ahead of her nearest rival, Marisol Rodriguez Mesa, who had only picked up one class win in the Rally of Spain, in her SEAT. Nuria's only non-win was her eighth place in the Rally Primavera-Las Palmas, which must have been a disappointment after her 1972 victory. As well as rallying, she continued to campaign her Group 1 BMW in Spanish Touring Cars, racing at Montjuich for the 2-Hour National event and finishing tenth.

The women's championship was in something of a decline in 1974, with smaller entry lists and more events running as a class in mixed rallies. Nuria only entered her BMW in one, the Jerez women's rally, which she won in the BMW, ahead of that year's champion, Yolanda. Nuria had to make do with another Catalan women's motorsport championship, which she claimed ahead of hillclimb driver Beverley Pugh.

Hers was a lengthy career, and she was still active in motorsport in the late 1970s, driving a Ford Escort in hillclimbs in Catalunya. She was 22nd in the 1978 Montseny hillclimb, returning to one of her earliest regular events. The following year, she made a last visit to Puig Major, finishing 51st.

She won a final women's rally, the Rallye Femenino Adosinda, in 1979. Her car was the Escort and she was navigated by Ana Maria Garreta, who had sat alongside her for several years. 

She died in 1998. 

(Image copyright Mundo Deportivo)

Carole Vergnaud

Carole Vergnaud is a French driver who was a member of the Citroen works team for rallies. She won the 1986 Mille Pistes Rally outright, in a Citroen Visa with Marie-Claude Jouan as co-driver.

She got her start as a rally driver via the Citroen Total Trophy, a rally competition for women organised by Citroen France. She had been co-driving occasionally since 1982 and competed in the Swedish Rally twice.

The qualifying stages were held in 1983, with the main competition phase held through the 1984 season, using identical Citroen Visas. Carole, the youngest driver at 21, was joint fifth, having won one round, the Mille Pistes Rally. The women's trophy was run as a class in the rally, and Carole was 18th overall.

Her first international rally as a driver was in 1985. She entered the Monte in a Citroen Visa, driving for the French junior team. She did not finish, and she did not get to the end of her second World Championship rally, the Tour de Corse. The car's clutch failed. Later in the year, she tried again, entering the Sanremo Rally and the RAC Rally. She did not finish either.

Away from the international scene, she fared better, although the Visa did seem to suffer from a variety of problems. She was fourth in the Rallye de la Baule in June, then ninth in the Rallye Terre de Charente, showing her skill on both tarmac and gravel. A second gravel event, the Terres de Beauce Rally, gave her a seventh place.

A first international finish still eluded her in 1986; she retired from the Swedish Rally after the Visa's gearbox went. However, after that disappointment, she had a superb run in the French gravel championship, beginning with a fourth place in the Terre des Bruyeres Rally. Her first podium came a couple of months later, when she was third in the Terre de Provence Rally. The results kept on coming, with a second place in Terre de Charente event, then her Mille Pistes victory. Sadly, another international outing in the Hunsruck Rallye in Germany ended in retirement, and the Citroen was less reliable in the second half of the season. She scored on more podium; a second place in the Rallye Terre des Cardabelles. At the end of the year, she was fourth in the French gravel championship.

Spurred on by her 1986 successes, she attempted the European rounds of the 1987 World Championship. After Henri Toivonen's horrific accident in Corsica in 1986, regulations had changed considerably, leaving the Group B Visa largely ineligible. Carole and seven other French drivers were unclassified in that year's Monte due to this. After some revisions, the car was allowed to compete in the Swedish Rally, and Carole was 24th. The rest of her WRC campaign ended with a series of DNFs in Portugal, Greece and Finland, with the car unreliable once more.

A surprising avenue for another victory had opened up that year, spurred on by the Group B situation. Citroen entered Carole and the Visa into the Atlas Rally, a rally-raid event, against dedicated off-road vehicles. She managed to win a stage outright.

The Visa was retired for 1988, replaced by the Citroen AX, running in class A5. The Citroen works team entered Carole into the Portugal, Sanremo and UK WRC rounds, but again, it wasn't to be. She finished one, the RAC Rally, in 41st place, after crashing out of the earlier two. Her Sanremo accident was a lucky escape. She had come off the road on a sharp turn with a steep drop to one side, and had only just climbed to safety when Jean-Marc Dubois and Robert Moynier crashed their Citroen at the same spot, killing both.

Her final season as a driver was 1989. She stayed in France, supported by the Citroen team for at least some of her rallies. The AX ran in a few different configurations, the most successful of these being a class A2 version, which gave Carole an eleventh place and a class win in the Rallye Alpin-Behra. This was one of three finishes this year, the others being a twelfth place in the Rallye des Garrigues, and 24th in the Tour Automobile de Nice.

As well as rallying, Carole raced Citroens on the track with some success. She competed in the 1987 and 1988 French Touring Car Championship, driving a works Citroen EX. She was third in at least one race in 1988, at Rouen-les-Essarts.

After almost an entire career spent in Citroen machinery, she entered the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1991, driving a Toyota 4Runner with Nanouk de Belabre. They were 73rd overall.

Later, she did some ice racing in the Andros Trophy, in 1992 and 1995. 

(Image copyright Citroen)

Carla Costa

Carla and Barbara Costa

Carla Costa is a Portuguese driver from the Azores, Portuguese-administered islands in the Atlantic.

Her career began as far back as 1998 and her first car was a Renault 4, an unlikely rally car. Nevertheless, she used it between 1998 and 2002, before replacing it with a sportier Citroen AX.

It was in 2005 that she started competing regularly, using a 1200cc Renault Clio. Co-driven by Elisabete Nunes, she won her class in two events: the Rali FM Ilha Azul and the Alem Mar Ilha Lilas rally. 

The first part of her career ends here. She did not compete again for ten years, but made her return in 2015, entering the Azores Ladies' Trophy, a women-only rally series with its own events. Her car was a Citroen Saxo and her co-driver was her daughter, Barbara. They won the last event of the championship, the Especial Sprint da Riviera, outright, after third places in the two previous rounds. This was enough to secure her the ladies' championship title.

She competed in the Ladies’ Trophy again in 2016, and won the first two rounds, the Rali Regional Vila Nova and the Rali Praia da Vittoria. A retirement in the third round dropped her to third in the championship. Her car was a Renault Clio.

Her navigator since that year was still her daughter, and the pair continued to rally together for the first couple of events in 2017. With Rul Avila, Carla won two "Ladies & Veterans" rallies outright in the 2017 Azores championship. She was driving the Clio.

She was back in mixed competition in 2018, still in the Clio. She earned two top-twenty finishes in the Sical and Ilha Graciosa rallies.

In 2019, she was second in the Azores ladies' championship, first in the asphalt series, with a best finish of 22nd in the Acoreana Rali. This year, she had several different co-drivers, the most frequent being Lisandra Inacio.

After a year off during the first part of the worldwide coronavirus crisis, she returned to the stages for the 2021 PicoWines Rali, finishing 26th. This was followed up by another win in the 2022 Azores Ladies' championship and had a best finish of eighth in the Rali Ilha Graciosa, driving a Renault Clio.

She was very active again in the Clio in 2023, finishing thirteenth in the Azores championship and scoring another eighth spot in the Ilha Graciosa Rally.

Another Azores championship season proceeded in 2024, including a sixth place in Especial Sprint Motorshow. She ended the year Azores ladies' champion again and was 16th in the championship.

Her son Diogo and husband Joao have both competed as co-drivers and drivers. In 2024, Carla, Joao and Diogo all drove in the Rali Alem Mar - Ilha Lilas event. Joao was 20th, Carla was 30th and Diogo crashed out.

The Paris-Amsterdam Rally

 

Suzanne de la Meurthe and Madame Marquisan with their Hispano Suiza

1. Suzanne Deutsch de la Meurthe/Madame Marquisan (Hispano Suiza)

2. Comtesse Magdeleine de Ganay/Mademoiselle Gouin (Renault Reinastella)

3. Beatrice Reinach (Ballot)

4. Camilla Steinbrugge (Bugatti)

5. Madame Kaufman (Citroen)

6. Madame Mennesson (Talbot)

7. Comtesse Constance de Lubersac (Citroen)

8. Miss Thurnauer (Bugatti)

9. Madame Friedmann (Rosengart)

10. Madame Schumann (Citroen)

11. Madame Sambon (Voisin)

12. Madame Krebs (Talbot)

13. Claude Dadvisard (Citroen)

14. Mademoiselle Cremieux (Citroen)

15. Comtesse Marie de Jouvencel (Citroen)

16. Madame Calbet (Citroen)

The rally began at the Place de la Concorde in Paris on the 12th of May 1931. The sixteen entrants were waved off by Anne, the Dowager Duchesse d’Uzes and the leader of the Automobile Club Feminin. 

Like the Paris-Rome Rally that followed it, the Paris to Amsterdam event had a strong social element, but was also a serious long-distance trial, passing through northern France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The first leg ran between Paris and Namur in Belgium, where a hillclimb was held, won by Suzanne Deutsch de la Meurthe.

Magdeleine de Ganay won the 20km regularity trial section between Gembloux and Wavre which followed. According to the Excelsior newspaper, her times matched the averages exactly. A points system based on these two events determined the final positions. Further pictures in the Club’s monthly magazine show the two leading passengers, who sat alongside the winners.

The competitive element of the rally was now over and the 16 cars made their way to Amsterdam’s Olympic stadium, via Brussels and Rotterdam. The results were announced at a gala dinner on the 14th, held at the Carlton Hotel in Amsterdam, after a day spent visiting Haarlem. The touring section continued with visits to The Hague, Vollendam and finally Luxembourg, via Arnhem and Utrecht, returning to France on Monday the 18th.

All sixteen cars finished. Many of the drivers remain elusive as to their full identities, although all seem to be members of the Club, wealthy and well-connected and based in France. Magdeleine de Ganay was a regular entrant in the women-only rallies of the time, winning at least one other of the club’s annual long distance rallies, plus the 1930 Paris-St. Raphael. The Comtesse de Lubersac, an American-born Frenchwoman, was seventh in the Paris-Rome Rally held the following year, along with Madame Calbet and Madame Mennesson. Noted art collector and one of the wealthiest women in France, Beatrice Reinach, was another who was a regular in the events held by the club. Camilla Steinbrugge was another socialite who mixed in more bohemian circles, reputedly a lover of the publisher Sylvia Beach.

Winner Suzanne Deutsch de la Meurthe was a committee member of the Automobile Club, but she was better known as a pioneering aircraft pilot.

(Image copyright Agence Rol)

Olga Thibault

Olga Thibault was one of France’s most successful female rally drivers in the 1930s.

She was the winner of the 1935 Paris-St. Raphael Rally, driving a Peugeot. This was one of two events she won outright that year. The other was the Rallye de Berck-Plage, three months later. 

The Paris-St. Raphael was not her first win, either. She was the victor in the Circuit d’Endurance de Haute-Normandie, held in 1934. Eleven drivers finished the event without penalties.

Her career began in 1932, with that year’s Paris-St. Raphael as her first rally. Only a couple of months later, she was fourth overall in the Circuit d’Orleans, winning the 1100cc class. Her car was a Peugeot 301, whose marque she would stick with throughout her five-year career. From her first year in rallying, she was a popular figure in the newspapers, who were keen to promote her victories.

Among her favourite events was the Dieppe Rally, which she contested four times. Her best finish was eleventh in 1935. This was her best year all-round in motorsport: as well as her two wins, she was second in the Rallye du Touquet-Paris Plage and third in the rally held as part of the Fetes de Paris. This was won by Rene Le Begue.

The Berck-Plage event was another favourite, which she entered three times: in 1933, 1935 and 1936. It was her last major rally and she won its Coupe des Dames in 1936.

Olga competed almost exclusively in France, but she did cross the border into Belgium for the finish of the 1934 Liege-Rome-Liege Rally. She and her co-driver Rouxel were eleventh.

(Image copyright Marianne)

The Paris-Rome Rally

 

The Duchess d'Uzes waves off the starters

The Paris-Rome Rallye Feminin was held in 1932. It was organised by the French Automobile Club Feminin and was one of the last events in which the club’s founder, the Duchesse d’Uzes, was involved. The 83-year-old duchess signalled the start of the rally alongside Viscount Rohan-Chabot, the editor of the club’s magazine.

The drivers came from both France and Italy, with separate prizes for each nationality. Compared to some of the other events of the time, entrants had a distinctly upper-class slant, as opposed to the actresses and other performers who were often asked to take part. Among the Paris-Rome contestants was Laura Rospigliosi, an American socialite who had married into the Italian aristocracy, and Constance de Lubersac, a French-American heiress.

Frenchwoman Jeanne Terouanne was the winner, driving a Bugatti. She was a noted equestrian of her time. She and some of the other competitors also took part in the “rallye-ballon” events of the time, where cars followed a hot air balloon.

Despite the heavy presence of socialites on the entry list, the rally itself was quite a demanding journey, with a 1700km route. There were four stages: Paris to Lyon, Lyon to Nice, Nice to Pisa and Pisa to Rome. A half-kilometre speed trial and tests for steering and car control were held, with awards for each.

Results

1. Madame Jeanne Terouanne (Bugatti)

2. Baronessa Fiorenza Aliotti (Alfa Romeo)

3. Principessa Laura Rospigliosi (Lancia)

4. Madame Felix Goudard (Mathis)

5. Madame Calbet (Citroen)

6. Madame Mennesson (Talbot)

7. Comtesse Constance de Lubersac (Citroen)

8. Baronessa Marincola (Alfa Romeo)

9. Madame Frascani (Lancia)

10. Madame Carraro (Citroen)

11. Madame Spina (Citroen)

12. Madame Blandin (Renault)

Entered, did not finish:

Mademoiselle Gouvion (Citroen)

Madame Henriet (Citroen)

Madame Sainte-Marie (Talbot)

500m speed test: Principessa Laura Rospigliosi, 26.2s

Steering lock test: Baronessa Fiorenza Aliotti 

Braking and reversing test: Comtesse Constance de Lubersac

Acceleration and deceleration test: Madame Mennesson

When the rally arrived in Rome, club members were granted audiences with the Pope, the Italian royal family and other dignitaries. The party then carried on to Florence, where some of the drivers joined a mixed speed trial held by the Auto Club of Rome. This ran over two laps of a street circuit, totalling 8km. Jeanne Terouanne was fifth quickest, but the two fastest women were Suzanne Deutsch de la Meurthe, better known as a pilot, and rally driver Magdeleine de Ganay, who both drove Hispano Suizas. They were second and fourth respectively. Although not part of the rally itself, they had driven the route from Paris together in 33 hours.

Auto Club of Rome Speed Trial

1. Baron Edgardo Lazzaroni (Hispano Suiza)

2. Suzanne Deutsch de la Meurthe (Hispano Suiza)

3. Caragnani (Bugatti)

4. Magdeleine de Ganay (Hispano Suiza)

5. Jeanne Terouanne (Bugatti)

6. Prince de Schoenburg (Bugatti)

7. Marquis Lelio Pellegrini (Lancia)

8. Mademoiselle Steinbrugge (Bugatti)

9. M Frascani (Lancia)

10. Commendantore Lezzi (OM)

11. Madame Frascani (Lancia)

This was held over two laps of a circuit at Littorio, totalling 8km.

Image copyright Excelsior newspaper

The Women's Rally in Ena

 

The Women’s Rally in Ena is a women-only stage rally that takes place every year in and around the city of Ena, Japan. It began in 2018 at the Women in Motorsport L1 Rally and assumed its current name in 2020. It takes place towards the end of the year and is a standalone event, rather than a round of a championship.

It runs over a single day and has a compact, although multi-stage format. 

Drivers must be female, although men are allowed to take part as co-drivers. Entry requirements for drivers are fairly basic and correspond to those of Japan’s Monte Carlo Auto Sport Club, the organiser of Japanese championship rallies.

The majority of drivers at Ena are Japanese, although occasional crews from China and Taiwan have taken part, most notably Mingwei Hung of Taiwan who competes regularly in Japan. She was third in the 2019 event.

Drivers have a variety of experience levels, from first-timers to regulars in the Japanese championship. Cars are similarly varied and included Toyota GT86s, Mitsubishi Lancers and small cars such as the Toyota Vitz.

The rally seems to have begun as part of a series of preparations for Rally Japan being held in and around Ena in 2018.

In 2021 it was combined with the MASC Rally, an open event, but it went back to a standalone rally in 2022. In 2025, it appears to have run as a mixed event.

Winners

2018 ?

2019 Hiroko Menjo/Yuta Nakamura (Toyota Vitz)

2020 Saori Ishikawa/Suguru Kawana (Toyota GT86)

2021 Saori Ishikawa/Suguru Kawana (Toyota GT86)

2022 Saori Ishikawa/Suguru Kawana (Toyota GT86)

2023 Saori Ishikawa/Takahiro Yasui (Toyota GT86)

2024 Yuna Kanematsu/Shu Yamashita (Suzuki Swift Sport)

2025 Aimi Sato/Yuta Fujimoto (Toyota Yaris IV) - 7th overall, first female crew.

Mira Nikolic

Mira Nikolic was one of the most successful and lauded female rally drivers in the former Yugoslavia. 

The Croatian driver was active between 1969 and 1987. At the time, Yugoslavia ran championships for both male and female drivers; she was a multiple Croatian ladies’ champion, winning the mixed crews’ award three times and the ladies’ title twice. She won the all-female INA Rally six times between 1972 and 1985 and took part in eighteen editions of that event. Her first major result was a second place in the 1969 INA Rally. Her outright wins came in 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1982 and 1985. Her usual co-driver was Branka Trzun Makek. Her car was usually an NSU TT, even when it became rather old.

She also excelled in other women’s rallies and countless other rallies in Croatia and greater Yugoslavia. 

From at least 1979, she was co-driven by Mato Sebalj when she was competing in mixed events. They won class for mixed crews in the International Czech Rally three times in 1984, 1985 and 1986. Earlier, in 1978, Mira had scored an outright win in the Rally Pirin, held in Bulgaria, with Mato at her side. Her car was the NSU.

Her career ended in 1986 with a win in the Croatian womens’ championship, driving a Fiat Uno. She was defending her 1985 title. She won the AMD INA Rally outright and was third in the Rijecki women’s event.

As well as a driver, she was a performance driving instructor for many years, and chaired at least one motor club. 

She died in 2013, at the age of 72, recognised as the Croatian driver with the most rally wins of all time. A memorial slalom event is held in her name every year in Croatia.

(Image from motorsport.hr)

Luisa Rezzonico

Luisa Rezzonico was a Swiss-Italian driver who died following a crash whilst competing in the 1954 Autogiro d’Italia, driving a Lancia Aurelia. 

She started racing at the age of nineteen, in 1951. After only a couple of years of major competition, she won the 1953 Perla di Sanremo women’s rally, and the Como-Lieto Colle hillclimb, another ladies’ event, both in the Aurelia. She won the Como-Lieto Colle event three times; it ran as an “International Coupe des Dames” and sometimes had a short circuit race attached to it. Research into this event and which editions Luisa participated in is made more difficult by the fact that the Como-Lieto Colle hillclimb course was also used for mixed events from 1948.

The same year, 1953, and in a similar car, she was fifth overall in the Circuito Ospedaletti road race, and second in the 2000cc GT class. Her other outings included the Venice Lido Rally and the Cesana-Sestriere hillclimb. During one of her early races, she reportedly had a lucky escape when her car crashed and caught fire, although it is not entirely clear on which event this happened.

Prior to the Giro, Luisa had entered the 1954 Paris-St. Raphael Rally, another high-profile women-only event. She was driving a factory-supported Aurelia and was tipped by some as a potential winner, but picking up car both car damage and penalties early on dropped her out of the running. 

Luisa was driving in the Giro with her co-driver Franco Simontacchi, using a newer Aurelia B20 with which she was not overly familiar, run by the Sant Ambroeus team. She had originally planned on driving a Zagato-bodied Fiat 1100. The third stage of the event ran between Napoli and Bari and Luisa’s accident happened at or near the end. Some Italian newspapers describe her as having overshot the end of the stage.

She and Simontacchi were killed instantly when the Aurelia crashed into the wall of a church at Castellana. They had been running second overall at the time.

The Como-Lieto Colle Coppa Dames was named the “Luisa Rezzonico Trophy” in her honour in 1955.

(Image copyright formulapassion.it)

Gabrielle Renault

A Renault R8 Gordini from 1966, similar to those rallied by Gabrielle

Gabrielle Renault, often known as Gaby, competed in European rallies in the 1960s. She was the winner of the Paris-St. Raphael women’s rally in 1961. 

She competed on at least two Monte Carlo Rallies, winning the European Championship Coupe des Dames in 1961. She recorded another finish in 1966, starting from Lisbon with Colette Gassier who was her regular navigator that season. The team was captured on a Pathe newsreel film that focused on the British entrants. They tackled the Rally dei Fiori in the Gordini later in the year and finished 14th. 

The Paris-St. Raphael appears to have been one of her favourite events. Following her 1961 victory, she was second in the 1962 running, driving a Dauphine. She was third in the same car in 1963.

She usually drove Renault cars, normally a Gordini-engined Dauphine or R8 for rallies, but she also competed in hillclimbs in other cars. In 1964 she raced an Alpine A108 in the Mont Ventoux hillclimb, finishing 16th. The A108 was based on the Dauphine, but with a sporty fibreglass body. The following year, she drove a Ford Lotus Cortina at the Mont Ventoux climb and was twelfth. 

Among the other cars she sampled are an Alpine-Renault A110 at the 1969 Ronde Cevenole and a rotary-engined NSU Ro80 in the 1970 Tour de France. This proved less successful; she and Francoise Brun were disqualified for being too slow. 

Her career continued until at least 1972, when she entered the Mont Ventoux hillclimb again in an Alpine A110, finishing 37th.

Gabrielle always appeared on entry lists as “Madame Renault”. Her own family name is unclear and it is equally vague as to whether she was married to a member of the Renault motoring family. 

(Image copyright Hagerty Insurance)

Marie-Luise Kozmian (Kozmianowa)

Marie-Luise Kozmian is the anglicised name of Maria-Ludwika Kozmianowa, who raced a Bugatti T37 and other cars in central and eastern Europe in the 1930s. She is occasionally also called Maria von Kozmian.

She was born in 1892 as Maria Komorowska and married Andrzej Kozmian, an engineer. She was a wealthy landowner in what is now Poland.

Her first racing car seems to have been an Austro-Daimler.

The first major outing for this car may have been the Rajd Pan (Women’s Rally) in 1930. She was the winner of the fourth edition of this event, held that year, as well as one other running of the rally. This was a city-to-city road rally; the 1930 route passed through Warsaw, Zakopane and Wisla then back to Warsaw, some 1150km.

Many sources describe her as winning the 1930 Lwow (Lemburg) Grand Prix, but contemporary results do not support this. Other sources call it a race for touring cars. Motor Sport magazine reports that she won the class for “dominant type cars”, run over 15 laps (45km). “dominant type” cars were “the models on which the manufacturer was concentrating”, which suggests it was a production car class. There were additional races for Sports and Racing cars.  

The next big event for her was the 1931 Baltic Cup, in which she won the Touring class. The event was held in Poland and was a 7km time trial.  

Some time after this she acquired a new car, a Bugatti T37. This car could run in Voiturette races and she used it in two editions of her home Grand Prix, at Lwow. She was sixth in the voiturette race at the 1933 event and was an entrant for the 1934 race, which did not go ahead.

During her career, Marie-Luise travelled around central Europe to compete. In 1933, she travelled to Hradec Kralove in what is now the Czech Republic for a street race. She was second in the 1500cc class.

In 1934, she took the Bugatti to Switzerland for the Berne Grand Prix, run to Voiturette regulations. This race supported the Swiss Grand Prix. She was tenth overall, behind the French driver Anne Itier.

The same year, she took part in the Klausen hillclimb, also in Switzerland. She was second in the 1500cc class, behind “Johnny” Lurani’s Maserati.

Hillclimbs were said to be her best events, although results are not often forthcoming. A series of pictures show her racing the Bugatti up the Semmering pass in Austria, but it is not known which year she entered. She did set a new ladies’ record on that course in 1933 and was third in the 1500cc Sports class, but she may have driven there more than once. She is meant to have raced until 1937.

She died in 1955.

Gloria Castresana Waid

Gloria Castresana Waid is a Spanish driver who was active in the 1960s, in both rallying and circuit racing.

She began competing after her marriage to Jim Waid, in 1963. She had only had her own car for three years, but had been interested in motoring for a while. Her first car was a Simca Sport.

The couple had met in the Canary Islands in 1961, where both were working for an oil company. Gloria was not a Canary Islander; she had come from Vitoria to work. Jim was American.

Gloria’s early competitive outings were in the Canaries. The islands hosted a lot of local motorsport due to favourable tax rules.

By 1965, she was taking part in major rallies. That year, she won her class in the first running of the La Palma Rally. She was also seventh overall in the Rallye Isla de Tenerife, co-driven by José Lopez Moreno. Her car was a Mini Cooper S.

Later, in 1967, she acted as a navigator to “Miss Spain”, Paquita Torres, in the Rallye Femenino San Isidro. She helped her driver to a win in the Slalom section. The same year, the Jarama circuit in mainland Spain opened. Gloria was a regular there from the beginning, having participated in the racing festival held to inaugurate the track.

In 1968, she raced in the 3 Hours of Jarama, a European Touring Car race. Her car was a Fraser Hillman Imp usually raced by her husband, and its halfshaft broke. She normally drove her Mini on the circuits.

Race results for Gloria are hard to find. Records of Spanish motorsport before about 1969 are very sketchy.

Her career finished in 1970, when she moved to the United States. Initially, she worked for a Porsche-Audi dealership in New York. She later continued her education in languages, earning a PhD. Now, she is still a respected scholar in the field of Basque Studies.

In the past two or three years, she has returned to Spain to live and published a book about her life.

(Image from http://www.imps4ever.info)