Marianne "Pinkie" Windridge (Rollo)

Marianne Windridge, who was nicknamed Pinkie and later known as Marianne Rollo, raced in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s. 

She got into motorsport through her first husband, Fred Windridge. As an accomplished equestrian who competed in dressage, she already had bravery and balance on her side. Her first car was a Jaguar XK140. In 1956, she won one of her first races, the Marlboro 6 Hours, sharing with Fred. They were three laps up on the second-placed car. That year, she also raced a brand-new Alfa Romeo Giulietta in SCCA events. She was third in her first race in it, at Beverly. 

She took the Alfa over to the Bahamas for the 1958 Nassau Speed Week, finishing ninth in the Ladies' race. This was her first race after a long break, probably due to her being pregnant with her daughter.

Her preference for European cars continued in 1959, this time leaning more towards endurance events. Driving a FIAT Abarth Allemano, she entered the Marlboro 6 Hours again, with Toni Cappiello. In August, she teamed up with Evelyn Mull for the 8-Hour Little Le Mans, held at Lime Rock. Their car was an NSU Prinz and they were 22nd, having blown an engine up during the race. Their pit crew took 53 minutes to install a new engine. The biggest race of her season, in terms of prestige, was probably the ladies' event that supported that year's US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Briggs Cunningham entered a Stanguellini single-seater for her and she was third overall, winning the Formula Junior class.

She and Denise McCluggage entered the 1960 Sebring 12 Hours together in an Osca S750, prepared by Briggs Cunningham's team but run under the banner of Camoradi Racing. They failed to finish; Pinkie only got to drive it for two laps before the oil pressure tanked. Denise had driven for two hours beforehand.

For the rest of the year, she raced the Alfa in SCCA events, and also had another run out in the Stanguellini Formula Junior. She was second in a Ladies' race at Cumberland in this car, behind Denise in an Osca Formula Junior.

Eve ready to try out new vehicles, Pinkie and Fred joined the Karts Unlimited team for the President's Cup kart race at Marlboro. Their finishing positions in the multi-heat event are not recorded. Later in the year, she got the best time for a female driver in the SCCA Field Trials at Epping Forest, Annapolis. Her car was the Alfa. 

Her racing in 1962 was also based around Marlboro, in an Alfa. She entered the 6 Hour race again, but had to retire after being forced into a fence by a spinning car. She suffered some cuts to her face which required "35 stitches and plastic work for a cut lip" according to the Evening Star newspaper. Her car was a Veloce belonging to Reed Rollo, another racer and a physicist who would become her second husband the following year.

As Pinkie Rollo, she returned to the track in 1964. She raced a Triumph Spitfire in some SCCA National events, winning her class at least once, but also joined forces with another female driver, Pat Mernone, in a Peugeot 404. They entered the Marlboro 12 Hours together and were tenth overall, fifth in class. In September, a month later, they took on the Four Hour Endurance event at Vineland.

They continued to race the Peugeot together in 1965. Their season started at Marlboro again, with a ninth overall and class third in the Washington Regional SCCA championship race. They followed it up with fifth at Vineland in New Jersey, runners-up in a ten-car class. In comparison, Pinkie driving solo in the Spitfire did not fare quite as well, although she and Reed won two races in the same day at Cumberland in it. Her season was cut short this year as she was involved in a serious road accident and suffered another head injury.

1966 was in some ways a change of direction, although she continued to race European saloons. She and Reed had got hold of a BMW 1800 TiSA and entered the fourth round of the Trans Am championship together. The deal came about as Pinkie was now working for BMW Imported Cars as their safety director. She only seems to have done one Trans Am race at Virginia, but she and Reed were seventh. It was Reed's last major event. He had been injured quite badly in the same car accident as Pinkie the previous year. The couple were both involved in the setting-up of an SCCA Sedan (saloon) championship. Pinkie spoke about her fondness for tin-tops in an interview with the Telegram & Gazette, she said "...I'm a frustrated stock car driver. If I were six feet two..." She was reportedly 5'5", so not even particularly short for a woman.

Despite claiming in a syndicated newspaper article the year before that she was "sick of driving with other women", Pinkie and Denise returned to Sebring in 1967. This time they were driving a Ferrari 275 GTS/4, and were 17th, second in class and the only Ferrari finishers. Their car was prepared by NART and this was the only time this model ever competed. The very same car was later driven by Steve McQueen in The Thomas Crown Affair.

Her career tails off after Sebring. Back in the BMW, she entered that year's Watkins Glen 500 with Ed Diehl, but it isn't clear if she actually made the start.

Throughout her time in the spotlight, Pinkie often presented herself as a family-oriented housewife away from the track, but she had a professional career of her own, first working with prisoners leaving jail, then finding work placements for young adults with special needs.

(Image copyright Sussman)

Viviane Elder

Viviane Elder, a French driver, pilot and actress, is most famous for her Le Mans start in 1949. 

She was born in 1904. Her given name was Eugenie Anne Marie Madeleine Hignette, but she always went by the name Viviane Elder. She married very young and the marriage did not last, although she did have one son. After extricating herself from the union, she began acting. Her first film was French crime drama Mephisto in 1931, which became a series of films. 

Her petrol-powered career began with air races, not long after she started making films. Given her interest in aviation, it is possible that she took her stage surname from the American pilot and actress, Ruth Elder. She owned at least two aircraft during the 1930s, a Farman and a Caudron. At first, she entered French flying rallies and races, then she began flying further afield into the Mediterranean and North Africa, then largely French-occupied.

In popular record, the first mention of her in a car was when she and three colleagues got lost during a rally in the Sahara in 1936. However, sources such as "L'Aerophile" magazine suggest that the misfortune happened during an air race or rally. "Le Record" states this unequivocally. It also names Guy Hansez as one of her co-pilots, the same as the reports describing the incident as happening during a motor rally. The four crew members waited for two days to be rescued. Later that year, she was also picked up by a Greek ship after bailing into the Mediterranean on the way to Morocco.

It was not until the end of the 1930s that she became interested in motor racing. There was a crossover between pilots and racing drivers, and Guy Hansez was one who did both. He apparently introduced her to Amedee Gordini and others. The war then intervened. Her flying comes to an end here.

Motorsport took some time to get going again in Europe after the deprivations of World War II, and it was 1948 before Viviane actually got on track. During the war itself, there are suggestions that she was investigated for supposed links to Italian fascists, but she does not appear to have been interned or imprisoned.

She drove solo in her first major race, which was the Grand Prix des Frontieres at Chimay in Belgium. Her car was a Simca-Gordini T8 and she was third in the 1100cc race.

A little later, she joined up with Jean Estager in a Simca-Gordini T8 for the Paris 12 Hours, held at Montlhery. She was 28th overall. The winner was future Formula One driver Luigi Chinetti in a Ferrari.

The following month, she was back at Montlhery for the Coupes du Salon. She was eighth overall, ahead of one of the works Gordini cars.

In 1949, the 45-year-old Viviane and her co-driver Rene Camerano entered the little Simca into the Le Mans 24 Hours. The 1100cc car lasted for 95 laps before it retired. She was the first woman to race in the 24 Hours since before the war. 

This appears to have been her last appearance on track until French sources are consulted. According to L'Equipe, she entered the 1951 Coupes du Salon in a Ford Vedette, finishing 27th. This was a departure from her usual Simca cars, but the Vedette model would soon be rebadged as a Simca in France.

She died in 1960, aged 56.

Adrienn Vogel

Adrienn Vogel is the 2020 European Ladies Rally Champion. She is from Hungary and began her motorsport career on circuits, before switching to rallying.

She first came to prominence in the 2012 Lotus Ladies' Cup, and all-female racing series held in Eastern Europe and based in Hungary. The cars were Elises. She was quite late getting started, turning 30 at the end of the year. The Lotus Cup was not her first experience of motorsport, but it was quite high-profile. During the same season, she also raced in a one-make series for the Suzuki Swift. She was not among the frontrunners and finished 16th in the championship.

In her second attempt at the Lotus championship in 2014, Adrienn was second overall after winning four races, at the Red Bull Ring and the Slovakiaring. Only a disastrous first round at Oschersleben prevented her from winning the title, which went to her fellow Hungarian, Adrienn Bende. The same year, she made a guest appearance in the Hungarian round of the Maserati Super Trofeo, sharing her car with Anita Toth. They were tenth in the first race after Adrienn worked her way up from 20th place.

As well as sportscar activities, she was still active in the Swift Cup, on and off. In 2013, she improved her championship position to thirteenth. She carried on with it after the demise of the Lotus Ladies' Cup, which folded due to disputes with the Hungarian motorsport federation. By 2016, she was one of the leading Swift drivers. She won one race and was second twice, finishing fourth in the championship.

She switched her allegiance from Suzuki to Kia in 2017, joining their Lotos one-make series on track. The Polish arm of the marque was happy to have an all-female two-car team, with Petra Krajnyak taking the second Picanto. Adrienn was ninth in the championnship.

She entered the KIA Platinum Cup in 2018, another one-make series for the Picanto, this time based in Poland. 

Her second season in the Platinum Cup ended with one of the best drives of her career. She had crashed out of the first race, at Monza, due to contact with another driver, and had to start at the back. After a good start, she battled her way up the grid and was only narrowly beaten to the win by Dawid Borek, who overtook her on the final straight. This was her third podium finish of the year and she was fifth in the championship.

At the same time as her circuit racing career developed, rallying was also part of her competition schedule. Her first rally as a driver was back in 2014, driving a Suzuki Ignis. Unfortunately, she got as far as the superspecial on the second day ofthe Szilveszter Rallye before her car's half-shaft broke. She had tried co-driving the year before, sitting beside Egon Burkus in a Lotus Exige.

As a Kia driver, she returned to this Christmas asphalt event in 2017 and finished seventh overall, just ahead of Petra Krajnyak. 

The Kia Picanto proved quite a decent rally car and Adrienn entered quite a lot of rallies in it in 2018, normally sprint events. Her best finish was probably her seventh place in the Magyarboly Kupa, from 23 finishers.

Rallying became her primary focus in 2019. As well as more home events in the Picanto, she did her first rallies outside Hungary, the Perger Muhlstein Rallye in Austria and the Platinum Janusz Kulig and Mariana Bublewicza Memorial Rally in Poland. For both of these events, she drove a Ford Fiesta. She was 35th and 38th respectively. She was also in the Fiesta for her first attempt at Rally Hungary, a European Championship round. This led to a 41st place finish, second in the ERC women's standings.

She began 2020 with a run in the Picanto in Croatia, finishing 24th in the Delta Snow Show. However, most of the year was spent in the Fiesta, taking on the European ERC3 championship. After a second warmup in the Rally Bohemia in Czechia, she and co-driver Anett Notheisz were ready for the first round of the ERC, the Rallye di Roma Capitale. They were fourth overall and the first female crew. Rally Hungary was part of the ERC that year and she was 31st, with another Ladies' award. Her third ERC Rally, the Canary Islands event, ended in electronic failure after the fourteenth stage, when she was lying 50th. In a year affected by the worldwide Covid 19 crisis, this was enough for seventh in the ERC3 championship and first in the Ladies' standings.

Domestic rallying still figured in her plans and her best overall result was an 18th place in the Nyiregyhaza Rally.  

The Hungarian championship was her main home in 2021, although she did find the time and budget for the ERC rounds in Rome and Barum in Czechia, as well as her home ERC event. Rally Hungary was the best of the three: she was 30th overall in the Fiesta. 

At home, she rallied both the Fiesta and a Peugeot 208. The Fiesta was the quicker of the two cars, and she earned a tenth place in the Kazincbarcika Rally in it. This was quickly followed up with 15th in the Nyiregyhaza Rally. Outside Hungary, her best result was an eleventh place in the Kulig and Bublewicza Memorial Rally, in Poland. The Peugeot, in Rally4 spec, came out for some Hungarian rallies early in the season.

She competed more extensively in Czechia in 2022, although the Fiesta wasn't the most reliable this year. Her only major finish was a 39th place in the Kowax Valasska Rally ValMez. Her only other finish in it was a 42nd place in the ADAC 3-Staedte-Rallye in Germany.

The Peugeot was her car for the Hungarian championship. Her top-twenty finish on the Therwoolin Zemplen Rally, a 17th place, helped her to fourth in the 2WD class. She was also fourth in the Hungarian one-make championship for the 208.

2023 was similar, although she was driving the 208 exclusively now. She earned top-twenty finishes in three Hungarian rallies: 19th in the Salgo Rallye and the Mecsek Rallye, and fourteenth in the WHB Gyor Rally. On her way to another fourth in the 2WD class, she picked up three class stage wins. Rally Hungary was more of a challenge, but she was still 33rd from 62 finishers. In the same car, she finished two Czech rallies, including a 40th place in the Barum Rallye Zlin.

After 2023, she stepped back from active competition, although she is still involved in driver training and media, as well as other winter sports. She has been voted Hungary's female driver of the year more than once.

(Image copyright Adrienn Vogel)

Francesca Pardini

Francesca (right) instructing at Yas Marina

Francesca Pardini is most famous for her successes in sports prototype racing in Italy in the early 2000s.

She was the Italian Prototype title-winner in 2001 and has been described as the first woman to win an Italian sportscar championship outright. Her car was a Lucchini-Alfa Romeo, one of the oldest in the field. She won four races that year, starting with the season opener at Vallelunga. Her others were at Misano, Magione and Binetto.

This came after a runner-up spot in the same championship in 2000, following race wins at Mugello and Misano. She repeated this in 2003, having won one race and scored five podium finishes.

At the same time as her winning Protoytpe campaign, she raced in the Italian Ferrari Challenge, doing four events. Her best finish was ninth in a sprint race at Mugello. She also did some rounds of the Clio Cup in Italy.

Her sportscar career developed in tandem with single-seaters. In 2000, when she was 19, she did four rounds of the Light category of Open Telefonica Nissan, at Monza and Ricardo Tormo in Spain. She was driving for the Doors Engineering team. Her best finish was eleventh at Monza.

At the time, her ambitions were high. There was talk of her moving to America at the end of 2003 for either sportscars or the Indy development ladder, but this did not happen.

She came to England to race in Formula Palmer Audi in 2004. This was step down from Formula Nissan, but she had been out of a single-seater for a few seasons. She was a regular fixture in the top ten from the start, coming in seventh and sixth at Brands Hatch in the first round. These were her best finishes in the eight races she did before pulling out, although she was never out of the top ten when she finished. Her season seems to have been ended by an accident at the Nurburgring. 

At some point in 2004, she returned to Italy for some Prototype races. Her low final position suggests she only took part in a few races. She did at least the Vallelunga round and appears to have finished seventh.

Her activities since 2004 are less clear. During 2005, she took part in at least one VW Fun Cup event as part of a Uniroyal-sponsored ladies’ team, driving with Fun Cup regular Sabine Dubois and touring car racer Valentina Albanese. This appears to have been a limited programme. 

In 2015, she moved to Abu Dhabi to take on an instructing job. Remaining in the Gulf region, she became the only female race instructor to work in Saudi Arabia and the only one to take on female pupils. She also works as the Formula 2 paddock manager for the Gulf-based races and is a qualified steward.

She is the daughter of Guido Pardini, who also raced in Prototypes in the early 1990s. At first, she was not encouraged by her parents and her mother tried to interest her in ballet. She describes having begun racing at 16, in 1997, going straight into cars without any karting experience.

(Image copyright Donna Moderna magazine)

Aimee Watts

Aimee Watts races both historic and modern cars in the UK and is particularly known for competing in the Porsche Sprint Challenge UK.

She first raced a Citroen C1 in the UK, in the 2021 Silverlake C1 Challenge. This was a fairly late start compared to many; she was 27. She won her first race at the end of 2021 at Brands Hatch, which is her home track. This was the three-hour finale for the C1 Challenge and she shared the car with her father, former BTCC racer Patrick Watts, and Orlando Lindsay. She triumphed despite carrying a leg injury.

After a positive first full season she planned to race a classic Mini in 2022, having tried out the car in 2021. However, she chose a Mazda MX5 instead. She did three rounds of the BRSCC MX5 championship at Snetterton. This led to a season in the Club class of the Clapham North MOT Mazda MX5 Supercup in 2023. She was sixth, with four class podium finishes at Cadwell, Donington and Silverstone. The best of these was a second place at Silverstone.

She also raced a classic Mini with the HRDC, winning a class championship with her father in the Jack Sears Trophy for historic saloons.

Both the 2023 Mini and also another one owned by Alex Brundle made appearances in 2024, but her main focus was the Mazda Supercup, where she was second in the Club class. She scored six class wins over the season and was frequently up with the Pro class drivers.

In 2025, her career in single-make motorsport took another step forward as she put together a deal to race in the Porsche Sprint Challenge, with the Clean Racing team. As a warm-up, she won one round of the MSVR Miata Trophy at Silverstone in the Mazda. Her Porsche season started badly with a DNF at Donington and two subsequent non-starts, but she ran better for the rest of the season, beginning with her first Am class podium, a third at Brands Hatch. She was sixth in the Am standings at the end of the year.

At the MRL Silverstone meeting in October, she shared an MGB with her father for the Generations Trophy. They were second, having led for quite a lot of the race.

Following on from her 2025 success, she moved up to the RS Clubsport Am class of the Porsche Sprint Challenge. In the first race at Donington, she was third, ninth overall. She continues to combine racing the Porsche and competing in historics.

(Image copyright Porsche Motorsport)

Lucy Block

Lucy Block (born Lucy Jones) is an American driver who competes in rallying and other off-road disciplines. She is best-known for being the widow of WRC driver and Gymkhana creator, Ken Block and the mother of Lia Block, but she has enjoyed a good career in her own right.

She first rallied in America between 2009 and 2013, initially as a co-driver to Chrissie Beavis. Her first rally as a driver was the Middle Cog rally in 2009, swapping seats with Christine. Her car was a VW Golf. 

She took the wheel again in 2010, driving a Mazda3 in the Mexico Rally and finishing 17^th. She was also 19^th in the LLCote Rally. 

A break from competition followed while she had her third child, son Mika, but she returned in 2013. This time she was in a Ford Fiesta R2, the first of a series of Fords she would drive for the next ten years. Her best results were two fourteenth places, in the Maine and New Hampshire Rallies. 

She did not compete in 2014, but she reappeared in 2015, driving a Ford Fiesta. Her best finish was eleventh, in the New Hampshire Rally. 

After only making occasional appearances for several years, she committed to her first championship in 2018. She contested the ARA rally series in the States and earned her first top-ten finish in the New England Forest Rally. Her car was a Fiesta R2T and she and co-driver Krista Skucas were fourteenth in the final standings. 

In 2019, she only had one outing, driving the Fiesta in the 100 Acre Wood Rally. She was 24th overall. 

Driving the same car again, she did three rallies in 2021,with a best finish of fourteenth in the Cooper Tire Oregan Trail Rally. 

A fuller ARA competition season followed in 2022, driving a Rally3-spec Fiesta. This year, she was challenging much more for overall positions and her results included three top-tens. Her best finish was sixth in the Ojibwe Forests Rally and she was ninth in the championship. 

Another full season in the Fiesta brought three ninth places in 2023: in the New England Forest Rally, the Oregon Trail and the Olympus Rally. For part of the season, she was competing against her daughter Lia. Her co-driver was Alex Gelsomino, who previously co-drove for her husband Ken. Another highlight that year was her debut run in the Pikes Peak hillclimb, driving an electric Hypercraft Sierra Echo buggy. She was tenth in her class. This was a tribute to Ken, who had died in a snowmobile accident earlier in the year.

She did two rallysprint events in 2024, driving a Ford Fiesta in the Lost Pines rally and a Can-Am Maverick in Rally Austin Rallysprint. The Maverick came out for the Utah Motorsports Campus round of the 2024-2025 Nitrocross championship, where Lucy was tenth overall, fifth in her semi-final. She also competed in the BajaBugs category in a VW Beetle. This Utah track is her home circuit.

She used the Fiesta again in 2025, finishing fourth in the Rally Ranch Classic RallySprint.

Lucy, Lia, daughter Kira and son Mika all compete for their family team, Block House Racing, of which Lucy is the principal. Away from motorsport, she runs a catering company. 

(Image coypright Kevin Scott Batchelor/Popular Mechanics)

Alinka Hardianti

Alinka (centre) after her Kartini win in 2026

Alinka Hardianti is an Indonesian driver who has switched between circuit racing, drifting and slalom during her career. She often races a Toyota. 

Slalom was where her racing adventures began in 2005. She was only thirteen at the time and unable to take part in regular circuit races for a couple of years. Her father Didi Hardianto got her into it. In 2008, she was picked up by Toyota Team Indonesia for their development programme.

In 2013, she took part in the Indonesian Super Touring championship and won two of her three races, finishing second in another. Her car was a Toyota Yaris.

In 2016, she returned to the circuits, in Japan this time, and raced at the Fuji track, in the Gazoo Racing Netz (Yaris) Cup. She was 24^th in her race, from 36^th on the grid. She was the first non-Japanese female driver to race in the series. She was supported by Toyota Team Indonesia. 

In 2017 and 2018, she entered the event again, as well as taking part in the Indonesian Touring Car Championship in the Yaris. She scored at least one overall fourth place in 2017. She then moved back to drifting. In between, she had two children. 

Slalom and Autokhana also continued to figure in her life. She won a national title in 2025, driving a Toyota Agya. The year before, she had contested the Asian championship.

After a long time away, she made a comeback to the circuits in May 2026, racing in a new all-female event called the Kartini Race, held at the Mandalika circuit in Indonesia. She was the winner.

As well as motorsport, she also plays padel.

(Image copyright Alinka Hardianti)