Bessie Duller

Bessie Duller raced at Brooklands and in the south of England in the 1920s. She usually competed under the name "Mrs George Duller", as was the custom at the time. George Duller was a well-known steeplechase jockey as well as a racing driver and he and Bessie probably met through horse racing, as her father was a racehorse trainer. Bessie herself competed in trotting races. 

Interestingly, George and Bessie never competed together, although George did act as her mechanic when she set a speed record at Brooklands in 1923, driving at an average 100mph for a full hour. Her car was JG Parry-Thomas's eight-cylinder Leyland Thomas special, a monster of a car. The Daily Mirror described her as "almost lost" in it, with only her head and goggles visible. She set female speed records for 50 miles, 100 miles and one hour.

Away from record-breaking, she had also showed herself to be capable driving wheel-to-wheel.

In May 1923, at Brooklands, she won an "Impromptu Handicap for Any Car or Motorcycle", against 16 other competitors, at least two on motorcycles. Then in June, she won one of the Surbiton Motor Club's Brooklands races, both in an Amilcar. In one of the BARC's rare ladies' races that year, she finished second to Winifred Pink's Horstmann.

In 1925, she appears on the start list for a ladies’ race in Kent, driving a Lancia. The Dullers also raced against each other in 1925. Both entered the Surbiton Car Handicap at Brooklands, with George almost on scratch and Bessie with a handicap of two minutes and six seconds. She led the race until the final moments, when she was passed by George and JD Barclay, who also got past George for the win.

In 1926, she raced an Austin Seven at Brooklands, in the Junior Short Handicap, a race over 5 1/2 miles. She won the Short Handicap and was third in the Surbiton Long Handicap later that day.

At this time, she was an early proponent of commercial sponsorship, promoting "Phosferine", a "nerve tonic" or early energy drink in print adverts all over the country.

She was still racing in 1927, setting a Fastest Time of the Day in a Brooklands hillclimb. Even after she stopped actively competing, she was still involved at Brooklands. When the Guy's Gala was held in 1932, she was on the Ladies' Committee.

George's career carried on longer than Bessie's. At some point, she had a daughter, Joan. She and George remained married until 1951, when George filed for divorce on account of Bessie's having had an affair. She quickly remarried, to the man named on the divorce petition.

She ran her own fashion retail business in Surrey, having worked in the industry as a younger woman. She died in 1981, aged 84.

(Image copyright Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News)

Juliana Chiovitti

Juliana Chiovitti is from Canada. In the mid-2000s, she was touted as one of the strongest female hopefuls for Indycar.

She had been a karter since childhood and grew up around the sport. Her father was the owner of the US arm of Birel karts and her two elder brothers raced. Later, her family also owned a kart track in Sutton, Toronto. As a teenager, she began winning regional titles, in both Canada and the USA. By 2003, she was competing in senior karting and won at least one Formula Senior race outright at her home circuit.

As soon as she was old enough, she was looking for opportunities in single-seater racing. She raced in Formula 4 in Canada (not the same as modern F4) in 1999, competing at Mosport and Shannonville and winning a Rookie of the Year award. She was second in the championship.

The following year, she was assessed as part of a women’s training programme for Toyota Atlantics, with a view to CART in the future, but this did not lead to anything. She was the quickest of the three female drivers who were timed, but she could not find the sponsorship she needed. The others were Sara Senske, Jenny Sheehy and eventual winner Danica Patrick.

Her big break in cars came when she raced in the Canadian Bridgestone F2000 Series in 2004. She was fourth overall, with two wins and three further podiums, just in front of James Hinchcliffe.

Her performances brought her to the attention of Kathryn Nunn, who invited her to a six-driver, all-female shootout for an Indy Lights seat at the end of the year. Juliana lost out to Sarah McCune.

She did not race again and returned to karting. She now works as a performance driving instructor.

(Image copyright Retro Karting by PCN)

Eveline Gordon-Simpson

Eveline and Joan Richmond in 1934

Eveline Gordon-Simpson, also known as Eva, competed in Europe in the 1930s. The most celebrated of her exploits was when she finished 24th at Le Mans in 1935, driving a works MG Midget with Joan Richmond. She was one of the drivers in a six-woman, three car MG team put together by George Eyston. They were known as The Dancing Daughters, after a radio programme, or George's Young Ladies. Eveline and Joan were the first of the three teams to cross the line.

Although not quite as well-known as some of the other female drivers of her era, like Kay Petre or Elsie Wisdom, she had experience of on-track driving. She raced at Brooklands sometimes and won a Novices’ Handicap there in 1934, driving a Triumph Southern Cross. In 1935, she raced a Vale, in which she entered the Whitsun Senior Short Handicap. 

Unusually, for this time period anyway, her husband was not involved in motor racing. William Gordon-Simpson was a racehorse trainer. He and Eveline married in 1923 and moved to Epsom, a major centre for horse racing close to Brooklands. Born in 1901, she was in her early thirties when she took up motorsport.

Her earliest motorsport interest was rallying. She entered the Monte Carlo Rally in a Singer in 1932, was one of a group of British drivers who chose John O'Groats as their starting point. She was 27th, second in the ladies' standings. This was probably where she met Joan Richmond, who had driven overland in her Riley from Australia, making her official start at Palermo. Later in the year, Eveline made her start on the RAC Rally at Bath, in a Singer Twelve-Six. Her finishing position is not forthcoming, but she received a hefty penalty for passing the last time control at Torquay an hour early. Her watch had apparently been running slow and had lost a whole hour.

In March 1936, Eveline and Joan Richmond, working together this time, entered the RAC Rally again. They had previously competed together on the Scottish rally in 1934, with Joan as the main driver. 

Her marriage to William ended in 1936 and she married Hugh Conway. Although he raced Bugattis himself, her own competition career seems to tail off here. She did continue to enter rallies with Joan Richmond, using her previous married name. They drove in the 1937 RAC Rally in a "baby" Fiat.

She died in London in 1980, aged 78.

Sarah McCune

Sarah McCune is an American single-seater racer. She was one of a group of US women who seemed to be climbing the Indycar ladder, but her career faltered due to finances.

Her background was in sprintcars and midgets, which she had raced from a young age. Her career arc was quite like that of Cheryl Glass twenty years earlier, in that she showed promise on dirt and then tried to make it on asphalt. Her midget career began in 1990, when she was eleven. In 1996, she became the first female driver to win a feature race in the ARCA midget championship. As a senior, she raced in events organised by ARCA. NAMARS and USAC, winning races at Flat Rock and i-55 Speedway in 1999 and 2000. She competed in the USAC Midget Series until 2003.

At the same time as she was competing in midgets, she tested a number of cars on asphalt circuits. Apparently, she drove an Indycar twice in 2000.

She first stepped onto the Indy ladder in 2002, when she tested an Infiniti Pro Series car for Sam Schmidt Motorsport. Two years later, she drove one of Kathryn Nunn's cars for a female drivers' test.

It was three years until she made her actual debut in the car. She took pole position at Chicagoland in the Infiniti Pro Series in 2005, her first race at this level. Her starting pace was great and she led for five laps before an accident dropped her out of contention. Several drivers, including Sarah, retired that lap.

After her Infiniti experience, she set her sights on a NASCAR drive and did several tests, including a Craftsman Truck. Even before her Pro Series race, she was part of a reality TV show following aspiring stock car drivers as they tried to develop their careers. She impressed some onlookers with her speed and personality.

However, problems with funding have kept her out of the major series.

(Image copyright Redline Media)

Chiara Baettig

Chiara Baettig is a Swiss single-seater racer. As petrol-powered circuit racing is illegal in her home country, she has competed abroad exclusively.

After a long and quite successful spell in junior karting in Europe, she began racing cars at the age of 15, at the end of 2025. Her three Swiss karting championships attracted the attention of Red Bull, and she was invited to their driver search event in Portugal. This led to a race seat.

She travelled to Saudi Arabia for the Saudi F4 championship, driving for a Red Bull-affiliated team with Scott Lindblom and Christopher al-Feghali. She was eighth in her first race at Bahrain, but then did not finish the second race. The story was the same for the next round, with one ninth place after another DNF. Her best finish was seventh, at Jeddah. Without the three non-finishes she incurred, she could have been the best of the six regular female drivers in the series. She was twelfth overall.

Prior to a full season in the British F4 Championship, Campos Racing ran her in the Formula Winter Series, held in Spain in the first months of 2026. Campos has been the home of the Red Bull and Racing Bulls entries in F1 Academy since 2025. She was their sole full-championship entry out of the five F1 Academy-associated drivers they ran. It was not a consistent five rounds for her; she earned one second place at Estoril, behind Rocco Coronel, but her next-best finish was tenth at Aragon. She did improve in the second half of the series, becoming a consistent top-twenty finisher who was closer to the top ten. She was 17th overall.

After a slow start at Donington, she began to hit her stride in British F4 at Brands Hatch, where she was sixth in Race 3. A steady Snetterton meeting was then followed by two further top-tens at Silverstone, a ninth and her debut podium of the year, a third place. On the way, she set the fastest lap of the weekend. This was one of two podiums; she was third again at Silverstone later in the year, having finished fifth earlier in the weekend.

Silverstone was also the scene of her eye-catching debut in F1 Academy. She secured the highest grid position of any of the previous wildcard entries, a pole position, and was also the youngest driver to do this. Race 1 was a reverse grid and Chiara couldn't move up from eighth, but she and Alisha Palmowski were the runaway leaders in the second race. Alisha had got a much better start, but Chiara chased her all the way and was less than a second down by the end.

(Image copyright F1 Academy)

Barbara Skinner

Barbara Skinner was a British driver who raced in the UK and at Le Mans.

From Birmingham, her family was connected with the engineering side of motoring; Herbert Skinner was the founder of SU (Skinner Union) carburettors. Her own father, Thomas, made his fortune from the Lilley & Skinner shoe brand.

She became associated with Morrises in 1932. Her first car was a 21st birthday present from her father. It was a Morris Cowley Special which had previously been his. Although it was a tuned development car with a sporty engine, it was Barbara's road car as well as her first racing car. Her first major achievement in it came five months after she acquired it, when she won the MAC award for a lady driver in a sportscar at the Shelsley Walsh Amateur Hillclimb. She set the same time as Alec Issigonis in an Austin. Issigonis would find fame as the designer of the Mini in 1959.

The Cowley Special wasn't especially competitive and was quickly replaced by a Morris Minor in 1933. This was the "White Minor", which was given to her by William Morris and still exists today. She knocked three seconds off her Shelsley best time in 1933, before setting a ladies' record in 1934, in a supercharged Minor. She achieved this at the 30th MAC Meeting in June, going up the hill in 46.6 seconds. She set exactly the same time as her brother Peter and they were joint third in the 850cc class. At the Open meeting in September, she was not quite as quick, but still picked up another Ladies' award. Away from Shelsley, she won her class in the Lewes Speed Trials.

She excelled at hillclimbs and sprints and competed all round Britain, although Shelsley Walsh was her home track. Normally, she drove a Morris Minor, but she did try other cars, including a larger, borrowed Alta in 1936. She used this car for that year's Brighton Speed Trials, finishing second in the Ladies' Unlimited racing car class behind Eileen Ellison's Maserati. Kay Petre was third in a Riley.

Both she and Peter drove the family's Skinner Special at Shelsley.

In 1933, she also entered her Morris in the RAC Rally and came 30th overall. Finishing positions for her second attempt in 1934 are not forthcoming. This experience of endurance driving would have stood her in good stead for her attempt at Le Mans later.

She occasionally raced at Brooklands, reasonably competitively, and made the trip to Le Mans in 1935, as part of the legendary "Dancing Daughters" MG works team. This was an all-female squad organised by George Eyston. The Dancing Daughters epithet probably came from a radio programme and the team wasn't referred to as such as often as it was referred to as "George's Young Ladies". She and Doreen Evans were 25th, the second of the team's three cars to finish. 

She was also an early competitor at Donington, then billed as "the only road racing circuit in the country". In March 1936, she entered her supercharged Minor into a Frazer Nash Car Club meeting. There was a Ladies' five-lap handicap that weekend, which she pulled out of, before finishing second in the Third Short Handicap.

Later, in October 1936, Barbara married racer and motoring writer John Bolster. The pair had been competing against each other, albeit not always in the same class, for years. She continued to compete in hillclimbs under her married name, in either the Morris or the Skinner Special. This car, which she and Peter raced at Shelsley Walsh in 1937, started life as a Morris Minor, but had an eight-litre Hudson engine.

She was killed in a traffic accident in 1942, aged 31.

(Image copyright Shelsley Walsh)

Suzanne Largeot

Suzanne Largeot (born Suzanne Daviet) was a French rally and endurance driver who competed both before and after the Second World War.

Her entry into motorsport came after her marriage to Pol Largeot, a car preparer, when she was in her mid-thirties. She took part in three Le Mans races between 1937 and 1939. With Just-Emile Vernet, she won her class in 1937 and was twelfth overall. The car was a Simca, a make Suzanne used quite a lot during her long career. The same team and marque entered again in 1938, but did not finish. Driving a similar car, Suzanne competed again in 1939, with Anne-Cecile Rose-Itier, but again, did not make the finish. Their car went off during the fourth hour of the race, missing a corner at Arnage.

She and Yvonne Simon were also eighth in the 1938 Paris 12 Hours, held at Montlhery, in a Simca 8.

Most of her motorsport activities centred around rallying. The two strands of her career began at the same time in 1937. Suzanne's first major rally was the Criterium Internationale de Touisme Paris-Nice, which consisted of a regularity trial, a hillclimb at La Turbie and a test at the Monaco Grand Prix circuit. She was 24th overall in her familiar Simca. 

In the same event in 1938, she was 30th, but in the Paris-St. Raphael women's rally, she was fourth, with a class win. Her 1100cc Simca proved more effective than some of the bigger cars, including Germaine Rouault's Delahaye and Amy Johnson's Talbot.

In 1939, she drove a Simca T8 to fourth overall in the Criterium Paris-Nice. In a reversal of fortune, she retired from the Paris-St. Raphael. Her last event, just before the war broke out, was the La Baule Rally, which had to be shortened due to growing forces mobilisation. She was 20th overall. 

That year, she had also navigated Yvonne Simon to eighth position in the Monte Carlo Rally. Their car this time was a Hotchkiss, one of the large cars that Suzanne had beaten in the 1938 Paris-St. Raphael.

After the war, she got back involved in motorsport, almost exclusively in rallies now. Her first event back was the Rallye dess Alpes Francaises in 1946. Her car was a Lancia Aprilia and she did not finish. Her first post-war women's rally was in 1947, when the Rallye International Feminin de Paris took place. She was back in a familiar Simca 8, but again, does not appear to have finished.

Later in her career, she competed almost exclusively in long-distance rallies in North Africa, driving a Renault 4CV. She and Ginette Francois-Sigrande attempted the Atlas Mountains Rally in Morocco in 1951 for the first time, the first of three yearly attempts at the Moroccan national event. Sadly, they do not look to have finished.

Back in France, Suzanne entered the Renault into the 1952 Evian-Megeve Rally, but she does not appear on the list of finishers.

In 1954, a French girls' magazine, La Semaine de Suzette, interviewed her and described her as a "grandmother on wheels". Writer Leah Lourie stressed that Suzanne loved the sound of engines and the smell of tyres, but also that she was an excellent cook and devoted mother.

She also discussed her work as a driving instructor and how male learners would be taken aback when she got in the car with them, having assumed she was an administrator.

She died in 1991.

(Image copyright Le Semaine de Suzette)