Anna Inotsume

 

Anna Inotsume is a Japanese driver who races touring cars and GTs. She is the 2023 Japanese TCR champion.

She began her career in 2015 as part of a women’s motorsport initiative run by Mazda in Japan. She did some racing in an electric car that year. Her involvement continued through 2016 and incorporated her major on-track debut. She represented the women’s team in December’s Mazda Party Race, qualifying on pole and finishing fourth. 

She was selected to race in the 2018 Super Taikyu series in a Mazda Roadster as part of an all-female team picked from the scheme. “Love Drive Racing” was run by Keiko Ihara and Anna, along with Marie Iwaoka, ran the whole season, including a 24-hour race at Fuji. Their best result was sixth in class at Suzuka. Her first steps into Super Taikyu were the final rounds of the 2017 series, with the same team. She shared the car with Marie Iwaoka at Fuji and Okayama. They were eleventh and thirteenth in class. 

At the end of 2018, she made her debut in the Asian Le Mans Series, joining the all-female R24 team for the Fuji race alongside Marie Iwaoka and Stephane Kox. This team was also run by former Le Mans racer Keiko Ihara. They were seventh in the LMP3 class. 

Anna tried out for the 2020 W Series in September 2019 but was not selected, admitting later that she found the F3 car hard to drive due to her lack of single-seater experience. Her first single-seater races were later in the year in the club-level JAF F4 series. On her third race, she scored her first podium finish. Back in a tin-top, she was invited to take part in the Japanese round of the Asian Mini Challenge.

Mazdas had not been forgotten: having represented West Japan in the Mazda Party Race series in 2018, she joined the Mazda Fan Endurance Japan Tour and won. 

Her 2020 activities included a run in the three-round Kyojo Cup, a single-make sportscar series for women drivers. She was third overall, winning the last race of the season. She also participated in the mixed Vita series, which uses the same car. 

She also returned to Super Taikyu after a year away, competing in a Mazda Roadster run by students from Nihon Automobile College. Hiroko Komatsu joined her in the five-driver team for the Fuji 24 Hours. Later in the season, she joined the Natural Tuning/Cusco team in their Roadster for the third Super Taikyu race. She earned her first class podium, a second place at Autopolis, during the fifth round. 

Shortly before that, she tested an Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR car, with a view to participating in the series in future. 

In 2021 she did make her TCR debut, but in a Honda Civic run by Dome Racing. She scored one second place in the Saturday Series at Suzuka and finished eleventh in both the Saturday and Sunday championships.

She continued for Dome in the TCR championship in 2022 and scored her first win at Fuji, swiftly followed by a second win at Suzuka. This followed a run of seven podium finishes, plus two pole positions, netting her second in the championship. This improved to a championship win in 2023, with five wins and two additional podiums for the Dome team. Her car was a Honda Civic.

In September, she made a guest appearance in Formula Regional Japan, finishing fifth and fourth Fuji.

(Image copyright Anna Inotsume)

Monique Delannoy

 

Monique Delannoy became the first female driver to compete on the Dakar in the Car class, in 1980. She drove a Peugeot 504 with Catherine Bonnier, but they did not finish. 

Prominent among the car’s sponsors was the famous Moulin Rouge of Paris. 

This was the first of five runs in the desert classic. In 1981, she used a Mercedes 240 jeep and was 25th, with Bernadette Sacy. The following year, she drove a Volkswagen Iltis with Alain Bodard, but again did not finish. 

Another run in an Iltis in 1983, this time as a navigator to her husband, Jean, gave her a 38th place. Co-driving again, she assisted Nicole Maitrot, a former motorcycle competitor, to 16th place in the 1984 Dakar in a Mitsubishi Pajero run by two Ligier F1 team personnel. The two women formed the lightest team on the entry list at 90kg between them. They won the Ladies’ Cup and the diesel class. 

Jean Delannoy also competed that year in a separate Pajero.

The Delannoys may well have met through motorsport. They raced together in the first season of the Coupe de l’Avenir for Simca-derived small sportscars in 1976 and had been involved in sportscar racing since at least 1973.

Monique later raced in the Leyland Trophy in France, with Bernadette Sacy. This was a one-make series for British Leyland cars, in 1978.  

Monique made a brief return to the circuits in 1984, racing a Crossle in a non-championship French Formula Ford race. She was 19th in one race at Ledenon. 

(Image copyright motor-lifestyle.com)

Jem Hepworth

Jem Hepworth is the winner of the 2020 Britcar Endurance Championship, driving a Praga R1T for Team Motorsport Woman.

Success came young for Jem. As a karter, she represented the UK in the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission’s first “Girls on Track” finals at Le Mans. She competed at Le Mans but was not one of the girls selected for FIA WIM support.

Overlapping with this, she began her senior career in 2019. Her first race was the Citroen C1 24 Hours at Silverstone, as part of Team Motorsport Woman with Katie Milner, Alice Hughes and Sami Bowler. The team was fifth overall, having run as high as second. Despite being the least experienced member, she set the fastest laps of the four. 

Jem later drove a Motorsport Woman-backed Fiesta in the Ford Fiesta championship at Silverstone. She was ninth in her first race but could not finish the second due to a faulty wheel bearing. 

Her performances in the Citroen C1 helped to get her into the Motorsport Woman Praga for Britcar. She was paired with the slightly more experienced Danny Harrison and the two formed a strong partnership. When Jem was unable to start the first round due to a knee injury, Danny presented her with his trophy following his win. When she returned for the next round, she was down on testing time and not quite as fast as Danny, but she still managed to steer the car to a pair of wins at Brands Hatch, despite technical problems and the car almost running out of fuel. A DNF at Silverstone allowed their Praga rivals Jack Fabby and Garry Townshend to close the gap. Silverstone International led to a win and a frustrating DNF three laps from home, then Fabby and Townshend took one of the wins at Snetterton, with Jem and Danny second. They won the first race. Another win at the second Snetterton meeting put them in a strong position and they only needed second place to secure the championship, which they did in spite of a crash. 

Continuing to work with Motorsport Woman, Jem raced in the Praga category again in 2021. It was a more challenging year for her, partly due to reliability issues. She had been paired with Youtuber Jimmy Broadbent, who was a novice driver and not quite enjoy the same partnership with her as Danny Harrison had. He switched cars to share with Jack Fabby late in the season and she ran some races as a solo driver. She was fifth in the Praga standings.

It was a quieter year on the racing side for her in 2022 as she looked for new opportunities to further her career. She travelled to the USA for the W Series Formula 4 tests and performed well. Initially, she was passed over for a Formula 3 test, but she received a late call-up to Barcelona to try out for a W race seat. She was ultimately not successful, struggling with the grip strength needed for the car's steering.

For some of the season, she joined up with the Gridfinders EnduroKa team. Her best finishes with the multi-driver squad were two fifth places at Oulton Park and Cadwell. She also made some guest appearances in the Praga Cup, now running as a separate grid from Britcar. She earned two more fifth places at Silverstone and Snetterton.

Later in the year, she spent time in the States and Europe, setting up deals for 2022. This ended with her picking up a drive with Rafa Racing in the Mclaren Trophy. This one-make series is based in Europe and Jem got to race at Spa, Monza and the Nurburgring, supporting the Fanatec GT World Challenge. She and team owner Rafael Martinez shared a 570S run by Greystone GT. From the beginning with the season, they were front-runners, almost winning the championship outright until a car problem on the final lap dropped them out of the last race. They were second by just three points.

Having raced karts at Le Mans, Jem’s long-term aim is a run in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

(Image copyright Alan Quick)

Abbi Pulling

 

Abbi Pulling is a British single-seater driver who raced in F4 and the Formula 3-based Euroformula Open championship in 2020.

Prior to her step up to cars, she was one of Britain’s most successful karters of 2017. She won the Super 1 Junior TKM championship and the British ‘O’ Plate championship outright. She had been runner up in Super 1 Junior TKM in 2016. 

She made her car racing debut at the start of 2018 in Ginetta Juniors in the UK. Her first race was shortly after her fifteenth birthday and she proved herself capable of top-ten finishes, including a ninth place at Brands Hatch, but she only did a part-season. For the other half of the season she got back into a kart and trained further. 

She became supported by Motorsport UK in both competition and studies, and made her step up to senior competition in 2019. The season in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge got going a little slowly, but she became more and more confident and scored her best finish right at the end of the season: sixth at Donington.

In 2020 she switched to single-seaters, which had always been her aim. She raced in British F4 with the JHR Developments team. She had a cautious start to the season at Donington with a fifteenth and then a sixth place, then a disappointing non-finish, but she made up for it with her first podium at Brands Hatch. She posted three more podium finishes: thirds at Croft and Brands and a season’s-best second at Thruxton. The second place was particularly welcome after a nightmare meeting at Knockhill with two non-finishes, one from pole.

The Brands third place was one of the most impressive of the year. Abbi led after a lengthy caution period, having steered her way through a multi-car off. She was reeled in by Zak O’Sullivan and Christian Mansell, but it was a strong performance nevertheless.

She also had her first international race in 2020, when she was invited to take up a guest spot in the Formula Renault Eurocup F3 championship with Fernando Alonso’s FA Racing team. She joined the grid at Imola and finished both races in fifteenth and 16th place. 

She was announced as a reserve driver in W Series for 2021, having been passed over a year earlier due to her age. This was meant to be combined with another British F4 season, but funding ran out at the end of August. It had been a decent year for her, with three third places at Brands and Thruxton.

Her first W Series appearance was in July, at Silverstone, where she was eighth. She rejoined for Round 6 at Zandvoort and was seventh, but she really impressed in the two Circuit of the Americas races with a fourth place from pole and a second. After four races, she was seventh in the championship.

W Series gave her a full-time seat for 2022, although the season was shortened due to financial constraints. She picked up another second place fairly quickly at Catalunya, followed by a third in her home race at Silverstone. She was fourth in the championship.

Away from W Series, she accepted a guest drive in the UK Radical championship, sharing a car with her erstwhile driver coach Alice Powell.

W Series imploded at the beginning of 2023, but Abbi had already jumped ship to F1 Academy, another all-female series using F4 cars. She was one of the first drivers announced and drove for the Rodin Carlin team. Although she was expecting to dominate the championship, she struggled with car issues and a technical disqualification at Paul Ricard. Her best finish was third, which she managed three times, and she was fifth overall.

In 2024, she will continue in F1 Academy, as the Alpine team's supported driver. She is also set to contest the British F4 championship again.

(Image copyright Abbi Pulling)

Jasmin Preisig

 

Jasmin Preisig is a Swiss saloon racer whose speciality is endurance events.

She began her senior career in 2012 with a guest spot in the Chevrolet Cruze Cup, before taking on the 2013 Opel Astra OPC Cup season in Germany. Her most noteworthy result was a sixth place in the 6-Hour race that was part of that series. She also competed in hillclimbs in a KTM X-Bow. 

At the beginning of 2014, she was one of a small number of drivers selected for a scholarship drive in the Volkswagen Scirocco-R Cup. It was a difficult learning year for her, but her results did improve, and her best was an eleventh place at the Nürburgring. Towards the end of the season, she was getting closer to the top ten and was 18th overall. 

In 2015, she took part again in the OPC Astra Cup, a one-make championship within the VLN. She was third overall with one second place. 

She continued to race the Astra in 2016 in some rounds of the ADAC TCR touring car series. Her best finish was a twelfth place at Hockenheim, from four races. 

She did a full TCR season in 2017, driving the Astra, and earned her first TCR top-ten: a tenth place at the Nürburgring. She was 31st in the championship. At the end of the season she had a dramatic accident at Hockenheim and had to be cut from her car, but she escaped serious injury.

She drove a similar car for Steibel Motorsport in 2018 and the Nürburgring was her best track once again and the scene of her best finish, an eleventh place. She bounced back from her 2017 accident to finish 22nd in the championship. 

Her links with the Lubner team, with whom she had competed since 2016, continued in the 2018 VLN. She drove their Astra for one round in the TCR class. 

In 2019, she was part of Carrie Schreiner's all-female "Girls Only" team for the VLN, driving a VW Golf. She did two rounds of the championship, finishing second and fifth in the SP3T class with Carrie Schreiner and Ronja Assmann. The same team entered the Nurburgring 24 Hours but did not finish. 

Jasmin then left Girls Only and joined up with Max Kruse Racing for the rest of the season. She and her team-mates finished four of their six races in their Golf, with every finish being on the podium in their class: three seconds and one third. Jasmin was eighth in the TCR drivers’ standings.

She rejoined the team for two rounds of the 2020 championship. The Golf was now running in the SP3T class for VLN specials up to 2000cc. Jasmin and her team-mates, Benjamin Leuchter and Andreas Gulden won their class twice. They were fifth overall.

For the rest of the year, she moved to the Creventic 24H Series Continents with the Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power team. Their car was a TCR-spec Golf. Jasmin did not finish the Portimao 12 Hours, but she was second in the first part of the Hockenheim race and won the second leg. She also recorded two third places in the two Mugello races. The Number 1 car which she raced in was third in the TCE teams’ standings and Jasmin was crowned 24H Series ladies’ champion. 

Another season in the Golf in the 24H Series gave her a third place in the TCR class, which probably would have been a class title had she contested the whole season with Autorama Motorsport. She and her team-mates won at Hockenheim and the Hungaroring and were second in their other four races.

A similar Golf, run by the Max Kruse team this time, was second in class in the Nurburgring 24 Hours, with Jasmin and three team-mates at the wheel. They were 39th overall from 99 finishers. Jasmin joined them again for three rounds of the NLS (VLN), winning twice and finishing second once.

She only did one race at the Nurburgring in the Golf in 2022, finishing second in class. More of her season was spent in another Golf run by Autorama and Wolf-Power Racing, competing in the 24H TCE Series. She and her team-mates were fourth in class in the season-opening Dubai 24 Hours, then third at Mugello and fourth at Spa, with a fastest class lap.

She entered the 24H of Dubai in 2023, driving an Audi RS3 for Wolf-Power as part of a four-driver team. They were 37th overall and third in the TCR class. She also did the Abu Dhabi, Spa and Barcelona 24H races. She was second in class at Spa and 29th overall, then won the TCR class at Barcelona, finishing 22nd.

(Image copyright Jasmin Preisig)

Bernadette Sacy

 

Bernadette Sacy competed in both stage rallies and rally raids in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as racing on the circuits in the Gordini Cup and Leyland Trophy. 

She came from a motorsport family and had a father who raced, although he did not consider it suitable for girls and did not encourage her to compete herself. Her first steps in motorsport were rallies in northern France, driving an NSU in 1972 and a  Simca Rallye in 1973. 

For several years she switched to circuit-based competition and took part in several one-make racing championships. Her first one was the 1974 Gordini Cup, which used the Gordini-engined Renault 12, although she only had enough budget for some of the rounds. Another part-season in 1975 was based around a Ford Escort championship in Belgium.

Her next plan was to race in the Trophee Leyland, which used Innocenti-badged British Leyland cars. Her car was a Mini and although she was not one of the overall winners, she was one of the best of several female drivers entered. She raced the Innocenti Mini between 1976 and 1978. 

Her return to rallying was with the all-female Aseptogyl team. The team’s director Bob Neyret had seen her on-track in the Mini and offered her a seat in another small car, the Fiat 127. The team was mainly focused on the Italian rally championship by then, but Bernadette was part of a multi-car French team. Her best result seems to have been a 35th place in the Rallye de Lorraine, with a fourth place in class. 

1980 was a year without regular competition, but Bernadette was busy opening her own British Leyland dealership and planning new adventures. The Leyland Trophee had put her in touch both with the British car company itself and with Monique Delannoy, a former actress who also raced in the championship. Monique would become the first woman to enter the Paris-Dakar Rally in the car class. She drove a Peugeot 504 in the 1980 Dakar and recruited Bernadette as her navigator for the 1981 event. Their car was a Mercedes 240 jeep and they were 25th overall, winning both the Coupe des Dames and the diesel class.  

For the 1982 Dakar she moved over to the driving seat herself in a Range Rover. Christine “Kiki” Caron, a former Olympic swimmer who had done some rallying with Team Aseptogyl, was her navigator. Christine’s husband J-C Lagniez was Bernadette’s main sponsor at the time and was the main instigator of the partnership.

They got to the finish in 35th place. The same driver pairing in the same car tackled the 1983 Dakar, but did not finish. They became lost for three days during a sandstorm in Niger and were found by a rescue Range Rover along with another car crew and two motorcyclists. 

She returned to stage rallying in France and Europe quite extensively in 1984, driving for the Citroen team after the Aseptogyl stable wound down. In 1984, she was one of the finalists for the Citroen Trophée Féminin, representing the Lille region, and was eighth overall. Her results were more modest than they could have been, as she had to sit out part of the season due to injury after hitting a tree during the Terre de Provence Rallye.

After recovering from her injuries, she returned to rally raids. She has taken part in the Pharaons, Atlas and Optic 2000 rallies. As late as 1999, she was navigating for Estelle Hallyday in the Optic 2000 Rally in Tunisia. 

She and Estelle also competed together in the Andros Trophy in 1993 and 1994, driving a Venturi with Julien Beltoise. They raced together on ice again in the Chamonix 24 Hours, driving an Opel Astra to 29th place. Bernadette apparently returned to Chamonix a few times, although the results are hard to find.

After retiring from active competition, she moved into the administration and organisation side of rally raids. She still comes out of retirement occasionally for classic rallies.

This post was made with the help of the following sources:

http://www.citroen-en-competition.fr/fiche-pilote.php?pilote=354&lettre=s

http://www.dakardantan.com/magazine/Bernadette-SACY-1981-82-83.html

(Image copyright Innocenti Motors Club)

Veronica Valverde

 

Veronica Valverde is a single-seater driver from Costa Rica. She has competed most recently in Costa Rican Touring Cars. 

She began racing in 2010, in Formula 2000, aged sixteen. Her best results in the four-round Formula Renault-based championship were two second places. All races were held at La Guácima, her home track, and she was fourth and sixth in the other two. This debut season was combined with karting, in which she was still eligible for the junior classes. She returned to karting in 2011, having been given a “Most Promising Driver” award  for her region by the FIA.

In 2012 she raced in the Formula Abarth class of Panam GP, for Team Costa Rica, and was ninth overall. Fourth at Ibarra was her best finish of the year. Her team-mates in this national squad-based series were Carlos Fonseca and Andre Solano. She was the highest-scoring member of her team.

In 2013, she competed in Formula Panam GP, now running under Formula 3 regulations. She had her best result at the start of the season: fifth at Monterrey after missing the first two rounds. This was one of eight top-ten finishes for her this year. She was eleventh in the championship. Earlier in the year, she had raced at Palm Beach as part of the Panam winter series, earning two ninth places. 

Between then and 2016, she did not do much senior-level racing, although she was active in karting.

In 2016, she contested the Costa Rican Touring Car Championship, for the GreatWall team. She was eleventh overall. It was a new experience for her as she had never raced a saloon car before, and she was up against her former team-mates, Carlos Fonseca and Andre Solano. 

Another lengthy period away from the circuits followed. Veronica returned to the Costa Rican karting championship, with some success. In 2019, she was offered a guest drive in the Toyota Yaris Cup which supported the CRTCC. She did one round in September, at Costa Rica’s Parque Viva circuit. Although she was fast in practice and set the third-fastest time, she was not among the top five in the race itself.

She has expanded her karting experience to esports in 2020, taking part in kart sim races.

(Image copyright Veronica Valverde)

Jo Polley

 

Jo Polley races Minis in the UK. She came close to winning the 2018 Super Mighty Mini Championship. 

She began in short-oval racing, including Ministox and BRiSCA F2 Stock Cars. From a short-oval family, she raced alongside her brothers for two years from the age of 15, picking up twelve wins in emulation of her champion father, George. Although she wanted to race as a senior, the funds were not there for her to compete alongside her two brothers and she temporarily retired.

She finally moved into long-circuit racing in 2007, having bought her own car. For her first race in the Mighty Mini Championship, she qualified in fourth and finished eighth. 

In her first full year, 2008, she earned one pole position at Mallory Park. She was fourteenth overall, despite having to miss most of the season. She had crashed heavily at Mallory and her car needed extensive repairs.

A second season in Mighty Minis in 2009 gave her her first podium finish, driving a rejuvenated car. She was eighth in the championship at the end of the year. Sadly, financial pressures forced her to sell the car and take another break from motorsport for a few years. 

After a while, she briefly returned to the Mighty Mini series in 2013, before moving into the modern Mini Challenge in 2014, driving a BMW Mini. In an interview with Sky Sports, Jo explained how this was down to sponsorship from PowerMaxed detailing products. The deal led to her working as a grid girl for the PowerMaxed BTCC team as well. She was thirteenth in the Cooper class of the Mini Challenge. 

In 2015, among some other projects, she attempted to win an entry to the Rally Aïcha des Gazelles. She spent most of the season in the PowerMaxed Mini Challenge and was eleventh in the Cooper class. 

In 2016, she continued to race her Mini, and also travelled to Spa for the Mini 24 Hours, in which she and her team-mates won their class. 

She raced in the JCW class of the Mini Challenge in 2017, as part of a three-car Eurotech team. Her best finish was eleventh at Oulton Park and she was 27th in the championship after a part-season. Eurotech also ran a BTCC team and Jo managed their sponsorship as well as standing on the grid for them at races. 

In 2018, back in a classic Mini, she came close to winning the Super Mighty Mini Championship, having led for much of the season after an early win. She was fourth. 

She switched to Mini 7evens the following year and was 16th in the championship, although her pace picked up dramatically towards the end of the season with a couple of top-five finishes. She also raced a classic Mini at the Silverstone Classic with Jeff Smith, whom she had met at Eurotech and was by now her partner.

Jeff and Jo raced together again in 7evens for the shortened 2020 season. She was fifth in the championship, with a best finish of third at Thruxton.

They raced together again in 2021, this time taking on the Masters Pre-'66 Mini Championship. Driving a Mini in her father's signature "Polley purple", she had a best finish of fifth at Brands Hatch. As well as this, she was a regular top-ten finisher in 7evens again and ninth in the championship.

She was third in the 2022 Se7en championship, with third places at Silverstone, Cadwell and Castle Combe. The 2023 championship led to a tenth place, but a one-off Masters Mini outing at Brands gave her a class third.

(Image copyright ByKathryn)

Ann Taieth

 

Ann Taieth is a highly successful rally driver in Africa who competed between 1972 and 2011. 

She was born in Norway but lived in Kenya, where she did almost all of her rallying. 

She became the first female driver to win a Kenyan rally in 1984, when she was the victor in both the Guru Nanak and Raymond rallies. Her car was an Opel Ascona and she was second in the Kenyan championship after a second place in the Kenya Sanyo 2000 Rally, behind Shekhar Mehta. 

She did enter the Safari Rally at least seven times (in 1972, 1973, 1974, 1980, 1982 and 1984) but did not always get to the finish. Her first attempt was in a Datsun 1600 and she was 18th from 18 finishers, although 67 others did not complete the event. She had received penalties for exceeding speed limits on the road sections, which prompted some newspaper writers to express surprise that she worked as a driving instructor away from the stages.

In 1973 she drove a Datsun and was sponsored by a cosmetics company called ”Lady Gay”, finshing fourteenth. The same combination of car, driver and co-driver Silvia King did not finish the 1974 edition and they were absent from the scene for some time. Ann and Silvia did not finish the 1977 Safari in a Datsun 120Y and then retreated from the scene again. 

Ann paired up with the experienced Yvonne Mehta for the 1980 Safari, although further information is hard to find. It is likely that their car was a Datsun, as both were associated with the make at the time. A final run in a Datsun in the 1982 event ended in another DNF and it was only when she switched Japanese power for German that she really started to get the results.

Her first podium finish was in the 1983 Sanyo 2000 Rally, held around Lake Nakuru. Her car was now an Opel Ascona 400. She and Silvia were third. At the end of the year, they were seventh in the Cholaco Jamhuri Rally. Ann then teamed up with Quentin Thomson and was fourth in the Firestone Coast 600 Rally. 

Her winning season followed in the Ascona and she was second in the Kenyan championship before retiring for many years.

After a long break, she returned to the Kenyan stages in 2010, driving a Volkswagen in the S&L Mortgages Rally. At 61, she was the oldest driver to ever tackle the event. She came back in 2011 for the KCB Bankika Rally in the same car. 

She has been involved in dog breeding in East Africa in recent years.

(Image copyright Robin Hutton)

Katherine (Kate) Martin

 

Katherine (Kate) Martin was best-known as the wife of Lionel Martin, and one of the early directors of the Aston Martin company. Katherine had raced a number of cars from the early 1920s onwards, including a Riley and an early Aston Martin, which she used in hillclimbs and trials.

Katherine was born Katherine King in 1888. She married Lionel Martin in 1917. 

She is credited with designing the first Aston Martin logo, and with persuading Lionel to put the “Aston” in the firm’s name first, so it would appear at the top of alphabetic lists. She was also involved with the design for the early cars’ radiator grilles.

Kate was an astute businesswoman, whose interests included a lime quarry, which is still part-owned by a trust in her name. Its profits go to the RSPCA, Barnardos and NSPCC. She was an early director of Aston Martin, taking over from Robert Bamford and holding the position until 1925.

The BARC began organising ladies’ races at Brooklands in 1920. Katherine appears to have won one of the earlier ones in 1921, driving an Aston. This may well have been “Coal Scuttle”, the first-ever Aston Martin built. In 1921, there were perhaps three Astons in existence and there are photos of Kate in Coal Scuttle at Brooklands.

Lionel Martin was forced to sell the Aston Martin company in 1925. He reputedly never owned another Aston and it appears that Kate followed suit. This was not the end of her involvement in motorsport, however; both she and Lionel continued to compete in rallies for some years.

She drove a Wolseley Hornet in the 1932 Alpine Rally, but her first trophy seems to have been a third in the Coupe des Dames of the 1933 Monte Carlo Rally, accompanied by Agnes Gripper. Her car was a Hillman. In that year’s Alpine Rally, she co-drove for her husband, in his Humber.

Sneha Sharma

 

Sneha Sharma is a single-seater racer from India.

She has done most of her racing in Formula 4 in India, as part of the JK Tyres Racing Championship. This is not the same as FIA F4 and race results are therefore harder to find. 

She began her single-seater career in 2013, after several years of karting, which gave her several notable wins. She also did a part-season in the 2010 Volkswagen Polo one-make cup. Her early attempts to get a foothold in the Indian motorsport scene were manufacturer-sponsored one-make series where she tried to win sponsored drives. She tried to get onto the Toyota Etios programme and did at least an exhibition race in the car in 2012. At around the same time, she got into the final five of a Mercedes young driver programme, setting a speed record. 

In 2016, she continued in the JK Tyres series, and was tenth in the championship. It was based around the Kari circuit at Coimbatore and she had one of her more successful years, picking up fifth and sixth places. 

Sneha has also raced in the VW Polo Cup and the Toyota Etios one-make championship, and got into the final twelve of a Mercedes driver development challenge in India. 

In 2019, she attempted to qualify for the women-only W Series, but did not get past the first round. She intended to spend the season moving between the Formula RGB India championship and Southeast Asian Formula 4, although she does not appear to have entered the Indian series. She was tenth in the F4 series for Meritus GP, with a best finish of fifth at Sepang. Of the four female drivers entered that year, she was the best by quite a long way.

Her F4 top ten was not her only race in Malaysia; she entered the first rounds of the Proton Saga Cup for DV Motorsports. 

Her activities in 2020 were limited by the worldwide coronavirus crisis, although she did keep her hand in with some karting.

She has worked as an airline pilot since 2012, when she was 22. Her training was undertaken in Malaysia and the USA. She started at age 17 and took a break from karting to do so.  

(Image from Makers India)

Esmee Hawkey

 

Esmée Hawkey is a versatile British driver who has had her best results in the Porsche Carrera Cup.

Her motorsport career started early. After several seasons of karting she raced in Ginetta Juniors in 2014, after becoming a finalist in the Ginetta Junior Scholarship at the end of 2013. This led to a development deal with AmDTuning. As well as karting, she raced in the last three Ginetta Junior rounds of 2014, at Rockingham, Silverstone and Brands Hatch. Her best results were two 15th places, at Rockingham and Brands Hatch. She was 22nd overall. 

She also tested an AmDTuning BTCC car, driving the team’s Honda Civic during a tyre test at Snetterton.

In 2015, she drove for JHR Developments in Ginetta Juniors. Her best overall finishes were two fourteenth places, at Oulton Park, but she did well among the Rookie drivers. She was 25th in the championship. 

2016 was the year she graduated to senior competition in the form of the GT Cup, racing a Porsche Cayman for the GT Marques team.  She was runner-up in the GTA class and had a best overall finish of eighth at Donington. 

In 2017, she was nominated for the Carrera Cup GB Junior Scholarship and continued to race in the GT Cup.

She did her first full season of the Carrera Cup in 2018, still  with GT Marques, earning two podium finishes in the Pro-Am class at Monza and Brands Hatch. 

In 2019, the Carrera Cup was combined with a season in the all-female W Series, where she was fifteenth in the championship. She did better in the Carrera Cup, with three wins in the Pro-Am class at Thruxton and Oulton Park and a third on the class leaderboard. 

Her final position in the W Series standings was fifteenth and she was let go by the championship, which was cancelled in 2020 anyway. This proved to be a very minor setback in her career, as she signed with Team Parker Racing for the Carrera Cup and was instantly the Pro-Am class driver to beat. She won the class in her first four races and picked up a further five class victories later in the season. The only time she was off the Pro-Am podium was when she did not finish at Oulton. Her best overall finishes were two third places, at Donington and Brands Hatch. These were her first series podiums.

At the end of the 2019 season she was named as a test driver for the MB Motorsport BTCC team. She had her first test in the Honda Civic at Snetterton in July 2020.

At the beginning of 2021, she was announced as a driver for the Iron Dames team, but she was quickly withdrawn after her manager was found to have made an incorrect declaration regarding her FIA driver categorisation. Fortunately for her, she was quickly snapped up for a DTM race seat, driving a Lamborghini Huracan for T3 Motorsport. It was a difficult learning year, but she did manage an eleventh place at Assen and the Nurburgring, getting her first points on the DTM computer. She was 20th in the championship.

A planned second season in the DTM was limited to the first four races, as the T3 team pulled out of the championship. Her best result was an 18th place at Lausitz.

(Image copyright Esmee Hawkey)

Isabella Bignardi

 

Isabella Bignardi is a driver and co-driver from Italy who has competed since 1978. She was Italian ladies’ rally champion in 1980 and 1981.

Born in Piacenza but growing up in Turin, Isabella’s family were motorsport fans and she grew up around rallies and the drivers who were among her family friends.

During the early part of her career she was an on-off member of the all-female Team Aseptogyl. Her first major outing as a driver was the 1979 Rally della Lana, as part of a three-car Fiat 127 team with Maurizia Baresi and Betty Tognana. She finished 62nd, the first Aseptogyl car home. Earlier that year, she had joined the team as navigator to Maurizia. 

1980 was devoted to driving rather than co-driving. Isabella’s father had helped her to buy an Opel Kadett, which was run by the Astigiana Corse team. It was in this car that she scored her first top-ten, finishing seventh in the Valli Piacentine Rally on her way to her first national womens’ title.

The Kadett was exchanged for a powerful Lancia Stratos in 1981. Her best result in this car was a fifth place in the Rally di Alba e delle Langhi. The car was run by Brunik Squadra, which was enjoying some success in Italy at the time. Isabella’s second Italian ladies’ championship was a welcome addition. 

The same car tackled the Italian championship again in 1982, with the same crew of Isabella and Luisa Zumelli, although it was now being run by Tre Gazzelle. The Stratos was generally a somewhat fragile car and Isabella’s showed little reliability throughout the year, only finishing four rallies. The only notable result was a 19th place in the Rally 4 Regioni. 

Unsurprisingly, the Stratos was changed for an Alfa Romeo Alfasud in 1983. The year started with the last gasp of Team Aseptogyl, which entered Isabella into the Monte Carlo Rally with a large group of other female crews representing several European countries. She was one of the few to qualify for the rally proper and the third to finish, in 60th place. The rest of the year was spent in the Italian championship, with a best finish of fourteenth with a class win in the Rally Valli Vesimesi.

After 1983, Isabella competed less, only taking part in a few rallies per year. First she used an Opel Manta, scoring a sixth place in the 1984 Citta di Sassari event, then she moved on to a Renault 5 which she drove between 1985 and 1989. This car gave her another top ten finish: fifth in the 4 Regioni Rally. 

Aside from a single 1993 outing in a Lancia Delta Integrale and a co-driving slot the following year, she did not appear on the stages again until 2011. That year, she resurfaced in historic competition, driving first an Opel Kadett and then a Porsche 911 for Biella Corse. Her second rally back, the Rally Lana Historico, led to a seventh in the Kadett. It took slightly longer for her to get results from the Porsche, but in 2012 she was third in the Targa Florio Historic.

After a full season of historic competition she settled into occasional outings again. She remained competitive, as shown by results such as her sixth place in the Historic Rally 4 Stagioni in 2016, driving the Porsche. She was nint in the same event in 2017, driving the Porsche this time. 

2018 featured a move back to contemporary rallying, using the unlikely choice of a BMW 318. As of 2020, she is still rallying this car in Italy. 

Away from rallying, she studied veterinary medicine. 

(Image from ilquotidianodaybyday.eu)

Marian (Mopsy) Pagan

Marian Pagan, often known as “Mopsy” was one of the first female drivers to try her hand in NASCAR. 

Residing in California, she was the first woman from outside NASCAR’s Southern heartlands to try her hand at one of its top-level events.

She only made one Cup start in 1954, finishing 18th out of 33 in the Oakland Grand National race in a Plymouth run by her husband Eddie. He also took part in the race. Some of her male rivals protested her entry, but responses from the media and the public were largely positive.

“Mopsy” had relatively little experience in motorsport, but she had been quite successful in horse-drawn buggy races and was a member of the Cheesecake Racing Association, a twelve-woman racing league that competed widely. Their main haunt was Culver City but they also made several appearances at Gardena, at least one of which featured Mopsy.

In a 1955 newspaper interview, Eddie Pagan claimed that Marian had got into motor racing through him and that she first competed in 1951 after seeing her first “powderpuff derby” ladies’ race. Further details of her pre-Oakland career have proved tricky to find; full results for powderpuff derby races were rarely published.

In 1957, she was one of nine women who competed in the Mobilgas Economy Run for the Ford team. This was not a race but a cross-country trial with the aim of covering the greatest distance on the least fuel. She was tenth in the “Low Price” class, driving a Ford Fairlane. This appears to be the last time she entered a large-scale motoring event.

Away from the track, Marian worked in the aircraft industry.

(Image copyright Oakland Tribune)