Janet Brise

Janet Brise raced sportscars in the UK in the 1970s. She took to racing after the death of her husband, Formula One driver Tony Brise. 

Janet was a model prior to her marriage. She married Tony in 1975 and he bought her a course of lessons at a racing school for her birthday. He was killed in the plane crash that also claimed the life of his team boss Graham Hill in November. A widow at the age of 23, she turned to motorsport to fill the void. At first, she competed alongside her father in trials. Reg Allen was a noted triallist and Janet sat alongside him in his Kincraft car as a “bouncer”.

In the years following Tony’s death, Janet was involved with a compensation claim against Graham Hill Racing. Hill himself had been flying the team plane when it crashed and he was found to have been in breach of several flight regulations. She said at the time that she hoped the action would not lose her the friendship of Bette Hill; pictures show Bette congratulating Janet after a podium position a few years later. 

She began competing by herself in 1978, intending to make her debut at Brands Hatch during its Easter meeting. The plan was for her to race a Formula Ford and photos exist of her sitting in a Rolatruc Elden belonging to the Brands Hatch racing school, but it is not clear whether she actually raced the car. The Cheshire Observer reported that her debut was at Oulton in July, when she entered the Elf Renault 5 Challenge. She was ninth after spinning early on. Shortly afterwards, she was second in an all-female Shellsport Escort race, behind Desire Wilson. James Hunt presented the prizes; his girlfriend Jane Birbeck was among the entries. 

 
She took part in both rounds of the official Shellsport Ladies Escort Championship that year and scored two third places. 

 
In 1979, she did a season in the Chequered Flag Sports 2000 championship, sometimes sharing a car with Desire Wilson. She was sponsored by the Kelly recruitment agency, which was then called “Kelly Girl”. Janet had worked for the company as a secretary. Her car was a Lola. She was not one of the leading drivers in the series but she held her own on the track. Juliette Slaughter, who had raced in Sports 2000 the year before, said of her “Janet knows her racecraft.” 

Janet married John Finch in 1979. He was an insurance under-writer and he met Janet at a racing school.
Her motorsport career ended after the 1979 season, when she had raced a Debenhams-sponsored Ford Escort. Some time later she ran an antique shop in London with her fellow Formula One widow Nella Pryce, who lost her husband Tom in 1977.

She remains close to the Brise family.

(Images courtesy of Alan Cox)