Siti Shahkirah Shaharul

 

Siti Shakirah Shaharul, often known as Siti Shahkirah, is a Malaysian driver who mainly competes in endurance racing.

She began her senior career as one of the winners of the Red Bull Rookies driver search in 2011, aged just seventeen. Red Bull Rookies had been a female-only competition previously, but that year it had both male and female winners. Although she got her break through a competition, she was not new to motorsport as a whole and had been karting since the age of nine. At the end of 2010 she trained at the Petronas Formula Xperience Racing Academy.

Her prize drive was a seat in a Red Bull Proton Satria for the Sepang 1000km. She also took part in a Malaysian Grand Prix support race in the same car, which counted as a round of the Malaysian Super Series. 

After 2011, she was retained as a driver by the Red Bull Rookies team and did at least two more Sepang 1000km races in 2013 and 2014. Her co-driver in 2013 was a Bruneian driver named Siti Zirwatul Iradah Awang Adninin. They were eleventh. The following year she was twelfth overall, with fellow Rookies Geraldine Read and Illy Aquila. 

In 2018, she made her single-seater debut in the Southeast Asia Formula 4 championship, taking part in the last six races at Sepang. Her best results were three eighth places.

She was one of the 60 drivers chosen to try out for the all-female W Series, but she was eliminated after the first round of assessments.

She returned to her favourite haunt, Sepang in 2019 for the 1000km race, partnering Angeline Lee in a Toyota Vios for the Hi-Rev SIC Dream Chaser team. They were 29th overall and won the Vios Enduro class. The same pair tackled the race again in 2020, in a similar car. 

Leading an all-female team, she had another go at the Sepang 1000km in 2022. She drove a Suzuki Swift with celebrity racers Monica Picca and Zulaikha Ahmad and finished 42nd overall.

(Image copyright Siti Shahkirah)

Gabriela Jilkova

 

Gabriela Jilkova is a Czech driver who is best known for her successes in sportscars, although she has raced in many disciplines. She is known on social media as “QuickGabi”.

In 2012, she jumped straight from under-18 karting to Formula Renault, taking part in three rounds of the Northern European zone championship, at Most. Unfortunately, she did not finish any of them. She was only 17 at the time.

Her next step in her senior career was some sportscar racing in the Netherlands. She was third in two races in the Superlight section of the 2013 Supercar Challenge at Assen, driving a Czech-built Praga-Renault. This was combined with senior karting in the ROK Cup.

She was sixth in the 2014 ROK Cup senior world final. In between karting, she competed in a Formula Renault once more in Eastern Europe, as part of the Formula Car championship. Her best solo result was ninth at the Hungaroring. In a two-driver race at the same track she was fifth with Robert Haub. 

She did not do much actual racing in 2015, although she did take part in some drifting. Although she completed the driver evaluation course for the Audi TT Cup at the start of 2016, she did not actually race the TT, going with a Renault Clio instead. She did some rounds at least of the Central European Zone D4-2000 series, enough for third in the championship, and made some appearances in the Central European Clio Cup, scoring an eleventh and a sixth at the Red Bull Ring. 

Another part-season in the Clio Cup followed in 2017, for at least part of the season. 

In 2019, she worked as a test driver for the Gumpert RG Nathalie Race project, developing the track edition of the Nathalie fuel-cell car. She also did two races in the 24H GT Series in a KTM X-Bow, partnering Milan Kodidek. They were sixth at Brno. 

In 2020, she tried out unsuccessfully for W Series; the championship ended up being cancelled anyway due to coronavirus. She started sim racing with some success, using the screen name “QuickGabi”.

Having not raced competitively for a couple of seasons, Gabriela would have been forgiven for stepping back, but her break was just around the corner. In a reversal of fortunes, she joined the Zakspeed team for the GT Winter Series, driving a Mercedes AMG GT3. She was second and third in the first three races at Portimao, then won the next two outright from pole position to secure the title. 

This led to a race seat with the team for the 2021 ADAC GT4 Cup in Germany, sharing the same car with co-driver Robert Haub. They were fifth in the first round at Oschersleben, earning their first podium with a third place. A little later, they were second and sixth at Zandvoort. The remainder of the season was not as successful, but they held on to eighth in the championship.

The same driver pairing tackled the FARA Miami 500 at Homestead, driving a Praga. They won the race.

Another season in a Mercedes in the ADAC GT4 Cup and European GT4s with Robert Haub followed. They did not repeat their podium finish in 2022, but did manage a fourth place in each of their championships. The European GT4 fourth was at Spa, in the Pro-Am class, and the GT4 Cup fourth was at Zandvoort. They were also fifth at Imola in the European series.

Driving for a different team on a different continent, Gabriela travelled to India at the end of the year for the Indian Racing League, a street circuit-based single-seater championship. She drove for the Goa Aces team, sometimes sharing a car with Polish driver Kevin Mirocha for the feature races. Her best finishes were a pair of second places at Hyderabad, which was a relief after a chaotic beginning to the season, involving a race being cancelled and serious reliability problems with the motorcycle-engined car. She was tenth in the championship.

Her 2023 season was split between France and Germany. She was part of an all-female team put together by Matmut for the FFSA GT Cahmpionship. Her team-mate was Lucile Cypriano. They were third in the GT4 Pro-Am class, with a best finish of second at Val de Vienne. This was one of six podiums they achieved in their Toyota Supra.

In Germany, she raced a Duqueine car in the Protoype Cup, winning one race at Zandvoort with Xavier Lloveras. She was ninth in the championship after two more podiums. In addition to this, she did one race in the NLS, driving an Aston Martin Vantage. She and her two team-mates were sixth.

(Image copyright Gabriela Jilkova)

Jane Gunningham

 

Jane Gunningham was one of Britain’s leading female rally drivers in the 1990s.

She competed to British Championship level between 1992 and 1997, mainly in a Subaru Impreza and a Peugeot 306. As well as home events, she occasionally drove in Europe and the Middle East.

Born in 1974, she started rallying early, at 18. She trained at the prestigious John Haugland rally school in Norway, and was highly-regarded by her mentor. 

Her first car was a slightly unusual one; a Mazda 323. It was her main car in 1992 and 1993 and it did not bring her a great deal of success. The 1992 Vauxhall Astra Stages ended in retirement, then failed to finish her first three events of 1993, including a roll on the first stage of the Granite City Rally in Scotland. Her best event was the Midland Rally in Welshpool. She was 25th overall and sixth in class. Gaining more confidence towards the end of the year, she was 28th in the Premier Stages, from 72 finishers.

A season divided between the BTRDA in the UK and the Middle East championship followed in 1994. Jane joined up with the experienced Pauline Gullick to rally another Mazda 323 in the Qatar and Jordan Rallies. She was 19th in Jordan but her finishing position in Qatar is not recorded.

A 1600cc Peugeot 205 was waiting for her back in the UK. The clutch had failed on the season-opening Wyedean Stages, but otherwise it was a reliable car on gravel. Her best overall BTRDA result was a 31st place in the Castrol Crystal Forest Rally, but she also finished second in class on the Woodpecker Stages. Her 53rd overall sounds less impressive, but there were 141 finishers in the event. 

Away from the BTRDA series, she entered the Masters of Morden Mini Tempest Stages, finishing a career-best seventh. Her co-driver was Julia Rabbett, who would sit beside her for her first RAC Rally later in the year. She was 68th, gaining many places on the final day and making up for some early time penalties.

The British Rally Championship was the logical next step in her career. After a pre-season 21st place in the 1995 Kall Kwik Stages, she switched from a 205 to a 306 and took on her first BRC event, the Rally of Wales. She was 32nd, thirteenth in class, not helped by penalties. After the retirement of the highly-regarded Stephanie Simmonite, she took the lead of the Ladies’ points table.

Sadly, this was to be her last finish of the year, handing the Ladies’ title to Stephanie Simmonite. She retired from the other four BRC rallies, crashing out of two and suffering mechanical failures on the others.

She had more success in the 1996 British championship, ending the season 19th overall in the 306 after three points finishes. The best of these came from a 20th place on the Ulster Rally, just behind her old mentor John Haugland. She was also 22nd on the Manx Rally. 

Away from the BRC, she and her regular navigator Joyce Champion travelled to Belgium for the Ypres 24 Hours. Driving the 306, Jane was 57th and eleventh in class.

Her 1997 season began with a one-off run in a SEAT Ibiza for the Scottish Rally, but she crashed out on the third stage. The rest of the year was spent in a Group N Subaru Impreza, mostly in BRC rallies and co-driven by Stella Boyles. Once more, the Ulster Rally was her best event and she was 19th, sixth in class. This was followed by a 20th place on the Woodpecker Rally. 

Her only other WRC entry, in the 1997 RAC Rally, ended in retirement following an accident on the final day. This would prove to be her final event.

She now lives in Scotland.

Lady Mary Grosvenor

 

Lady Mary Grosvenor was a British driver in the mid-20th century who could have been the first woman to race in Formula One.

Blessed with a huge family fortune as the youngest daughter of the Duke of Westminster, she was able to afford a series of increasingly powerful cars. Her father was, at the time, one of the richest men in the world.

She most often competed in hillclimbs and sprints, but did both circuit racing and rallying before and after World War II. 

It was in rallies that she first came to prominence. She entered the 1936 RAC Rally in a Riley, starting from Buxton. She is recorded as having finished 156th in the 1938 event. She also rallied in Scotland early in her career.

She first appears on the circuit racing entry lists in 1937, as a member of the Lancs & Cheshire Car Club’s relay team for a race at Donington. Her team-mates were AC Molyneux (Lea Francis) and Hugh Cocker, who drove a Riley like Mary. They were fourth.

Her second major race was a Short Handicap at Crystal Palace in 1939, and she was second, in a Riley Sprite. This was the first of her racing cars; she favoured the Sprite in the early part of her career and owned several. 

The same year, and in the same car, she was second in a two-lap Scratch Race at Donington, held by the Cambridge University Auto Club. She also entered a three-lap relay with Midge Wilby (Atalanta) and a T Winstanley in a Bentley, finishing second. 

After the war, she raced a Riley and an Allard, which she used for hillclimbs and sprints, sometimes driving both cars in a single meeting. 

She was third in a sportscar race at Gransden Lodge in 1946, in the Riley, and continued to compete strongly in hillclimbs until 1949, using a 1929 Bugatti T37A and an Alta as well as the Allard. The Bugatti was a particularly strong car for her and she set a ladies’ record at Prescott in 1947 that stood for more than 30 years.

The Alta, once it had been fitted with a 1500cc engine, would have been eligible for Formula One, but despite having the means, Lady Mary declined to pursue this. She preferred to use the car in speed events. Throughout her motorsport career, Lady Mary was always very independent, choosing her own path. She does not appear to have competed outside the UK, although she travelled extensively in Europe and Africa, and was never part of any of the women-only rallies that took place on the continent.

She had bought her first Alta, a 69IS in 1939 but never got the chance to race it and sold it after the war. Later, she ran a different Alta in both 1500cc and 2000cc guises. As a 1500cc Grand Prix car, it took her to sixth place in class in a hillclimb at Prescott in 1949. That summer, she used the Alta at another Prescott climb, at Shelsley Walsh and the Chester Motor Club’s sprint, where she was second in class.

Later, she raced a Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica at Silverstone and Goodwood, finishing third in a handicap at Goodwood in 1951. 

She retired from motorsport in 1953, after the death of her father, the Duke of Westminster, and devoted her time to running the family estates. Only once did she come out of retirement, in 1955, when she entered a Bentley Drivers’ Club event at Oulton Park driving a Triumph TR2.

The Westminster title could only pass to a male heir, so neither Mary nor her sister Ursula could inherit. It passed to Mary’s second cousin William. Mary herself never married, although she was suggested as a potential bride for The Prince of Wales, later briefly Edward VIII, as a young woman.

She died in 2000, aged 89.

(Image copyright Tips Editorial)