Henrietta Lister

 

Henrietta Lister owned and raced an Aston Martin in the 1920s, sometimes competing at Brooklands. She was sometimes known as Mabel, her middle name.

Pictures of her in racing garb next to a car at Brooklands exist from 1924, but no race results. The car was a “Bamford-type” Aston with a 1500cc side-valve engine, according to Henrietta’s obituary in a 1983 edition of the Brooklands Society Gazette. The author, Geoffrey Smith, states that she raced for four seasons only, which would have been between 1924 and 1928. How and why this professional ballet dancer, dance teacher and art graduate came to own and race such a car, no-one really knows.

The car itself was sometimes looked after by Jack Waters, who would later find fame as the actor Jack Warner. His two sisters were the comedy performers “Gert and Daisy”, friends of Henrietta, and it is possible that the Waters family formed the link between her and motor racing. Another is that she had served in the Scottish Women’s Hospital corps during WWI, working as a driver of ambulances and lorries. She saw action on the Eastern Front in Serbia and may have come across Gwenda Glubb, who was active at Brooklands as Gwenda Stewart at the same time as Henrietta.

In 1925, she was second in two editions of the Essex Long Handicap. One of these was captured on a film titled “Woman Motorist’s 90 Mile an Hour!” 

Later in the year, she entered a 50-mile handicap with the same club, although her finishing position is not recorded. Pictures show her car in action at meetings of the Middlesex Motor Club. At the time, the main organising club at Brooklands did not hold mixed races, but many regional clubs did.

The BARC relaxed its stance somewhat on female drivers in 1928 and she was third in a Ladies’ Handicap held during the August Bank Holiday meeting, behind Margaret Maconochie’s Amilcar and Ruth Urquhart Dykes in an Alvis.

There is some confusion about when exactly Henrietta competed, as other drivers often used her car, and she was named as the entrant. Jack Waters was one of those who drove the Aston.

After her time as a racing driver, she married William Burrill-Robinson and took up watercolour painting, exhibiting regularly in Yorkshire. According to her obituary, she had sold the Aston to a passing soldier at some time during WWII for £35, having helped him to hide some contraband petrol.

She had previously been a ballet dancer, using the name "Henrietta Listakova". Under this name, she performed in a “charity ballet” in West Acton in 1923. Her performances included The Dying Swan and a foxtrot with another dancer called Arthur Barron. The event was organised by a Miss Mabel Lister, who may have been Henrietta using another name, or a relative. She had been born in Australia and lived in Acton with relatives as a girl, one of whom could be Mabel. Mabel Lister’s dance school taught “Russian ballet and ballroom”, which tallies well with “Mabel Listakova’s” performance.

Henrietta died in 1983, reportedly after suffering heart trouble for much of her life. This never seemed to stop her from seeking excitement or facing adversity.

(Image copyright Brooklands Gazette. Thanks to James Thorne)

Hanna Zellers

 

Hanna Zellers is a versatile American driver who has competed in single-seaters, stock cars and sportscars.

She began her career in cars in 2013 at the Skip Barber Racing School, after racing karts from 2007 until then.

After a part-season spent campaigning a Mazda Miata (MX-5) in SCCA races, she moved on to open-wheel competition in 2015. She raced in the SCCA Formula Enterprise series in 2015 and 2016, winning two events. She was eleventh in the 2015 championship after an accident in the end-of-season runoffs, but bounced back the following year with a second place overall. Her car was the Mazda-engined Van Diemen DP06 sanctioned by the championship. 

Her single-seater career stalled temporarily In 2017. She attempted to branch out into stock cars, taking part in the NASCAR K&N Series race at Millville. She did not finish. 

It was back to single-seaters in 2018 and she did the second half of the US Formula 4 championship, supported by Jay Howard Driver Development. She recorded a best finish of 20th at the Circuit of the Americas. She also guested in the F1600 championship at Bowmanville, finishing twelfth once. Bowmanville was also the scene of her IMSA Prototype Challenge debut a month later, earning a ninth place. She did the next two rounds at Virginia and Road America, driving a Norma run by Five Miles Out Racing. 

After failing to get through the initial driver assessments for the all-female W Series, she raced several cars in 2019. She did some rounds of the US touring car (TC America) championship in a BMW, scoring best finishes of seventh and eighth at Las Vegas towards the end of the season. Sometimes doubling up over a race weekend, she also competed in the one-make Saleen Cup, winning the Young Driver class at Road America once. 

A break from top-level racing followed, although she still did some events with the World Racing League. In 2022, she raced in the IMSA Prototype Challenge, driving a Ligier LMP3. She was tenth in the championship with George Staikos, with a best finish of seventh at Mosport. Despite a dramatic accident where she rolled the car at Virginia, she came back to finish the season. The accident looked nasty but she was unhurt.

At the beginning of the year, she was third in class in the Dubai 24 Hours, driving a BMW M2 for the Yeeti team.

The IMSA MX5 Challenge was her destination for 2023, although the season did not start as well as she hoped. Her car had problems with its differential in its first race at Daytona, then an engine mount broke. Hanna was also suffering from a severe sinus infection which required surgery. She did not plan on missing much of the championship, but in the end only did six races.

(Image copyright Hanna Zellers)

Lena Buhler

 

Lena Buhler is a Swiss driver who races single-seaters, mainly in Europe.

She moved into cars from karting in 2020. Her first experience in senior motorsport was racing in Spanish Formula 4 for the Drivex School team. She was fifteenth in the championship and her best finishes were two fifth places at Aragon and Barcelona. These fifth places were among six top-ten finishes she achieved from 20 starts. She could be quick but was quite inconsistent at times. 

In 2021, she raced in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, as part of the R-ace team. It was a tough year for her and she earned her best finish of the year, a 23rd place, in the last round at Monza.

During the off-season, she travelled to Arizona in the USA to take part in the W Series F4 tests and was invited back for its Barcelona F3 tests, but she was not offered a seat.

The R-ace connection continued in 2022, with three more FREC races and one finish, a 26th place in Monte Carlo. This followed a part-season in the FR Asian championship, which gave her a best finish of twelfth at Yas Marina. 

She stepped back down to F4 for 2023, entering the UAE championship. Not long after, she was the first driver announced for the FIA’s F1 Academy, an F4-level women-only series, driving for the ART GP team. Lena was one of the oldest drivers in the series, having only started karting at 17 and competing seriously in 2017. She was second in F1 Academy with two wins at Catalunya and Monza. As she was already 25, this would be her only F1 Academy season. Her 2024 plans are unclear, although she has become an affiliated driver with the Sauber F1 team as a result of her F1 Academy performances.

(Image copyright formula1.com)

Madeline Stewart

 

Madeline Stewart races sportscars and saloons in Australia.

She is a former junior and senior karter from New Zealand who began racing in the Super3 Series in Australia in 2019. This championship is the official third-level series for V8 Supercars and she went straight into it from karting.

The then 19-year-old drove a Holden Commodore for Brad Jones Racing and picked up three top-ten finishes. The best of these was an eighth place at Winton. She was fourteenth in the championship. 

As well as saloons, she also raced single-seaters in the bike-engined Formula 1000 series. She was sixth in her state championship, driving a Stohr F1000. She was racing against her sister Ashleigh in a Radical. 

Her 2020 Super3 season was limited to two races due to the international coronavirus crisis, but she showed promise with a pair of fourth places at Sydney Motorsports Park. The team entered her for the Townsville Tin Tops meeting the following month, using the same car. After one second and two third places, Madeline was declared the winner. 

Later, she joined the McElrea team for Super Tin Tops at The Bend, this time racing a Porsche 991 in the Super Cup class. She was fifth, finishing fifth or fourth in all three races. This in turn led to a guest spot in the Australian Super GT championship at Queensland, where she was sixth in the first race and fourth in the other two.

In 2021, she continued racing a Porsche, entering both the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge and part of the Australian Carrera Cup, for Earl Bamber's team. The hookup with Bamber was meant to begin with a run in the 2020 Asian Carrera Cup, but this was cancelled.

The Sprint Cup brought more success, with Madeline narrowly missing out on a top ten at Sydney Motorsports Park. This eleventh place was her best finish in the car; her guest appearance at Mount Panorama for the December Australian Carrera Cup meeting had a best result of 18th. It was a short season, finishing in May.

Her best race of the year was the Bathurst 6 Hours, in which she drove an HSV VXR Turbo with Chris Holdt and David Ling. They were fifth in class. 

Another Bathurst 6 Hours in a Holden Astra in 2022 followed, as well as an extensive sportscar programme. She was tenth in the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, driving for the Bamber team again, with a best finish of third at The Bend. 

Before beginning the Sprint Challenge, she also made a guest appearance in a Ginetta G55 for the Fanatec GT World Challenge races at Phillip Island, finishing third twice for Griffith Corp.

For the first time, she raced outside Oceania in 2023, entering the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America. She was competing in the 992 Pro-Am class and finished third, with four third places at Sebring, Barber and Mid-Ohio. She combined this with karting in Australia.

(Image from madelinestewart.nz)