Liliana de Menna

Liliana de Menna was a stalwart of the Italian touring car scene who was active between 1963 and 1994. 

Her first efforts were in races for small-engined saloons, when she competed under the name of "Liliana" in the hope that she wouldn't worry her family. She had got into motorsport after visiting the Vallelunga circuit with friends who raced; throughout her career, Vallelunga would remain her favourite circuit. She had seen world karting champion Susy Raganelli testing with her father and decided to try it for herself.

She won a saloon championship in her first year of racing, winning nine races outright. Her car was a 600cc Fiat 500 Montecarlo. 

The following year she won Class 2 of the Coppa Carotti hillclimb. She did several hillclimbs during her career; the Italian touring car championship was a combination of hillclimbs and circuit races at the time. In 1968, she finished the Cesano-Sestriere climb, in the middle of a group of Giannini Fiat 500s, as well as winning her class in the Bolzano-Mendola event.

She was the Italian ladies' champion in 1968. Her marriage to Italo Cantera did not slow her down and the pair even raced together in the Vallelunga 2 Hours one year. 

Some time at the end of the '60s, she had a daughter and took a lengthy hiatus from motorsport. She stopped attending race meetings because she didn't enjoy them without being able to compete herself. It wasn't until the late '70s that she came back. According to her, Giancarlo Naddeo asked her to join the Renault 5 one-make series, and she agreed. She also raced in single-make series for the Fiat 127 and MG Metro. This was the car she shared with her husband.

One-make racing led back to the Italian Touring Car Championship in the 1980s. In 1989, she raced at Pergusa in a Renault 5, coming 11th. She was then tenth at Vallelunga. For the second Vallelunga round, she shared an Audi Europa-run VW Golf with Michele Rayneri, but did not finish. 

She even raced for Lella Lombardi's team in the Italian Supertouring series in 1991, using a Ford Escort for the Pergusa 2 Hour race. Her team-mate was Walter Santus and they finished 18th. Earlier in the season, she had raced a Toyota Corolla in the Trofeo Mario Angiolini at Monza. 

Later in her career, she raced sportscars, including a Nissan 300ZX in 1992, which she used for that year's Vallelunga 6 Hours. She and Francesco Ramacciotti were 2st overall. In 1994, she entered the Italian Supercar GT championship in a Mazda RX-7, driving solo.  She was disqualified from the first meeting at Monza, but won her class twice at the next round, held at Magione. Her overall results were a fifth and fourth place. The next race she appeared in was round 5, at Varano, but she could only manage one twelfth place.

She raced in America for the first time in 1999, more than 30 years after she made her debut, when she did some rounds of the all-female Women's Global GT series, driving a Panoz Esperante. Her programme consisted of two guest appearances. 

She died in 2021.

(Image from Il Messaggero)

Anita Liden

 

Anita Lidén is a Swedish driver who is most famous for attempting to build a career in NASCAR in 1970.

She tried to enter the Motor Trend 500 at Riverside, but never made the start, having no car and no backers. She had shown up at Riverside and hung around the gates in the week before the 500, handing out business cards in the rain and attempting to persuade car owners to take a chance on her.

Despite her chutzpah, the enterprise did not work. Her complete lack of stock car experience, apart from some slow testing laps, and general lack of American racing experience, worked against her. Her husband Lasse, another racer who was with her, was also unsuccessful in launching a US competition career.

Anita and Lasse lived near the Anderstorp circuit, where he raced both cars and motorbikes. She was formerly a model and got into motorsport through her husband.

She had raced in Formula Ford in Sweden in 1969, in her first year of competition. She usually used the name "Anita Snabb", which translates to "Fast Anita". Her car was a Merlyn. In 1969, she entered the Junior race at the Hyllingeloppet event at Knutstorp, finishing second.

After her trip to America, she returned to Sweden and quickly went back to single-seaters. She continued to race in Formula Ford, then in the Swedish and European Formula Vee championships. She took part in the Swedish series in 1970 and 1971 and the European championship between 1970 and 1072.

Much later, in 1976, she raced in the Lee Cooper Mini Lady Cup, a Swedish all-female racing series, and won at least one race, although not the championship, which went to Birgitta Uppling. Her car was advertised for sale in 1978, so her career appears to end there.

(Image copyright Autosprint, 1971)

Angela Palfrey

Angela Palfrey rallied in the 1950s, and for a couple of seasons was Britain's leading new female driver.

She is chiefly known for winning the Ladies’ Prize on the 1956 RAC Rally. Her car was an Austin A40, and she was navigated by Aileen Jervis, with Pauline Pither as a third team member. The rally ran between Blackpool and Hastings and had 2100 miles of navigation. The car itself belonged to her and was an older model no longer in production. She defeated Pat Moss and Mary Handley-Page, with Pat Moss taking a wrong turn around a pylon during a driving test.

The following month, she won the ladies' award in the Birmingham Post Rally. 

Previously, she had competed in a Morgan 4/4, and is recorded as the winner of the Worcester Motor Club’s Autocross event in 1955. She was only 20 at the time. Her first major rally award came in this car, the ladies' prize in the 1955 MCC Rally. The Morgan was borrowed from her boss at the fruit and vegetable canning factory where she worked, Barrie Phipps. Aileen Jervis had been her navigator again and they won £50 from the Daily Mirror. It was her first rally as a driver.

She drove another borrowed Morgan later in 1956, entering the Morecambe Rally, also sponsored by the Mirror. She also entered the MCC National Rally for a second time, starting from Kenilworth as she did before.

As well as rallies, she also competed on track occasionally. In summer 1956, she took to the circuits at Oulton Park, taking part in the Lancashire & Cheshire MC's high-speed trials. There were two trials lasting half an hour each, and Angela used the A40 she had driven in the RAC Rally. 

Angela was from Pershore in Worcestershire. Her competition career was very short and she does not appear to have rallied after 1957. During her brief time as a rally driver, she enjoyed the spotlight. The newspapers liked reporting on this very young, pretty and talented new star.

Her married name was Phipps; she married Barrie Phipps in 1958. She died in 2018, aged 83.

(Image copyright Daily Mirror)

Ella Lloyd

Ella Lloyd is a British driver who races single-seaters, most famously in the all-female F1 Academy championship.

She began her motorsport career in 2022, racing in Ginetta Juniors at the age of 16. She got into motorsport through the FIA’s Girls on Track karting challenge in 2018, having never done any karting before.

Her best results at the start of the 2022 season were three 16th places, achieved at Brands Hatch and Knockhill. Later, she improved, picking up an eleventh place at Thruxton. She was 21st overall.

The first year of her senior career, 2023, ended with a runner-up in the Pro class of the Ginetta GT5 Challenge, after a series of wins. She had 17 podium finishes from 25 races, ten of those being wins in the Pro class.

She then switched to single-seaters in 2024, first in the Formula Winter Series, then in British F4. Rodin entered her for the last two rounds of the Winter Series, taking over from Bart Harrison. It was a cautious start and she only got in the top 20 once, although she also scored more points than Harrison or some drivers who did a full season.

She was eleventh in the F4 championship, impressing many with her pace, despite her limited single-seater experience. The work she had put in over the winter had started to pay off. During the year, she scored three second places, at Silverstone, Knockhill and Brands. This led to a wildcard entry for the Singapore rounds of F1 Academy, where she was ninth and seventh. Later in the year, she took part in the Formula E Women's Test at Jarama, recording the seventh-best set of times. As a result, she was invited back to test again for the McLaren team at Berlin Tempelhof in 2025.

For 2025, she was signed by the Rodin team as McLaren's supported driver in the series. To prepare, she entered the Formula 4 Middle East Trophy. This wasn't a huge success; in the five races she did, her best finishes were 17th places at Yas Marina.

F1 Academy itself was more successful. In the third race at Jeddah, she scored her first win, following it up with three second places later in Canada.

She is from a motorsport family - both parents and her older brother compete - and she has won junior championships in both downhill skiing and showjumping.

(Image copyright F1 Academy)

Jean Aley

Jean at the Brands Hatch ladies' race. She is fourth from the right, turning away from the camera

Jean Aley drove saloon cars in the 1960s, and also competed in rallies.

She was born into a motor racing family. Her father Anthony Curtis was one of the founding directors of HRG sportscars and both he and her mother Nancy were regular visitors to Brooklands. Jean's first practical involvement was through working for motor clubs, including the BARC and BRSCC. Between 1958 and 1960, she sprinted a Cooper sportscar and was second in class in the 1958 Brighton Speed Trials. 

Jean married John Aley in 1960, and he encouraged her to race again from 1961 onwards, usually in a Mini. She had taken some time out after an accident at Silverstone in the Cooper.

Her best year for saloons was 1962, when she drove a Mini in the Nürburgring 6 Hours and 500km races. She and Daphne Freeman did not finish the 500km, but she was fifth in class in the 6 Hours, driving with her husband John. Their Mini was described as "very standard". 

She was also one of nine women who entered a ladies' race at Brands Hatch, organised by the fledgling British Women Racing Drivers' Club. She was third, driving a Mini, behind two Lotus Sevens driven by Liz Osborn and Wendy Hamblin. Talking to the Daily Express, she said that the race had been a warm-up for the Nürburgring, and that John had lent Daphne their other Mini, a "shopping car", for the race. 

A second run in the Nürburgring 6 Hours followed in 1965, driving a little Fiat Abarth with John and Tim Lalonde. Their finishing position is unclear. Her year had begun inasupiciously, with John taking over her Mini for a round of the British Saloon Car Championship at Snetterton. His team had entered two DKWs for German drivers, but John's own car was out of action, so he took Jean's. 

Competing against each other apparently caused some friction between the Aleys, and Jean concentrated on sprints and hillclimbs after that.

Plans were discussed for an endurance trial in a smaller Fiat-Abarth in February 1967. John, Jean and drivers from the Cambridge University Automobile Club aimed to run the car day and night at Snetterton for a week, covering 1000 miles per day. It is not clear whether this ever took place.

In rallies, she occasionally navigated. She sat alongside Sheleagh Aldersmith for the 1963 Monte Carlo Rally. Unfortunately, their rally ended before they had even got on a ferry to the Continent; the radiator exploded within a few miles of Jean's house. John took some responsibility, claiming he should have checked it. 

Both of the Aleys were now involved in motorsport outside of active competition. John sometimes served as Clerk of the Course at Snetterton, with Jean as Secretary of the Meeting. Later, they managed the circuit and founded the BRSCC East Anglian branch.

Her career seems to have ended after a road accident in 1967, when a tanker sideswiped her car at a junction. She and her female passenger were both injured. After this, she continued with her administrative work, organsising two European Touring Car Championships with John.

The couple ended up divorcing. Jean remarried.

(Image copyright Daily Mirror)

Women in the Tour of Britain

Sue Baker (left) and Jean Denton (right) in 1973

The Tour of Britain was a heavily-publicised summer event held in the UK in the 1970s, a three-day contest consisting of rally stages and races at circuits around the UK. It attracted professional race and rally drivers up to and including James Hunt and Jody Scheckter, as well as celebrities such as Noel Edmonds and Jimmy Savile. In later editions, rally drivers such as Roger Clark came to the fore, including many who travelled from across Europe.

Cars were required to follow Group 1 regulations, but came in all shapes and sizes. They were separated into classes based on their sale value. 

The Tour was sponsored by Avon tyres from 1973 to 1975, when Texaco took over. It was briefly revived in 1989, sponsored by Autoglass, but did not attract as many entries. No women took part. 

Prior to this, women had entered every time.

1973 (Won by James Hunt/Robert Fearnall, Chevrolet Camaro Z28)

Rosemary Smith/Pauline Gullick (Ford Capri) - 15th

Wendy Markey/Jenny Dell (BMW 2002 Ti) - 29th

Gillian Fortescue-Thomas/Caroline Faulder (Ford Escort Mexico) - DNF?

Jill Robinson/Frances Cobb (Ford Cortina GT) - DNF?

Alison Davis/Sheila Scott (Fiat 124 ST) - DNF?

Jenny Birrell (Simca Rallye 1) - DNF?

Jean Denton/Sue Baker (Fiat 127) - DNF?

1974 (Won by Roger Clark/Jim Porter, Ford Escort RS2000 MkI) 

Linda Jackson/Christine Mitchell (Ford RS2000 MkI) - 56th

Jenny Birrell/Alexa Davenport (Simca Rallye 2) - DNF

1975 (Won by Tony Pond/David Richards, Ford Escort RS2000 MkI) 

Jenny Birrell/Virginia Hall-Leeke (Chrysler Avenger GT) - 12th

Maggie Anderson/Susan Tucker-Peake (Renault 17TS) - 22nd

Rosemary Smith/Pauline Gullick (Ford RS2000 MkI) - 25th

Wendy Markey/Frances Cobb (Mazda MX-3) - DNF?

1976 (Won by Ari Vatanen/Peter Bryant, Ford Escort RS2000 MkII)

Jean Denton/Jackie Smith (Fiat 128 Coupe) - DNF?

Wendy Markey/Alison Jones (Lada 1200) - DNF?

(Image copyright Shutterstock/Daily Mirror)

Alisha Palmowski

Alisha Palmowski began her racing career in Ginetta Juniors in 2022, aged 15. She was the winner of the Ginetta Junior Scholarship and her prize was a full season’s racing in the championship. She describes this win as a turning point in her career; without it, she might never have switched to cars from karts.

Her scholarship followed six years of karting, during which she finished strongly in two junior categories. Although she quickly became competitive, she had no great interest in doing sports as a child, and only watched motorsport on TV.

Her best results were two eighth places at Knockhill in July and the challenging Brands Hatch GP circuit, in October. This was one of six top-ten finishes she earned that year and she was thirteenth in the championship. A run in the Ginetta Winter Series followed; the four-round series was held at Brands Hatch and she picked up one second and one third place.

In 2023, she was fifth in the championship, with ten podiums from 24 races. She was third in her second race of the season at Oulton Park, then second twice at Silverstone, setting herself up for a strong run in her final year as a junior racer.

Switching to single-seaters, she entered the GB4 championship in 2024 and was immediately on the pace again, winning the first round at Oulton Park, one of her best circuits. This was one of three wins that year, which gave her second in the championship, with eight additional podium finishes.

Impressing many onlookers by getting to grips with GB4 so quickly, she was selected as a wildcard entry for the Bahrain F1 Academy round and finished fifth in the one race which took place. This led to a full-time Academy seat in 2025, driving for the Campos team as Red Bull's supported driver. She has spoken openly about being quite star-struck in the F1 paddock, but it did not affect her performance.

At the end of 2024, she took part in the Formula E Women's Test at Jarama, driving for the Envision team with Alice Powell.

To prepare for her upcoming season, she entered the Formula Winter Series at the start of 2025, alongside her Campos team-mates, Chloe Chambers and Rafaela Ferreira. All three did two rounds each, with Alisha taking the first two at Algarve and Ricardo Tormo. She was the highest-placed of the three, coming in 23rd in the championship. Algarve was her best circuit; she was thirteenth twice and twelfth once.

She could not have hoped for a better start to her 2025 F1 Academy season. An incident-strewn first race at Shanghai meant that a calm and determined Alisha was able to take her first win. She followed it with a sixth place, and was then third and fourth at Jeddah, and second at Miami.

(Image copyright Red Bull)