Delia Borges

 

Delia Borges is believed to be Argentina’s first female racing driver. 

Delia was from Buenos Aires and did not start racing until she was 50, although she may have competed as a speedway rider prior to that.

She took part in the Argentine touring car championship in 1951, entering seven races. This included the Argentine Touring Car Grand Prix, a multi-day road race with 199 starters. She was not classified at the end, possibly due to some irregularities with her car, a Ford-engined Chevrolet. 

Her best recorded finish was 21st, driving a Chevrolet in the Mil Milhas Argentina, held on the Buenos Aires street circuit. Her co-driver was Manuel Arrouge, who had raced since the late 1920s. He was a policeman and this may have connected him to Delia, who was believed to have worked for the Peronist secret police in Argentina.

Later, in 1954, she registered as an entry for the Carrera Panamericana, but did not race. Newspaper reports in the USA suggest that she put her name down for the event but did not even have a car. She eventually chose one and was due to start in the “small stock” class, but her Argentine racing license had expired. The El Paso Times on November 19th that year describes her selling her house to afford the entry fees and travelling to Mexico City to bargain with officials. She then apparently “went into hysterics and lost consciousness” before being moved to hospital to recover. The same article claims that she gave up a job with the Argentine Secret Service. 

Other sources have her sending her mechanic to the USA to buy a car with the proceeds of her house sale, although she did not know which car he had bought.

Sometimes, she is claimed to be a driver who raced under the pseudonym “Julia Lagos” later in the 1950s and up to 1961, but this apparently stems from an error; Julia Lagos may well have been another woman called Julia Sivori de Montenegro. 

She died in 1961.

Joan Richmond

Joan was an Australian race and rally driver. Born in 1905, she began her motoring adventures in trials and speed events in 1926, driving a Citroen. Early in her career, she was fifth in the 1931 Australian Grand Prix at Philip Island, driving an Austin Seven. She also drove a Riley 9 during her time on the Australian circuits.

Her first rally was Monte Carlo in 1932, again, driving a Riley. This was her first introduction to European motorsport, and she did not take the easy route in. Joan and some other competitors took Australia as their start point, and drove overland all the way to Monaco, for the start of the rally. She was 17th overall. Still in the Riley, she drove in the RAC Rally later in the year.

That year, Joan achieved considerable fame by winning the Brooklands 1000 Mile race with Elsie Wisdom. The duo were driving a Riley Brooklands, and lapped the circuit at 90 miles per hour. The BARC, the governing club, had only just permitted female teams to enter their events, and Joan and Elsie were the circuit’s first major female winners.

In 1933, Joan purchased a 3000cc Ballot from 1921, previously raced by Malcolm Campbell. Although she impressed onlookers with her handling of the car, it was unwieldy and unreliable, as well as being out of date, and she was not able to challenge for victories. Never one to take the easy way out, she persevered with the Ballot for two seasons, but did not achieve anything notable. It was sold in 1935. The Riley was retained for rallies, and gave Joan a thirteenth place in the Light Car class of the 1933 RAC Rally, navigated by Kay Petre.

Joan’s next car was a Triumph, which she used in a JCC relay event at Brooklands. Later in the year, she drove a Frazer Nash in a Ladies’ Mountain Handicap, and was second. In between, she made the trip to Le Mans with Eveline Gordon-Simpson, as part of the “Dancing Daughters” MG works team. Their car was a P-Type and they were 24th overall, the first “Daughters” car home.

In 1936, it was back to competing at Brooklands in the Triumph. She also entered the Tourist Trophy in Ireland with Francis Monkhouse, but did not get to drive their Aston Martin. As well as her circuit-based activities, she attacked the rally calendar with relish, tackling the Monte Carlo, RAC and Scottish rallies, as well as the Land’s End Trial. In the Triumph, she was third in class in Monte Carlo and won her class in the RAC.

The Triumph too was sold for the 1937 season, and Joan did some Brooklands events in an HRG. However, this car was not quite up to the fast-advancing standards of modern racing vehicles, and she was not terribly competitive. Back at Le Mans, she fared better, sharing Bill Bilney’s Ford Ten and finishing fourteenth. She and Bill were an item at the time, although the relationship was short-lived, as he was killed in an accident later in the year at Donington. Joan was his co-driver, in her own AC. Her involvement with motorsport continued, but on a lesser scale than before, up to 1939. She is recorded as a finisher in the 1938 Imperial Plate at Crystal Palace, driving a Frazer Nash. Throughout her career, she drove in trials and speed events, and in 1937, she teamed up with Robert Waddy to drive his twin-engined “Fuzzi” special. She was third in class at Shelsley Walsh, but could not catch Kay Petre for the Ladies’ Record.

During the war, Joan worked in aircraft manufacturing, like many of her contemporaries. After peace was restored, she did not return to motor racing, and settled once more in Australia, where she died in 1999.

(Image from http://www.sportscars.tv/)

The Belles of Brooklands, Part II

Ruth Urquhart-Dykes in 1927

More of the lady drivers of Brooklands. Jill Scott-Thomas, Barbara Skinner and Irene Schwedler now have their own profiles.

“Mrs K.N. Roe” – raced a Lea-Francis at Brooklands. In 1933, she won a Novice’s Handicap at the Inter-Club Race Meeting in July. During the race, she reached a maximum speed of 85.13mph. Later in the year, she entered the Ladies’ Handicap at the Mountain Championship Meeting, but does not appear to have finished.  She does not appear to have continued racing in 1934. Mrs Roe was possibly a member of the “Avro” Roe family, who were prominent at Brooklands.

Laura B Starkey – drove a Sunbeam, mostly in hillclimbs, in the 1910s. She broke Dorothy Levitt’s long-standing ladies’ record at Shelsley Walsh in 1913. Her car was a Sunbeam 12/16hp. In 1912, she won the Closed section of the Caerphilly hillclimb outright, in the Sunbeam. That year, she used the Sunbeam at Brooklands, in the RAC Associates club meeting. She was second in the Skilful Driving race, and third in the hillclimb. In hillclimbs, she scored first or second places in class in Leicestershire and Hazelwood. Back in Wales, she competed in the Portcawl Speed Trials, held on the beach. She won Class 9.

Olive Stewart-Menzies – one of the earliest female winners at Brooklands. She won one race at the Surbiton Motor Club meeting in 1923, and was second in another, driving the 1913 “Bebe” Peugeot. In 1924, she drove the same car in the Shelsley Walsh hillclimb. In 1925, she raced an Itala at Brooklands, during the Essex Motor Club’s meeting, but did not finish. Her father was a Peugeot enthusiast who owned several pre-war racing Peugeots, hence Olive’s use of the Bebe GP car.

Dorothy Summers – raced a Marendaz Special at Brooklands, between 1931 and 1936. In 1934, she was third in the BARC Novices’ Handicap. That year, she was quite active, competing in the August Bank Holiday Meeting and the Autumn Meeting.  She won the March Short Handicap in 1936, the first such win for a Marendaz car. She competed alongside Aileen Moss, possibly in trials, at some point. Dorothy worked for Donald Marendaz himself, and was his long-term companion as well as a director of his engineering companies.

Fay Taylour - Irish speedway rider, circuit racer and rally driver from the 1930s onwards. She was the winner of some Brooklands races and often finished well in rallies, in the UK and abroad, both as driver and navigator. She was the winner of the Ladies' Prize in the 1933 Brooklands Rally. In 1934, she had her biggest victory, a win in the Leinster Trophy at Skerries, driving an Adler. She continued to race after the Second World War, despite being imprisoned for much of it due to her membership of the British Union of Fascists.

Sheila Tolhurst - raced at Brooklands in the early and mid-1930s. She won a handicap race there in 1932 in a Riley, at the Inter-Club meeting. Her average speed was 81mph. Later, in 1934, she was part of the Singer team for the annual Light Car Club relay, with Kay Petre and Eileen Ellison, driving a Singer Le Mans. They were fifth overall after deliberately sandbagging, in order to secure the Ladies’ award which could not go to any team in the top three. Further details of her motorsport activities have proved elusive. She died in 1981.


Part One

(Image copyright LAT Archive/www.austinharris.co.uk)

Elsie Wisdom

Known affectionately as "Bill", Elsie Wisdom was one of the first female winners in a mixed race at Brooklands, and probably its most prestigious female victor. In 1932, she and Australian Joan Richmond won the JCC's 1000 Mile Race in fine style. They drove a Riley Brooklands 9 at an average speed of around 90 mph for the best part of twelve hours, recovering from a spin and other mishaps. The win, in one of the longest races held at Brooklands, was rightly celebrated.

Elsie was married to motoring journalist and gentleman racer Tommy Wisdom. She began racing after her marriage. Her first notable results appear in 1931, when she was driving a 1500cc Frazer Nash Boulogne II. In this car, she set the Ladies' Record at the Shelsley Walsh hillclimb, and entered the Brooklands Double Twelve Hour Race with Don Aldington. Like many others, they failed to finish.

A switch to a Riley gave "Bill" and Joan Richmond their historic win the following year. 1932 also shad Elsie driving a Leyland-Thomas special, solo. In it, she entered a Ladies’ race at the Autumn BARC meeting at Brooklands. Tommy also drove the car during that meeting. She also drove an Invicta in the Duchess of York’s race for lady drivers, losing out to Eileen Ellison.

In 1933, she scored another top-three finish in a prestigious Brooklands race. Driving an MG Magnette, she was third in the JCC International Trophy, behind Brian Lewis and Eddie Hall. That year’s race was a real war of attrition over 250 miles. There were seven finishers out of at least 28 starters.

The following year, she drove a Talbot in a Ladies’ Handicap over the tricky Brooklands Mountain circuit. She was third behind Doreen Evans and Fay Taylour.

Elsie often drove a Riley and was an occasional member of the works team. In 1935 she and Kay Petre raced for the squad at Le Mans, but retired with engine trouble. The following year, the pair scored another DNF in the Brooklands 500 Mile race, in a works Riley 6.

Elsie's first attempt at Le Mans had been in 1933, when she shared an Aston Martin with Mortimer Morris-Goodall. The car's bearings failed. She had another start in 1938 in an MG Midget PB with Arthur Dobson, but clutch trouble and an empty radiator put paid to that attempt.

Elsie drove a variety of cars during her career. She raced several different MGs, including a Magnette K3 in the 1935 Brooklands 500 Miles. This was Reg Parnell’s car, and she drove alongside him. A timing gear problem put them out of the race. Later, she drove a PB in the 1938 Irish Tourist Trophy with Dorothy Stanley-Turner. They came 23rd. On the 1937 Mille Miglia, Elsie and Tommy drove a Tipo SA Berlina together, but crashed out in an accident involving a lorry.

Arthur Dobson’s Fiat 508S had been her chosen car for the 1936 Tourist Trophy, but Elsie and her co-driver Mrs Dobson did not finish. She also raced an Alta at Crystal Palace, most famously in a high-profile ladies' race.

It was not just racing that she excelled at. In 1936 she and Tommy won the tricky International Alpine Trial, a mountain rally, in a Jaguar SS100. Elsie had driven in major rallies since at least 1933, when she entered the RAC Rally in an Armstrong-Siddeley. That year, she and Tommy tackled the Alpine Rally together in an MG. They finished the same event together with no penalties the following year, in a Talbot this time. In 1935, Elsie used a Chrysler and the Jaguar SS on the Monte Carlo and RAC rallies, respectively. After a season’s break, Elsie drove the SS herself for the 1938 and 1939 RAC Rallies, although she retired in 1939. In between, she used a Vauxhall for the 1939 Monte.

After World War II, Elsie concentrated exclusively on rallying, with some good results. One of her later finishes came on the Monte Carlo Rally, driving a Morris Minor with Betty Haig and Barbara Marshall, in 1948. She and Barbara drove again together on the 1950 Monte, but in a Vanguard this time.

She continued to compete regularly until 1951, when she temporarily called it a day after a serious crash involving her and Tommy on the Alpine Rally. They were no stranger to scrapes and had survived some previous rally disasters, including a crash on the 1949 Rallye des Alpes Francaises, so perhaps Elsie didn't want to tempt much more fate. Fittingly, the pair had won a Coupe des Alpes together earlier in the season on the French Alpine, in an Aston Martin. Elsie had competed with Sheila van Damm on the RAC and Monte Carlo rallies, in a Hillman Minx.

Both Elsie and Tommy continued to enter occasional rallies, but not together. Elsie was part of a three-woman crew for a Sunbeam Talbot on the 1952 Monte, along with her earlier colleague, Sheila van Damm, and Nancy Mitchell. In 1955, Elsie drove an Austin to 68th place on the Monte.

Elsie died in 1972. Her daughter was Ann Wisdom, navigator to Pat Moss in the earlier part of her rally career. After 1956, it was left to her to uphold the name of Wisdom on the stages.

(Image by Bassano, from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery)