Ann Moore

Ann leaps over her FF2000 car on Psalm

Ann Moore was a British showjumping champion who had a brief motorsport career in 1976, promoted by John Webb of Shellsport.

Ann won a silver medal in individual showjumping at the 1972 Munich Olympics, riding her horse Psalm. This made her the most successful of Britain’s female equestrians at a time when showjumping had a sizeable TV audience. She was voted the Sports Journalists’ Association Sportswoman of the Year in 1973, having been runner-up in the two years previously.

John Webb was the director of Brands Hatch circuit at the time. He was both sharp to the promotional value of female drivers and supportive of their abilities. He had one of his biggest successes the year before with Divina Galica, a former Olympic skier who would go on to attempt to qualify for a Formula One race in the same year that Ann Moore took the wheel. Ann’s public profile was far higher than Divina’s was due to the relative popularity of her sport. There was also a strong history of successful female drivers having first competed in equestrian events. Pat Moss was a showjumper like Ann, and another of the Webb protegees was Gillian Fortescue-Thomas, a former amateur jockey. The appeal to John Webb and his publicist wife Angela was obvious. Ann was signed up for what was referred to as the Webb “Charm School”.

Ann’s first race was in 1975. She was one of the celebrity racers hired to fill out the grid for the Shellsport Escort Ladies’ series, at Brands. Previous celebrity entrants had included TV announcer Linda Cunningham and actress and porn performer Fiona Richmond. The championship used the Shellsport fleet of Ford Escorts, which was kept at the circuit. Ann was eleventh after a spin. Divina Galica was the winner.

The next phase of her career was a move into single-seaters. It was announced early in 1976 that Ann would compete in “around 30 races” that year in an Elden Formula Ford 2000 car, arranged by the Webbs and sponsored by Rolatruc. She made her debut at the start of the season with two races at Brands, then one at Mallory Park in March.

Among her events that year was a charity single-seater race in aid of a sports-related cause. Ann’s car, complete with her livery and name, is seen being used by boxer Joe Bugner for training. 

The FF2000 car was perhaps not the best choice for a novice; Formula Ford 1600 may have been more suitable, or more outings in the Escort. Spectators of the time remark that Ann was slow and often spun her car. Her much-vaunted “professional” racing career came to a halt after only six races. 

A statement made to the press explained that she had not realised how much of her time would be taken up by motor racing, and that she would only take part in occasional celebrity races in the future. It is not clear whether she did appear in any more of Shellsport’s celebrity races, which usually used Escorts, but they were held throughout the season and there would have been plenty of opportunity.

Ann had already retired from showjumping two years previously, aged 24.

(Image by Nick Rogers, copyright Shutterstock)

Women in Formula One - the results

Maria Teresa de Filippis

This post gives a complete set of results for female drivers in the Formula One World Championship.

1958

Monaco

Maria Teresa de Filippis (Maserati 250F) - DNQ

Belgium

Maria Teresa de Filippis (Maserati 250F) - 10th

Portugal

Maria Teresa de Filippis (Maserati 250F) - DNF

Italy

Maria Teresa de Filippis (Maserati 250F) - DNF

1959

Monaco

Maria Teresa de Filippis (Behra Porsche F2) - DNQ

1974

Great Britain

Lella Lombardi (Brabham BT42) - DNQ

1975

South Africa

Lella Lombardi (March 741) - DNF

Spain

Lella Lombardi (March 751) - 6th

Monaco

Lella Lombardi (March 751) - DNQ

Belgium

Lella Lombardi (March 751) - DNF

Sweden

Lella Lombardi (March 751) - DNF

The Netherlands

Lella Lombardi (March 751) - 14th

France

Lella Lombardi (March 751) - 18th

Great Britain

Lella Lombardi (March 751) - DNF

Germany

Lella Lombardi (March 751) - 7th

Austria

Lella Lombardi (March 751) - 17th

Italy

Lella Lombardi (March 751) - DNF

United States

Lella Lombardi (Williams FW04) - qualified, but not allowed to start.

1976

Brazil

Lella Lombardi (March 761) - 14th

Great Britain

Lella Lombardi (Brabham BT44B) - DNQ

Divina Galica (Surtees TS16) - DNQ

Germany

Lella Lombardi (Brabham BT44B) - DNQ

Austria

Lella Lombardi (Brabham BT44B) - DNQ

1978

Argentina

Divina Galica (Hesketh 308E) - DNQ

Brazil

Divina Galica (Hesketh 308E) - DNQ

1980

Great Britain

Desiré Wilson (Williams FW07) - DNQ

1992

South Africa

Giovanna Amati (Brabham BT60B) - DNQ

Mexico

Giovanna Amati (Brabham BT60B) - DNQ

Brazil

Giovanna Amati (Brabham BT60B) - DNQ

(Image copyright Hulton/Getty Images)

The Shellsport Escort Ladies' Championship

Divina Galica, winner at Snetterton in 1977

This series was organised and promoted by John and Angela Webb of Shellsport, who were running Brands Hatch at the time. It was mainly a PR exercise, but ran at major race meetings, and attracted decent fields. It started in 1974, as a series of three one-off races for invited female drivers, in identically-prepared Ford Escort Mexicos. Two of the races were won by Lella Lombardi, and the last was won by Jenny Dell. The rest of the grid was made up of members of the British Women Racing Drivers' Club, who were also involved in the series.

In 1975, the number of races was extended to four, and the series became a registered championship. It was still by invitation only, and organised through the BWRDC. The championship was won by Susan Tucker-Peake, despite the fact that she did not manage to win a race. Divina Galica, Maggie Anderson and Wendy Markey shared that honour.

1975 Championship:
1. Susan Tucker-Peake
2. Divina Galica
3. Wendy Markey
4. Lorina Boughton
5. Georgie Shaw
6. Alison Davis

Divina Galica was the winner of the 1976 championship, after a clean sweep of all four races. The series remained popular, and there was a waiting list of potential drivers.

1976 Championship:
1. Divina Galica
2=Susan Tucker-Peake
2=Alison Davis
4. Maggie Anderson
5. Juliette Slaughter
6. Wendy Markey

In 1977, the championship was extended to five rounds. Maggie Anderson was the eventual victor from Alison Davis and Divina Galica, but the championship itself suffered from low turnout, partly due to erstwhile regulars being on duty in bigger events.

1977 Championship:
1. Maggie Anderson
2. Alison Davis
3. Divina Galica
4. Susan Tucker-Peake
5. Glenys Atkins
6. Gill Rindlisbacher

1977 was the last full year of the Ladies’ Escort Series. It was relegated to two standalone events in 1978, composed of BWRDC members and a few celebrities. The races were won by Alison Davis and Julie Chimes. After that, it was quietly retired.

The Shellsport championship was distinctive, in that it encouraged entries from experienced and successful racers, which perhaps explains its relative longevity.

Full results for all five seasons are recorded in the BWRDC book, Mary’s Girls: 40 Years of the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club.

Below are profiles of some of the major players.

Fiona Butterfield - competed in both circuit racing and rallying in the 1970s and 1980s. She began in 1977, taking part in some Formula Ford races in a hired car at Brands Hatch. She was apparently sixth and seventh in her first two races. This led to some drives in the Shellsport Escort series; she led one race until contact with another car took her out. She raced in Formula Ford until at least 1980, when she is described as owning a Crossle. In 1979, she tried rallying and was part of the Faberge Fiesta Challenge with co-driver Marilyn Tricker. She may also have raced in the 1980 Debenhams Fiesta Challenge and Formula Talbot on-track. Photos show her with shot putter Geoff Capes as part of a sports celebrity race at about that time.

Rachel Goate - raced in the 1970s and was a member of the BWRDC. She took part in the Shellsport Escort Ladies Championship in its later editions, although she was not among the frontrunners. She also raced historics in the 1970s and was a member of the Aston Martin Owners’ Club. Later, in 1978, she attempted to win a place in the Faberge Fiesta Challenge, although she had never done any rallying before. She did not reach the finals.

Angela Kearns – got into motor racing through John Webb’s Shellsport “charm school”, based at Brands Hatch. She took part in some of the Shellsport Ladies’ Escort races in the mid- to late 1970s. In 1973, she was part of the winning team in the Brands Hatch Relay Triathlon, taking the driving leg of the event. She was partnering runner Dave Bedford and cyclist Morris Burton. Other details of Angela’s career are proving hard to find.

Georgie Shaw - raced saloons in the UK in the 1970s. She began in a Mini, in club races, but moved on to a Triumph TR7 and a Mazda RX-3. This last car was often shared with Wendy Markey in the National 1275 GT Championship, as well as one entry into the 1976 6 Hours of Silverstone. She was an active member of the BWRDC and participated in the 1974 and 1975 Shellsport Ladies’ Escort series. She retired in 1979 and became a motorsport journalist, as well as continuing her involvement with the British Women Racing Drivers' Club.

Theodora (Theo) Sibley - raced in British club and National events in the late 1960s and 1970s. She was noted at the time for being the oldest female racing driver competing, when she entered the British Formula Ford Championship in 1968 and 1969. In the 1970s, she was an enthusiastic member of the BWRDC and drove in the Ladies’ Shellsport Escort series in 1974 and 1975.

Mary Wheeler - raced a Triumph TR2 and a TVR in club and National races in the south of England between 1959 and 1973. She won a race at Goodwood in her debut season, and went on to win several more there over the years. Among her last competitive outings were the first Shellsport Ladies' Escort races. She also competed in hillclimbs. She is chiefly remembered for setting up the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club, and running it for many years. She died in 2003, aged 93.

(Image copyright Maurice Bennington)

Divina Galica

Divina at the 1976 British Grand Prix

Born in Bushey Heath in 1946, Divina Galica had an adventurous childhood spent mostly outdoors, in common with many other speedqueens. She proved to be a competent sportswoman at an early age, but it was skiing rather than motor racing that was her first passion. She was one of the best British female skiers ever and had entered three Winter Olympic games by the time her racing career started in 1974, at the wheel of a Ford Escort. By this time, she was the fastest woman on skis, having reached 125mph on a record run. She was invited to take part in a celebrity Escort race at Oulton Park, and surprised many with a second place.

On the suggestion of Brands Hatch and Shellsport race promoter John Webb, Divina took a driving course at Motor Racing Stables, and at the age of 28 became a full-time professional racing driver, in 1975. She raced both a Ford Escort and a Formula Ford single-seater, coming second in the Shellsport Ladies' Escort Championship and scoring some good overall placings in the main Escort series. All this happened in spite of a disastrous start to the season, when Divina wrote off her Escort Special during her second-ever competitive lap in it.

Not content with saloons and junior single-seater action, John Webb and Nick Whiting took the extraordinary step of acquiring a Formula One car for Divina to use during the 1976 season. She entered the Shellsport Formula 5000 championship in a Surtees-Ford TS16 and delivered the goods once again. At the end of the season she was fourth, with one fastest lap at Donington and one "Driver of the Day" award at Thruxton, awarded for a battling performance in the wet.

What was more remarkable was that she was entering Grands Prix in only her first full year of competition. Her Shellsport/Whiting-sponsored Surtees was out of date and well off the pace and she failed to qualify for the British Grand Prix, but it was a brave effort nonetheless. The Italian Lella Lombardi had also registered a DNQ in the same event, making it the only time that two women had entered a Grand Prix in the modern era.

There were no more GP attempts in 1977, but Divina was still racing hard. The TS16 had now been replaced by a TS19 and she returned to Formula 5000 alongside Tony Trimmer. She was sixth this time and her best performances were a second at Donington and a third at Brands Hatch, where she led for a time. She and Trimmer also scored a number of joint fastest laps. In addition to single-seaters, the enterprising Brit was now racing sportscars as well, and she was runner-up in Sports 2000 driving a Lola.

1978 was a very mixed year. Divina was back driving a Surtees TS19 F1 car for selected rounds of the Aurora F1 Championship, and was an excellent second at Zandvoort in the Netherlands. She was also seventh at Thruxton in the same car. However, Formula One proper was beckoning again. She had secured sponsorship from Olympus Cameras and the Hesketh team, which had had so much success with James Hunt previously, provided a car for her. She decamped to South America for the Argentine and Brazilian rounds of the championship. Unfortunately, she failed to qualify for either race. She did manage to start the non-championship Daily Express Trophy at Silverstone, but did not finish, like her team-mate Derek Daly. Hesketh was by this time without its founders, Lord Hesketh and Harvey Postlethwaite, and did not last much longer. This was also the end of Divina's involvement with Formula One, but certainly not the end of her racing career.

Moving north, she tried Formula Atlantic in Canada, and steered her Chevron to fifth overall, then moved back to England for the 1979 season. She stayed with the powerful single-seater racing she loved and acquired a Hart-engined March, which she used for Formula Two competition. Her results were unspectacular apart from one drive in the Hitachi Trophy at Brands Hatch. Despite a one-minute time penalty, she was able to clinch second spot.

Sticking with the same car in 1980, she continued to enter Formula Two races and also took part in some Aurora F1 rounds. This time she was overshadowed by the success of another lady driver, Desiré Wilson, but she was still a respectable sixth at Oulton Park and ninth at Silverstone. F2 was more disappointing; the normally-reliable March suffered tyre trouble during the Marlboro Trophy at Silverstone and put her out of the race.

For the next few seasons, the former Olympian accepted drives in a number of vehicles and championships. She took her March F2 car to Japan for a time, and also took up sportscar racing again, in enduros and shorter races. By 1985, sportscars had become the focus of her competition career. She and Gary Brabham drove a Shrike for TechSpeed Motorsport in the British Thundersports series. Their best finish was fifth at Oulton Park and they came second in their class five times.

After a quieter 1986, Divina returned to Thundersports in 1987, mainly piloting a Fulmar Racing Royale RP42 with Mike Taylor. They scored some good midfield finishes, mainly around the sixth place mark. However, when Divina changed to an Ibec car for the Oulton Park round, she was fifth - her best finish.

Truck racing was Divina's next challenge. She took to the trucks like a duck to water and carried off the British Class A title two years in a row, in 1988 and 1989. She also entered some European truck racing meetings, but the results have proved difficult to find.

Never shy of a change of direction, Divina's next move was pretty extraordinary. After more than fifteen years as a racing driver, she returned to her first love: skiing. At the age of 46, she qualified for the Albertville Winter Olympics in 1992 and went on to set some more hair-raising ski speed records, including a 120mph run that would rival her four-wheeled antics.

After the Olympics, she moved to America and was involved in motorsport administration and training. Along with Don Panoz and Lyn St. James, she was instrumental in setting up the Womens's Global GT Series, a one-make sports-racing series for women which supported the American Le Mans Series. The WGGTS attracted some good drivers from the USA and Europe and was successful in its first year. Divina raced one of the Panoz cars herself and came away with two wins. She entered the WGGTS again in 2000, and at the end of the season, decided to race in the main ALMS draw too. Divina, plus Americans Cindi Lux and Belinda Endress, entered a Porsche into the ten-hour Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta. They qualified in 37th and came home 20th overall, sixth in class, to the delight of many female fans.

After the WGGTS was disbanded in 2001, Divina returned to her role as a senior instructor for the Skip Barber Racing School. However, she had never retired completely and still likes to test herself a few times a year, often in historic races. In 2005, she dusted off a March F2 car and pedalled it to third in the Zippo US Vintage Grand Prix. In modern machinery, she raced a new Mini with Julie Allan for DWD Racing, in the Grand-Am Cup.

Despite being in her seventies at the time of writing, Ms Galica shows no sign of slowing down. She still competes in historic races in America on occasion, and is both a director and a writer of iracing.com, a US-based motorsport news site.

(Image copyright Getty Images)