Marie-Jeanne Marinovitch

 

Madame Marinovitch with Louise Lamberjack in 1935

Marie-Jeanne Marinovitch, always credited as “Madame Marinovitch” and sometimes named as Jane, was a Serbian-French rally driver living in France who was active in the 1930s and 1940s. 

She was part of a prominent Serbian family living in France, probably by marriage, which included a World War I flying ace, Pierre Marinovitch, and a prime minister of Serbia.

One of the earliest mentions of her as a driver comes from June 1927, when Le Journal covered the first Journee Feminine de l’Automobile. She drove a 7hp Fiat and came fifth in a heat for the major race, then fourth in a repechage. This did not qualify her for the final and the paper described this as a shame.

Many of the women who raced in the Journee went on to compete in the all-female Paris-St. Raphaël Rally. Her first entry was in 1931 and she drove a 13hp Voisin. This was the car she used for four editions of the rally between then and 1934, scoring a best finish of third in 1933. A further outing in 1935, driving a Ford, gave her a 27th place.

In  June 1931, she took part in the Aero Club’s Rallye-Parachutes, driving the Voisin. This event involved following other competitors in aircraft and retrieving as many parachutes dropped by them as possible. In the write-up for this event, she was described as an experienced rally driver, and named as the “baronne Marinovitch”.

The Monte Carlo Rally was one of her favourite events and she entered on four occasions, beginning as a navigator to Marcelle Leblanc in 1934. They were 42nd overall in a Peugeot 301.

She won the Monte Carlo Coupe des Dames in a Ford in 1935 and a Matford in 1936, with Louise Lamberjack and Hellé-Nice as her navigators. The Matford entry with Hellé-Nice also gained them a “Challenge Officiel de la Couture” award for style. The car was an Alsace V8 model which had previously been raced by Ford France head Maurice Dollfus. Their starting point was Tallinn. Her 1935 Coupe began with a Palermo start.

A third Monte as a driver occurred in 1938. She shared the Matford with Odette Siko and finished 32nd, fifth in the ladies’ standings.

After 1934, Fords and Ford-powered cars were her usual choice for rallies. Occasionally, she drove other cars, such as the Mercedes she used for the 1935 Grand Circuit de Vosges (resulting in a non-finish) or the Delahaye she shared with Odette Siko for that year’s Liege-Rome-Liege Rally.

Another rally she returned to over and over again was the Criterium Paris-Nice, which she entered four times between 1932 and 1936. Her best result was a 16th place in 1933, driving the Voisin. 

She was one of the drivers who contested the 1939 ladies’ championship which was held in France, using Renault Juvaquatres. She crashed out of the second race at Comminges on the sixth lap, rolling her car and breaking her collarbone, but was fourth in the first.

The Second World War broke out shortly afterwards so there was plenty of time for her to recover. Her final event seems to have been the Rallye International Feminin de Paris, a continuation of the Paris-St. Raphaël. She drove a Citroen.

(Image copyright L’Eclaireur du dimanche illustre)

Marguerite Mareuse

Marguerite Mareuse raced at Le Mans in 1930 and 1931 with Odette Siko, in a Bugatti. Alongside Odette, she was one of the first women to enter the famous 24-hour race.

They were seventh on their first attempt in 1930, but disqualified in 1931 for refuelling too early after Odette misunderstood a pit signal. If their result had been allowed to stand, they would have been ninth. The Bugatti was a T40 and belonged to Marguerite.

Marguerite entered the 1933 race with Jean-Pierre Wimille, but did not start. Marguerite had been sponsoring him for the previous year in his racing endeavours.

At the time of her first Le Mans 24 Hours she was already 41 years old, older than her team-mate Odette Siko.

As well as Le Mans, Marguerite entered a few Grands Prix, including the Tunisian and Oranie events of 1932 in North Africa. The Tunisian race was held at Carthage in April and she was fourteenth overall, sixth in the Voiturette class.

A few weeks later, she crashed out of the Oranie race in Algeria; her Bugatti T51 suffered a collapsed front wheel, which triggered a tyre blowout and ended with the car flipping over. Its driver received facial injuries that needed hospital treatment. She was understandably missing from the Casablanca Grand Prix in May.

Her car made it to the Dieppe Grand Prix but it was mostly driven by Pierre Leygonie, as Marguerite had not really recovered. She raced wearing a protective leather mask, in red to match the rest of her outfit.

She was not averse to the publicity-focused, female-only events that proliferated around Paris at the time. Driving her Bugatti, she was fifth in the 1931 Grand Prix Feminin at Montlhery, two places behind Odette Siko. She was an early member of the Club Automobile Feminin and took part in its Paris-Cannes Rally in 1930. A little later, she was fourth in the Paris-Brussels Rally, another ladies-only event, driving a Peugeot.

She and Odette sometimes drove together, as they did for the 1930 Circuit des Routes Pavees, then run as a six-hour race. They competed over 560km in their Bugatti, but the race was stopped a few minutes from the end due to a serious accident in which spectators were killed. Marguerite returned to the event in 1931, driving solo. She won the Coupe des Dames from two other women and took the prize in the 1600cc racing car class.

She was also an accomplished rally driver and won the Coupe des Dames in Monte Carlo in 1933, driving a Peugeot and starting from Tallinn. Her co-driver was Louise Lamberjack and they were thirteenth overall. The Peugeot was her favoured car for rallying, and she entered the Monte again in 1934, starting at Umea and with Simone Gonnot as navigator. Her earliest victory was probably her Coupe des Dames in the 1932 Paris-Juan les Pins Rally, in which she was sixth overall.

It was not such plain sailing on the 1935 Monte, in which she suffered another terrifying accident. The Peugeot burst into flames after hitting a lorry that Marguerite’s co-driver Mlle Cormet tried to swerve. They were on the first leg of their journey between Umea and Stockholm in Sweden and the car was completely destroyed. Neither crew member was seriously injured.

Occasionally, for faster events such as the 1934 Criterium Paris-Nice, she still used the Bugatti. Later, she tried other cars, including a Hotchkiss in which she finished the 1936 Monte Carlo Rally, with Fernande Hustinx. She used the same or a similar car for that year’s La Turbie hillclimb, competing against the likes of Rene le Begue.

Her car for the 1937 International Morocco Rally is not recorded, but she shared it with Anne-Cecile Rose-Itier. They did not finish.

It is occasionally mentioned that Marguerite’s daughter or daughters was also involved with motorsport, and that one of them may have been married to rally driver and film-maker Christian de Cortanze, according to posters on the forum-auto message board.

She died in 1964, aged 75.

(Image from http://www.les24heures.fr)

Marie-Léonie ("Albertine") Derancourt

Mme Derancourt, centre, 1929

Marie-Léonie Derancourt, who used the name “Albertine”, was a popular but not particularly successful French racer of the late 1920s and early 1930s.

In 1927, she entered the Grand Prix de la Marne in a Salmson, but did not finish. Earlier, she had also entered the Formula Libre race at the Grand Prix de l’ACF, and was fourth, and last classified finisher. This was her first entry in a Grand Prix, and although it was not a headline event, she was up against the likes of George Eyston and Louis Chiron. That summer, she was quite a busy racer. Her best confirmed result was a third place, from eight finishers, in a ladies’ handicap at Montlhéry, in August. She was driving the Salmson, and was only beaten by Elisabeth Junek and Charlotte Versigny.

Away from the Grand Prix scene, she had more success in the ladies’ races that became popular in Paris in the late 1920s. Driving her Salmson, she was one of the participants in the original Journée Féminine de l’Automobile in 1927. A little later, she won her class in the Paris-La Baule women’s rally, picking up the prize for 1100cc racing cars.

She later owned one of Elisabeth Junek's old Bugattis. In this car, she was eighth in a heat for the 1928 Bugatti Grand Prix. It was a Bugatti that she drove in the Paris-La Baule event, but it is unclear whether it was the same one. She was twelfth overall, and won the class for 2000cc sportscars.

In 1929, she drove a Bugatti T35, almost certainly the same car, in the Grand Prix de la Marne. She was fifth in the 2000cc class. Early in the season, she drove the Bugatti in the same class of the Circuit de l’Aisne, and the Bourgogne Grand Prix. These were all mixed events. In June, she is listed as a finisher in the Lyon Grand Prix, held at Quincieux, and was third in the 2000cc supercharged class. 

The latest motorsport activity that can be found for Madame Derancourt is in 1930. She drove her two-litre Bugatti in the Moroccan Automobile Club’s Grand Prix, held in French-ruled Morocco, in April. Among her rivals was Hellé-Nice.

She is sometimes referred to as “Albertine”, probably after her son, Albert, who drove a Salmson and a Bugatti as a daredevil act when he was a child. He was only five years old when he started, and he was billed as the youngest driver in the world. He was awarded an official driving license a year later, in 1921, and set a speed record at Montlhéry in 1922. His own driving career overlapped with his mother’s considerably. They may have contested the Paris-La Baule Rally together at some point; many sources claim that Albert won this event when he was eight, although it was not run until 1925, and was a women’s rally. At the Marne Grand Prix in 1927, in which Marie-Léonie raced, Albert did a demonstration run.

Marie-Léonie disappears from the public eye after 1930. Her son remained in the limelight for a while longer. It is unclear what she did for the rest of her life, or when she died.

(Image from http://pastouch.fr/category/circuit-de-gueux/cdg-autrement/)

"The Paris Scene", c1927-1932

"Albertine" Derancourt in her Bugatti, 1929

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, there was a considerable vogue for women’s motorsport events in Paris, and women in motoring generally. It seems to have started with Concours d’Elegance, then informal rallies, sometimes attached to hot-air balloon races, and then bigger organised events. The best-known and longest-lived of these was the Paris-St Raphael Rally, which began in 1929. The Journée Féminine de l’Automobile, promoted by the newspaper, Le Journal, was a yearly racing championship. There was also a regular Paris – La Baule ladies’ rally, and other rallies to Cannes and Juan-les-Pins, among others.

These rallies and races attracted some star names, such as Elisabeth Junek, and more drivers, such as Charlotte Versigny and Jannine Jennky, went on to enjoy success in mixed-sex competition. Others stuck to the women-only events.

Below are short profiles of some of the main participants in the Paris ladies’ motor racing scene.

"The Baroness d'Elern" (Aniela d'Elern) - Frenchwoman who raced and rallied a Bugatti T35 internationally in 1929 and 1930. She entered the first Paris-St Raphael Rally in 1929. She died during the 1930 Algerian Grand Prix, trying to overtake another driver. Her car hit a telegraph pole and she was killed.

Marcelle Leblanc – winner of the Championnat race at the 1929 Journée Féminine de l’Automobile, driving a Peugeot 5CV. The same year, she entered the Tour de France Auto, in the same, or a similar, car. She finished the event with no penalties. In 1931, she entered the Paris-St. Raphaël women’s rally, and won her class. In 1933, she won the Paris-St. Raphaël outright, in another Peugeot. The following year, 1934, she entered the Monte Carlo Rally, and was fourth in the Coupe des Dames. According to Paris-Soir, she won the Paris-Les Pyrenées-Paris Rally outright, in a Peugeot 401. Driving a 601, she won her class in the Paris-St. Raphaël.

“The Comtesse de Lesguern” (Arlette de Lesguern) – born in 1900, she seems to have begun her involvement in the motoring scene in the late 1920s, entering Concours d’Elegance. She was an active and enthusiastic participant in the many women’s motorsport events that happened in and around Paris in the late 1920s and early 1930s, including the early runnings of the Paris-Saint-Raphaël  Rally. She entered the first Rallye in 1929, driving a Rosengart, and again in 1931 and 1932. In between, she won the Championnat Féminin of the Journée Féminine de l’Automobile at Montlhéry, in a Simca-Standart. It was not only women-only events which she entered: she won her class in the Ostend Rally at least twice, in 1929 and 1930, driving the Simca, which was a showroom-spec model. After 1932, she appears to stop rallying. She died in 1977, after possibly having a career as a translator.

“Madame Liétard” – winner of the first two Paris-Saint-Raphaël  Rallies, in 1929 and 1930. Her car was a Salmson on both occasions. Her 1929 win was not her first triumph; she won the 1100cc Touring class of the Paris-La Baule Rally in 1928, another female-only event. Her car was a Salmson. She was a regular on the Paris-based women’s motorsport “scene” of the late 1920s and early 1930s. After about 1930, her name disappears from the entry lists. Her given name is never used.

Lucienne Radisse - noted French cellist and actress who had a brief rallying career in the early 1930s. She is reported to have won the Paris-St. Raphaël Rally in 1931, driving a small-engined Renault. She used the same car on that year’s Paris-Nice rally. Later, in 1932, she acquired an eight-cylinder Delage D8, which she used in the Paris-Juan les Pins rally. At this time, she was undertaking a series of driving adventures around the world, as well as shooting a film.

Colette Salomon - raced a Bugatti T35 in 1927. She was listed as an entrant in that year's Course de Formule Libre de l'ACF. She was the winner of the first Journée Féminine de l’Automobile in 1927, driving a Salmson. She was active in the women's motorsport circuit in France in the late 1920s, usually in the Salmson. This was the car in which she was photographed for French Vogue in 1927. Prior to taking up motorsport, she had been a dancer, and had made some films.

(Image from http://www.bugatti-trust.co.uk/)

Charlotte Versigny

Charlotte (left) in a Bugatti T35, 1928

Charlotte Versigny competed in races and rallies in France, in the late 1920s. She often drove a Talbot or a Bugatti.

Her beginnings in motorsport are not very clear, like most of her private life and biography. She was involved in motoring generally, and ran a large driving school in Paris.

Her first major motorsport event seems to have been the Monte Carlo Rally in 1927. She drove a 1460cc Fiat, and was 26^th overall, second in the Coupe des Dames rankings, behind Mildred Bruce. This was not her first event, however; she is listed in an article in L’Aérophile as having won the Ladies’ Automobile section of a “Rallye-Ballon”, combining motor races and a hot air balloon race. Her car was a 15hp Oakland. This American vehicle was her first competition car, which she initially entered into Concours, from 1926 onwards.

By 1927, she was racing her Talbot 70 in France. Her first big race was the Grand Prix de la Baule, in which she was fourteenth, just behind Lucy O’Reilly Schell in her Bugatti. She was sixth in class.

That August, she was one of twelve drivers, including the eventual winner Elisabeth Junek, who took part in a “Championnat Féminin” held at Montlhéry (not the Journée Féminine del’Automobile). The race was over 60km, and Charlotte was second. Another women-only event, the Paris-La Baule Rally, saw Charlotte and her Talbot in action again in September. In mixed competition, she was fifth in the Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, having started at Pau, the same start point she used for the Boulogne-Le Touquet Rally.

The Talbot came good at the start of 1928. Charlotte won the Coupe des Dames in the Monte Carlo Rally, and was third overall, one of the best-ever results for a female driver, to this day. This was followed by a run in the Paris-Nice Trial, in the 2000cc class. Her car was a Bugatti, and she won the Dauphinois Automobile Club trophy, plus another award for being the only woman driver to finish without penalties, and a fastest time in a speed trial at Grenoble.

The Bugatti was her chosen car for that year’s  Journée Féminine de l’Automobile. She qualified for the final race, and won the speed trial for open cars. This was her second entry into this particular event, although she had to pull out in 1927.

She had first driven the Bugatti towards the end of 1927, in hillclimbs. Another all-female event was held at Saint-Germain in July, as part of the Bol d’Or, and Charlotte was on hand for the Formula Libre race.

She also drove the car in the Coupe de Bourgogne that year, against Jannine Jennky.

The Oakland had not been forgotten this year, either. Charlotte drove it in Concours d’Elegance events, and in the hillclimb attached to the “Rallye-Ballon”.

Charlotte was an enthusiastic and skilled addition to the already-vibrant, Paris-based ladies’ motor racing scene. Some sources have her down as entering the Paris-St. Raphaël Rally, and while this is certainly possible, I have been unable to find any results. She disappears from the entry lists after 1928, and the Paris-St. Raphaël began in 1929.

She is credited as the one of the inspirations behind Hellé-Nice’s decision to become a professional racing driver.

(Image from http://www.bugattibuilder.com/)

La Journée Féminine de l’Automobile

Colette Salomon in her Bugatti

France between the wars had a thriving women’s motorsport scene. As well as comparatively high levels of female participation in Grands Prix, rallies and other races, there were a number of dedicated women’s events. The best-known and longest-standing of these was the Paris-St. Raphaël Rally, which began in 1929. The competitions varied from celebrity gymkhanas to races for serious drivers in highly prepared cars.

One such contest was La Journée Féminine de l’Automobile, one of the biggest of its kind.

This event was held at Montlhéry, from 1927. It was organised by the newspaper, Le Journal, who promoted it and ran the Concours d’Elegance. The French Women’s Automobile Club also had a hand in it. The first event was officially started by the Duchesse d’Uzes, Anne de Rochechouart de Mortemart, who was the club’s founder, and the first French woman to obtain a driving license.

The first event was held on the twelfth of June in 1927. Contemporary reporting of the Journée concentrates mainly on the Concours d’Elegance part, which attracted both female motorists, such as the rally driver, Madame Mertens, and music-hall celebrities such as Mistinguett, who won one of the categories. There were cars bedecked with flowers, driven by members of the Women’s Automobile Club, cars and drivers in classical-themed decor, and interiors made from exotic materials.

Actual racing played a supporting role. There was at least one major race, a handicap, for which three prizes were awarded, for the overall winner (the Coupe de l’AC), the winner on scratch (Coupe du Journal) and a production car prize. As well as wheel-to-wheel racing, a prize was awarded for the best time in a speed trial. The drivers were a mix of enthusiasts and genuine racers, including Lucy O’Reilly Schell, Jannine Jennky in her Bugatti, the Belgian driver, Madame Mertens, in her Lancia, and Albertine Derancourt, in a Salmson. Colette Salomon, an actress and dancer who also raced, was crowned the winner.

The races were all handicaps, with the fastest cars being penalised. The handicapping was arranged the day before the Journée, and was carried out by a group of male professional racing drivers, who drove each car and assessed its chances.

The next Journée was held on the eighth of July, 1928. It incorporated a sprint speed trial as well as the handicap races. There were fewer established names this year, although Charlotte Versigny and Marie Depret, who later raced at Le Mans, performed well. This was also the competitive debut of Hellé-Nice, then still a nightclub performer. She was driving a Citroen.

A third Journée on the third of June, 1929, included Hellé-Nice scoring her first win, in the “Grand Prix Féminin”. She won ahead of the favourite, Violette Morris, in a Donnet. This year, the blue riband event was the “Championnat Féminin”, run over 150km. There was also a “Grand Prix Féminin” of 50km in length. The Grand Prix was for the five fastest cars in the championship race. The focus of the 1929 event was more on the sporting side, the novelty value of an all-female race meeting having worn off. Marcelle Leblanc, a regular at Montlhéry at the time, won the Championnat, despite some disputes over handicapping from a Madame Le Bigot. Other famous names present included Lucy O’Reilly Schell and Gwenda Stewart.

By 1929, there were at least nine circuit races run, according to Miranda Seymour’s The Bugatti Queen. Le Journal in 1930 mentions a “Challenge” and “interclubs”. A club prize was certainly awarded in 1930, to a three-woman team from the Automobile Club de l’Île-de-France.

The 1930 meeting did not attract quite as many of the top names, although the grids were healthy. The event was downsized somewhat for a year in 1931, with only 16 entrants, then does not seem to have run in 1932, before returning in 1933. Reports describe the 1933 event as the sixth, suggesting the 1932 meeting did not happen.

This year, the Championnat element of the competition was a one-make race in 301s provided by Peugeot. At this point, Le Journal may not have been involved, as there is little reporting of the event in its pages, apart from a few references to the 1933 Journée, in a discussion of a one-make Renault series for women, held in 1939.

As well as motor racing, there was an array of other entertainment on show, including dancers, air displays and celebrity appearances.

Below are the available results of the major races.

1927

Coupe du Journal: Colette Salomon (Salmson)

Coupe de l’Auto Club: Marguerite Dupêchez (Amilcar)

Production car class: Madeleine Bachmann (Chatou)

1928

Coupe de l’AC: Mme Johnston (Steyr)

Coupe du Journal: Marie Depret (Lorraine)

Speed Trial, open cars: Charlotte Versigny (Bugatti)/Marcelle Leblanc (Peugeot)

Speed Trial, closed cars: Mlle Sauer (Amilcar)

1929

Championnat Féminin: Marcelle Leblanc (Peugeot 5CV)

Grand Prix Féminin: Hellé-Nice (Omega Six)

Speed Trial: two class wins for Violette Morris in two different cars, one for Madame Mertens.

1930

Championnat Féminin: Comtesse de Lesguern (Simca-Standart)

Grand Prix Féminin: Marion Rogée (BNC)

Coupe du Journal: Helene Véniel (Chenard-Walcker)

Interclub Challenge: Automobile Club de l’Île-de-France (Comtesse de Lesguern, Mlle du Verger, Mme Lemaitre)

1931

Championnat Féminin: Estelle Lang (Rosengart)

Grand Prix Féminin: Lucy O'Reilly Schell

Coupe de l’Auto Club de l’Île-de-France: Estelle Lang

Coupe du Journal: Odette Siko

1933

Championnat Féminin: Fernande Hustinx (Peugeot 301)

Grand Prix Féminin: Hellé-Nice

This article was made possible by the Le Journal holdings at http://gallica.bnf.fr/

(Photo by George Hoyningen-Huené, first appeared in French Vogue in 1927.)