Kaori Okamoto

 

Kaori Okamoto is a Japanese driver and former actress who raced touring cars both in Japan and internationally in the 1980s and 1990s. 

She was strongly associated with Toyota cars, and often drove for the TOMS team from the very beginning of her career.

Her first season was in 1986, she drove a Toyota Corolla in the All-Japan Touring Car Championship. She was 23 years old and still acting at this point. Her car was sponsored by Wacoal, a Japanese bra manufacturer, and she initially shared with different European drivers. Eje Elgh and Beppe Gabbiani. Teaming up with Elgh again later in the season, she had her best finish alongside him, a twelfth place at Sugo. Her early experiences led to a decision to concentrate on motorsport and work only on Japanese TV projects.

By 1987, she was competing in the World Touring Car Championship for TOMS, in a Corolla, with Hideshi Matsuda. They did not finish the Spa 24 Hours, but were 30th in the Fuji 500km. For the Japanese championship, she was sponsored by Leyton House. Her co-driver was Hideshi Matsuda and they were eighth in their first race together at Sugo. This was their best finish in a disappointing season plagued by DNFs.

In 1988, she raced  a similar car in some European and Asia-Pacific championship events. A second attempt at the Spa 24 Hours led to another DNF, as did most of her entries in the All-Japan Championship, usually with Morio Nitta as her team-mate. 1989 was another indifferent year, with her best result an 18th place at Tsukuba.

The Spa 24 Hours became one of her favourite events and she was entered seven times between 1988 and 1994. For the first few editions, she drove a Corolla, and it was in this car that she scored her highest finish: twelfth in 1989. An MR2 in 1992 and 1993 was not quite as successful and only got her as high as 24th in 1992. Her final attempt was in a Carina and she did not finish. Her most frequent co-drivers were Keiichi Suzuki and Morio Nitta. 

Other than that, she mainly concentrated on the Japanese touring car championship, completing most of the season in 1990 and 1991, driving a Corolla for the TOMS/Fujitsu Ten team, and later the FET team. By this time, the Corolla was not the most competitive and could not get anywhere near the dominant Nissan Skylines. Her best result during this period was a fourteenth place in the 1991 Suzuka 500km. 1991 was her last season in the championship.

In 1991, she also entered the Dakar Rally, in a Toyota. She became the first Japanese woman to finish the event when she crossed the line in 49th place. A return to the dunes in 1992, in another Toyota Landcruiser, gave her a 71st spot.

A cancer scare caused her to turn away from motorsport in 1994. This was the second in a few years and she did require treatment this time.

For more information on Kaori: https://japanesenostalgiccar.com/motorsport-kaori-okamoto-actor-businesswoman-race-car-driver/

(Image copyright TOMS)

Paddie (Eirane) Naismith

Eirane Naismith, always known as Paddie, began her circuit racing career inauspiciously as part of Barbara Cartland's set-up race for "Society Ladies" in 1931. Billed as an erstwhile chauffeur to the Prime Minister, she either won or came third in the “Brooklands Society Ladies’ Handicap”, depending on which account one reads.

This was her first race on a circuit, although she had driven in some trials organised by the Women's Automobile and Sports Association. She was one of the drivers in its first London to Exeter Trial and although she took her sport seriously, apparently had a cocktail bar in the back of a car and a folding bed for her sister, along for the ride, to sleep on. Her car was a Ballot which she owned jointly with her sisters Jill and Sheila. Paddie entered the Ballot into the 1930 event too, as well as a series of Councours d'Elegance.

She drove an 8hp Avon Standard in the 1931 Ulster Rally and won her class. This time, her brother was her co-driver, although she drove the entire 500 miles herself.

Despite the dubious beginning to her on-track career, she actually became a decent racer. The following year, having lived down the Cartland débacle successfully, she won a bona fide Ladies' Handicap at Brooklands. There were ten entrants, including Fay Taylour and Elsie Wisdom, who had won the 1000 Mile race earlier in the year. She was driving a Salmson and nailed a close finish, crossing the line 20m before Fay Taylour.

In 1934, she was third in two challenging Long Handicap races: the BARC First Long Handicap in July, and the First Kingston Junior Long Handicap in October. Her car was a supercharged Salmson, which belonged to her lover, Sir Derwent Hall-Caine. This was her last Brooklands appearance, following a fine and a race exclusion for running over the lines at the track edge.

In the intervening period, she drove in the 1932 RAC Rally, in a Standard. She almost did not finish after crashing into a telegraph pole on an icy aroad section, with her sisters in the car. Never to be deterred, she drove over a hundred miles in a damaged car before organising overnight repairs and rejoining the rally.

The following year, she entered the event again in the same car, finishing 93rd in Class 3.
In between her racing exploits, she found time to gain her pilot’s license and aviation increasingly took up her time. The high point of her career as an aviatrix was her flight to Australia in 1934, as part of the Centenary Air Race. As well as piloting her own aeroplanes, she also flew as a stewardess professionally.

Incidentally, the story of her being a chauffeur to the Prime Minister appears to be true. She drove Ramsey McDonald on many occasions, as well as other dignitaries.

Paddie was primarily an actress by trade, as were Jill and Sheila. Paddie appeared in both small and leading parts in a British feature films and in various popular stage productions from around 1928. She is most famous for being the image first transmitted as a colour television picture in 1940. John Logie Baird thought that her distinctive red hair would show up well on screen.

Her acting skills meant she was in demand a a promotional hostess or spokesperson. She spoke at the Standard Car Club's 1933 meeting at Southsea, where she extolled the virtue of rallying. Earlier, she had been the face of Nu Swift fire extinguishers and toured the country demonstrating their product by putting out burning cars.

She moved to America with her husband Wing Commander John Towers Mynors in 1942, where she intended to train as a ferry captain, although by 1945 the Mynors were back in London where their daughter Mary was born. Sadly, Mary died shortly afterwards.

Paddie herself died in 1963, probably aged 60 although she often claimed to be younger than she was during her life.

(Picture from http://www.historicracng.com/)