Bernadette Sacy

 

Bernadette Sacy competed in both stage rallies and rally raids in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as racing on the circuits in the Gordini Cup and Leyland Trophy. 

She came from a motorsport family and had a father who raced, although he did not consider it suitable for girls and did not encourage her to compete herself. Her first steps in motorsport were rallies in northern France, driving an NSU in 1972 and a  Simca Rallye in 1973. 

For several years she switched to circuit-based competition and took part in several one-make racing championships. Her first one was the 1974 Gordini Cup, which used the Gordini-engined Renault 12, although she only had enough budget for some of the rounds. Another part-season in 1975 was based around a Ford Escort championship in Belgium.

Her next plan was to race in the Trophee Leyland, which used Innocenti-badged British Leyland cars. Her car was a Mini and although she was not one of the overall winners, she was one of the best of several female drivers entered. She raced the Innocenti Mini between 1976 and 1978. 

Her return to rallying was with the all-female Aseptogyl team. The team’s director Bob Neyret had seen her on-track in the Mini and offered her a seat in another small car, the Fiat 127. The team was mainly focused on the Italian rally championship by then, but Bernadette was part of a multi-car French team. Her best result seems to have been a 35th place in the Rallye de Lorraine, with a fourth place in class. 

1980 was a year without regular competition, but Bernadette was busy opening her own British Leyland dealership and planning new adventures. The Leyland Trophee had put her in touch both with the British car company itself and with Monique Delannoy, a former actress who also raced in the championship. Monique would become the first woman to enter the Paris-Dakar Rally in the car class. She drove a Peugeot 504 in the 1980 Dakar and recruited Bernadette as her navigator for the 1981 event. Their car was a Mercedes 240 jeep and they were 25th overall, winning both the Coupe des Dames and the diesel class.  

For the 1982 Dakar she moved over to the driving seat herself in a Range Rover. Christine “Kiki” Caron, a former Olympic swimmer who had done some rallying with Team Aseptogyl, was her navigator. Christine’s husband J-C Lagniez was Bernadette’s main sponsor at the time and was the main instigator of the partnership.

They got to the finish in 35th place. The same driver pairing in the same car tackled the 1983 Dakar, but did not finish. They became lost for three days during a sandstorm in Niger and were found by a rescue Range Rover along with another car crew and two motorcyclists. 

She returned to stage rallying in France and Europe quite extensively in 1984, driving for the Citroen team after the Aseptogyl stable wound down. In 1984, she was one of the finalists for the Citroen Trophée Féminin, representing the Lille region, and was eighth overall. Her results were more modest than they could have been, as she had to sit out part of the season due to injury after hitting a tree during the Terre de Provence Rallye.

After recovering from her injuries, she returned to rally raids. She has taken part in the Pharaons, Atlas and Optic 2000 rallies. As late as 1999, she was navigating for Estelle Hallyday in the Optic 2000 Rally in Tunisia. 

She and Estelle also competed together in the Andros Trophy in 1993 and 1994, driving a Venturi with Julien Beltoise. They raced together on ice again in the Chamonix 24 Hours, driving an Opel Astra to 29th place. Bernadette apparently returned to Chamonix a few times, although the results are hard to find.

After retiring from active competition, she moved into the administration and organisation side of rally raids. She still comes out of retirement occasionally for classic rallies.

This post was made with the help of the following sources:

http://www.citroen-en-competition.fr/fiche-pilote.php?pilote=354&lettre=s

http://www.dakardantan.com/magazine/Bernadette-SACY-1981-82-83.html

(Image copyright Innocenti Motors Club)

Veronica Valverde

 

Veronica Valverde is a single-seater driver from Costa Rica. She has competed most recently in Costa Rican Touring Cars. 

She began racing in 2010, in Formula 2000, aged sixteen. Her best results in the four-round Formula Renault-based championship were two second places. All races were held at La Guácima, her home track, and she was fourth and sixth in the other two. This debut season was combined with karting, in which she was still eligible for the junior classes. She returned to karting in 2011, having been given a “Most Promising Driver” award  for her region by the FIA.

In 2012 she raced in the Formula Abarth class of Panam GP, for Team Costa Rica, and was ninth overall. Fourth at Ibarra was her best finish of the year. Her team-mates in this national squad-based series were Carlos Fonseca and Andre Solano. She was the highest-scoring member of her team.

In 2013, she competed in Formula Panam GP, now running under Formula 3 regulations. She had her best result at the start of the season: fifth at Monterrey after missing the first two rounds. This was one of eight top-ten finishes for her this year. She was eleventh in the championship. Earlier in the year, she had raced at Palm Beach as part of the Panam winter series, earning two ninth places. 

Between then and 2016, she did not do much senior-level racing, although she was active in karting.

In 2016, she contested the Costa Rican Touring Car Championship, for the GreatWall team. She was eleventh overall. It was a new experience for her as she had never raced a saloon car before, and she was up against her former team-mates, Carlos Fonseca and Andre Solano. 

Another lengthy period away from the circuits followed. Veronica returned to the Costa Rican karting championship, with some success. In 2019, she was offered a guest drive in the Toyota Yaris Cup which supported the CRTCC. She did one round in September, at Costa Rica’s Parque Viva circuit. Although she was fast in practice and set the third-fastest time, she was not among the top five in the race itself.

She has expanded her karting experience to esports in 2020, taking part in kart sim races.

(Image copyright Veronica Valverde)

Jo Polley

 

Jo Polley races Minis in the UK. She came close to winning the 2018 Super Mighty Mini Championship. 

She began in short-oval racing, including Ministox and BRiSCA F2 Stock Cars. From a short-oval family, she raced alongside her brothers for two years from the age of 15, picking up twelve wins in emulation of her champion father, George. Although she wanted to race as a senior, the funds were not there for her to compete alongside her two brothers and she temporarily retired.

She finally moved into long-circuit racing in 2007, having bought her own car. For her first race in the Mighty Mini Championship, she qualified in fourth and finished eighth. 

In her first full year, 2008, she earned one pole position at Mallory Park. She was fourteenth overall, despite having to miss most of the season. She had crashed heavily at Mallory and her car needed extensive repairs.

A second season in Mighty Minis in 2009 gave her her first podium finish, driving a rejuvenated car. She was eighth in the championship at the end of the year. Sadly, financial pressures forced her to sell the car and take another break from motorsport for a few years. 

After a while, she briefly returned to the Mighty Mini series in 2013, before moving into the modern Mini Challenge in 2014, driving a BMW Mini. In an interview with Sky Sports, Jo explained how this was down to sponsorship from PowerMaxed detailing products. The deal led to her working as a grid girl for the PowerMaxed BTCC team as well. She was thirteenth in the Cooper class of the Mini Challenge. 

In 2015, among some other projects, she attempted to win an entry to the Rally Aïcha des Gazelles. She spent most of the season in the PowerMaxed Mini Challenge and was eleventh in the Cooper class. 

In 2016, she continued to race her Mini, and also travelled to Spa for the Mini 24 Hours, in which she and her team-mates won their class. 

She raced in the JCW class of the Mini Challenge in 2017, as part of a three-car Eurotech team. Her best finish was eleventh at Oulton Park and she was 27th in the championship after a part-season. Eurotech also ran a BTCC team and Jo managed their sponsorship as well as standing on the grid for them at races. 

In 2018, back in a classic Mini, she came close to winning the Super Mighty Mini Championship, having led for much of the season after an early win. She was fourth. 

She switched to Mini 7evens the following year and was 16th in the championship, although her pace picked up dramatically towards the end of the season with a couple of top-five finishes. She also raced a classic Mini at the Silverstone Classic with Jeff Smith, whom she had met at Eurotech and was by now her partner.

Jeff and Jo raced together again in 7evens for the shortened 2020 season. She was fifth in the championship, with a best finish of third at Thruxton.

They raced together again in 2021, this time taking on the Masters Pre-'66 Mini Championship. Driving a Mini in her father's signature "Polley purple", she had a best finish of fifth at Brands Hatch. As well as this, she was a regular top-ten finisher in 7evens again and ninth in the championship.

She was third in the 2022 Se7en championship, with third places at Silverstone, Cadwell and Castle Combe. The 2023 championship led to a tenth place, but a one-off Masters Mini outing at Brands gave her a class third.

Her final position in the 2024 Mini Miglia championship was tenth again. She was a regular top-ten finisher and had a best finish of sixth, at Donington.

She did not get to do much racing in 2025, largely due to her relationship with Jeff Smith ending and her moving to live in the Channel Islands. She did get some rounds of the Miglia series in with her personal Mini, although an incident mid-season meant that her car needed extensive work, necessitating a break.

(Image copyright ByKathryn)

Ann Taieth

 

Ann Taieth is a highly successful rally driver in Africa who competed between 1972 and 2011. 

She was born in Norway but lived in Kenya, where she did almost all of her rallying. 

She became the first female driver to win a Kenyan rally in 1984, when she was the victor in both the Guru Nanak and Raymond rallies. Her car was an Opel Ascona and she was second in the Kenyan championship after a second place in the Kenya Sanyo 2000 Rally, behind Shekhar Mehta. 

She did enter the Safari Rally at least seven times (in 1972, 1973, 1974, 1980, 1982 and 1984) but did not always get to the finish. Her first attempt was in a Datsun 1600 and she was 18th from 18 finishers, although 67 others did not complete the event. She had received penalties for exceeding speed limits on the road sections, which prompted some newspaper writers to express surprise that she worked as a driving instructor away from the stages.

In 1973 she drove a Datsun and was sponsored by a cosmetics company called ”Lady Gay”, finshing fourteenth. The same combination of car, driver and co-driver Silvia King did not finish the 1974 edition and they were absent from the scene for some time. Ann and Silvia did not finish the 1977 Safari in a Datsun 120Y and then retreated from the scene again. 

Ann paired up with the experienced Yvonne Mehta for the 1980 Safari, although further information is hard to find. It is likely that their car was a Datsun, as both were associated with the make at the time. A final run in a Datsun in the 1982 event ended in another DNF and it was only when she switched Japanese power for German that she really started to get the results.

Her first podium finish was in the 1983 Sanyo 2000 Rally, held around Lake Nakuru. Her car was now an Opel Ascona 400. She and Silvia were third. At the end of the year, they were seventh in the Cholaco Jamhuri Rally. Ann then teamed up with Quentin Thomson and was fourth in the Firestone Coast 600 Rally. 

Her winning season followed in the Ascona and she was second in the Kenyan championship before retiring for many years.

After a long break, she returned to the Kenyan stages in 2010, driving a Volkswagen in the S&L Mortgages Rally. At 61, she was the oldest driver to ever tackle the event. She came back in 2011 for the KCB Bankika Rally in the same car. 

She has been involved in dog breeding in East Africa in recent years.

(Image copyright Robin Hutton)

Katherine (Kate) Martin

 

Katherine (Kate) Martin was best-known as the wife of Lionel Martin, and one of the early directors of the Aston Martin company. Katherine had raced a number of cars from the early 1920s onwards, including a Riley and an early Aston Martin, which she used in hillclimbs and trials.

Katherine was born Katherine King in 1888. She married Lionel Martin in 1917. 

She is credited with designing the first Aston Martin logo, and with persuading Lionel to put the “Aston” in the firm’s name first, so it would appear at the top of alphabetic lists. She was also involved with the design for the early cars’ radiator grilles.

Kate was an astute businesswoman, whose interests included a lime quarry, which is still part-owned by a trust in her name. Its profits go to the RSPCA, Barnardos and NSPCC. She was an early director of Aston Martin, taking over from Robert Bamford and holding the position until 1925.

The BARC began organising ladies’ races at Brooklands in 1920. Katherine appears to have won one of the earlier ones in 1921, driving an Aston. This may well have been “Coal Scuttle”, the first-ever Aston Martin built. In 1921, there were perhaps three Astons in existence and there are photos of Kate in Coal Scuttle at Brooklands.

Lionel Martin was forced to sell the Aston Martin company in 1925. He reputedly never owned another Aston and it appears that Kate followed suit. This was not the end of her involvement in motorsport, however; both she and Lionel continued to compete in rallies for some years.

She drove a Wolseley Hornet in the 1932 Alpine Rally, but her first trophy seems to have been a third in the Coupe des Dames of the 1933 Monte Carlo Rally, accompanied by Agnes Gripper. Her car was a Hillman. In that year’s Alpine Rally, she co-drove for her husband, in his Humber.

Sneha Sharma

 

Sneha Sharma is a single-seater racer from India.

She has done most of her racing in Formula 4 in India, as part of the JK Tyres Racing Championship. This is not the same as FIA F4 and race results are therefore harder to find. 

She began her single-seater career in 2013, after several years of karting, which gave her several notable wins. She also did a part-season in the 2010 Volkswagen Polo one-make cup. Her early attempts to get a foothold in the Indian motorsport scene were manufacturer-sponsored one-make series where she tried to win sponsored drives. She tried to get onto the Toyota Etios programme and did at least an exhibition race in the car in 2012. At around the same time, she got into the final five of a Mercedes young driver programme, setting a speed record. 

In 2016, she continued in the JK Tyres series, and was tenth in the championship. It was based around the Kari circuit at Coimbatore and she had one of her more successful years, picking up fifth and sixth places. 

Sneha has also raced in the VW Polo Cup and the Toyota Etios one-make championship, and got into the final twelve of a Mercedes driver development challenge in India. 

In 2019, she attempted to qualify for the women-only W Series, but did not get past the first round. She intended to spend the season moving between the Formula RGB India championship and Southeast Asian Formula 4, although she does not appear to have entered the Indian series. She was tenth in the F4 series for Meritus GP, with a best finish of fifth at Sepang. Of the four female drivers entered that year, she was the best by quite a long way.

Her F4 top ten was not her only race in Malaysia; she entered the first rounds of the Proton Saga Cup for DV Motorsports. 

Her activities in 2020 were limited by the worldwide coronavirus crisis, although she did keep her hand in with some karting.

She has worked as an airline pilot since 2012, when she was 22. Her training was undertaken in Malaysia and the USA. She started at age 17 and took a break from karting to do so.  

(Image from Makers India)

Esmee Hawkey

 

Esmée Hawkey is a versatile British driver who has had her best results in the Porsche Carrera Cup.

Her motorsport career started early. After several seasons of karting she raced in Ginetta Juniors in 2014, after becoming a finalist in the Ginetta Junior Scholarship at the end of 2013. This led to a development deal with AmDTuning. As well as karting, she raced in the last three Ginetta Junior rounds of 2014, at Rockingham, Silverstone and Brands Hatch. Her best results were two 15th places, at Rockingham and Brands Hatch. She was 22nd overall. 

She also tested an AmDTuning BTCC car, driving the team’s Honda Civic during a tyre test at Snetterton.

In 2015, she drove for JHR Developments in Ginetta Juniors. Her best overall finishes were two fourteenth places, at Oulton Park, but she did well among the Rookie drivers. She was 25th in the championship. 

2016 was the year she graduated to senior competition in the form of the GT Cup, racing a Porsche Cayman for the GT Marques team.  She was runner-up in the GTA class and had a best overall finish of eighth at Donington. 

In 2017, she was nominated for the Carrera Cup GB Junior Scholarship and continued to race in the GT Cup.

She did her first full season of the Carrera Cup in 2018, still  with GT Marques, earning two podium finishes in the Pro-Am class at Monza and Brands Hatch. 

In 2019, the Carrera Cup was combined with a season in the all-female W Series, where she was fifteenth in the championship. She did better in the Carrera Cup, with three wins in the Pro-Am class at Thruxton and Oulton Park and a third on the class leaderboard. 

Her final position in the W Series standings was fifteenth and she was let go by the championship, which was cancelled in 2020 anyway. This proved to be a very minor setback in her career, as she signed with Team Parker Racing for the Carrera Cup and was instantly the Pro-Am class driver to beat. She won the class in her first four races and picked up a further five class victories later in the season. The only time she was off the Pro-Am podium was when she did not finish at Oulton. Her best overall finishes were two third places, at Donington and Brands Hatch. These were her first series podiums.

At the end of the 2019 season she was named as a test driver for the MB Motorsport BTCC team. She had her first test in the Honda Civic at Snetterton in July 2020.

At the beginning of 2021, she was announced as a driver for the Iron Dames team, but she was quickly withdrawn after her manager was found to have made an incorrect declaration regarding her FIA driver categorisation. Fortunately for her, she was quickly snapped up for a DTM race seat, driving a Lamborghini Huracan for T3 Motorsport. It was a difficult learning year, but she did manage an eleventh place at Assen and the Nurburgring, getting her first points on the DTM computer. She was 20th in the championship.

A planned second season in the DTM was limited to the first four races, as the T3 team pulled out of the championship. Her best result was an 18th place at Lausitz.

In 2023, she was announced as a driver in the British GT championship, racing a Ginetta G56 for Toro Verde. She did the first four races with Joe Wheeler, finishing two of them. They were 31st and 30th at Oulton Park.

She sat out 2024 due to pregnancy.

(Image copyright Esmee Hawkey)