Angelique Detavernier

 

Angélique Detavernier is an endurance racing specialist from Belgium.

Although she has been involved in motorsport from a young age, including as a driver manager, she only began racing in 2013 after winning a karting competition. She first raced in the VW Fun Cup in Belgium. 

For most of 2014, she raced a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, mainly in the Dutch Supercar Challenge. Her best results were two third places in the GTB class, at Zolder and Assen. In the same car, she was fourth in the Zolder 24 Hours, with Miguel Vandereyt, Frederic Vervisch, Louis-Philippe Soenen, Francois Bouillon and Patrick van Glabeke. 

As well as the Porsche, she raced a Maserati in the Maserati Trofeo, finishing tenth at Spa and fourteenth at Abu Dhabi. She also returned to the Fun Cup and managed a pole position. 

In 2015, she had a second try at the Zolder 24 Hours in a Porsche 997. Driving as part of a four-driver team, she was 24th, and third in class. She was slated to enter the European rounds of the Maserati Trofeo this year and contested the Paul Ricard and Red Bull Ring rounds. Her best result was a twelfth place at Paul Ricard. At some point, she did some more Fun Cup racing, starting once from pole, and at least one Supercar Challenge race. 

Her third Zolder 24 Hours in 2016 gave her a debut top ten: a seventh place in a Porsche. In another two firsts, she raced an Audi R8 LMS in a couple of VdeV races and a Mercedes AMG in the Nurburgring round of the Blancpain Endurance Series. She was also third in a Fun Cup race in Dubai, 

In 2017 she did another couple of Blancpain Endurance races, driving an Audi R8 LMS. She was fourteenth in one GT Sports Club race at Spa, and did not finish the other. 

She had another guest outing in the car in 2018, again at Spa, in the 24H Series. She and her team-mates were eleventh in their class. This was in addition to a strong season in the GT Sports Club series, driving a Ferrari 488 rather than the Audi. She was eighth in the championship with a best finish of fourth, at the Hungaroring.

Having proved herself as a driver, there were more major races in different cars for her in 2019, firstly driving an AMG Mercedes GT4 in the Blancpain Endurance Series and the European GT4 Challenge. She was second in class at Zandvoort in the GT4 Series and third in class at the Nurburgring. She also did one Blancpain race in a Boutsen-Ginion BMW M6, finishing 22nd overall and fourth in class, and another in a Lamborghini Huracan. This time, she was fifth and tenth overall at Circuit de Catalunya.  

The worldwide coronavirus crisis curtailed motorsport severely in 2020 and Angelique did not race. In 2021, she added another string to her bow, doing three out of seven rounds of the Belcar championship in a Norma prototype and finishing third at Hockenheim and Zolder. 

Her focus switched from Belgium to France in 2022, racing a GT4-spec Audi R8 LMS in the FFSA GT championship. Her best result was a third place in the Am class at Magny-Cours. Her team-mate was Sebastien Rambaud.

She stuck with prototypes in France for 2023, racing in the Wolf Thunder Series and scoring at least one podium. Moving to Italy, she competed in the Italian Sport Prototype Cup in 2024, driving an Aprilia-engined Wolf. Hert best finish from four races was a fifth place at Monza. 

She is better-known as a model and was previously in a relationship with Formula E driver Stoffel Vandoorne.

(Image copyright Angelique Detavernier)

Female Rally Drivers Around the World: the Netherlands

 

Most of the entries in this post were previously part of other posts relating to European rally drivers. Anna van Vredenburch Limburg-Stirum has her own post.

Angelique Aufderhaar (pictured) - usually rallies a Ford Escort RS2000 in the Netherlands, with frequent outings in Germany. She has been active since at least 2008 and for the first couple of seasons, she used a MkI Escort. Her best results have been on different versions of the Hellendoorn Rally, with a twelfth place in the 2019 Hellendoorn Historic event her highest finish. In 2013, she was also thirteenth in the Hellendoorn Short Rally. Other cars she has rallied include a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV, which she used on and off between 2018 and 2021. In 2022, she concentrated on German events, in the RS2000. She did two Dutch rallies and one German event in 2023, finishing the Rallye Ostwestfalen in 38th place. In 2024, she finished one rally in the Escort, finishing 46th in the Legend Boucles a Bastogne event in Belgium. The following year, she finished all three of the rallies she entered, with a best finish of fourteenth, with a class win, in the NED GTC Historic Rally.

Lieke Bouman (Dautzenberg) - driver and co-driver active since at least 2001, when she co-drove for her brother, Bob Dautzenberg. Since then, she has won rallies as a navigator with different drivers. As a driver, she favours small cars, most recently a Renault Clio but also a Renault 5 and a Nissan Sunny. She specialises in shorter sprint rallies, usually in the Netherlands or Belgium, but often in Germany as well. Her best result has been an eighth place in the 2017 Twente Short Rally, driving a Honda Civic. This helped her to the Dutch ladies’ title that year. More recently, she was ninth in the 2019 JUMBO Short Rally, driving a Clio. She returned to competition in 2022 after a break and was 26th in the GTC Rally, in the Clio. After another break, she did a couple of rallies in 2025, using the Clio and a Peugeot 205. She did not finish either.

Louk Heidendahl – Dutch driver who was active in the 1960s. She was a regular on the Tulip Rally, and first entered in 1960, driving a DKW Junior with Ida de Fouw. The same pairing were 29th in 1961, this time driving a Saab 96. In 1962, she was fourth in the Ladies’ standings, and 59th overall, in the Saab, with erstwhile driver, Diana van Strien, on the maps. It was back to the DKW in 1963, but a change to an Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce in 1964 brought her a pleasing 25th place. In 1965, she moved over to the co-driver’s seat, with Joop Heidendahl, in a Mercedes. She seems to have stopped rallying after that.

Marieke van Kamperdijk (Rietveld) - rallied a Peugeot 206 in the Netherlands in 2017. She was runner-up in a Dutch ladies’ championship held that year and got her season off to a strong start with an eighth overall in the Zeebodem Short Rally. She was also thirteenth in the Centraal Nederlands Short Rally. Her only rally outside the Netherlands was the Gronegau event in Germany. Despite her relatively strong debut year, she does not appear to have competed again. 

Diana van Strien – Dutch driver who competed in the Tulip Rally on at least three occasions, between 1960 and 1962. The first two rallies were as a driver, in a Renault Gordini, and she was co-driven by Truus van der Voorst Vader. In 1962, she was the co-driver to Louk Heidendahl, another Dutchwoman, in a Saab 96. Diana was from a motorsport family, and the 1960 Tulip Rally was not her first involvement with the sport. She is recorded in 1957 as taking part in the Vaals hillclimb, a round of the Dutch Touring Car Championship, in a Ford Taunus. She was second in class, and defeated her mother, whose name is not given. Diana may well have co-driven for her mother in rallies at about this time.

Titia Westerhof - Dutch driver active in the 1970s and early 1980s. She almost always drove an Opel Kadett, although she did try out an Opel Ascona and a  Renault 5 towards the end of her career in 1980. She entered the Tulip Rally three times, beginning as a works Opel entry in 1977. Her best year was 1978, when she won the Netherlands National class and finished 23rd overall. Her best outright finish came during the same year: she was eleventh in the AMAC International Rally. Mainly, she competed in the Netherlands, although she also entered some Belgian rallies, including the 1979 Condroz event, and one Swedish rally. The Sjuharadsnatta Opel Rally Jamboree was held on snow, as opposed to her favoured asphalt.

(Image copyright Lars Smook/tubantia.nl)

Jenny Dell

Jenny Dell raced sportscars and saloons in the 1960s and ‘70s. She drove in the fore-runner to the British Touring Car Championship in 1972.

Her first car was an Elva Courier which she first raced in 1967, when she was 22. 

She was most associated with the Nathan GT, which she used between 1969 and 1970. This was a Hillman Imp-engined special built by Frank Costin and Roger Nathan. Her car was formerly used by the factory Nathan team and had a BMW engine. She won at least one race outright in it, a GT event at Brands Hatch in April 1970.

The Nathan replaced a similar GT car, a 1100cc Diva. This was not the most reliable of cars, although she did manage a sixth place in it in the Brands Hatch STP round in 1969. She later sold it to Wendy Hamblin, another British driver.

Her car for the British Saloon championship was a Ford Escort, which she also tried to qualify for the 1971 Spa 24 Hours. She also drove a Mini Clubman in Special Saloons.

She did at least some rounds of the 1972 BSCC in a Vauxhall Firenza, as a team-mate to Gerry Marshall and Denis Thorne. Her best result seems to have been a class win in the final round at Oulton.

A fellow saloon car racer, Wendy Markey, had Jenny as her co-driver in the 1973 Avon Tour of Britain. Their car was a BMW 2002 and they won the ladies’ award, finishing 19th overall.

She carried on racing until at least 1975, when she is recorded as entering one of the BWRDC’s Shellsport Ladies’ Escort races. She had won a round of the first Shellsport Escort championship in 1974. Jenny was an enthusiastic member of the BWRDC from early on, winning the club’s Goodwin Trophy in 1969 as its highest-performing member. In 1972, she entered the one-make “Fast Girls” Ford Consul Challenge, mostly contested by club members, and finished eleventh.

Jenny’s sister was dating motorcycle racer Bill Ivy when he died in 1969. Jenny herself died young of cancer at some time in the 1980s, having been ill for some time.

(Image copyright Phillip Jackson/Shutterstock)

Maxine Wahome

 Maxine Wahome is the leading female rally driver currently active in Africa.

She competes in rallies and autocross in her home country, as well as being a major figure in Kenya’s Women in Motorsport association. 

Her car for 2021 was a Subaru Impreza, which she used in the African championship, finishing tenth. Her best finish was fifth in the KCB Thika Rally, although she also featured strongly in the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally, finishing sixth and winning Group N. She was tenth in both the Kenyan and African championships and third in the African Junior championship.

She was the first woman for several years to finish the Safari Rally in 2022. The event was running as part of the World Championship after a long hiatus. Two female drivers had entered, but Danish Lisa Christoffersen’s car failed scrutineering. Driving a Ford Fiesta Rally3 for the first time on gravel, Maxine was one of a large proportion of the competitors who had to finish under SuperRally rules, earning a 17th place and a WRC3 class win. 

This was her second Safari, although she only entered the national event in 2021.

This followed a win in the Lioness Rally, the first all-female event held in Kenya. She drove the Impreza this time.

Maxine has rallied across East Africa. In 2022, she competed in Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda in addition to Kenya. Her best event was a home one, the Bamba Rally Mombasa, in which she was fifth.

Originally she was a motocross rider and was one of the top three fastest in Kenya. She switched to autocross in 2020, then rallying in 2021.

(Image copyright FIA)

Logan Hannah

 

Logan Hannah is a Scottish single-seater driver who won a round of the 2020 Scottish Formula Ford championship outright.

She made her senior motorsport debut in 2017, racing a Formula 4 in the UAE Championship, which runs over the winter season. Logan is a British national but mostly competed in the Middle East to begin with, first as a junior karter.

She was only sixteen when she did her first race at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. Her results were two sevenths and one eighth place, having finished three of her four races. 

In 2018, she trained for more F4 races with the Arden team, but her actual races were with Graham Brunton’s Formula Ford team. She travelled to the UK for the Walter Hayes Trophy but ran into car trouble with her Ray GR10.

In 2019, she raced in the Scottish Formula Ford championship with Graham Brunton Racing and was fourth overall, with three podium finishes in her 2015-spec Ray. She also raced FF1600 in England, in two Champion of Brands races and the season-ending Walter Hayes Trophy, which has become a regular event for her. Back in the UAE and F4 in December, she took part in the non-championship support race for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and was eighth and ninth. 

She won the David Leslie Trophy at Knockhill in 2020, the first time a Scottish woman had won a national Formula Ford race. Later, she qualified for the Walter Hayes Trophy final, finishing 15th.

Her Formula Ford season in 2021 was restricted to the Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy, but she announced that in 2022 she would be contesting the GB4 (formerly British F4) championship. This was a new series and GBR was one of the first teams to commit to it.

She took advantage of the reverse grid for Race 3 during a GB4 meeting to win a race at Donington, the fourth weekend of her season. This followed a second place in the reverse-grid race at Silverstone. The rest of the season was consistent rather than spectacular, and she was tenth in the championship.

After her traditional appearance in the Walter Hayes Trophy in November, she hinted that this had been her last single-seater race as she was looking to switch to sportscars, possibly Porsches. Mid-season in 2023, she entered a round of the GT Cup at Snetterton, sharing a Lamborghini with Iain Loggie. Loggie crashed the car before she got to drive.

Most of her 2024 racing was in sportscars, in the form of the Ligier European Series. She did four races, sharing the car with Ben Caisley. The pair had a best finish of fourth at Paul Ricard. Later in the year, she was a surprise wildcard entry for the all-female F1 Academy, competing at Yas Marina in Bahrain. Her best finish from her three races was tenth.

She intimated on social media that she was retiring from competition at the beginning of 2025.

(Image copyright Laser Tools Racing)

Louise Smith

 

Louise after a crash at Occoneechee in 1949

Louise Smith was a successful NASCAR driver from its earliest days, who has become part of the legend of the series. 

Born in Greenville, South Carolina, 1916, she made her NASCAR debut at Daytona in 1949, although had driven in some local, informal races before that.

Her driving style was aggressive and she often crashed, endearing her to spectators. Her nickname was “The Good Ol’ Gal” and she became the subject of NASCAR legends; it has proved impossible to work out which stories about her are true. For example, she is supposed to have come third in her first race, but failed to stop at the chequered flag, because the team owner had told her only to stop in the event of a red flag. She may also have destroyed her husband’s car in a beach race during her first competition. Neither of these was the 1949 Daytona event, although some reports say that she did flip her car during that race, only to be helped by spectators and carry on. Some sources suggest that this happened in 1946.

Other rumours abounded about her background, with some claiming that she was a moonshine runner who could drive faster than all of the local police.

A newspaper report from May 1950 claims that she “became a driver only last winter”. Searches of newspaper archives bring up nothing from before 1949, so this could be the truth. Other reports suggest that she started racing a little earlier, perhaps in 1948. 

Evidence comes from before Daytona in 1949, she was recorded as entering a ladies-only race at Greenville Speedway with her “student” Barbara Peigler in two cars. Barbara had apparently been taught to drive by Louise and was having her first race. This does suggest that Louise had been driving for longer than a couple of months.

 She won 38 races during her seven-year career, taking in most of the NASCAR categories, including Grand Nationals (now the Sprint Cup). Most of her wins (28 of them) came in the Modified class. She did eleven Grand National races between 1949 and 1952, with a best finish of 16th at Langhorne in 1949. Langhorne was later described as her favourite track. This was one of three races she entered that year, normally competing against either Sara Christian or Ethel Flock Mobley as well as the male drivers of the time. Both of these women were also present at Greenville when Louise and Barbara raced there, along with Sara Christian’s sister, Mildred Williams. NASCAR’s founder, Bill France, was keen for the three women to race as it was good publicity for his fledgling series.

She never ran even close to a full Grand National season, with 1950 being her biggest campaign. She entered six rounds, qualifying for all except Darlington and finishing two. Both of these were 19th places, at Dayton and Hillsboro. Her second Daytona start ended in a first-lap crash. 

After not racing in 1951, she did three races in 1952, but did not finish any of them, two due to mechanical problems and one due to her falling ill early in the race itself at Morristown.

Among the other drivers she raced were Buckshot Morris, Lee Petty, Curtis Turner and Bob and Fonty Flock, Ethel Flock Mobley’s brothers.

As well as mixed events, she often raced against other women. In 1954, she travelled to Knoxville, Tennessee and took on local drivers Mildred Beets and Joyce Gunter, among others. At the time, she was described as “the 1953 Southeastern States women’s stock car champion.” She travelled widely during her career, racing in the northern and eastern states.

This part of her racing life is not particularly well-documented, as her novelty value had worn off somewhat by now and Bill France was no longer promoting her.

Her career ended very suddenly in 1956. She had just finished a race at Bronx, New York and was on her way to Daytona when her husband decided to “rededicate himself to the Lord” with the help of a local preacher. After speaking to her husband and the preacher, Louise decided to follow suit and pulled out of the Daytona event.

After a long period away from motorsport completely, she returned as a car owner in 1971, continuing for some years. She also oversaw the beauty contest attached to the Southern 500 race. The drivers who used her car included Ronnie Thomas in 1978, the year he won Rookie of the Year. While she was racing, she often ran a car for another driver at the same time.

She died of cancer in 2006, aged 89.

Chelsea Angelo

 

Chelsea Angelo races single-seaters and touring cars in Australia. Her career began in Formula Ford and she almost won a National class Formula 3 championship in 2014, but she now races saloons.

She has been involved in senior-level motorsport since 2012, when she was 16. At first, she raced a Formula Ford in the Victoria state championship,  but that turned into an attack on both the Victorian and Australian championships in 2013. She scored her first outright win in the Victorian series. Her best finishes in the Australian championship were sixth places at Surfers Paradise and Sydney. She was thirteenth overall. Despite her win in the Victorian championship, she was only 15th overall as she did not do the whole calendar. 

She raced in Australian Formula 3 in 2014, in the National class, where she was a front-runner. She was either first or second in all of her races, winning seven times, and missed out quite narrowly on the championship. This was the high point of her single-seater career, although the issue of finances was beginning to rear its head.

As well as single-seaters, she has also tested Supercars, and this led to a last-minute race seat for 2015 with the THR Developments team. However, this only stretched to the first round and Adelaide, and she sat the rest of the season out. She finished 18th and 22nd in her two races. 

She signed with the Dragon team for the 2016 Supercar Dunlop championship. After almost a full season she was 21st overall, getting into the top ten once at Sandown. This was impressive, as it followed a DNF due to contact with another car. Her car was a Prodrive Ford Falcon FG and the only known Supercar to be fitted with a cup holder, a nod to her sponsor, Rush Iced Coffee.

Her programme was very limited in 2017, with only one major race. The Dragon team had signed Renee Gracie in her place. She drove a Ford Falcon in the Winton 300 but did not finish. 

2018 was spent in the Australian Porsche Supercup with Wall Racing, who won the championship the year before. Sportscars suited her and she was fifth overall. Her best finish was second at Sandown, one of four podium places including one third place at Phillip Island. 

Hoping to resurrect her single-seater career, she put her name down to try out for the inaugural season of W Series. She was long-listed and attended the winter selection event at Melk in Austria, but was not selected. Chelsea took to social media to express her anger and lack of confidence in the W selection criteria, which she claimed were very unclear and not fully related to on-track performance.

After her W Series disappointment, she threw herself into the Australian TCR Series, driving a Holden Astra for Kelly Racing. It was not the easiest of seasons and she had car problems to contend with, as well as being taken out by another competitor in the third race. She sat out the middle part of the season while the team sorted out the car troubles and returned in November at The Bend. Sadly, a first-race crash put her out for the weekend. Her best finish was twelfth and she was 25th in the championship. Among her team-mates that year was Molly Taylor. 

She also raced a Hyundai Excel in some one-make endurance races with the Brett Parrish Race Organisation, finishing tenth and sixth. Her co-drivers were Ashley Izod and Tim Slade. The sixth spot was with Ashley Izod and was a charge through the field from 20th to sixth.

She planned to race in TCR again in 2020, but the season was cancelled due to coronavirus. 

The following season ran and Chelsea did most of it in a Volkswagen Golf. It was a hard year for her and her best finish was eleventh at Phillip Island. She was 20th overall.

At the beginning of 2022, she posted on her social media that she did not have sponsorship to race, although she has not retired and has not ruled out a return later in the year. She works as a driver coach and personal trainer.

(Image copyright Chelsea Angelo)