Christine Beckers

Another versatile Belgian, Christine Beckers often entered races simply as "Christine", no other identification needed. She was a gifted driver who achieved success both on the track and the special stage, and more. Motorsport had been her ambition since childhood and she first realised her dream in 1966, after leaving university. Her first car was an NSU Prinz, which she used for rallies in France and Belgium, including the Twelve Hours of Huy.

Although rallying remained her main activity, Christine branched out into circuit racing the following year, when she completed her first Spa 24 Hours with Marie-Claude Beaumont. The car was an NSU 1000 TTS, similar to Christine's rally car. They were the first female finishers, 24th overall and Christine was also the first Belgian home. Team officials from Alfa Romeo Benelux noticed her talent and she was rewarded with a works contract for the 1968 season. This was the beginning of a long and prosperous relationship with the marque for the Belgian woman, who was still only 25.

Her first year as a professional works racing driver took her to race tracks and hillclimbs all over Europe, including her second Spa 24 Hours. She and Nicole Sol were 23rd in a 1750 Berlina. Surprisingly, she still had time for her first love, rallying, and won the Coupe des Dames on that year's Tulip Rally in her old NSU. She drove the Alfa GTA and GTV mainly, taking in Belgian rallies, the RACE Rallye Espana and the Criterium des Cevennes. She was tenth in Spain. In addition, she won the De La Reine-Huet hillclimb outright and won her class in the De La Roche hillclimb.

1969 was an even busier year. Christine collected 20 class wins for Alfa in various series, including a ninth place overall in a European Touring Car race at Monza with Jacques Dumoulin, as part of Alfa's junior team. She got her first taste of top-class Alfa touring action at Spa in the 1600cc GTA, but retired. Later, she won the Benelux Cup at Zandvoort, driving the smaller GTAJ.

There was even better fortune to be had on the hills; she won the d'Houyet hillclimb outright and came second at de Marche. 1969 was also the year that she broke her rallying duck with an excellent win in the Ostend event. Despite her increased circuit involvement across Europe and beyond, she still entered many rallies, including the Tulip, Monte Carlo and Routes du Nord events. There were adventures in the South African-based Springbok Series too, where Christine had a best finish of seventh at Cape Town.

Touring cars were her main focus for 1970, driving the works Alfa again in the ETCC. She made history at the Nürburgring by becoming the first woman to mount the podium in an ETCC race, after coming third in the 2000 GTAm, with Teodoro Zeccoli. Her exploits were used in an advert for Alfa Romeo road cars. For the rest of the season, she drove either the GTAm or the GTV and came ninth in the overall standings after a superb season. She was fourth at Brno, Jarama and Monza and fifth at Salzburg and Budapest. Away from the ETCC, she was second in the Boucles de Spa in an Alfa Duetto, and in a race at Montlhèry. Another attempt at the Spa 24 Hours, with Dutch driver Liane Engeman, ended in retirement, but this was a rare disappointment. She continued to finish strongly in hillclimbs and won the Coupe des Dames on the Criterium des Cevennes in a GTAm, coming 15th overall.

1971 saw Christine branch out again. For the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, she switched to the Alfa rally squad in the super-quick Giulia, but failed to finish. In addition to her Alfa activities, she drove a Porsche 911 to eighth place on the Tour de France, with Ennio Bonomelli.

It was back to the circuits in 1972, and a particularly successful year for Christine, with two outright wins at Dijon and Paul Ricard. Her new challenge was sportscars, and the following season, she raced a Chevron B21 to good effect at the Le Mans Four Hours, where she won her class. Her first attempt at the Le Mans 24 Hours was a stormy introduction. She and Bob Wollek were sharing the Chevron, but Christine crashed heavily early on and was injured. However, by the end of the season she had bounced back, with a second place on the Paris-St. Raphaël women's rally with "Biche" (Michele Espinosi-Petit). By now, she was also running the racing school at Albi in France.

She stuck with the Chevron in 1973 and finished well in the Le Mans Four Hours again, coming seventh with Roger Dubos. The pair had previously competed together in the 1972 Monte Carlo Rally, in an Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV, but they did not finish. They were also ninth in the Spa 1000km. Christine's second Le Mans was a disappointment; the Chevron's fuel injection gave out early on and she did not get to drive. She also raced the Chevron at Nogaro, but the results have been lost.

1974 did not start well. The Ford-engined Chevron B21 proved unreliable at the Spa 1000km, and Christine and Yvette Fontaine had to retire. Its replacement, the B23, also gave up on her and Claude Michy at the Le Mans Four Hours. To add insult to injury, a drive in the Fiat X1/9 Abarth rally prototype in the Tour de France ended in another retirement. However, there was unfinished business to be dealt with. The Chevron came through at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Piloted by Christine, Marie Laurent and Yvette Fontaine, it won the 2000cc class after leading for much of the way. The all-female team were 17th overall. A win on the last running of the Paris-St. Raphaël Rally with Biche also brought some welcome relief.

In Christine terms, 1975 was a quiet year. She stuck to racing a Triumph Dolomite at home in Belgium, but still managed to earn the Belgian national racing crown. This included another run in the Spa 24 Hours, which resulted in a 24th place. Her team-mates were Jenny Birrell and Marianne Hoepfner. Partnered by Willy Braillard, she also tried her hand at the Spa 1000km again, in a Ford-engined Lola T284. They did not finish.

After a season's break, she returned to Le Mans as part of the Inaltera-Ford team. She and her team-mate, came a creditable 21st overall, third in class. Her performance was enough to secure her a works seat for next time. Paired with female Grand Prix driver and sportscar ace Lella Lombardi, Christine drove hard to a strong eleventh place overall in 1977. The pair had previously driven the car at the Daytona 24 Hours and finished 47th, despite a lengthy stop after an accident.

The paths of the two female stars crossed again in the USA in 1977, but as rivals this time. Both took part in the NASCAR Firecracker 500, a considerable achievement for a European driver. Christine retired with no brakes while in 23rd place. She had better luck with her return to touring cars for Alfa, with second places at Mugello, Zeltweg and Spa.

1978 saw her drive in various ETCC-affiliated series, both in an Alfa and a works Skoda. She was not quite on the pace and did not trouble the top finishers.

Christine Beckers always looked for new challenges, and her latest one in 1979 was the Paris-Dakar Rally, which she completed on her first attempt, winning the Coupe des Dames. She was driving a Toyota and came 41st overall. Sportscars were not forgotten; she had an outing in the Spa 24 Hours with Jean-Paul Liebert and Pascal Witmeur in a Chevrolet Camaro. In 1980, she raced a powerful BMW M1 Procar at the Daytona 24 Hours, but did not last the distance.

In 1980, she won the Dakar Coupe des Dames again, coming seventh in a Range Rover. In 1983, she was 28th in another Toyota.

Her fourth and final attempt at the Dakar was the most successful. Driving a Range Rover, she was fifth overall, first privateer and first woman to the Senegalese capital. After this triumph, she retired from competitive motorsport, having competed in three continents and been both race and rally champion in her home country. Following her retirement, she raised two adopted children and worked as a Formula One journalist, among many other activities. In recent years, she has come out of retirement to race in classic events, mainly in an Alfa Romeo.

(Image copyright "Josef58")

Christabel Carlisle

Christabel in her Mini, in 1961

For most people in the UK, the archetypal cool 1960s girl was Twiggy. For me, Christabel is the ultimate in cool 1960s ladies. From 1960 to 1963, she gave the boys a run for their money in sports and saloon car races. She is most famous for her exploits in a Mini, but also raced other iconic 1960s cars, such as the MGB and Austin-Healey Sprite, at home and abroad.

Bored by spectating, Christabel had her first race at Silverstone, in a Mini, in 1960. It was her only race of the year and unfortunately, she crashed out. However, the next year brought many more races with the Mini, including a Ladies' Invitation Race at Brands Hatch, which gave her her first win. She competed around the UK in what was to become the British Touring Car Championship, and soon proved that she had the speed and talent to challenge the established stars.

Christabel steadily improved. Her highlights of 1961 were a second in class at Snetterton (John Whitmore won), and an outright second place at Brands Hatch. Vic Elford was first.

In 1962, her Don Moore-prepared Mini Cooper was up there with works BMC drivers such as Whitmore, Tony Maggs and John Love. She collected top three places at the Snetterton and Aintree international meetings and would have won at Crystal Palace, had her clutch not failed while she was leading. She had better luck at Brands again, when she fought back to eighth after spinning and dropping back to last place. Class wins were hers at Goodwood, Brands, and the Roskildering in Denmark. More continental racing beckoned in the Nürburgring 6-Hour race, which earned Peter Galliford and Christabel a second in class. The pair came sixth at the Brands Hatch 6 Hours. On top of this, Christabel also came fifth as a guest in a Morris 1100 race for Grand Prix drivers, including Jim Clark and Graham Hill.

1963 saw her really picking up speed, with fastest laps at Oulton Park and the Nürburgring 6 Hours, in which she scored a class win with Chris McLaren. A lap record for her class was set at Snetterton. More top-three finishes came at Oulton, Goodwood, Crystal Palace and Silverstone, this time during the Grand Prix meeting. Further trips to the Nürburgring brought more success: a second in class with Clive Baker in the 1000km, driving an Austin-Healey Sprite, and a drive in a works BMC Mini at last with John Whitmore. Unfortunately, the pair failed to finish.

Brands Hatch was one of Christabel's favourite stamping grounds, and that year, she and American Denise McCluggage scored a third in class in the 6-Hour race. The partnership continued at the famous Sebring 12 Hours, but that resulted in a DNF.

In addition to her track activities, Christabel did some rally co-driving with Timo Makinen, for the works BMC team, even though neither she nor Makinen spoke one another's language. She also navigated for John Sprinzel in a Sprite in Monte Carlo. In 1963, she and her Mini were second in class in the prestigious Mont Ventoux hillclimb in France.

Sadly, this young woman's career came to an abrupt end in 1963, after a couple of nasty accidents. One was particularly spectacular, with her Mini landing upside-down on top of Peter Harper's Sunbeam. The second caused the death of a marshal and left Christabel with concussion; although no-one blamed her for the incident, she felt she could not carry on competing. After her retirement, she went back to her old job, teaching the piano, took up mountaineering and wrote a popular book: "Mini Racing", her guide to getting ahead in motorsport.

(Image source unknown)

Cathy Muller

Cathy in 1985

France's Cathy Muller had a promising start to her racing career. She competed, mainly in single-seaters, between the ages of twelve and 33, and showed that she had the talent to go far.

Her first victory came in the European Karting Championships in 1979. She remained in karting for a further year before switching to cars in 1981, when she raced first a Renault 5 and then a Volant Elf single-seater. After a learning year, she carried on the Renault connection and drove in French Formula Renault. She scored her first win at Le Castellet that season, as well as four podium positions.

Cathy continued to progress up the motorsport ladder rapidly. Moving up to Formula 3 with David Price Racing and Ecurie Elf, she jumped straight into the European championship. Her best result was a fourth place, at Le Chatre, and she also achieved seventh places at Magny-Cours and Zeltweg. She attempted to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix support race, but could not make it. In November she was eleventh in the Macau Grand Prix race, one of only a handful of women to have ever taken part.

By 1984, she was challenging for wins in Euro F3. Driving first for the Scuderia dei Longobardi team, then MC Racing, she finished the season tenth. Her season had begun well, with a seventh at Donington, and she qualified for the Monaco race this time, finishing in eighth place. Her best championship finish was another fourth, at Knutstorp, but she was comfortably in sixth or seventh for most of her races. Her best finish of the year was due to a guest appearance in the French championship, at Albi, where she won.

She also had her first taste of major sportscar racing, driving a BMW-powered Gebhart JC843 at Sandown Park in Australia. Her team-mates were Margie Smith-Haas and Sue Ransom.

At that time, the British F3 championship was the place to be for aspiring stars, so she decamped to England for a year to drive for David Price Racing in 1985. Although she did not achieve any top-three places, she was still ninth overall. Among her results, which are hard to find, she was seventh at Zolder, ninth at Spa and did not finish at Zandvoort. A trip to the Monaco F3 race ended in another DNF.

Feeling she had learned enough from F3, Cathy climbed the next rung in 1986 and moved into Formula 3000, the last step before Formula One. However, the swift hike in budgetary requirements hit her hard. She could only muster the funds for a part-season with three different teams, with no testing. In her first race at Spa, she came 17th. She was also 17th at Mugello and Le Mans, retired at Imola and failed to qualify for the other four races she entered.

Perhaps disheartened by her experiences, she went back to Formula 3 the following year. Back with MC Motorsport in the French championship, she started her season with a tenth at Nogaro. It took her a while to get back up to her usual pace, having missed out on a lot of racing in 1986, but towards the end of the season, she was back in the top five. Her best finish was fourth, at the Le Mans Bugatti circuit, and she was fifth twice, at Nogaro and Lédenon. 

Cathy also entered one race in Germany, and drove a Porsche 962C in a round of the World Sports Prototype Championship at the Nürburgring 1000km. She, Bernard de Dryver and Jurgen Lassig were seventh.

She had another stab at F3000 in 1988, resulting in a DNQ at Jerez. It was time for a different challenge now, so she went to America and drove in single-seaters there for two seasons, as well as competing once more in French F3. She entered nine Indy Lights races between 1989 and 1990 and four of these ended in top-ten finishes. The best of these were two fifth places at Meadowlands and Toronto in 1990.

This led to a drive at Le Mans in 1991. She shared a Spice Ford with Desiré Wilson and Lyn St James, but the team crashed out early on. She also tried ice-racing, in the Andros Trophy.

After a season's break, Cathy entered the Peugeot 905 Spider Cup in 1993. This was a popular one-make sportscar series in France. In her first season she was fifth, but in her second, she was the runner-up, winning three times.

Remaining with sportscars, Cathy took part in the Ferrari Challenge in 1995 and continued her winning streak. She finished the season in second. It was on this high that she decided to retire from racing and start a family.

Motorsport was not forgotten completely: in 1998, she tested a Ferrari for her old team, to still whether she could still handle it as a mother. It turned out that she could, but after over 20 years, Cathy did not wish to race any more. She was now content managing her own team, and acting as her brother Yvan Muller's manager.

In 2010, she made a partial return, taking on two guest races in the SEAT Leon Supercopa, at Magny-Cours. She was fourteenth and fifteenth. In 2011, she also ran in two rounds of the Andros Electric Trophy, at the Pau event. She was eighth in one race, and did not finish the other.

She is now involved in motorsport management once more, for a WTCC team. She is also a member of the FIA's Women in Motorsport Commission, working as a talent scout.

Catharina Felser

Cathi in the X-Bow

Catharina Felser was born in Germany in 1982. She began karting at the age of fifteen. Just a year later, her pace was enough to win National races. Despite her fledgling sporting career, she remained a diligent student at school and especially excelled in languages - she now speaks five.

The pinnacle of young Catharina's karting career was her trip to the European Championships in Italy in 1999, where she was seventh overall. This was her last big achievement before moving up to car racing.

In 2000, now aged 18, Cathi raced a Formula Ford, mainly in Austria. Her best results were three third places in the Austrian championship, plus another third in a guest race in the German series. She was fourth overall in the Austrian standings at the end of the year.
The following year, she moved back to competing in her home country, full-time, this time entering BMW Formula ADAC, an established training ground for aspiring single-seater racers. It was tougher going, but she did manage eight top-ten finishes against strong opposition. This was enough to give her 15th in the championship.

She did not stay in Formula BMW after 2002, preferring to test herself further in Formula Three. Her first F3 season was a real baptism of fire and she had to fight for every point she scored. To begin with, she was part of the van Amersfoort team. Their car gave her a best finish of 16th at the Sachsenring. A switch to KMS brought a slight but noticeable increase in performance and her best round was Hockenheim, where she was fourteenth and eleventh. her final championship position was eleventh.

Undeterred by her difficult season, Catharina returned to German F3 in 2003, as part of the Trella setup. She was up to speed straight away and came third and fourth in the first round, at Oschersleben. She could not quite match that at the Lausitzring, but still earned a respectable seventh and fifth place. A difficult couple of races followed: she was 14th and 16th at Hockenheim and her only retirement of the year came at the Nürburgring, although she was tenth in the second race of the day. Another couple of tenths at Lausitz brought her back up to speed, and she was ready for her second podium of the year shortly afterwards, coming third and then sixth at Spielberg. This was a good track for her that year, as the next two races there gave her a solid fifth and fourth place. At the final meeting of the season, Oschersleben, she was ninth and tenth. That season was completely dominated by the Brazilian Joao Paulo de Oliveira, but Cathi managed to put together enough points to finish sixth.

Despite really showing some speed in an F3 car, Catharina's racing career took a sharp change of direction in 2004, perhaps due to financial troubles. She moved into tin-top competition, in the shape of the SEAT Leon Supercopa one-make series. It was another difficult year for her, trying to learn a new car and also a new style of driving, and over the year she was consistently in about thirteenth place overall. In the two-driver rounds at the Nürburgring and Lausitz she shared her car with Daniel Bauer, and tended to do much better; her best result of the year was a fifth in the VLN support race at the classic Eifel circuit. Driving solo, her best finish was eighth, at Salzburg, where she also scored an eleventh position. She was 16th in the final standings.

At the end of the season, she tried to give single-seater competition another go, testing a Barber Dodge car in the USA. However, nothing became of the test and she returned to the German domestic racing scene in 2005.

Having tried team motorsport in the SEAT Leon, Cathi moved into endurance racing in 2005. At this time, Mazda were using female drivers to promote their sportscar range in various ways, and the 23-year-old from Uffing was recruited to drive an RX-8 in long-distance events, as part of an all-girl team built around her, Kati Droste and Steffi Halm. They entered selected VLN rounds at the Nürburgring, finishing well in class, as well as other events, as part of the BFGoodrich Endurance Championship. Assisted by the experienced Nicole Lüttecke, they finished their first 24-hour race together, the ADAC Nürburgring 24 Hours. They were 55th out of about 200 finishers and were fourth in their class.

Early in the 2006 season, the team were reunited for the inaugural running of the Dubai 24 Hours. They did not finish this time. Cathi and Kati Droste later teamed up for the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Their co-drivers were Kathi Konig and Christina Surer, and their car was a SEAT Leon Supercopa similar to the one Catharina had raced in 2004. They ended up third in their class, 62nd overall.

After testing a Lamborghini Gallardo at the end of 2005, Cathi finally got to race one of these exotic cars in 2006. She was invited to take part in the Salzburg round of the Divinol Cup and was eighth in both of her races.

Cathi had a quiet 2007. Her mount for this season was almost as far from the fuel-hungry and massively-horsepowered Gallardo as it is possible to be: a bio-ethanol-fuelled Renault Megane RS 26, which was quick nevertheless. Her only big event was the Tuner GP in Germany, although she carried out a number of tests in various cars.

In 2008, one of her tests paid off and she was back to racing full-time. The new KTM team had picked her to drive their X-Bow sportscar in the European Cup GT4 series. She was tenth in her first race at Silverstone, but fifth in the second, beating the sister car of her two team-mates. At Monza she was seventh, eleventh and fifth, again finishing once as the leading X-Bow. At Oschersleben, she was seventh, fifth and eighth, while at Spa she struggled somewhat, finishing twelfth and thirteenth in the first two races and recording a DNF in the third. At Brno she improved slightly, with two ninths and a tenth. At Nogaro, she was sixth, eighth and ninth. This rather inconsistent, but competent season gave her third in the championship's Sports Light class.

Catharina was not retained by the KTM GT4 team for 2009, although she continued to drive for the marque. KTM were keen to test their X-Bows in speed events, and Cathi drove hers to third in class in a company-orgnised hillclimb. She was fifth overall.

In order to market their cars to speed eventers, KTM organised a one-make hillclimb championship in Europe. Cathi was a competitor, as well as a racing instructor to the new recruits. She won the championship.

She has also been developing a TV career in Germany, which appears to have taken priority over racing in 2011. In 2012, she worked as a race reporter covering the DTM for German TV.

In 2012, she was also the team manager for Reiter Engineering, in the Blancpain Lamborghini Super Trofeo and the FIA GT1 Championship. She continued to do some driver instruction and co-ordination for KTM, as well as public speaking and media work.

In 2014, she made a small return to the circuits, as a guest driver in the FIA Lotus Ladies' Cup. She scored a second and fifth place at the Oschersleben round, driving under her own team banner.

(Image copyright Laurent Mercier)

Cassey Watson

Cassey, with the MX-5

Despite her tender years, Cassey is a "veteran" of the junior racing scene, having scored podium positions in all major championships. After several years of karting, she first raced cars in 2006, focusing mainly on the Citroen Saxo-based Saxmax to begin with. She finished sixth overall. Later, she took part in the T-Cars Autumn Trophy and was fifth, after two podium finishes.

Her introduction to Ginetta Juniors came in the form of two guest spots in races, one at the Junior Racing Festival, where she broke the record for the greatest number of races in one day: two races each in Ginetta Junior, Saxmax and T-Cars. She also scored podium finishes in all categories.

In 2007 she did part-seasons in Saxmax and Ginettas, achieving one top-three finish in the Ginetta out of five races. She was eighth in Saxmax and 17th in the Ginetta Junior Championship.

She concentrated on Ginettas in 2008. Her season consisted of twelve rounds of the junior championship. She would have completed the season, but her impending 17th birthday disqualified her from junior competition most of the way through. Her best finish was fourth, at Cadwell Park, and she only finished out of the top ten once. This was an eleventh place at Thruxton towards the end of the season. Cassey was 15th overall when she had to quit the championship on her 17th birthday.

Tockwith Motorsport, who had been running her in Ginetta Junior, kept her on as a driver for two rounds of the senior club Ginetta series. Her results were unspectacular, but it was her first senior experience.

2009 was Cassey's first full year of senior competition. She struggled somewhat for funding, like many around her, but managed three runs in a Mazda MX-5 in the Max5 championship, and two rounds of Britcar. One of the Max5 races, at Thruxton, gave her a third place. In Britcar, she drove a Lunar Racing-prepared MG ZS180. She finished on the podium for her class both times. For her first race, at Castle Combe, she was partnered by Alan Bonner. Despite a spin before the start of the race proper, they finished second in class and 17th overall. Her second race was the Britcar 500, a six-hour enduro, at Silverstone. Her team-mates - Rob Headley, Pete Fairburn and Paul Mclean - only appeared two days before the race, the car had to have a new gearbox, and Cassey narrowly avoided missing her evening qualifying session due to a brake fluid leak. During the race itself, power steering, weather and tyre choice problems, as well as low fuel, affected the team's competitiveness, but they made it to the end, 32nd overall and third in class.

Cassey remained with the Lunar team in 2010, competing in the Zing Trofeo Abarth one-make series. Her car was a Fiat 500 Abarth. She was seventh overall, with a best finish of second, against a strong field which included former BTCC drivers. Her second place was achieved at Snetterton, and she had her best meeting there, scoring a fourth place in the first race. Apart from two DNFs at Brands Hatch and Silverstone, she was never out of the top ten.

The Abarth series was cancelled abruptly in 2011, leaving Cassey without a drive. Lunar Racing put together a VW Golf for her to use in the VW Racing Cup, but it was only ready in time for the last few rounds. Despite no testing time, she managed to score a few points, after a very shaky start during her first meeting, due to a faulty gear linkage.

She does not appear to have raced in 2012, although she remained involved in motorsport in a management role at Lunar Racing. After 2012, she seems to have left the world of motorsport entirely.

She did make a comeback in 2014, contesting the Hyundai Coupe Cup at the Track Attack Race Club meeting. She won one race.

As of 2017, she appears to be concentrating her sporting efforts on three-day eventing.

(Image from www.thegrid.co.uk)

Camille du Gast

Camille, driving solo

Camille du Gast was probably the first internationally-known female racing driver. She was French, and drove in grands epreuves between 1901 and 1904.

Camille was born in 1868. She had a lifelong love of sports; as a child, she was labelled a tomboy. Contrary to prevailing ideas about the role of married women at the time, marriage did not slow her down one bit. Her husband, Jules Crespin, positively encouraged her in ballooning, shooting, equestrianism and a variety of winter sports. When she became the first woman to complete a parachute jump in 1895, he was with her all the way. She jumped from the gondola of a hot air balloon, and her parachute was proudly printed with the logo of Dufayel, a Paris department store of which Jules was a director. She always used her own family name in public, perhaps to avoid the suggestion that her feats of daring and sport were purely publicity stunts for her husband’s business.

Sadly, Jules died at the end of 1895, at the young age of 27. Camille was now a widow, albeit a very wealthy one. Marriage had not slowed her down, and the loss of her husband would not either. Some time between 1895 and 1901, she travelled across Morocco on horseback, alone.

She learned to drive in 1898, and became the second French woman to receive her brevet (license). She owned a Panhard and a Peugeot, one or both of which may have originally belonged to Jules. After watching the start of the 1900 Paris-Lyon race, she became interested in motor racing and was determined to try it herself.

In June, she entered the Paris-Berlin Trail, organised by the ACF. She was the only female starter in the main Trail, although a sister event was held that year, in which Hélène de Zuylen took part. Camille’s car was a Panhard et Levassor with 20hp. It was not a sports racer by any means, being a fairly standard road model. She ran it in the “Heavy Car” class for vehicles over 650kg. Her riding mechanic was Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord, the Duke of Sagan. Like Camille, he was a habitué of the Paris social scene. The pair were close friends and possibly lovers.

The trail was a road race of 1105km, run in three stages. Camille and the Panhard ran well, and finishing in 33^rd place overall, 29^th in the Heavy Car class. There were relatively few dramas on the way.

Motor racing was still quite new in 1901, so the Paris-Berlin was her only event that year. She does not seem to have entered any of the hillclimbs or speed trials that were starting to appear across Europe. Camille’s activities for 1902 are not completely certain; some French sources claim that she entered the Paris-Vienna race, but she does not appear on any entry list I have found. It is possible that she attempted to start, but her entry was not accepted. This was the case with the New York-San Francisco race that was held the same year. The burgeoning motorsport authorities in the States were never keen on female drivers, as Joan Newton Cuneo would find out.

It is sometimes written that Camille spent much of 1902 on an “extended cruise” somewhere, although the destination is not mentioned. What is certain is that she spent some of this year clearing her name in the French courts, after it was claimed that she was the model for a painting by Henri Gervex, “La Femme au Masque”. The 1885 picture, which does look somewhat like Camille, is of a woman naked apart from a Venetian mask. The accusers appear to have been family members, and the case went on for a long time, despite Gervex and the model herself, Marie Renard, giving evidence.

Her next grand epreuve was the 1903 Paris-Madrid race, driving a De Dietrich prepared by the factory. The Paris-Madrid trail was halted at Bordeaux after a string of fatalities to both drivers and spectators. She was doing well in this "Race to Death", and had been running as high as sixth in her 30hp De Dietrich. Unfortunately, a stop to rescue her team-mate Phil Stead after an accident dropped her to 77th. He was trapped under his car, and Camille helped to free him.

Her drive impressed the Benz factory team enough to offer her a seat in a works car, but women were barred from competition by the ACF in 1904, so nothing became of it. The dreadful publicity that came with the Paris-Madrid deaths probably had a part in this; the public outrage over the death of a female driver would be considerable. The ACF had one eye on protecting the future of motorsport, although one eye was clearly on keeping women “in their place”. The reason given for the ban was “feminine nervousness”.

After her four-wheeled career came to its abrupt end, she turned to racing motor boats, mostly around France. Her battling performance in the 1904 Toulon-Algiers boat race, which was abandoned due to atrocious conditions, lived up to her nickname in her native France: l'Amazone.

It is sometimes claimed that Camille made a return to terrestrial motorsport in 1905, taking on Dorothy Levitt in a match race, as part of the Brighton Speed Trials. In the available documentation, there is no mention of Camille taking part, although Dorothy and several other women appear on the entry lists. Any race that they had must have been organised privately. Camille was racing one of her boats at the time, and reporting of the two female protagonists at two separate events may have become confused.

After her enforced retirement from high-speed activities, she trained horses, gave piano recitals and founded the French equivalent of the RSPCA, as well as a charity that provided healthcare to disadvantaged women and children, both in France and North Africa. She retained an affinity with the region, and travelled there extensively, sometimes writing about her experiences. Her concern for other women did not just extend to poorer women needing medical assistance; she was a member of, and contributor to, the early French feminist movement, campaigning for the vote and equal rights.

This new, socially-conscious Camille still enjoyed action and danger, however. In 1930, she organised a protest against a bullfight at Melun, in which a group, co-ordinated by Camille, jumped into the bullring, blew whistles and set off smoke bombs.

Earlier, in 1910, she had been involved in action and danger of a less welcome kind, when her own daughter tried to have her murdered, for financial gain. She survived unscathed.

It is the charitable part of her life that is most remembered in France, although her sporting activities are still recognised.

She died in 1942.  

(Image source unknown)

Barbara Armstrong

Barbara with the SEAT

Barbara, an English-based Scot, learnt to drive at a young age. Her parents ran a large farm, so there were tractors for her to practise with, and open spaces so that she did not have to go out on to the road. She took up rallying in 1984, at 18. Her first car was a Talbot Sunbeam and she used it for club events. The farm background must have been a good training ground for rally driving as Barbara's brother, Jock, also took part in the sport.

She continued to compete at this level for several years, until she was awarded a place at a Norwegian rally school on merit in 1990. Soon after this, she got herself a drive in the Peugeot Challenge and was the best female in the series. She was also runner-up in the 309 class. Not content with the Ladies' Trophy or the second place, Barbara pushed harder and won the 309 class outright in 1991, as well as another ladies' award.

After a couple of years spent working mostly as a race and rally driving instructor, Barbara's career took a leap forward in 1996, when she was picked to be a member of the new SEAT rally team, driving the Formula Two-spec Ibiza. With Roisin Boyd as her co-driver, she utilised all of her skills to help develop the car, which made its appearance on the UK rally scene towards the end of the year. Its first appearance was at the Lurgan Park Rally in Ireland. The Trackrod Rally, a Mintex National Championship counter, was an early triumph: the pair scooped a class win and 25th overall. It was time to take on the RAC Rally for the first time, and Barbara did not disgrace herself with 47th overall, thirteenth in class, out of a large start list.

With development out of the way, SEAT entered the British Rally Championship in 1997. Barbara gained a new co-driver in Lisa Addy, and the two women made a reasonable start to their season at the Welsh Rally, coming 24th. They were a disappointing 45th in the Pirelli Rally and failed to finish the RSAC Scottish or Ulster Rallies, but they ended the year on a high note with a pleasing twelfth in the Manx Rally. They were better placed in some non-championship events: second in the Galloway Hills Rally in Ireland, and fifth in the Jersey Rally.

They continued in the same vein the following season, with a battling tenth overall in the Welsh forests. The Pirelli Rally was kinder to Barbara this time and she was 16th, and although she could only manage 51st in the Scottish event, it meant that she had a 100% finishing record that year. Despite the disturbance of a change of navigator, she finished the season strongly, coming 19th in the Ulster and a career-best seventh on the Manx event. Barbara won the first of her British Ladies' Rally Champion titles this year. Outside the BRC, she also claimed one of the results she is most proud of: a fourth overall in the Silverstone Rallysprint.

Having formed a strong partnership with her new co-driver John Richardson, Barbara, now based in the Midlands, returned for another crack at the BRC. Her team-mate was the Welsh star Gwyndaf Evans, as it was in 1998. The Ibiza was 24th in Wales, but failed to finish the Pirelli. A pair of fourteenth places in the Scottish and Jim Clark Memorial Rallies followed, which must have been pleasing as Barbara was on home turf. She was 20th in Ulster but fared much better on the Isle of Man: sixth overall. She defended her Ladies' crown but did not score as well in the championship as previously.

The SEAT contract came to an end in 2000, and Barbara did not compete much that year. She concentrated on other things in her life, such as garden and interior design, and did some instructing and after-dinner speaking. It was time for a change of direction, which came in the form of circuit racing with the elite Parr Motorsport team. Parr were putting together a line-up for the Porsche Cup and Barbara, despite her lack of competitive track experience, fit the bill. She proved a natural in the Porsche 911 and was soon taking on much more experienced sportscar racers like Mark Sumpter and Peter Chambers. Her best finishes were eight third places, and she was eighth in the championship after showing some real aggression and determination on the track.

Barbara in the Porsche Cup

Her Porsche successes brought Barbara back into the spotlight towards the end of the season. Rallying had been hit badly by that year's foot and mouth disease outbreak, but some events were still taking place. Formula Rally, a series for Super 1600-spec cars, had taken the place of the cancelled BRC, and she was drafted in by Peugeot at the end of the season to give the new S1600 206 its first outing. She and new co-driver Ieuan Thomas were eighth on the Banbury Rally, bringing the car home safely.

More work for Peugeot followed in the form of the World Cup Rally, a long-distance event for S1600 and smaller cars, which followed a route across Europe and North Africa more familiar to Paris-Dakar competitors. Barbara teamed up with experienced navigator Alyson Marlow in a works-provided 206 and the pair were one of the favourites to win. In the early European stages, they led the rally, and continued to put in good stage times despite flash floods in Morocco and very difficult terrain. After almost a fortnight of gruelling competition, one of the con-rods in the Peugeot's engine went. This left Barbara with only three cylinders coming back across France. She nursed the car to the end, but the win was handed to Donie Keating in a VW Polo, who was ahead by three minutes by the time the crews reached Brooklands.

After an exciting end to 2001, 2002 was very quiet on the competition front. Barbara renewed her links with SEAT and did some racing instruction for the marque, as well as driving the safety car for the international Porsche Cup round at Spa. She also attended the Wild West Rally in the USA, with the view to putting together a programme for 2003 in the SCCA Pro Rally Championship. Several British drivers, including David Higgins and the late Mark Lovell, had achieved considerable success over there. She intended to use a Subaru Impreza after sampling some Japanese power at a rallysprint event at Silverstone in 2001.

The American deal did not come off, and some testing she did for the ASCAR stock car series did not lead to a full-time drive, either. Much later, in 2004, she worked as a team manager and spotter to Kelly-Jayne Wells at Rockingham.

Later in the season, she accepted a guest drive in the Binbrook Stages Rally, and renewed her acquaintance with the Peugeot 205 after a gap of more than ten years. Barbara made a storming start to the rally, and proved she still had the touch by posting the first female fastest time in a rally since Louise Aitken-Walker in 1981. However, the engine in the 205 gave up on the next stage, which was unfortunate.

Barbara's active career comes to an end here. Since 2004, she has been involved in motorsport as an administrator, as the championship co-ordinator for first, the SEAT Cupra Cup racing series, then the UK Formula Ford Championship, an acknowledged breeding ground for stars of the future. In 2005, she was set the arduous task of revitalising the Formula Ford series, which had fallen behind other one-make series of late. She also works as a driver coach, and a rally organiser.

In addition to this, Barbara has never formally announced her retirement, so we may not have seen the last of her behind the wheel. However, her personal website has not been updated since 2010.

(Image from www.barbaraarmstrong.com)