Nuria Vinas

Nuria in 1968

Nuria Viñas Panades was a double winner of the Spanish women’s rally championship, in 1972 and 1973. She also won the Catalan women's championship in 1969, 1971, 1973 and 1975.

Born in Barcelona, she was from a motorsport family. Her brother Jordi was a rally driver who competed as "Jorge Chi" from the mid-1960s onwards. 

Her first steps in motorsport were apparently in 1962, when she entered the Rally Femina, which was based around Barcelona. Jordi encouraged her, according to an interview in Mundo Deportivo in 1968. The results for this all-female event are elusive, but her car was a Fiat 850, and she competed in the rally several times, possibly winning in 1963 and almost certainly winning in 1971. The rally was organised by Club 600, a Catalan motorsports club of which Nuria was a member. 

Her first rally looks to have been the Rally Invierno in 1963, where she and the SEAT were 36th. Returning to the event, she was 45th in 1964, this time in a BMW. Among her other cars was a Simca 1000, which she used for the Gerona Rally in 1965. She continued to switch between the SEAT, BMW and Fiat in 1966, with the Fiat being the quickest; she was twelfth in that year's Rally de las Tres Cuestas in it. She concentrated on smaller cars in 1967, changing between the SEAT and the Fiat. The Fiat was once again the best car for her, giving her a season's best of 18th in the Rallye Costa Brava.  In the same car, she was 23rd in the Rallye de Invierno, 19th in the Rallye Gerona and first lady in the Trofeo Maite Trepat and the Barcelona-Andorra Rally. She returned to the Barcelona-Andorra event in 1968. With the BMW and her regular co-driver Immaculada Juncosa, she won the Circuito de Llobregat Rally that year. 

At the same time, she appears in hillclimbs in Catalonia. Her first notable event was the 1964 Circuito Garraf, a hillclimb outside Barcelona. She drove a SEAT 600 and won both the novices' and the women's class. 

She and her brother sometimes entered the same events, althought they never shared a car. Both took part in the 1966 Puig Major hillclimb, both in Fiat-Abarth 850s, but in different classes.

The siblings competed against each other again in the 1967 Montseny climb. Nuria, in a Fiat-Abarth 850TC, was 40th overall, and Jordi was unplaced in his 1000cc Abarth. The following year, he had the upper hand, finishing 28th to Nuria's 43rd. She was driving a SEAT 600 again this time. 

The following year, she was the Catalan ladies' champion in hillclimbs and 32nd in the main championship.

As well as rallies and hillclimbs, she also raced on circuits, and was the first woman to participate in the Barcelona 6 Hours race, held at the Montjuich Park street circuit. Although she never raced single-seaters, she did compete at a Grand Prix weekend at least once, driving a little SEAT in the one-make Copa SEAT that ran as a support in the early 1970s.

She is most associated with a BMW 2002 Ti, and was especially effective in the women-only rallies organised in Spain in the early 1970s, but she first appears in the Spanish Touring Car Championship in it in 1970. She won her class in it in the Puig Major hillclimb, then a round of the championship. She is recorded as the winner of the 1971 Rally Femina in the BMW, and the same year, she did at least two rounds of the Sapnish Touring Car championship, finishing 16th at Montjuich and ninth at Guadalope. Her car was a Group 1-spec machine. She entered the Barcelona 3 Hours and was fifth in class. Hillclimbs were very much still a priority too, and she won her class in the La Rabassada event, after finishing second in Group 1 at Puig Major.

Her first Spanish women's championship win was also in this car. Nuria won the 1972 Rallye Femenina Saibil and the Rallye Primavera, with Maria Angeles Pujol, her regular co-driver in the middle part of her career. 

Her second women's championship in 1973 came off the back of six wins in all-female events, co-driven in the BMW by Ana Maria Garreta. She was more than twenty points ahead of her nearest rival, Marisol Rodriguez Mesa, who had only picked up one class win in the Rally of Spain, in her SEAT. Nuria's only non-win was her eighth place in the Rally Primavera-Las Palmas, which must have been a disappointment after her 1972 victory. As well as rallying, she continued to campaign her Group 1 BMW in Spanish Touring Cars, racing at Montjuich for the 2-Hour National event and finishing tenth.

The women's championship was in something of a decline in 1974, with smaller entry lists and more events running as a class in mixed rallies. Nuria only entered her BMW in one, the Jerez women's rally, which she won in the BMW, ahead of that year's champion, Yolanda. Nuria had to make do with another Catalan women's motorsport championship, which she claimed ahead of hillclimb driver Beverley Pugh.

Hers was a lengthy career, and she was still active in motorsport in the late 1970s, driving a Ford Escort in hillclimbs in Catalunya. She was 22nd in the 1978 Montseny hillclimb, returning to one of her earliest regular events. The following year, she made a last visit to Puig Major, finishing 51st.

She won a final women's rally, the Rallye Femenino Adosinda, in 1979. Her car was the Escort and she was navigated by Ana Maria Garreta, who had sat alongside her for several years. 

She died in 1998. 

(Image copyright Mundo Deportivo)

Helga Heinrich (Steudel)

Helga Heinrich, formerly known as Helga Steudel, is a German driver and motorcyclist, originally from East Germany. 

She started out in motorcycle racing in 1959, aged 20, having learned to ride at thirteen. Six years later, she became the first female rider to win a major race, at the Sachsenring. To this day, she remains the only woman to win there on two wheels. She continued to win at other circuits, usually on a 125cc MZ RE. Despite her obvious talent, women found it very difficult to be granted licenses for international racing by the FIM, so she had to stay within club competition. Her two-wheeled career ended in 1967. 

After her marriage to Dieter Heinrich, she switched to cars in 1970, using a DDR-made Melkus RS 1000 sports racer to begin with. Without a major sponsor, she took on three jobs to affford her racing, including working in a paint factory and on her family's farm.

Being an Eastern Bloc sportsperson, she competed within the Communist countries almost exclusively. Schleizer Dreieck, in East Germany, was her commonest haunt. She achieved many top-ten finishes throughout the 1970s, in the RS 1000, and later, a Spyder and a Formel Easter single-seater. As well as races, she competed frequently in hillclimbs. 

Schleiz was the scene of her first major race result, a fifth in the 1971 Bernauer Schleife race for Melkus RS 1000 cars. Ulli Melkus, from the family who had created the cars, was the winner. The following year, she seems to have competed outside Germany for the first time, taking the Melkus to Most in modern Czechia, then the Soviet Republic of Czechoslovakia. She was eighth at Most and then seventh at Piestany, in modern Slovakia, before returning home to come sixth at Schleiz.

For 1974, she switched to the Spyder Krug, another sports prototype made in the GDR. She continued to race in Czechoslovakia, although she does not appear to have visited other Eastern Bloc countries to compete. The Spyder does not seem to have been the most reliable of cars and she rarely finished this year. It was more successful in hillclimbs, with a best result of fifth at Bautzen in the GDR. That said, she had her fair share of non-finishes in speed events as well.

Another season in the Krug was mostly spent in hillclimbs. Her best result was fifth again, this time at Torun in Poland. By now, she had a sponsor, Malimo knitwear. She only used the Krug for half of the season in 1976, switching between it and a Spyder Scharfe. The Scharfe was the better car and she was third at the Annaberg hillclimb in the GDR in it. It was a car she would return to over and over again until 1980, although she did score two more third places in a Spyder Tschernoster in 1977, at Annaberg and Schwarzenberg. In hillclimbs, she also used a Lada and a later Melkus MT77 on occasion.

Her circuit racing appearances became more sporadic towards the end of the 1970s. In 1979, she was twelfth in a race at Ostrava in Czechoslovakia, driving the Spyder Scharfe. 

She first retired in 1984, only making one more appearance in 1992. However, in 2007, she came out of retirement again, initially for historic events, but more recently, in modern single-seaters. 

In 2013, she raced a Formula Renault in the ESET Eastern European championship, at the age of 75. Prior to this, she had won a hillclimb championship in 2010. The year before, she competed in a GDR-built Formel Easter Estonia 25 in the GLP Pro Series. She had raced in this Soviet single-seater championship more than 20 years earlier, when she was the only woman to take part.

Although she does not appear to have raced since 2016, she still remains Germany’s oldest female racing driver, having been active until the age of 75. Her last races were in the Carbonia Cup at the Slovakiaring, driving a Formula Renault.

(Image copyright Helga Henirich)

Gabi Husar

 

Gabi Husar is a rally-winning driver and co-driver from Austria. In the 1980s, she was one of the leading drivers in Austrian national rallies. She was known for her brave and uncompromising driving style and skill at attracting sponsors.

Her first major rally appears to have been in the co-driver's seat, in Georg Fischer's BMW 2002 for the 1974 Barum Rally in the then-Czechoslovakia. She switched seats for 1975, entering the OASC International Rally in a little Fiat 850. With Inge Mayer as co-driver, she was 47th after a ten-minute penalty. Throughout her career, she preferred female co-drivers, the longest-standing of these being Elisabeth "Sissi" Fekonja. Others, including Silvia Dolezal, could not handle her very physical driving or her style of organisation and didn't stay long.

Early in her career, she was very ambitious and entered rallies across central Europe. In 1976, she drove the 850 in the Janner Rallye and a more powerful Fiat 128 in the Taurus Rally in Hungary. She did not finish either event. The 128 had been given to her by her mother and she wrote it off.

She then spent some time co-driving in international rallies with other Austrian drivers, including Rudi Stohl and Franz Wittmann. Wittmann and Gabi had met whilst skiing, before she switched from winter sport to motorsport, as she didn't enjoy the training involved in being a top-line skier.

In 1979 she returned to the driving seat, in a Lada 1300 this time. She was still focused on the European championship at this time and entered the Costa Smeralda, ARBO, Hessen, Colline Romagna and Barum rallies. Sadly, she only finished the Costa Smeralda event, in 26th place. A shorter season in the Lada in 1980 started to give her results, the best of these being an eleventh place in the Lavanntaler Mitternachts Rallye. This brief campaign was down to her taking time out of competition to have a daughter, Irene.

She started 1981 in a Talbot Sunbeam TI for the Janner Rallye, but then switched to a Porsche 911, which became her car of choice for the next five seasons. In it, she scored her first top-ten finish, a ninth place in the 1981 300 Minuten Rallye. Her first top-ten was followed by her first podium in 1982, a third place in the International Admonter Rallye. She followed this up later in the year with fifth in the 300 Minuten event. She was tenth in that year's Austrian championship.

Third became second in 1983, in the Badener Fruhlingsfahrt. This was one of six top-ten finishes she scored that year, including fifth place in the International Semperit Rally. She moved up one position in the Austrian championship to ninth. Her big breakthrough came in 1984, however, when she won her first rally outright. She won the Bruckneudorf Rallysprint by 27 seconds from Ernst Harrach. By now, she was also a regular top-five finisher in Austrian championship rallies, and was seventh overall at the end of the year.

There were no more wins in 1985, but she came close, and was third in the Austrian championship. She finished on the podium three times, with a best finish of second in the International Steiermark Rallye. Earlier in the year, she had also come sixth in an ERC event, the Janner Rallye. 

Gabi's first win in a full stage rally was in 1986. She won the Kaertner Varta Rallye by almost one and a half minutes from Toyota driver Alois Pfeifer, with Ernst Harrach third. Sadly, the rest of her season, although ambitious, was plagued with problems. She entered the Porsche into two more WRC rounds, the Acropolis and Portugal rallies, but did not finish either, although her Acropolis exit was not helped by spectators refusing to assist her when her car broke down. Her only ERC finish was the Janner Rallye, where she was eleventh.

Group B was cancelled after the 1986 season so her favoured Porsche became ineligible for many competitions. Her career more or less finishes here, apart from one guest appearance in 1998. Gabi came out of retirement to compete in the OMV Rallye, driving a Volkswagen Golf with Petra Prokop. She retired fairly late on after an accident.

She is from a rallying family: her family owned a garage, and both her father Sigmund and brother Jonny competed in Austrian rallies. 

(Image from motorline.cc)

Liliana de Menna

Liliana de Menna was a stalwart of the Italian touring car scene who was active between 1963 and 1994. 

Her first efforts were in races for small-engined saloons, when she competed under the name of "Liliana" in the hope that she wouldn't worry her family. She had got into motorsport after visiting the Vallelunga circuit with friends who raced; throughout her career, Vallelunga would remain her favourite circuit. She had seen world karting champion Susy Raganelli testing with her father and decided to try it for herself.

She won a saloon championship in her first year of racing, winning nine races outright. Her car was a 600cc Fiat 500 Montecarlo. 

The following year she won Class 2 of the Coppa Carotti hillclimb. She did several hillclimbs during her career; the Italian touring car championship was a combination of hillclimbs and circuit races at the time. In 1968, she finished the Cesano-Sestriere climb, in the middle of a group of Giannini Fiat 500s, as well as winning her class in the Bolzano-Mendola event.

She was the Italian ladies' champion in 1968. Her marriage to Italo Cantera did not slow her down and the pair even raced together in the Vallelunga 2 Hours one year. 

Some time at the end of the '60s, she had a daughter and took a lengthy hiatus from motorsport. She stopped attending race meetings because she didn't enjoy them without being able to compete herself. It wasn't until the late '70s that she came back. According to her, Giancarlo Naddeo asked her to join the Renault 5 one-make series, and she agreed. She also raced in single-make series for the Fiat 127 and MG Metro. This was the car she shared with her husband.

One-make racing led back to the Italian Touring Car Championship in the 1980s. In 1989, she raced at Pergusa in a Renault 5, coming 11th. She was then tenth at Vallelunga. For the second Vallelunga round, she shared an Audi Europa-run VW Golf with Michele Rayneri, but did not finish. 

She even raced for Lella Lombardi's team in the Italian Supertouring series in 1991, using a Ford Escort for the Pergusa 2 Hour race. Her team-mate was Walter Santus and they finished 18th. Earlier in the season, she had raced a Toyota Corolla in the Trofeo Mario Angiolini at Monza. 

Later in her career, she raced sportscars, including a Nissan 300ZX in 1992, which she used for that year's Vallelunga 6 Hours. She and Francesco Ramacciotti were 2st overall. In 1994, she entered the Italian Supercar GT championship in a Mazda RX-7, driving solo.  She was disqualified from the first meeting at Monza, but won her class twice at the next round, held at Magione. Her overall results were a fifth and fourth place. The next race she appeared in was round 5, at Varano, but she could only manage one twelfth place.

She raced in America for the first time in 1999, more than 30 years after she made her debut, when she did some rounds of the all-female Women's Global GT series, driving a Panoz Esperante. Her programme consisted of two guest appearances. 

She died in 2021.

(Image from Il Messaggero)

Anita Liden

 

Anita Lidén is a Swedish driver who is most famous for attempting to build a career in NASCAR in 1970.

She tried to enter the Motor Trend 500 at Riverside, but never made the start, having no car and no backers. She had shown up at Riverside and hung around the gates in the week before the 500, handing out business cards in the rain and attempting to persuade car owners to take a chance on her.

Despite her chutzpah, the enterprise did not work. Her complete lack of stock car experience, apart from some slow testing laps, and general lack of American racing experience, worked against her. Her husband Lasse, another racer who was with her, was also unsuccessful in launching a US competition career.

Anita and Lasse lived near the Anderstorp circuit, where he raced both cars and motorbikes. She was formerly a model and got into motorsport through her husband.

She had raced in Formula Ford in Sweden in 1969, in her first year of competition. She usually used the name "Anita Snabb", which translates to "Fast Anita". Her car was a Merlyn. In 1969, she entered the Junior race at the Hyllingeloppet event at Knutstorp, finishing second.

After her trip to America, she returned to Sweden and quickly went back to single-seaters. She continued to race in Formula Ford, then in the Swedish and European Formula Vee championships. She took part in the Swedish series in 1970 and 1971 and the European championship between 1970 and 1072.

Much later, in 1976, she raced in the Lee Cooper Mini Lady Cup, a Swedish all-female racing series, and won at least one race, although not the championship, which went to Birgitta Uppling. Her car was advertised for sale in 1978, so her career appears to end there.

(Image copyright Autosprint, 1971)

Women in the Tour of Britain

Sue Baker (left) and Jean Denton (right) in 1973

The Tour of Britain was a heavily-publicised summer event held in the UK in the 1970s, a three-day contest consisting of rally stages and races at circuits around the UK. It attracted professional race and rally drivers up to and including James Hunt and Jody Scheckter, as well as celebrities such as Noel Edmonds and Jimmy Savile. In later editions, rally drivers such as Roger Clark came to the fore, including many who travelled from across Europe.

Cars were required to follow Group 1 regulations, but came in all shapes and sizes. They were separated into classes based on their sale value. 

The Tour was sponsored by Avon tyres from 1973 to 1975, when Texaco took over. It was briefly revived in 1989, sponsored by Autoglass, but did not attract as many entries. No women took part. 

Prior to this, women had entered every time.

1973 (Won by James Hunt/Robert Fearnall, Chevrolet Camaro Z28)

Rosemary Smith/Pauline Gullick (Ford Capri) - 15th

Wendy Markey/Jenny Dell (BMW 2002 Ti) - 29th

Gillian Fortescue-Thomas/Caroline Faulder (Ford Escort Mexico) - DNF?

Jill Robinson/Frances Cobb (Ford Cortina GT) - DNF?

Alison Davis/Sheila Scott (Fiat 124 ST) - DNF?

Jenny Birrell (Simca Rallye 1) - DNF?

Jean Denton/Sue Baker (Fiat 127) - DNF?

1974 (Won by Roger Clark/Jim Porter, Ford Escort RS2000 MkI) 

Linda Jackson/Christine Mitchell (Ford RS2000 MkI) - 56th

Jenny Birrell/Alexa Davenport (Simca Rallye 2) - DNF

1975 (Won by Tony Pond/David Richards, Ford Escort RS2000 MkI) 

Jenny Birrell/Virginia Hall-Leeke (Chrysler Avenger GT) - 12th

Maggie Anderson/Susan Tucker-Peake (Renault 17TS) - 22nd

Rosemary Smith/Pauline Gullick (Ford RS2000 MkI) - 25th

Wendy Markey/Frances Cobb (Mazda MX-3) - DNF?

1976 (Won by Ari Vatanen/Peter Bryant, Ford Escort RS2000 MkII)

Jean Denton/Jackie Smith (Fiat 128 Coupe) - DNF?

Wendy Markey/Alison Jones (Lada 1200) - DNF?

(Image copyright Shutterstock/Daily Mirror)

Stephanie Ruys de Perez

 

Stephanie Ruys de Perez raced saloons in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. Although born in the USA, she lived in Canada for most of her adult life.

She first comes to the attention of the media in 1966, when she was interviewed for McLeans magazine for a feature about women in motorsport. She was racing a Sunbeam Imp at the Players 200 meeting and it broke down on the third lap. The writer, Alan Edmonds, was very taken with her blond hair and slim figure, and wrote a lot about how she enjoyed racing as a "sensual" thing. Her husband had taken up the sport that year and it is likely that this was her first season too, although a 1969 newspaper article says that she had been racing for five years by then, "the last two in a full-sized sedan". She is quoted as saying that she would be "very depressed" if she thought she was better than men, and hoped her husband was better than her.

In 1970, she had moved on to a more powerful car and entered the Can-Am Challenge Race for the Labatts Blue Trophy, driving a Chevrolet Camaro. It is unclear whether she qualified. She later raced this car at the Harewood Grand Finale meeting at Harewood Acres, finishing ninth in her race. In July, she did at least one round of the Canadian Touring Car Championship at Mosport, finishing fourth. The first mention of this car was in a June 1969 Ottawa Journal report, where she raced in a support event to the Can-Am Challenge Cup. The car itself is sometimes described as being purple.

In 1972, she was fourteenth in the Sanair Trans-Am race, in a Mini Cooper, driving for the Fossman racing tem. Her name is sometimes associated with works Ford team Comstock, who helped start the careers of many Canadian drivers of the time, but it isn't clear whether she raced for them.

One of her more famous exploits was a Battle of the Sexes match race she undertook against Bob Tullius in November 1973. Tullius had previously said that her Mini could be driven faster by a man, encouraging her to challenge him to the race. The event was a support for the American Road Race of Champions at Road Atlanta, with both drivers in identical Triumph Spitfires prepared to Showroom Sports Car spec.

Stephanie, who had never competed at Road Atlanta before, led for three of the five laps, but was caught on the back straight by her rival, who won by 1.8 seconds. A group of women apparently mobbed officials and tried to claim that there were five more minutes left on the clock. Tullius won a silver pig trophy for his victory in the "Chauvinist Match Race".

Not long before, in October, she had wrecked her Mini in a spectcular accident at Mosport, flipping it over during qualifying.

More detailed information about her career is not forthcoming, although she was quite famous at the time, appearing in TV and print adverts. One of these was for Shell unleaded petrol in 1971. In 1974, she appeared in a TV series called Food for Thought, presenting a fitness segment.

She died "at an early age" from cancer.

(Image copyright McLeans magazine)

Olympic Speedqueens

 

Divina Galica (left) and Ann Moore

Many Speedqueens have achieved success in other sports. Here are five of the best-known Olympian female racing drivers. This is in no way an exhaustive list.

Divina Galica was a downhill skier who competed in four winter Olympics between 1964 and 1992, in the downhill and slalom skiing events and later, speed skiing, a demonstration discipline. She attempted to qualify for three grands prix between 1976 and 1978 and enjoyed success in Group 8 single-seaters, truck racing and sportscars. Her introduction to motorsport came through a Shellsport celebrity race for sportspeople.

Showjumper Ann Moore also got into motor racing through the Shellsport organisation and its celebrity events. As an equestrian, she won a silver medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics, riding her horse Psalm. Her racing career was short, beginning with one ladies' race in 1975 and six further outings in a Formula Ford 2000.

Belgian swimmer Chantal Grimard made a surprise switch to touring cars in the 1980s. She first raced in the Belgian championship in 1985, driving a VW Golf, before appearing in the 1986 Spa 24 Hours in a Toyota Corolla. This was part of an all-female team. She also did some rounds of the French F3 championship in 1987 before retiring. As a swimmer, she had entered four events at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

Swiss sportscar racer Lilian Bryner was another equestrian, competing at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. As a racing driver, she was the first woman to win the Spa 24 Hours in 2004, driving a Ferrari 550. She had won the GT class the year before, finishing second. She has raced multiple times at Le Mans and has World Sportscar Championship wins in a Ferrari 333 prototype.

Carole Montillet of France won a gold medal in downhill skiing and also had a decent career in rally raids after her retirement. She won the all-female Rallye Aicha des Gazelles rally raid in 2011 and 2012, after class wins in the quad class in 2004 and 2005. In 2007, she took part in the Dakar, driving a Nissan, but did not finish.

Another Winter Olympian is Simona de Silvestro, who previously raced in Indycar and V8 Supercars, but took time out from motorsport to concentrate on bobsleigh. She qualified for the monobob competition at the 2026 Milan-Cortina games.

Helene Bittner

 

Helene Bittner was an Australian driver who raced single-seaters in Formula Libre events in the 1960s. 

She began in 1961, at her home track of Mallala which had opened recently. Her car was a 1200cc Vitesse-Ford. In her first year, she entered the Australian Grand Prix, which was then run as a Formula Libre race. Sadly, she retired after only one lap, with a broken gear lever. 

She raced the car on and off for the next couple of seasons, finishing eighth in the Australian Gold Star championship round at Mallala in 1963. In 1966, the Vitesse was replaced by the 1500cc “Rebelle” special, also Ford-engined. 

Helene was the only woman racing at the level she did and that in itself attracted attention, but she was also known for her glamour in the car and the paddock. She favoured open-face helmets and always wore red lipstick. According to Wayne Wilson in the Historic Sports & Racing Car Association newsletter, a rumour abounded that scrutineers objected to the lipstick in case it proved flammable. Another commenter, Wes Dayton, remembers her using a cigarette holder in the paddock.

Mallala was one of her favourite circuits. She entered a round of the 1966 Australian Gold Star series there in the Rebelle, finishing seventh. In 1968, she qualified for the same race but did not finish.

She continued to race this car until the 1970s. Her best major result in 1970 was a fifth place in the Advertiser Trophy at Mallala, although she continued to finish strongly in club races. She was second at Mallala in a short race for racing cars held at the SCC Trophy, then won the handicap race at the same meeting.

She competed in three more Australian Grands Prix, and finished one, in 1970, in thirteenth place. These races were part of the Tasman series.

In 1972 she was second in another club race at the Adelaide International circuit. This was a race on scratch, supporting a round of the Australian Sports Car Championship. She followed this up with another second at the next ASSC meeting. 

Later, she raced historics, still in the Rebelle, until 2011. She died in 2012.  

(Image copyright Peter Schell)

Judy Ganley (Kondratieff)

 

Judy Kondratieff, also known as Judy Ganley, raced sportscars and saloons in the USA, between 1965 and 1972. 

She was born Judith Ann Wood in 1939. Her racing career began after her marriage to her first husband, Serguey Kondratieff, whom she had met at Stanford University. By 1965, they had separated. 

That year, Judy ran a Brabham BT8 with another racer called Bart Martin. Both of them drove it on occasion, although it was Judy who had bought it from Robs Lamplough. The car came without its original engine, so she had it fitted with a Ford V8. Only a year before, she had attended her first motor race. She would later claim that the smell of Castrol R drew her back.

Sadly, Bart died in June that year, following a serious accident at Candlestick Park.

Later in 1965, she returned to the circuits and drove an Austin-Healey Sprite in the Cotati 4 Hours. The car belonged to Judy and she shared it with Al Auger. Their finishing result has been lost.

For most of her career, she raced a Sprite, or after 1968, a Mini Cooper. In a 1970 newspaper interview, she admitted that “the big cars are too fast for me”. This was a touch disingenuous, as she was capable of going very fast in a small car. She was a regular at race meetings held by the San Francisco SCCA, and considered Laguna Seca her favourite circuit. 

In 1968, she took part in the American Road Race of Champions, driving the Mini. 

In 1970, she raced at the Sebring 12 Hours for the Ring Free Oil "Motor Maids" team, with Janet Guthrie and Rosemary Smith. She was back in a Sprite, this time in Sebring trim. The car was familiar, but this was her first experience of racing at night. She was also a lot shorter than Janet and Rosemary and found the car awkward to start with. Its right-hand drive did not help. The “Motor Maids” were 19th overall and first in class. Judy was part of the team again the following year, but car troubles intervened before it was time for her stint. The Chevron B16’s engine blew up on the second lap of the race.

At the same time as her Sebring adventures, Judy continued to race her Mini. She also married Formula One driver and former engineer, Howden Ganley, in 1971.

After her marriage to Howden Ganley and retirement in 1972, she worked in motorsport management and administration extensively. Since her early racing days, she had got involved in running her local SCCA chapter, so this was a logical extension of her skills. She worked for the McLaren Formula One team and earned a reputation as one of the best timekeepers in the business. Stories exist of her managing to time twenty cars with a single stopwatch. 

She was soon branching out into other management tasks, although these could sometimes be unorthodox. When working for the McLaren Can Am team, she instituted a routine for their drivers called “The Reading”. She would read out the letters page of Penthouse magazine in the team caravan for their benefit, as a way of helping them relax before a race.

Her achievements were not just in the areas of timing and morale-boosting, although she was adept at that. The “Doghouse Club” for Grand Prix ladies was often entertained by Judy’s singing and dancing at their fundraising events. Much later, she shared her piri-piri chicken recipe for “Racey Recipes”, a charity cookbook.

On the serious side, she provided administrative and management support to at least two Formula One teams and two major teams at Le Mans, including Matra. She even worked as an aerodynamicist in sportscar racing. When Howden Ganley and Tim Schenken founded the Tiga racing car company in 1976, Judy was there alongside them.

She died in 2007, after a long battle with cancer.

(Image copyright Judy Ganley/Erin Kondratieff)

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)

Michele Vallet

 

Michèle Vallet is a rally driver who competed in France in the 1970s. 

She drove an Alfa Romeo 1750 Spider in 1971, and won her class in the Paris-St. Raphael women’s rally, finishing fifth overall. She was also eleventh in the Alpine Rally, 15th in the Mont Blanc and 20th in the Cevenole Rally. Only an accident in the Tour de France Auto was a disappointment.

For a couple of years, she competed less frequently, although she was a regular in the Mont Blanc Rally. She used a Fiat 127 and an Alpine-Renault A110. During this time, she also navigated for her husband Roger Vallet, who usually drove a Fiat. They did three major rallies together: Monte Carlo in 1975 and 1976, and the 1975 Morocco Rally. The couple had been active in rallying since at least 1969 and their early cars included a Simca. Michèle may also have done some hillclimbs with Roger.

Later, she drove a more powerful Alfa 2000 GTV. It was in this car that she finished the 1976 Mont Blanc Rally in 20th place, from 63 finishers. Her second Tour Auto gave her a 24th place in September. 

A couple of years in an Opel Kadett followed. She used this car in two Monte Carlo rallies, finishing 71st in 1978 after recording a DNF in 1977. Her best result in this car was a 21st place in the 1977 Tour Auto.

The last car that she used in major rallies was a less powerful Autobianchi A112 Abarth, a car that would surprisingly become popular in rallies. She entered the Monte and the Tour Auto in it, but did not finish either.

During her career, Michèle remained loyal to a couple of co-drivers, including Monique Rodt who sat beside her on and off between 1971 and 1977, and Martine Peirone.

Unusually, she was never part of the Aseptogyl setup, preferring to compete on her own account.

(Image copyright user “thais66” from Caradisiac’s Forum Auto)

Annick Girard

Annick (right) and Francoise Conconi in 1970

Annick Girard rallied in France in the 1970s. She was one of the original members of Team Aseptogyl and probably the most successful driver in its first line-up.

She began rallying an Alpine-Renault A110 with the team in 1971, starting her first event, the Rallye d’Istres, on New Year’s Day that year. She did not finish.

Although Aseptogyl initially paired her with Francoise Conconi, she earned her best finishes in open events with Marie-Odile Desvignes alongside her. Just three months after dropping out at Istres, she finished in the top ten for the first time in the Criterium National de Touraine, taking a ninth place.

This was followed by an eighth place in the Rallye des Roses, held at Antibes, then fifth in the national section of the Alpine Rally.

She and Francoise did score one win together, however, finishing first in the National section of the Paris-St.Raphael Rally.

Previously, she had driven in the Tour de France with Francoise in 1970, driving an A110. They were sponsored by Aseptogyl toothpaste, although the Aseptogyl team itself had not yet been assembled.

As well as rallying, she drove an Alpine-Renault A110 in hillclimbs at the same time, including the famous Mount Ventoux climb in 1971. 

Although she showed a great deal of promise in a car, Annick’s motorsport career was a short one and she seems to have dropped out at the end of 1971. Had she continued, we may have seen her performing well on major international rallies or in sportscar races, which Aseptogyl also entered.

Maurizia Baresi

 

Maurizia Baresi (left, with car 75) is an Italian rally driver from Cremona who won at least one national ladies’ championship in the 1970s.

She was a member of the famous all-female Team Aseptogyl in some of its later line-ups, in 1978 and 1979. By that time, the team was using Fiat 127s and mainly Italian drivers. The car proved unreliable in 1978, but she was reasonably successful in Italian rallies in 1979. Her best event was that year’s San Marino Rally, in which she was 24th. Her 35th place, with a class win, in the Rally Team 971 was also impressive as there 119 finishers and 186 entries. That year, her Aseptogyl team-mates included Caterina Baldoni, Isabella Bignardi and Betty Tognana. 

Isabella Bignardi would later join her in one of Aseptogyl’s last ventures, a multi-car, multinational women’s team for the 1983 Monte Carlo Rally. Maurizia was one of the few to qualify for the rally itself in her Alfasud Ti. Only the top 100 advanced to the points-scoring “Parcours Final”. She was classified 120th, fifth of the Aseptogyl crews.

The Monte was not an event in which she ever had much luck. She first tried in 1973, driving an Innocenti Mini Cooper, but the route taken by Stage 4 was blocked, meaning that a large number of cars, including Maurizia’s, went over the time limit and had to retire. She was already on the back foot, as she had prepared for the event in a Citroen and only fell back on the Mini very late.

The 1974 Monte was cancelled due to the fuel crisis so she entered again in 1975, in a Fiat 124 Abarth, but does not appear to have finished.

The Mini was her first rally car and she initially used it in hillclimbs. She would later describe it as her favourite car.

A big portion of her career was spent in the Trofeo A112 Abarth, a one-make series for the Lancia-associated compact car. She did two seasons in the championship in 1977 and 1978, first navigated by Anna Meli and then, usually, by Iva Boggio. Her best result was probably a ninth place in the 1978 Targa Florio Rally. Her next rally, the Costa Smeralda event, gave her an eleventh place.

After 1979 she only competed occasionally. In 1982, she entered a Porsche 930 Turbo into the Rally Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio, although she does not appear to have finished.  A few years later, in 1985, she drove a Ford Fiesta XR2 in the Rally Citta di Modena, finishing 43rd. She was part of another all-female team sponsored by Alitalia; her team-mate Daniela Angei was a few places above her and three other crews did not finish.

Throughout her career, Maurizia did not often compete outside of Italy, but in 1979, she travelled all the way to Brazil for the first Rally of Brazil, then a prospective WRC event. She and local navigator Ana Mulhen did not finish in their ethanol-powered Fiat 147.

Away from the special stages, she worked as a journalist and a photographer. She covered the Dakar Rally and other rally raids for Autosprint magazine, following the cars and bikes in both her own vehicle and a helicopter. Her interest in raids was sparked by her taking part in the 1979 Dakar as part of a truck crew.

She also taught law at a university.

(Image from http://www.nobresdogrid.com.br/)

Susan Tucker-Peake

 

Susan and Maralyn Tucker-Peake with one of their trophies

Susan Tucker-Peake raced between 1966 and 1989, starting in club saloon races in the UK and progressing as far as the European Touring Car Championship. 

She won two rallycross races in 1972, in a Ford Anglia, and was the winner of the 1975 Ladies’ Shellsport Escort Championship. 

Although she raced a wide variety of cars throughout her sporting career, she was probably most associated with saloon cars, spending some time racing in the no-limits Special Saloon championship in the ‘70s. In 1973, she raced a Ford Escort with Graham Goode, against the likes of Gerry Marshall. She continued to race in this series until at least 1975, driving an Escort.

Trying yet another discipline, she partnered Maggie Anderson in the 1975 Avon Tour of Britain. Their car was a Renault 11TS entered by Renault Elf Racing, who were running Maggie in their one-make Renault 5 series.

This was combined with regular appearances in the Ladies’ Shellsport Escort Championship. Despite not winning a race, she won the first championship in 1975, ahead of Divina Galica. Divina was the 1976 winner, with Susan in second. She was fourth in 1977.

In 1977, she drove a Renault 5 herself in most of the British Touring Car championship, which led to a works drive with Skoda in the 1978 ETCC. She and Petr Samohyl contested four rounds together in a 130 RS, with a best finish of 21st at Brno. The car was not reliable and this was their only finish. 

After her ETCC adventure, Susan bought a Brabham BT21 F3 single-seater and rebuilt it with her husband. 

During the 1980s, she raced in Formula 4, and in a number of relay races for the BWRDC.

Her earliest motorsport experiences were in trials, competing with her sister Maralyn in their father’s self-built Tucker Nipper car.

After retiring from active competition she served as the President of the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club. In 2003, as Susan TP-Jamieson she wrote Women in Motorsport from 1945 with Peter Tutthill, a book chronicling female drivers since the war.

(Image copyright classictrials.co.uk)

Kirsti Airikkala

 

Kirsti Airikkala rallied in Finland from 1968 and throughout most of the 1970s. She was twice runner-up in the Finnish ladies’ championship.

One of her first cars was an Isuzu Bellett, which she used in her first attempt at the 1000 Lakes Rally in 1968.  Her navigator for her early rallies was multiple Finnish ladies’ champion Eeva Heinonen. They were 24th in the 1000 Lakes, having already scored a 21st place in the Itaralli that year. Both Kirsti and her more famous husband, Pentti Airikkala, drove Isuzu cars at the time.

Her second 1000 Lakes Rally was in 1969, driving a Renault Gordini with Ulla Mäkelä. She drove in the event four more times, in 1971, 1972, 1975 and 1976. In 1970 she took time out from rallying to have her son, Niko Airikkala.

Her best result was a 24th place in 1972 and she also won her class in 1975, both times driving Opel cars with Tarja Takanen. Her 1972 car was a Kadett, which was updated to an Ascona in 1975.

She also scored a class win in the Arctic Rally in 1972, and was a career-best 18th overall in a European championship event, driving an Opel Kadett. In Finnish rallies, she bettered this, also in 1972, finishing fourteenth overall in the Tott-Porrassalmi Rally.

Her most frequent navigator was Tarja Tarkanen, but she also had Ritva Rossi sitting beside her at different times. For the 1976 Mantta 200-ajo Rally, she was co-driven by Marianne Avomeri, another Finnish woman better known as a driver with a famous partner, like Kirsti herself. She would later marry Markku Alen.

In 1974, she also tried her hand at co-driving, partnering Jill Robinson in the 1000 Lakes Rally, in an Alfa Romeo. 

Kirsti never competed outside Finland, but she did settle in England with Pentti after her retirement. She stayed in the UK after her divorce from Pentti.

From a rallying family, Kirsti’s younger brother is Timo Jouhki.

(Image copyright LAT Images)

Jenny Birrell (Nadin)

 

Jennifer Birrell raced sports and saloon cars in the 1960s and 1970s, competing in the fore-runner of the BTCC and the Sebring 12 Hours.

As Jenny Nadin, she started motorsport through rally navigation, chiefly for Pat Moss. She sat beside Pat for a season with Ford, driving a Cortina GT, in 1963. Their best results together were a seventh place in the RAC Rally and sixth in the Acropolis. She and Pat had met in showjumping competitions, both of them having an equestrian background.

Not long after, she took the wheel in rallies herself, encouraged by Pat’s husband, Erik Carlsson. She started out with a Mini in the British championship, then branched out. Her international outings included a run in the RAC Rally in 1966, driving a Hillman Imp, and a trip to the 1967 Monte in a Ford. 

Rallying brought her into contact with racer, journalist and event organiser Nick Brittan, who became her manager. In 1967, he persuaded her to enter the British Formula Vee championship, which was making its UK debut that year. She surprised everyone by putting her car on pole and then winning at Silverstone. Nick Brittan had overtaken her on the line and led for most of the race, but a late spin put her ahead. 

There were accusations at the time that the Volkswagen team had orchestrated Jenny’s win for publicity. Formula Vee had launched a week after Formula Ford and a first win for a woman was a valuable talking point. Some claimed that Nick had planned to pull over and let Jenny through. Others claimed that both of the official Volkswagen cars had illegally-tuned engines. No wrong-doing was discovered and the win stood.

Still, she was second in the 1967 Formula Vee Championship in her first season of racing, weathering a crash at Silverstone and scoring more podium finishes. She continued to race in the series in 1968, but she did not do as well and had two rather serious crashes, at Mallory and Thruxton.

By 1970, she had married Scottish driver Graham Birrell and was racing a Ford Escort as Jenny Birrell. She won at least one race at a club meeting at Croft and made her British Saloon Car Championship (the precursor to the BTCC) debut. Her first race was in the wet at Silverstone in 1971 and she finished tenth, despite a puncture at the start.

Later, she drove in America for the first time. She was part of the all-female Ring Free Oil Team for the 1971 Sebring 12 Hours, with Rosemary Smith and Janet Guthrie, driving a Chevron B16. Jenny practiced in the car but did not actually race. Rosemary and Janet did not finish. 

For 1973, she was competing in the Castrol Production Saloon championship, driving a Simca Rallye. It was in this car that she made her next BSCC appearance in 1974, finishing eighth at Mallory. Later in the season, she did several more races in a Chrysler Avenger, earning a ninth place at Ingliston.

In 1975, she joined another all-female team and finished the Spa 24 Hours in a Triumph Dolomite, with Christine Beckers and Marianne Hoepfner. They were 24th, eighth in class. The car was sponsored by “Butch Tailor”, a Belgian menswear fashion brand. Back in the UK, she was team-mate to Bernard Unett for the BSCC, driving an Avenger. The pair often battled for class honours. Jenny’s best overall finish was fifth, at Oulton Park. The Halesfield Motors team also ran Jenny in that year’s Avon Tour of Britain, with another Avenger.

Rallies then became the focus of her career. She had been competing in British and Irish events on and off alongside her circuit-based activities, but she rallied more intensively later.

She was still entered British rallies between 1973 and 1974, using a Simca. In 1977, she was sponsored by Century Oils and drove a Triumph TR7 in the British championship. Her best finish was a 28th place in the Burmah Rally.

After a lengthy break from the stages, she reappeared for the 1983 Ulster Rally in a Talbot Sunbeam, co-driven by Gabriel Konig. She was 47th. Another Talbot, a Samba, was her preferred car for a season in Ireland in 1984, taking in events in both Eire and Northern Ireland, as well as the Manx Rally. Later, she switched to a Peugeot 205 and scored her best result of the season, a thirteenth place in the Killarney Rally of the Lakes.

The 205 took her through another season in the UK in 1985, and also her first trip to Turkey. She was third in the Rothmans Bravo Rally. This in turn led to a part-season in the 1986 Turkish championship, which yielded a fifth place in that year’s Bravo event.

For the next two seasons, she took part in the Maestro Challenge in the UK, driving an MG Maestro. After that, her career begins to wind down; she drove a 205 on the 1990 Ardennes Rally and then had a final run in the Manx Rally in 1992, driving a Lancia Delta Integrale.

The later part of her competition career coincided with a successful period in motorsport administration, working for the British Touring Car Championship and the National Formula Ford series, among others.

(Image from racingteamvee.com)