Yesterday was International Women's Day so we thought we'd take a quick look the history of women in motorsport.
Motor racing has always been a largely male dominated sport but there has always been a handful of extremely talented female drivers putting the cat among the pigeons. At the moment the most recognisable female figure in international motorsport is probably Danica Patrick who is competing, very successfully at the very highest level in circuit racing in the U.S. She's had no less than 6 top 10 finishes in the Indianapolis 500 which is no mean feat.
Other prominent female figures in the automotive arena would include Vicki Butler Henderson who is a racing driver, car enthusiast, presenter of 5th gear and welcome breath of fresh air from the often mediocre offerings from rival show Top Gear.
Here's one of VBH's finest (in my opinion) pieces of reporting:
Sabine Schmitz is well known as the 'fastest Taxi driver in the World' As well as being an ex professional racing driver (45 wins with BMW at the Nordschleife) and Tv personality Sabine infamously piloted the BMW M5 "Ring Taxi" around the equally infamous Nurburgring.
Taking a step back a few decades, the most famous name that spring to mind is Michelle Mouton.
Mouton is the most sucessful female rally driver ever, in 1982 she narrowly missed out on the winning the championship to Walter Röhrl. In 1984 she competed in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the United States, driving an Audi Sport Quattro together with her usual co-driver Fabrizia Pons. She won the open rally category (now known as unlimited) in a record time and placed second overal.
Probably the most successful female F1 driver of all time was Lella Lombardi. She competed in 17 F1 races in the mid 70's and is the only woman to have ever scored points in a round of the Formula 1 World Championship.
The list of female names throughout motor racing history is more extensive than you might think and certainly more so than we have space to cover here. Here are just a few names mentioned recently by fans on our Facebook page.
MicksGarage.ie: Michelle Mouton
Ste RA: Louise akin walker
Karen Mooney: Alison lock
Damian McCann: Jessica BartonDamian McCann: Milka DunoSte RA: Pat carlssonJonathan Scales: Alice Burke and Nell RichardsonMicksGarage.ie: Desire Wilson was another very successful female driver, one of only 5 women to every compete in Formula 1!Chris Round: Rachael & Stephanie Simmonite, and of course Sabine SchmitzMatty Kielthy: Toni kellyMicksGarage.ie: any more entries before today's awesome prizes are revealedMatty Kielthy: How about the female Jeremy clarkson with a race background, vicki butler HendersonOwen Kelly: Danica PatrickSean Griffin: Sabine schmit. the female stig!!! That is all!!!Peter Walsh: Our very own Sarah Kavanagh, :0Ann Marie Mc Gurk: Maria Teresa De Filippis first woman to complete formuls 1 raceLisa Kelly: Danica PatrickDavida Oneill: janet guthierBelinda Daly: Janet GuthierJanet was not only the first woman ever to compete in the Indianapolis 500 AND the Daytona 500Anna Conlon: Anna Conlon!Belinda Daly: Milka Dunno First woman to win overall a major international sports car race in North America and First woman to win a Ferrari Challenge race in the USA.Geraldine Fitzgerald: Janet Guthier , Milka DunoWayne Motherway: sandy lawson -Alison Locke - sonya mac - judy lucas -emma mcinsky -daina maguiles -nacy mitchell - anne niell- clare rhodes - mandy roberts - claire samuels and sab shaw to name a fewDeirdre Morris: Lella Lombardi.Loraine Hickey: Penelope Pitstop...? :)Kerrie O'Neill: Jutta Kleinschmidt (born August 29, 1962) is a competitor of offroad automotive racing events. She is known for her numerous showings in the Paris Dakar Rally, and notably for having won the event in 2001, becoming the first woman to win the race.Sarah Proctor Brothers: Davina GalicaColin Ryan: Shirley Muldowney - the "First Lady of Drag Racing" was the first woman to receive a Top Fuel license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), as well as the first woman to win the NHRA Winston world points championship; in addition, she was the first driver to win two and three Top Fuel titles in NHRA history.Edel Kavanagh: Maria-Teresa de FilippisMarie Kate Shepherd: Amanda WhitakerJasmine Collier: Desiré Wilson became the only woman to win a Formula One race of any kind when she won at Brands Hatch in the British Aurora F1 series on 7 April 1980.Ian Congdon: penny malory. ex rally driver cant remember if she actualy won anything but i think she might of. also known from the used car road show.Helena O Riordan: THELMA + LOUISELouise Mooney: Rosemary SmithTony Kavanagh: Queen of the Ring Sabine schmit, the rest are rubbish................!
