Speed Queens: A Secret History of Women in Motorsport [Hardcover]

Speed Queens is a history of women in motorsport, from the very beginning in 1897 to the modern era. Tracing the different ways that women have found into motor racing and rallying, it covers over a century of stories across the world. Each chapter takes a particular event as an introduction to a racer and her contemporaries, taking a different theme each time and moving forward through history. Circuit racing and rallying are both covered.Much more than a collection of profiles and lists of achievements, it explores ideas including sportswomen as performers in the early 20th century, women, death and risk and how the expansion of small car production in the 1960s benefitted female drivers.Some of the best-known female competitors such as Michele Mouton (rallying) and Lella Lombardi (Formula 1) make appearances, but Speed Queens is not just concerned with big names and historic firsts. For every woman to be the first to do something on wheels, there were usually several others vying for that honor. In this book, they are given back their place in the story and their relationships to one another examined.Speed Queens is a history of women in motorsport, from the very beginning in 1897 to the modern era.Discover the stories of the intrepid women who have raced cars from 1897 onwards and see that the idea of women as racing drivers is almost as old as motorsport itselfMeet some fascinating forgotten characters from the world of motorsport Speed Queens takes a fresh look at some of the most noted names, including the ladies of Brooklands, Lella Lombardi and Indycar driver Janet GuthrieIncludes first-hand reminiscences of the trials, adventures and amusing escapades that befell the women who took part in the marathon rallies of the 1960s and 1970sReconsiders the idea that women were largely banned from motorsport; they have always found a way to compete and some of them are very surprisingAcknowledges that motoring women were not all admirable and that some became linl#…