Brooklands Belles (The Women Racers Who Took on the Men)

Opened in 1907, Brooklands was Britain’s first motor-racing circuit. It became famous for its high speeds and the credo, ‘The right crowd and no crowding.’ Allowed only two races before being banned from any competitive participation by the Brooklands Automobile Racing Club, it was not until the 1930s that women could finally race on equal terms against men.

The decade before the Second World War was the heyday for the remarkable women drivers who became known as the Brooklands Belles, a group of talented and determined women fearlessly challenging the rules of a fledgling male-dominated sport. The Brookland Belles tore up the rule book. They lit up the Brooklands social scene and took the increasingly dangerous Brooklands track by storm. They captured the public’s imagination as they brought an intoxicating mixture of glamour, thrilling entertainment and often death-defying skill to the famous banked track, breaking both records and accepted social conventions of the time. This is their story.