The best female rally drivers

Motorsport may remain, even to this day, a somewhat male-dominated world – but there have been some legendary female drivers, and nowhere more so than in the tough, demanding and stamina-quenching world of rallying. Yes, women have been at the vanguard of rallying since the very dawn of the sport. Here's our rundown of some of the greatest and most influential female rally drivers.

If reading about the heroics of these five women encourages you to take your classic for a spin, make sure your classic auto insurance is up to date.

Dorothy Levitt (1882-1922)

All discussion of notable female rally drivers should start with Dorothy Levitt, a legend and a pioneer in women's motorsport, deservedly dubbed "the fastest girl on earth". To make any kind of an impact as a woman in rallying circles in the era in which Levitt forged her path, you needed some pretty dogged determination – and that's just what Levitt had in spades.

Interestingly, Levitt first gained a taste for speed by racing motor boats – and she shone in this discipline, setting the first Water Speed Record in 1903 by reaching 19.3mph in Cork Harbour, Ireland. By that time, though, she'd already got the motor racing bug, winning her class at the Southport Speed Trial in a car appropriately named the Gladiator.

By 1904, Levitt was racing for De Dion-Bouton, the aristocratic French automobile producers. She was at the wheel of a De Dion for the Hereford 1000 Mile Light Car Trial – competing entirely on her own, without a mechanic. Her diary records that she did everything herself across the race's five days – and it's believed that she would have won a gold medal, but for mechanical problems. The car she used for that race managed 8bhp: that same year, though, she raced in a 50bhp Napier at the first-ever Brighton Speed Trials, winning the Autocar Challenge Trophy in the process.

Two years later, in 1906, Levitt had a crack at the Shelsley Walsh hillclimb, knocking some three minutes off the previous Ladies' Record. In the same fruitful year, Levitt broke the world Women’s Land Speed record at the Blackpool Speed Trials. She managed this in another Napier car, reaching almost 91mph: this one was capable of 100bhp, a ferociously powerful car for its time. This was the feat that earned her the famous nickname.

Levitt was also, in the vernacular of the time, a 'scorcher', meaning that she liked to drive very fast on public roads and had a few run-ins with the traffic police.

By 1907 Levitt was competing overseas: that year, she registered a class win at the Gaillon hillclimb in Normandy, France and, the following year, winning a similar event at Herkomer in Germany.

Her legacy lived on through a number of books she published, including 1906's The Woman and the Car: A Chatty Little Handbook for all Women who Motor or Who Want to Motor. In this one, Levitt recommended that her readers carry a small hand-mirror when driving, which they should hold "aloft from time to time in order to see behind while driving in traffic". With this therefore, she can be credited with inventing the rear-view mirror some years before its first manufacture in 1914. She also advised women travelling alone to carry a handgun – her preference was an automatic Colt. So there you have it.

Oh, and she famously taught Queen Alexandra, the wife of Edward VII, and her daughters to drive. Quite the career!

Margaret Allan (1906-1998)

The surname Allan may strike a chord with any students of the Suffragette movement. Margaret Allan's aunt Jamie was a leading light in that movement, and Margaret's mother was similarly passionate about the empowerment of women: it was she who instructed her daughter to learn to drive from an early age, so that she could play a useful role in society.

Happily, the young Margaret hugely enjoyed learning to drive the family's two-litre Lagonda, winning her first event in the car.

By the early 1930s, Allan was making her mark in motor racing circles. 1932 saw her finish in 10th place at the Monte Carlo Rally, driving a Riley Nine: the following year, driving a 4.5-litre Bentley, she managed a 97mph of the Brooklands circuit in Surrey.

These heroics caught the attention of MG, who offered her a place on their team. Allan took part in the 1935 instalment of the Le Mans 24-hour race, finishing in 26th position and earning a team prize for MG. In 1936, meanwhile, Allan managed a Brooklands lap at the blistering speed of 122.37mph in a 6.5-litre Bentley.

During the Second World War, Allan drove an ambulance before heading to the famous Bletchley Park intelligence centre, where she worked in the decoding teams under Alan Turing.

Margaret Allan diversified later in life: she was Vogue magazine's motoring correspondent from 1948 until 1957. That must have been a fun job – new cars she might have road tested during that era include the Alfa Romeo 1900, Jaguar MkVII, Aston Martin DB2 and Ferrari 195. These cars are around 70 years old now and any that are still extant are cast-iron classics for whom excellent classic car insurance will be a must. Around this time Allan registered her last-ever competitive victory, winning the ladies' prize at the 1950 Circuit of Ireland rally.

Alongside the motoring, Allan also took up the rather more tranquil pursuit of gardening – and excelled at this, too, winning prizes with the Royal Horticultural Society and exhibiting at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show.

A fitting coda to Margaret Allan's life came in her eighties, when Autocar magazine invited her to test three powerful sports cars, by taking them for a spin around the Welsh hills. The story goes that the feature ended up a little light on pictures – as Allan was so fast that the journalist and photographer couldn't keep up!

Anne Hall (1919-2003)

Another great British female rally driver, Anne Hall (née Newton) grew up with cars in her life: she was the daughter of the major Jaguar dealer for the North of England. The young Anne's 17th birthday present was a Wolseley Hornet (that would be the first iteration from the 1930s, not the Mini derivative from the 1960s) – plus a driving test on the very afternoon of her birthday. Legend has it that her instructor was taken aback by the speed at which Hall reversed down the drive – but that young Anne thought she'd been a bit slow, so went back up and did it again, faster.

Later, in World War II, Hall was another one who used her considerable skills to drive ambulances. She then took a break to have three children, before getting immersed in rallying with her sister Mary. The two raced, unsurprisingly given the family connections, in a Jaguar XK120 – and got themselves known as the 'Mad Newton Sisters' thanks to their skill, competitiveness and love of speed.

Later, Hall chose to race with Ford, entering the 1957 Tulip Rally in a Ford Zephyr, a car which later brought her first big win: the 1960 Morecambe Rally, which Hall won with her co-driver Valerie Domleo. The two were the first all-female team to win a British national event.

Across her 15-year career, Hall entered many of the major long-distance rally races, including the Alpine Motor Rally, the Cross-Canada Rally and the East African Safari. At the latter, Hall partnered with Kenya's Lucille Cardwell, and the duo won the Ladies’ Cup, finishing third overall.

Like Margaret Allan, Anne Hall's motoring career had a long sunset. She retired from professional rallying in the late 1960s, but made a comeback in 1988 when, at the grand old age of 72, she entered the Pirelli Classic Marathon (2,300 miles around the Alps) in a 1961 Ford Anglia – and won the women’s section, finishing 18th out of 104 finishers overall. We just hope we're doing something even half as remarkable at the age of 72.

Pat Moss (1934-2008)

It turns out that the Moss family of Bray, Berkshire turned out not one but two motor racing legends. Pat Moss' brother Stirling taught her to drive at the age of 11, in the fields around their Berkshire home – but her first love was showjumping, and she became a member of the British showjumping team in the very early 1950s.

Pat Moss got the rallying bug in 1953, at the age of 18 – her boyfriend was her brother Stirling's manager, so she was already living and breathing the world. The following year, she bought herself a Triumph TR2 and started entering rallies. Alas, Standard-Triumph wouldn't pay her expenses to enter the 1955 RAC Rally in one of their cars – but MG stepped in, offering her expenses and a MG TF 1500. Moss would drive with MG's parent company, the British Motor Corporation, for seven years, winning three championships in the process.

Success followed success – when she won the 1960 Liège-Rome-Liège rally in an Austin Healey 3000, Pat Moss became the first woman to win an international rally. Two years later, she won the Tulip rally in a Mini Cooper – although she didn’t love the car, calling it “twitchy and pretty unruly on the limit”.

In 1963, Moss made the switch to Ford – but this was a short-lived partnership as she soon joined up with the Saab works team, so that she could drive alongside her husband, Swedish driver Erik Carlsson. Driving a Saab 96, the couple competed in 11 international rallies – and finished fifth and third, respectively, in the 1964 and 1965 iterations of the Monte Carlo Rally.

Michèle Mouton (1951-)

Michèle Mouton is an inspiration to female drivers everywhere: not just because of the enormous quantity of rally wins she notched up during her career, but also because she got to the summit of rallying during one of its most dangerous and legendary eras.

Let's remind ourselves: the rules for the short-lived Group B (1982-86) generated some of the quickest and most potent rally cars ever built, such as the Ford RS200, Opel Manta 400 and, of interest to us here, the Audi Quattro S1. For many fans, Group B represents rallying's golden age: but it also brought with it several major accidents, some fatal.

Let's rewind a few years, though, to trace Mouton's career back to its origins. She started rallying in 1973, racing an Alpine Renault 1600 – and quickly grabbed herself both French and European Women’s Championship titles in 1975, 1976 and 1977. Joining the Fiat France team in 1978, she won the Tour de France rally.

Mouton's best was yet to come, however: between 1981 to 1985 she and her co-driver Fabrizia Pons drove the fearsomely potent Audi Quattro S1, A1 and A2 to a series of victories. A legendary car both on and off the rally circuit, the Quattro's 1980s heroics helped to bring it classic car status soon after – and now, it's one of the many historic marques for which we're proud to provide classic car insurance.

Their first year together, 1981 saw Mouton and Pons winning the Sanremo leg of the World Rally Championship – the first women to win a WRC event. 1982 brought three more victories and in fact, this was the duo's peak year: with a runners-up finish in the overall World Championship.

Mouton's curtain call came in 1986, when she retired after winning the German Rally Championship title with Peugeot, driving a 205 Turbo T16.

Since stepping out from behind the wheel, Mouton has remained active in motorsport: she co-founded, in 1988, the Race of Champions, which originally pitted top rally drivers together but has now expanded to take in demon drivers from Formula 1, NASCAR, Le Mans and others. She's also President of the FIA’s Women & Motor Sport Commission, which aims to facilitate the full participation of women in all aspects of motorsport.

Protect your motor with classic car insurance

These legendary women rally drivers pushed their cars hard in the pursuit of glory (and speed). We imagine, though, that you are probably a little gentler with your beloved classic.

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