Rosemary Smith obituary: Pioneer of world motorsport

Born: August 7th, 1938

Died: December 5th, 2023

Rosemary Smith’s position as an icon of world motorsport was underlined in 2017 when Renault’s Formula One team put its resources at her disposal to test its state-of-the-art RS Formula One car – and provided Grand Prix driver Jolyon Palmer as adviser. Smith was 79 at the time.

When she steered the 500bhp rocket ship around the Le Castellet circuit, she became the oldest driver to test a competing F1 car.

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But she was a legend long before that. During the 1960s she was the queen of international motorsport and a household name across the continents, thanks to a decade of great performances behind the wheel, highlighted by an outright win alongside co-driver Valerie Domleo in the Dutch Tulip Rally in 1965. While rallying was her core discipline, she was also brilliant at circuit racing and competed successfully against Jim Clark, Graham Hill and others such as Steve McQueen.

She was a brave and pioneering woman in motorsport – often the only female driver at an event. Indeed at Le Mans one year they refused to let her drive just because she was a woman. Despite facing controversy and disqualification after winning the Ladies Cup in the 1966 Monte Carlo Rally, one of 10 cars that were disqualified in a row between organisers Automobile Club de Monaco and the BMC Mini rally team, her spirit and record were unmatched.

She completed eight Monte Carlo Rallies and did marathons such as London-Sydney and London-Mexico. Her exploits were reported alongside those of fellow hero of the era, Trinity student Paddy Hopkirk.

She was also known as a style icon, and an integral part of the swinging 1960s London scene – even though she based herself in Dublin all her life.

In the 1990s she began a campaign to start getting schoolchildren trained on the basics of good driving, long before they venture out on the open road. This led to safer driving programmes such as the one in transition year.

Smith was born in Bray in 1938, the third child of a Belfast Methodist father, John Metcalfe Smith, and Jane, a Catholic. Metcalfe Smith owned a garage on the Rathmines Road but the family moved around – first Bray, then Dundrum, Terenure, Rathfarnham, Blackrock and Sandymount, before finally settling in Dunboyne.

Smith attended Loreto Beaufort in Rathfarnham, but apart from sport, she loathed school and left at 15. She enrolled in the Grafton Academy, a pioneering fashion design house run by Pauline Clotworthy. She subsequently worked for Sybil Connolly, Irene Gilbert and others. She set up on her own while still a teenager and, being tall, blonde and slender with excellent deportment, she began modelling her own and others’ creations.

She learned to drive on summer holidays in Bettystown at the age of 11 and was a capable driver long before she got her driving licence – on payment of a 10 shilling fee with no test required.

Rosemary knew everyone and was a great raconteur. Her style, her clothes and those perfect red fingernails were a joy to behold

—  Ann Ingle

A customer at the shop, Delphine Biggar – who was married to the 1956 Monte Carlo Rally winner Frank Biggar – asked Smith to navigate for her at an upcoming event. Maps didn’t suit Smith and driving didn’t suit Biggar, so they swapped seats, and from then on Smith drove.

Not long after, she was contacted by an English heiress, Sally Anne Cooper, who wanted to do something exciting before her upcoming society marriage – and that was the Monte Carlo rally. This weeklong, 1,000km-plus January event involved fearsome mountain stages and some all-nighters, in a test of endurance and speed for both drivers and cars. Smith creditably finished the 1961 Monte and was spotted by the competition manager of the Rootes Group, who made Hillmans, Sunbeams and other makes.

She became a “works” professional driver: the factory provided the car, mechanics and logistics. She was an amazing finisher – able to drive quickly without destroying the car. She won many “Coupe Des Dames” and in 1965 won outright the snowy Tulip Rally, the equivalent of the World Rally Championship event today. She competed in Ireland and UK a lot – driving Minis, Fords and other makes – but the Rootes-made Hillman Imp was the car in which she achieved most success. In the late 1960s Hollywood discovered motorsport and she competed in Daytona and Sebring against Paul Newman and Steve McQueen.

She became an international star. Her duels with Patricia (Pat) Moss Carlsson (sister of F1 winner Stirling Moss and wife of big, fast rally champion Erik) filled acres of newsprint across Europe.

Smith competed in numerous domestic events, winning the Cork 20 Rally outright and winning at Mondello Park and other circuits.

If there was one trait more than any other that brought her success behind the wheel, it was her tenacity and ability to get the car to the finish no matter what. This was best illustrated when competing in the London-Sydney Rally in 1968. The Ford Lotus Cortina started losing engine power and couldn’t climb the Khyber Pass – even in first gear. She promptly turned the car around and reversed up the pass – the engine being able to manage that, just about.

In 1998 she set up her Driving Academy at Goffs, Co Kildare, where she focused on early training of good habits behind the wheel.

In recent years she has been a beacon for positive ageing – willingly going to events up and down the country.

In 2018, with Ann Ingle, she completed a revealing and uplifting autobiography, Driven, published by HarperCollins. “Rosemary and I became friends when I wrote her memoir, Driven. She was a powerful, pioneering woman who gave her fellow male drivers a real challenge in every way. There are few finer examples of a woman in Irish sporting history who broke through barriers so spectacularly. Rosemary knew everyone and was a great raconteur. Her style, her clothes and those perfect red fingernails were a joy to behold. She was a good friend to me and many others. I will miss her dearly,” Ingle said.

In 2022 the president of FIVA, the international heritage car movement, Tiddo Bresters, flew to admit Smith personally to the FIVA Heritage Hall of Fame, as a mark of respect for an amazing career in motorsport and historic motoring.