Sheila van Damm

Sheila Van Damm (17 January 1922 – 23 August 1987) was a leading British woman competitor in motor rallying in the 1950s, and also the former owner of the Windmill Theatre in London. She began her competitive driving career in 1950, and won the Coupe des Dames, the highest award for women, in the 1953 Alpine Rally. The following year she won the Women's European Touring Championship and, in 1955, the Coupe des Dames at the Monte Carlo Rally.

Van Damm was born in Paddington, London, the daughter of Vivian Van Damm and his wife, Natalie Lyons. Her upbringing in a Jewish family generated no interest in motoring beyond her training as a Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) driver. While in the WAAFs, she had entered her first motor sporting event with her only sister Nona as navigator, as a promotional stunt for the Windmill Theatre, which her father managed. With "Windmill Girl" written on the side of the factory-prepared Sunbeam Talbot they finished 3rd in the ladies' section of the MCC-Daily Express car rally. This led to an official Rootes team Hillman Minx in the 1951 Monte Carlo rally.

Her first major success was the Ladies' Prize in the 1952 Motor Cycling Club rally driving a Sunbeam Talbot. The 1953 Monte Carlo rally was marred by punctures, but she entered the record books with a class speed record for 2–3 litre cars, driving the prototype Sunbeam Alpine sports car at an average of 120 mph (190 km/h) at Jabbeke in Belgium.

In the 1953 Alpine Rally, she and co-driver Anne Hall won not only the Coupe des Dames, but also a coveted Coupes des Alpes. Another Coupe des Dames in the 1954 Tulip rally of Holland included outright victory in a 10-lap race around the Zandvoort circuit. The ladies' prize in the Viking rally in Norway clinched the 1954 Ladies' European championship for Van Damm and Hall – a triumph they repeated in 1955 in a (Rootes-prepared) Sunbeam Alpine Mk. III works team car. Registered RHP 702 and presently in Australia, this is the only one of six original works cars residing outside the UK. Other works cars were driven by racing drivers Leslie Johnson, Peter Collins and Stirling Moss.

...
Wikipedia