Rosemary Smith legendary rally car driver and all round trailblazer tells her story

Senior Times

Gary Cooke talks to legendary rally car driver and all round trailblazer Rosemary Smith. Rosemary Smith – A Remarkable Life In the Fast Lane In an inspiring new podcast interview released by Senior Times, rally driver, Rosemary Smith, speaks about her life, career and her ongoing passion for life. Smith, such a glamour figure of the 1960s, remains an indomitable spirit, continuing to race in rally events and recently becoming the oldest person to drive a Formula One car – performing notably better than one Jeremy Clarkson. In a wide-ranging and candid interview with Senior Times’s Gary Cooke, Smith describes how she has coped with lockdown this year, her disappointments in marriage, teaching young people to drive and, of course, the incredible adventures of her global rallying career. “I knew women were bad drivers - but this is ridiculous!” was the verdict of stunned locals, as Rosemary describes it, when she refused to admit defeat and reversed 73 kilometres up the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan, as part of the London to Sydney Rally. Meanwhile, in the ‘skittery, humpy’ roads of Donegal, Smith confirms that her great friend and navigator, Pauline, actually sat on the wing of her car while they continued to race, before “she shot up in the air, hit the roof of the car and rolled down the road behind me”. Smith’s fear of failure and her determination to succeed continues to this day and is evident in the success that she describes when driving the Formula One car as an ambassador for Renault. Equally, Smith describes her disappointment that women drivers have not yet breached the male bastion of Formula One, in the same way that she broke down barriers of male chauvinism as a rally driver in Ireland and internationally.