Rosemary Smith
{{Short description|Irish motor racing driver (1937–2023)}}
{{for|Scottish botanist and illustrator|Rosemary Margaret Smith}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rosemary Smith
| image = Rosemary Smith 1965.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Smith at the Rally de Monte Carlo, 1965
| nationality = {{flagicon|IRL}} Irish
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1937|08|07|df=y}}
| birth_place = Dublin, Irish Free State
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|12|05|1937|08|07|df=y}}
| death_place =
| module =
{{Infobox racing driver | child = yes
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| titles = {{Color box|yellow|Winner}} 1965 Tulip Rally
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| signature = Rosemary Smith sig.png
}}
Rosemary Smith (7 August 1937 – 5 December 2023) was an Irish rally driver from Dublin. She initially trained as a dress designer.
Biography
Smith entered her first rally as a co-driver. After deciding that navigating was not to her liking, she switched to driving. She came to the attention of the Rootes Group's Competition Department, which offered her a works drive.{{cite web |url=http://www.imps4ever.info/racing/rallies/rosemary.html |title=Rosemary Smith: 7th Aug 1937, Dublin |website=The Imp Site |accessdate=26 May 2020 }}
In 1958, she and Valerie Domleo, a British physicist, won the four-day Dutch Tulip Rally. The duo drove "a factory entered Hillman Imp" as one of 159 cars participating from sixteen countries in the April 1965 rally that covered roughly 1,800 miles (2 900 km)."[https://www.newspapers.com/image/871046782/?terms=%22Valerie%20Domleo%22%20and%20physicist&match=1 Rally win for Valerie Domleo]." Derby, England: Derby Evening Telegraph, April 30, 1965, front page (subscription required).
In 1964, she took the ladies' prize on the Circuit of Ireland Rally driving a Sunbeam Rapier.Motor Sport, May 1964, p. 373. The following year she won the Tulip Rally outright in a Hillman Imp.Motor Sport, June 1965, pp. 471–72.
Smith was controversially disqualified from the 1966 Monte Carlo Rally after winning the Coupe des Dames, the ladies' class. Ten cars in total were disqualified. "Rosemary Smith said she would never compete again unless the decision was reversed."Competition Press & Autoweek, 12 February 1966, pp. 1, 6.
Her other competition successes included an outright win in the 1969 Cork 20 Rally. She won the ladies' prize several times on the Scottish Rally and on the Circuit of Ireland Rally, twice each on the Alpine Rally and on the Canadian Shell 4000, and once on the Acropolis Rally. She also had numerous class wins to her name.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}
In 1966, she appeared as a guest on an episode of What's My Line. Arlene Francis, Mark Goodson, Ginger Rogers, and Bennett Cerf were on the panel and successfully guessed her "line" as a rally driver.{{citation |title=What's My Line? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9d6Vla8wm4 |accessdate=19 September 2018}}
She established an Irish land speed record of 156.101{{nbsp}}mph on the Carrigrohane Straight in Cork in June 1978, driving a seven-litre Jaguar XJ6.New Irish land speed record, The Cork Examiner, 1978-06-21.
She founded a driving school in the 1990s. On 10 May 2017, she did a test drive with the show car of Renault F1 on the Circuit Paul Ricard as part of a filming day. This made her the oldest person to have driven an 800bhp racing car.{{cite news |first=Emer |last=Moreau |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/rosemary-smith-rally-driver-as-sharp-at-82-as-she-was-in-1961-1.3999216 |title=Rosemary Smith: Rally driver as sharp at 82 as she was in 1961 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=27 August 2019 |accessdate=26 May 2020 }}{{citation |author=Renault UK |title=79 year-old Rosemary Smith takes The Ultimate Test Drive |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHL7BKNGuFs |accessdate=13 July 2017}}
Smith died of cancer on 5 December 2023, aged 86.{{cite news |title=Ground-breaking Irish rally driver Rosemary Smith passes away at the age of 86 |url=https://m.independent.ie/sport/womens-sport/ground-breaking-irish-rally-driver-rosemary-smith-passes-away-at-the-age-of-86/a704203033.html |access-date=5 December 2023 |work=Irish Independent |date=5 December 2023 |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Mowat-Brown, G. (2003). "Imp : The Complete Story". The Crowood Press - {{ISBN|978-1-86-126619-4}}
- Smith, R. (2018). "Driven". Harper Collins - {{ISBN|978-0-00-830185-9}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [http://www.imps4ever.info/racing/rallies/rosemary.html The Imp Site]
- [http://shell-4000-rally.org/4000_web/bios/bio_Rosemary%20Smith.pdf Rosemary Smith bio from Shell 4000 Rally]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHL7BKNGuFs Rosemary Smith driving the Renault Sport Formula One]
- {{IMDb name|4926274}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Rosemary}}
Category:Irish female racing drivers