THE CONCOURS OF Elegance has introduced a brand new feature to its 2022 edition, designed to celebrate the pioneering women of the automotive world. The new Levitt Concours shines a light on female enthusiasts and their vehicles, with a new one-day driving tour from the Odney Club, finishing at the Concours of Elegance, and a showcase feature at Hampton Court Palace. It features 30 rare and women-owned exotic vehicles from AustinHealey 3000s to Ferrari Daytonas. The new Levitt Concours is named in honour Dorothy Levitt, the first English female racing driver. Famed for setting the ladies’ world land speed record as well as the first water speed record, and dubbed the ‘Fastest Girl on Earth’, Dorothy Levitt was 66
an automotive pioneer, an avid motoring enthusiast and an accomplished pilot. Levitt began her racing career in 1903 at the Southport Speed Trials, winning her class in a 12hp Gladiator. In 1905, Levitt broke the record for the ‘longest drive by a lady driver’, steering a De Dion-Bouton from London to Liverpool and back in just two days – at a time when tarmac roads barely existed, and road maps, road signs and petrol stations were yet to be invented – with only her small Pomeranian dog, ‘Dodo’, and an automatic Colt revolver (known as ‘the secret of the Dainty Motoriste’) by her side. Levitt opened up driving – and the freedoms it brought – to women all over the world. While the world of thoroughbred racing cars
and high-end collector vehicles is still viewed as a primarily male pursuit, the reality is that some of the most voracious automotive thrill-seekers and knowledgeable car collectors in the world are, and always have been, women. The Levitt Concours will draw attention to these women, while simultaneously paying homage to one of the most ground-breaking drivers of all time.
TOP Jennie Taylor and the 1932 Alfa P3 Tipo B she thrashes around Goodwood. ABOVE RIGHT Director of the Mullin Automotive Museum, Merle Mullin. RIGHT Dorothy Levitt, automotive pioneer honoured by the Levitt Concours.
T I M S C OT T / F L U I D I M AG E S
A NEW FEATURE FOR 2022 NAMED IN HONOUR OF PIONEERING ENGLISH RACING DRIVER AND AVIATOR, DOROTHY LEVITT
T I M S C OT T / F L U I D I M A G E S
THE LEVITT CONCOURS
