Fast Lady

Description

In her 1909 book The Woman and the Car, Dorothy Levitt advised women driving alone to carry a handgun in the glove compartment, as well as a little hand-mirror to help them see behind while driving, before the advent of wing mirrors. Fast Lady tells the remarkable tale of Levitt’s eventful life, including setting the Women’s World Speed Record and becoming a member of The Aero Club of the United Kingdom in 1910, all while not being admitted to the newly built Brooklands Motor Circuit because she was a woman. Michael Barton has also managed to piece together a speculative, though well researched, account of the ‘lost years’ of Dorothy’s life, for the last twelve years of her life, after 1910, remain entirely undocumented. It makes for a sad and lonely end to what today would have been a glittering career in motor racing. This is a brand-new edition published in 2022 by Butterfield Press, founded in 2018 to publish artistic clothbound editions on the history of motor sport.