by Jon Saltinstall
2025 review by Autolycus
When a biography explains that the author has gained access to hitherto unpublished information and has the approval of the family, there are good signs that the book has the potential to be worth reading. When, furthermore, your reviewer has had the privilege of hearing the author give a presentation about the subject, the famous but enigmatic Lella Lombardi, and has seen first hand the enthusiasm of the author for his subject — and, no less important, the competence with which he made that presentation — then things are looking even better. Spoiler alert: on reading the book, your reviewer was not disappointed.
It is worth starting this review with just some of what was generally known about Lella Lombardi that justifiably made her famous: the only woman to have registered a score in a Formula One Grand Prix; Italian national F.850 Champion in 1970; sharing the highest-placed finish post-war by an all-female crew in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1977; three outright victories in the World Sports Car Championship; and 13 class wins in the European Touring Car Championship.
But the story that Jon Saltinstall has unearthed and put with great skill to paper is all the more fascinating for the fact that, until now, Lella’s life, apart from her appearance in races, was almost completely unknown. The author has rectified that omission.
The book starts with a preface by Lella’s niece that delightfully refers to the larger Lombardi family and how they all, at some time in Lella’s career as racer and racing team owner, followed her progress with pride. It also reveals at least one reason why Lella kept her personal life intensely private: she was gay at a time when this was far from accepted, and she was determined to protect the privacy of her long-time partner.
There follows a foreword by no less a person than Susie Wolff, Scottish former racing driver and current managing director of F1 Academy, who explains the importance of the continuing fight to bring women into top-level motor racing, and the inspiration that Lella Lombardi provides for that fight.
The Introduction covers the perhaps surprising number of female racing drivers who competed on equal terms with men from the dawn of motoring and thus sets the scene for the challenges facing Lella in her career. It quotes a chilling statement: an earlier woman racing driver, Contessa Maria Teresa de Filippis, qualified for three of the five grands prix she entered in 1958-1959, but after finishing 10th in the 1958 Belgian Grand Prix, de Filippis was denied an entry at the following race in France when the pompous race director, Raymond ‘Toto’ Roche, proclaimed that “the only helmet a woman should use is at the hairdresser”. This misogyny was one aspect of the background to Lella’s career, beginning six years later. Another aspect, clearly explained in the book, was the physicality required in the era of wide tyres, manual gearboxes, lack of power steering or brakes, and bumpy, dangerous circuits.
The next chapters follow the story of the ‘butcher’s girl from Frugarolo’, through her first tentative steps into racing in 1965, the move in 1967 into Formula 3 where she had many struggles, and the far more successful period from 1970 where Lella stamped her authority on single-seater F850 racing and became Italian national champion. The book continues with Lella’s second attempt in Formula 3, in 1972 and 1973, this time with some significant success.
Lella also raced in touring cars: in 1972 in a 2-litre Alfa Romeo with Carlo Giorgio in the Monza 4-Hours, the first round of the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) and a Ford Escort Mexico in 1973. But these are only two examples; photographs within the book show Lella racing in more Alfas, in an Abarth 3000 sports racing car at Interlagos in Brazil, and in a bizarre race in Bologna in tiny Zele 1000 electric cars around a replica of the Imola circuit marked out with cones, won by Stirling Moss (!), with Lella classified 10th and reportedly ‘amused’…
1974 saw Lella move into Formula One, interspersed with experience in Formula 5000 and more racing in sportscars. The list goes on — but this book is no cold retelling of lap-by-lap information of each race. The author brings Lella’s triumphs and setbacks alive by many quotes from Lella herself and from her colleagues, supporters, friends, family and rivals. The many photographs in the book do a superb job of driving home just how varied Lella’s racing career was — but they also give a delightfully personal insight into her down-to-earth character and thus her approach to racing, such as an image of her carrying her own kit bag through the Österreichring paddock in 1975 for a Formula One race, with no sign of any entourage or ‘assistants’. However, the same image shows the Renault 16TX provided by Renault Sport, in consideration of her driving for their sports car squad with the Alpine-Renault prototypes; she was an important member of the Renault team. And there are many family photographs to support a a parallel story of her life away from the track — and such unusual images as Lella wearing her racing helmet for protection as she faces Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee in the nets at Sydney.
The story moves on to the end of Lella Lombardi’s international racing career on 27 March 1988 in a Ford Sierra RS500 and her move into team management, in which she achieved some memorable successes.
Very sadly, Lella had been diagnosed with cancer as early as 1985, and her health deteriorated more rapidly after she had finished racing. The book sensitively relates her astounding bravery throughout this period, continuing to look forward and to follow her team’s racing. She died in 1992 at only 50.
The book finishes with a chapter on the important legacy that Lella left behind, including Lella Lombardi Autosport that has continued to support and nurture drivers at grass-roots level in a variety of disciplines in Italian motor sport. There is naturally a full list of her competition history that enables readers to see at a glance the sheer breadth of her experience and the significant successes scored in each field, from the early days in F875, through Formula Ford and Formula 3, to Formula One and the European Touring Car Championship. The list is enormous: nearly 400 appearances between 1965 and 1988. There is a comprehensive index, and solid evidence of the research that the author has carried out is provided by an acknowledgements list that extends to nearly 250 people who have helped to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the story.
Lella Lombardi was and remains an inspiration to all women that aspired and still aspire to get to the top in all forms of motorsport. This book does full justice to that legacy. It is a superb book, and is highly recommended — not just for those interested in motor sport, but for anyone who appreciates endeavour against the odds in any field.
Publisher: Douglas Loveridge Publications
Price: £40 plus postage; available from Chater’s https://www.chaters.co.uk/
Description: Hardback in dust jacket, 302 pages, Many photographs in black & white and colour.
ISBN: 978-1-900113-24-3
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