The death was announced on Tuesday of Irish motorsport pioneer Rosemary Smith, aged 86. Smith had an incredible career in motorsport in the 1950s and 1960s initially, with a crowning triumph being her outright victory in the Dutch Tulip Rally of 1965, the equivalent of a World Rally Championship round today. She competed in eight Monte Carlo rallies and finished some of the most arduous long-distance events – the London to Sydney rally (1968) and the 1970 London to Mexico rally. Smith topped out her career behind the wheel in 2017 when at 79 she became the oldest person to drive a current specification Formula One car, as she successfully tested the Renault Sport F1 car at Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France.
1964: A publicity shot taken early in Smith's burgeoning driving career. Photograph: Frank Fennell
1967: Smith trains at Silverstone for the RAC British Grand Prix. Photograph: Mike McLaren//Getty
1973: At a charity event in Dublin with actor Biddy White-Lennon, athlete Miss Mary. Photograph: Paddy Whelan
1983: Smith attends a fundraising launch of the Dublin City Ballet. She was a patron of the company. She is accompanied here by by the company's founder-director Lewis O'Sullivan and dancer Rachal Murray (13). Photograph: Dermot O'Shea
2009: Smith, in her Hillman car, participates in a charity Cannonball Run at Dublin's Merrion Square. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Undated: Smith at an event to cerebrate her life in rallying. Photograph: Beta Bajg
2013: Smith was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council Sportswoman of the Year Awards. Photograph: Alan Betson
2015: Rosemary Smith with memorabilia from her career in rallying. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
2018: One of Smith's crowning moments came in May 2017, when, at the age of 79, she became the oldest person to drive an 800bhp F1 racing car during a test drive with the Renault F1 Team at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France. Photograph: Barry Cronin
2020: Rosemary Smith sitting drinking wine in her front garden, having a socially distant chat with her neighbour Deborah Harpur, during a Covid lockdown: Photograph: Tom Honan
