| Christine Beckers | |
|---|---|
 Beckers in 1978 | |
| Born | 4 December 1943 Uccle, Belgium |
| Years active | 1966–1979 |
| Championship titles | |
| 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972 and 1974 | Belgian Women's Drivers' Champion |
Christine Beckers (known professionally by the mononym Christine; born 4 December 1943 in Uccle) is a Belgian former racing driver who had success in multiple disciplines: circuit (in touring cars and prototypes), rallying, rally raid, hillclimbing, autoslalom, and NASCAR.
She made her debut in 1966 in rallying at the wheel of an NSU and drove for the German brand for two years. In 1967 she participated in 29 events including the 24 Hours of Spa with Marie-Claude Beaumont, and won her first title as Belgian Drivers' Champion.
In 1968, after several successes in an NSU Prinz and a few races in single-seater Formula Vee, she was contracted by Alfa Romeo Benelux as a works driver. [1] In 37 events, both on circuits and rallying, she regularly won her class in an Alfa Romeo GTV. The highlight of her season was winning the overall ranking at the Houyet hillclimb race driving the Alfa Romeo GTA SA of Team Lucien Bianchi.
She competed in the 24 Hours of Spa eleven times, contesting her last official race on a circuit in July 1980. She also entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times between 1973 and 1977, and particularly distinguished herself in 1974, supported by the French Marie Laurent and Belgian Yvette Fontaine, winning the 2-liter class in a Chevron. [2] In 1976, she joined the prestigious Inaltéra team, with Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Beltoise, in a team with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Jean Rondeau. In the 1977 24 Hours of Le Mans, together with Lella Lombardi (the only woman to have scored a point in the Formula One World Championship), she obtained the best female ranking in the competition to date (11th overall), despite a series of spins following an electrical failure at more than 320 kilometres per hour (200 mph) on the Mulsanne Straight. In the middle of the night, she repaired the Inaltéra alone, costing her more than two hours of downtime, both on the track and in the pits.
In addition, she participated in three editions of the Paris–Dakar Rally, in 1979, 1980 and 1982, and was the first woman to do so. [3]
In 1977 Beckers and Lombardi were invited by NASCAR to drive in the Firecracker 400 at the Daytona International Speedway. [4] [5] She also took part in two editions of the 24 Hours of Daytona at the same circuit, driving an Inaltera and a BMW M3.
In 2024 the 80-year-old Beckers is planning to set a Guinness World Record by becoming the oldest person to drive a Formula One car. On 21 July, she intends to drive a 1980s-era Arrows A8 around Belgium's Circuit Zolder. [6]
She was engaged to French driver Roger Dubos, but he died during the 1973 edition of the 24 Hours of Spa in a crash with the German Hans-Peter Joisten. [7]
Trained as a journalist, she returned to this profession after her retirement from competition, notably in automobile magazines. She also rides motorcycles, flies, paraglides, and drives ATVs. She made several desert crossings with her second husband, Louis Schmitz. Together, they sponsored Thierry Boutsen in Formula 1, before adopting, with the help of Boutsen and Ayrton Senna, two children from Brazil.
In 2014 Beckers published an autobiography, La course ou la vie: Itinéraire d'une femme rapide (Race or Life: Itinerary of a Fast Woman). [8]
Louis Alexandre Chiron was a Monégasque racing driver who competed in rallies, sports car races, and Grands Prix.
Mauro Giuseppe Baldi is an Italian former Formula One and endurance driver who raced for the Arrows, Alfa Romeo and Spirit teams.
Lucien Bianchi was an Italian-born Belgian racing driver who raced for the Cooper, ENB, UDT Laystall and Scuderia Centro Sud teams in Formula One. He entered a total of 19 Formula One World Championship races, scoring six points and had a best finish of third at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix.
Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi was an Italian racing driver who participated in 17 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix. Lombardi is one of two female drivers to qualify for Formula One and is the only female driver who scored points in Formula One.
The Alfa Romeo GTA is a coupé automobile manufactured by the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1965 to 1971. It was made for racing (Corsa) and road use (Stradale).
The Alfa Romeo Alfetta is a front-engine, five-passenger sedan and fastback coupé manufactured and marketed by Alfa Romeo from 1972 to 1987 with a production total over 400,000.
The Alfa Romeo 105 and 115 series coupés are a range of cars made by the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1963 until 1977, based on a shortened floorpan from the Giulia saloon. They were the successors to the Giulietta Sprint coupé.
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During its history, Alfa Romeo has competed successfully in many different categories of motorsport, including Grand Prix motor racing, Formula One, sportscar racing, touring car racing and rallies. They have competed both as a constructor and an engine supplier, via works entries and private entries. The first racing car was made in 1913, three years after the foundation of A.L.F.A., the 40/60 HP had 6-litre straight-4 engine. Alfa Romeo quickly gained a good name in motorsport and gave a sporty image to the whole marque.
Antoine Emile "Toine" Hezemans is a Dutch former touring and prototype racing car driver in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from racing, Hezemans started manufacturing karting engines. He developed the Rotax 100 cc engines into a World championship winner in his new factory at Eindhoven Airport in Holland. His Rotax engines won 10 times the world championships in various classes and wiped out the Italian karting competition. He sold his company Bombardier Rotax Holland b.v. back to Bombardier in Canada in 1996. In 2000 he started his own team with Dodge Vipers and won numerous races in the Gt 1 Championship. He made a deal with GM in the USA and got hold of 2 Corvettes C6 and was successful privateer Team, winning 2 times the 24 hours of Spa. One of the drivers was his son, Mike Hezemans. Even today he has a European Nascar team where his sons Loris Hezemans and Liam Hezemans won the European Nascar championships 3 times. Since 1978, he is very active in real estate projects in Miami, Brussels and Amsterdam.
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Nathalie Maillet was a French-Luxembourgish architect, promoter, and racing driver. She previously competed in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series and was the former CEO of Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for five years before her passing in 2021.
Yvette Fontaine is a Belgian former racing driver.
Germaine Rouault was a French racing driver.
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