A famous Friday Lady's fast Fiat

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This week's Friday Lady, we are sure, needs no introduction. Elsie Wisdom, or 'Bill' to her friends and motorsport fans, had a very enviable career indeed. Racing with considerable success at Le Mans, Brooklands and elsewhere during the 1930s, she was privileged to drive many of the finest sports-cars of the time, and she drove them well. In addition to winning several women's races and setting the women's record at Shelsley Walsh, one of her greatest achievements was winning the 1932 J.C.C. 100-Mile Race at Brooklands with co-driver Joan Richmond, outrunning a grid otherwise comprised entirely of men.

If you're as impressed by Bill's achievements as we are, you might try looking for one of her old racing cars. She had many and quite a number survive, but one of the most unusual is this 1936 Fiat 508S Balilla Spider Sport. Fiats were never common in Britain in the 1930s, but a few raced at Brooklands and this one was supplied new to England. As a Spider Sport, it was rather a nifty thing in standard trim with a two-seat open body, four-speed gearbox and overhead-valve engine, but it soon became a lot more exciting still.

Evidence suggests that this was the Balilla raced at Brooklands by Mrs. Wisdom, as seen on the left of the photograph above in a considerably stripped-down state. We don't know much about its racing career - Bill may not have kept it very long - but during the war it fell into the hands of a mechanic who replaced the original 36 bhp, 995 cc engine with an 1,100 cc unit producing 48 bhp.

After the war, it had the good fortune to be bought by George Liston Young, a great enthusiast who founded the Fiat Register. With the registration number DPL 998, Young drove the Fiat on many events and they appeared several times in the pages of Motor Sport. Notable outings included a run to Monza in 1962, where Young set a a record, and an endurance run at Goodwood in 1964. Completing 421 laps - around 1,000 miles - at an average of 55.52 mph, his run evoked the 1000 km record set by a Balilla at Brooklands in the 1930s. The car also went, with many other historic Fiats, to the Fiat factory at Lingotto where they paraded around its famous rooftop test track.

Young kept an impressive photograph album and extensive correspondence, hence the car's history is so well-documented. Part of a German collection since 1993, it is now being offered for sale by the Broad Arrow Group for €119,000 (approx. £105,000) and can be viewed in Germany.

An unusual Balilla for several reasons besides its race history (as an English model, it is right-hand drive and sports English-made coachwork), it could be the perfect car for anyone with a predilection for lively 1930s sports cars, especially ones with a Brooklands connection.

You can see more here.

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