A LIFE IN CARS

The life and times of rally driver, collector, racer and adventurer Betty Haig, as seen through the lens

Mick Walsh delves into the diaries of racer, collector and character Betty Haig

Through her 81 years, Betty Haig owned and drove a remarkable variety of cars, competing in a vast range of events from the 24 Hours of Le Mans to local sprints. Born in 1905 to a prominent whisky-distilling Scottish family, her great uncle was the WW1 commander Field Marshal, the Earl Haig. Family friends included Count Zborowski, and as a schoolgirl her appetite for speed was whetted by a ride in the spectacular 10-litre chain-drive Fiat Mephistopheles.

Equestrian interests were the teenage Haig’s main passion, and aged 14 she acquired a motorcycle to speed up stable trips. Frustrated by the performance of the ex-war Department Douglas, she secretly tuned the engine with the help of a local garage. A concerned aunt gifted her £50 to buy a car, and Haig’s younger brother encouraged her to buy a 1922 ABC from a Twickenham garage. She collected the car on Christmas Eve and, driving for the first time, brought it home.

The ABC flat-twin developed a habit of catching fire, so a cushion was kept on the back seat to put out the flames. En route to a party at Cowdray Park one night she let the car burn out and bought an Austin Seven Sports with the insurance money. She clocked up more than 18,000 miles in the tuned black Austin, with frequent trips to Scotland, and took delight in storming up the 1-in-10 Duncton Hill at 30mph.

A succession of cars followed, but after a failed marriage and reduced circumstances, Haig raised the money to buy a Jap-powered Morgan

Aero three-wheeler from Brooklands specialist Harold Beart. “It went like a fighter plane and would climb Duncton Hill at 60mph,” recalled Haig to Bill Boddy in ’65. Often with girlfriends as passengers, the Morgan caused quite a stir at society parties but on one trip to Scotland the engine seized and she sold it on the spot. A Morgan was later driven to the south of France and over the Alps to Italy, and when the clutch failed on the new autostrada an Italian towed it into Turin behind his racing motorcycle.

A secondhand MG J2 was replaced by a Singer Le Mans 1½-litre, and Haig entered her first hillclimb at Chalfont St Peter in 1934. When friends enthused about the Paris-st Raphaël Rally – a 1300-mile event for female competitors – Haig and chum Joyce Lambert set off.

The two novices finished and Haig wrote a report to Singer of her experience, gaining works assistance for the 1936 event. Braving it solo to gain extra points, her car’s gearbox broke in Marseilles. She made it home with just 2d in her pocket. Later that year she famously won the German Olympic Rally alongside Lambert in another Singer Le Mans 1½-litre. As always, Haig drove out from London for the event.

She won the 1938 Paris-st Raphaël Féminin with a secondhand MG PB – “the best buy I ever had” – and scored a class win in the ’46 Rally des Alpes with a 10-year-old AC Sports. Ever more active in peacetime, she contested the Monte in a Morris Minor, MG YA and Triumph TR3, and hillclimbed her first single-seater: a dope-fuelled Cooper-jap she towed behind a Jeep.

Her reputation even attracted the attention of Luigi Chinetti, who invited her to co-drive a Ferrari 166MM with Yvonne Simon in the 1951 Le Mans. They finished 15th and won the last ever Coupe des Dames trophy.

Even in her 60s Haig relished the impressive handling of various Lotuses, including a 23,while her fastest-ever road car was a Jaguar XKSS. In later years she restored various cars with friends, including her beloved MG PB, and became a founder figure of several car clubs such as the Historic Sports Car Club.

Haig died in 1987 without publishing her diary, but thanks to Roger Farmer her rich experiences have been gathered with 200 personal photographs in A life behind the wheel.

“Betty’s energy and strength of character were key,” says Farmer. “In rallying, she did not compete to be the best woman driver, she competed to be simply the best driver.”

Just a few copies of the book are left at £35 each. Email agricola1@btinternet.com to order.

With her divorce settled, Haig bought a new 600cc Raleigh motorbike in 1932 and headed off touring across Europe to cheer herself up. She and flatmate Lambert, riding another Raleigh, rode all over the south of France and spent just £4 10s

Haig had great success with Singers, including a 11/2-litre on the 1936 Berlin Olympic Rally. The swastika pennant was removed for the event. Far right: after a dramatic drive across invaded Europe, Haig’s BMW 328 made it back to her house at Westergate where it was stored during WW2

Clockwise from top: Haig was fascinated by new sports cars and couldn’t resist the Lotus Super Seven – with rare Climax engine, de Dion rear and ‘Wobbly Web’ wheels – she spotted at Chequered Flag Garage in 1959; wrapped up for the 1938 Paris-vichy-st Raphaël Féminin Rally with her winning MG PB (from left: navigator Peggy Williams, mechanic Freddie Hore, Pam Moy, Haig and Enid Riddel); high in the Dolomites on the tough 1949 Rallye des Alpes with the MG TC that Haig and Marshall drove to a class win; serving as an ambulance driver with a Chevrolet truck in 1942 during WW2

Clockwise from top: Haig’s first saloon rally car was a Morris Minor that she entered into the 1949 Monte-carlo, which proved a tough challenge in the little 918cc sidevalve; Haig chats with Joan Gerard and Laurel Heath (seated in an Alta) at the first post-war Brighton Speed Trials, in 1946; Turner team at the Great Auclum hillclimb in 1958 with Barbara Marshall (on left), who helped Haig assemble the new acquisition; Haig in the unlucky Morgan Super Sports that she crashed on the Kingston bypass in 1933 after passing out – her passenger, Molly Watkins, was fatally injured

Top: Haig, who owned both ‘Chain Gang’ and Bristol-powered Frazer Nash models, was an instigator of historic racing, and a founder member of the HSCC. In ’63 the ex-lt Colonel Henry O’hara Moore Le Mans Replica FN164 was acquired, which Haig restored and raced into the ’70s – here at Silverstone. Clockwise from above: Haig and Enid Riddell stop at the Austrogerman border in June 1938 – she rated the BMW 328 the finest pre-war sports car; ready for the 1936 Paris-st Raphaël Féminin rally with Daisy Clot and Pam Moy; en route to Natal in 1930, where rough roads and American cars honed her skills