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Born Elizabeth Levi in West Hackney in 1882, Dorothy Levitt was the portrait of a go-getting 21st century woman. Independent, dare-devil and stereotype breaker and challenger of social conventions, she became a pioneer lady motorist, racing driver, motor yacht racer, aviatrix, author and newspaper columnist. Between 1903 and 1910 she reached the zenith of her fame, being honoured at home and abroad for her ground-breaking motoring triumphs. At the age of 18, this beautiful and stylish young woman was working as a temporary typist in the New Burlington Street showroom and offices of Selwyn Edge – a leading light in racing and selling cars such as the De-Dion Bouton and Napier marques. At a time when motoring was in its infancy and when the few women who drove tended to be wives of the landed classes or early automobile designers (such as Carl Benz’s wife Bertha), Edge soon spotted that Dorothy’s aptitude for cars was ripe for nurture. With him as her Svengali, a whole new world opened up to her. Pre-dating circuit track racing, it was a world that would see her pit her wits at sprints, hill-climbs, reliability trials and long-distance rallies; one in which she would compete and win against men and take the women’s land speed record twice. Her first reported motor car success came in May 1903 when she completed a 400-mile, two-day reliability run from Glasgow to London via Leeds driving a 12hp Gladiator. That October, she then became the first woman in Britain to win a competitive motor event when she entered the Southport Speed Trials.