DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

Rosemary Smith Translator & Author

Rosemary Smith is a rally driver from Dublin. Her father taught her to drive at the age of 11 in a field in Tallaght. Leaving school at 15, Rosemary trained as a dress designer and model and opened a boutique dressmaking company. Rosemary was asked to navigate for a friend in a rally but soon took over the driving. Rosemary was the first and only woman driver to win the Tulip Rally outright, beating all the male drivers to the finish. Rosemary is passionate about road safety and opened the Rosemary Smith School of Motoring in 1999 where she teaches young people to drive. In 2017, at 80 years of age she became the oldest person to drive a Renault Sports Formula One team car.