This is the last chapter of the stories about the resolute women driving in Formula One Grand Prix events. It wasn’t easy in a male-oriented sporting
business.
Desire Randall Wilson, daughter of a South African motorbike champion, was born November 26, 1953 in Johannesburg. She was one of the most talented and ferocious competitors in motor racing. In 1979 she was the first woman to lead an F1 race. She headed the field at Zolder in her Tyrrel 008 until she spun out on the wet track. Then in 1980 she was the only woman to win a post-war F1 race. It was in 1980 at Brands Hatch driving a Wolf WR4. Too bad that it was in the short-lived British Aurora F1 championships. It was run with Formula One cars but did not award points.
Wilson began racing in South Africa where she won the 1975 Formula Ford Championship. She and her husband Alan moved to England to continue her career, racing both open wheel and sports cars. Her career was so extensive and varied it is difficult to condense. She was licensed to drive in CART Indy cars, as well holding a FIA Super License allowing her to race Formula One World Championships.
Wilson paired with Alain de Cadenet in 1980. They shared his own sports car, the de Cadenet LM1. They took 3rd at the Brands Hatch 1000km, and won both the Monza 1000km and the Silverstone 6 Hour.
Probably Wilson’s biggest disappointment came at the 1980 British Grand Prix. She drove a Williams FW07 for the Brands Hatch Racing team but failed to qualify because of a poorly repaired chassis. This was her only official Grand Prix entry. In 1981 she drove a Tyrrell 010 to qualify 16th in the South African Grand Prix that was stripped of championship status for political reasons.
In 1982, she failed to qualify for the Indy 500 driving an 81 Eagle but also competed in eight races in the CART Indy Series. She finished 7th at Le Mans in a Porsche 956 that same year. She placed 7th at the 1983 Le Mans with the Porsche 956 and took 4th at the 1984 Brands Hatch 1000km in a Porsche 956. Four years later she raced a Porsche 692C in Britain and Japan.
Wilson’s racing resume has 12 pole positions, 24 wins, 16 second places, 43 third places, 28 fastest race laps and 17 track records. She has driven more than 120 different types of racecars on more than 98 race tracks in 17 different countries.
She moved to Salt Lake City where she became a U.S citizen. Her husband, Alan Wilson, is a well-known race course designer.
Giovanna Amati was born in Rome on June 20, 1959 to actress Anna Pancni and cinema chain owner Giovanni Amati. She was interested in racing at an early age. When she was 15, she bought a Honda motorcycle and hid it from her parents for two years. Amati attended a racing school before she began racing professionally in the 1981 Formula Abarth. She did well enough to progress up through Formula Three to Formula 3000 in 1987.
In 1989, Amati was not successful when she ran Formula 3000 in Japan. She returned to Europe the next year to race with several different teams with little success.
The Brabham Team was on the decline in 1992 when they decided a female driver would bring them some attention.
They had Amati drive a Brabham BT60Y but she had little experience in F1. At the South African Grand Prix she was unable to qualify because she spun six times during practice. She also didn’t qualify at the Mexican and Brazilian Grand Prix. Soon after the last race, she was replaced by Damon Hill.
Giovanna did very well in sports cars over the next seven years. In 1993, she went into the Porsche Super Cup to win the Women’s European Championship. Later on she raced Ferraris, Alfa Romeos, and BMW M3s.
By 1999 Amati had moved on to media; writing for Italian motorsport publications and doing television commentary. But there is an interesting backstory about Giovanna Amati when she was 18 years old.
According to Wikipedia: “She had been kidnapped for ransom on February 12, 1978 by three gangsters in a group led by Jean Daniel Nieto … Amati had been taken out of a car she was sitting in near her parent’s villa and was taken away in a van. Her captors took her into a house located near to her parent’s home but moved her when police came searching. She was kept in a wooden cage for 75 days and physically and mentally abused … but Nieto comforted her. Amati was released on a 800 million lira ($933,000 in 1978) ransom on April 27 using box office receipts from the film Star Wars and her mother sold some of her jewelry and managed to get into her servants’ life savings to pay the ransom….
Nieto, a French citizen, was later arrested after meeting with the former kidnapped (girl) …. Newspapers published stories detailing the strong emotional ties between Nieto and Amati. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Nieto escaped prison in 1989 and remained a fugitive until he was arrested in April 2010.”