author
Dorothy Levitt
1882–1922
A bold early motoring pioneer, she wrote with the same confidence she brought to the track and the water. Her lively 1909 guide, The Woman and the Car, mixes practical advice with a clear belief that driving could give women more freedom.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in London in 1882, Dorothy Levitt became famous as a racing driver, speed record holder, and motoring journalist at a time when women were rarely welcomed in those worlds. She was widely described as the first British woman racing driver, and her public image was built around skill, daring, and independence.
Her best-known book, The Woman and the Car: A Chatty Little Handbook for All Women Who Motor or Who Want to Motor, was published in 1909. Written in a direct, encouraging style, it offers hands-on advice for women learning to drive while also making a broader case for confidence, self-reliance, and mobility.
That mix of practical instruction and personal freedom is what makes her writing still feel fresh. Levitt died in 1922, but her work remains a vivid snapshot of the early age of motoring and of a woman determined to claim space in it.