Publisher's Synopsis
The story of an indomitable and fascinating woman, a pioneer of motorsport who revelled in danger. Born in 1900 in a tiny French village, Hélène Delangle's background offered no clue to her extraordinary future. In the heyday of the 1920s, she headed to Paris to become a ballet-dancer, and then a stripper. A visit to the Actors' Championships, a uniquely French meeting of theatre and racetrack, opened her eyes to the glamorous world of machines and speed. Proving herself a racer of thrilling audacity, the beautiful young woman now known as Hellé Nice caught the attention of the founder of Bugatti, the marque with which her name will always be associated. In an unprecedented career, she competed in numerous Grands Prix, became the only woman to drive on the treacherous American speedbowls in the 1930s, and set new land-speed records before a notorious accident almost ended her racing days. Mysterious accusations of collaboration with the Gestapo destroyed her reputation and wrecked her life, but nothing could crush her spirit.
