GB
Raced Cars on all the big circuits between the Wars
Gwenda Hawkes was a highly accomplished driver achieving world and class records often on equal terms with men.
Gwenda married three times an raced at Brooklands as Gwenda Janson and Gwenda Stewart but married her third husband, Douglas Hawkes, in the late 1920s. Born Gwenda Glubb in Preston in 1884 she was the sister of Glubb Pasha who built up and commanded the Arab Legion between 1930 and 1956. These name changes causes modern writters to sometimes treat her as more than one person.
Coming from an adventurous family in World War 1 she drove ambulances on the Russian and Romanian fronts and in World War 2 again served her country joining the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service. Between the two World wars she raced giant cars on the great banked Surrey circuit that was the birthplace of British motorsport. She is particularly remembered for competing in the 1933 single seater Duesenberg in the 1936 BRDC 500 miles race sharing the drive with its then owner, Jack Duller.
With Douglas she ran the Brooklands Engineering Company in the 1940s. Gwenda Hawkes died in 1990 aged 95.
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Author: ArchitectPage
