Dorothy Levitt | |
|---|---|
 Levitt on the frontispiece of The Woman and the Car | |
| Born | Elizabeth Levi 5 January 1882 |
| Died | 17 May 1922 (aged 40) Marylebone, London, UK |
| Occupation(s) | racing driver, journalist |
Dorothy Elizabeth Levitt (born Elizabeth Levi; 5 January 1882 – 17 May 1922) was a British racing driver and journalist. She was the first British woman racing driver, holder of the world's first water speed record, the women's world land speed record holder, and an author. She was a pioneer of female independence and female motoring and taught Queen Alexandra and the Royal Princesses how to drive. In 1905, she established the record for the longest drive achieved by a lady driver by driving a De Dion-Bouton from London to Liverpool and back over two days, receiving the soubriquets in the press of the Fastest Girl on Earth, and the Champion Lady Motorist of the World.
Levitt's book The Woman and the Car: A Chatty Little Handbook for all Women who Motor or Who Want to Motor (1909), recommended that women should "carry a little hand-mirror in a convenient place when driving" so they may "hold the mirror aloft from time to time in order to see behind while driving in traffic." She also advised women travelling alone to carry a handgun; her recommendation was an automatic Colt, as, in her opinion, its relative lack of recoil made it particularly suitable for women.
Levitt's 1903 court case against a GPO van driver who had hit her car was another landmark, the first legal case in England won by the driver of a self-propelled vehicle.[1]