Patsy Burt - Early Career

Early Career

Patsy Burt's introduction to motor sport was through her father, Eric Burt, who was himself an accomplished racing driver. After initially disliking visits to the Brooklands circuit to watch her father and others competing on the high speed Surrey banking, following World War II she trained as a riding instructor. However, she remained in contact with motor racing through her father's involvement with the Junior Car Club, and occasionally spectated at the Goodwood Circuit, one of Britain's few post-war motor racing venues. Eventually she was tempted into taking part herself, and began her driving career at the wheel of a Jowett Javelin in 1953.

Initially her driving was restricted to rallying and driving tests, through which she eventually earned works drives for a number of manufacturers including BMC, Triumph and Ford. However, it was not long before she also began to take part in circuit races, and she worked her way up from her Javelin firstly to a Jaguar XK120, and then an Aston Martin DB2/4. It was while driving the Aston at Goodwood in 1955 that she overheard a male spectator's comment that she would later cite as a major motivating factor in her future career: "Look, a woman driving. Oh, what a waste of a beautiful motor car".

The next season Patsy Burt exchanged her road cars for some proper competition machinery. She competed in a few hillclimb and circuit events in an Aston Martin DB3S, and the following year bought a Cooper T39 "Bobtail" sport racer. It was with Coopers that Patsy Burt's name would become most associated over the subsequent decade.