BOOK REVIEW  by Peter Baker

Betty Haig: A Life Behind the Wheel

Based on personal diaries and supported by a thorough investigation by author Roger Farmer, this is the story of the relatively unknown Betty Haig. Born into a wealthy background based on whisky distilling, Betty loved fast cars and later became a successful rally driver, so it is tempting to compare Betty with Pat Moss, which in many ways would be erroneous. Yes, they both loved horses, and yes, they both won international rallies. But Betty Haig, unlike Pat, never found happiness and after a disastrous marriage, devoted the rest of her life to motor sport, becoming Honorary Club Secretary of the Frazer-Nash Car Club, before entering a deeper relationship with the then recently created HSCC between 1966 and 1973.

Betty Haig grew up in the wilds of Scotland, living with a mother who considered her ‘too absent minded to ever be a good driver’, so buying a Douglas motorcycle in 1919 for the princely sum of £12.00 acted as the much needed catapult to freedom. Her first car, and the one in which she taught herself to drive, was a 12hp ABC bought with £60.00 gifted from an aunt on Christmas Eve 1924. It caught fire less than two weeks later. This was replaced by her first ‘new’ car, a ‘Sports’ Austin Seven, that served as a reliable link between her new London base and the family home. So far, so good. But then, seemingly on a whim, she married Bentley owner and all-round naughty boy, Denis Sprague, a hopeless arrangement that didn’t work. As an antidote to depression the family sent her to South Africa for a few months. On her return, in September 1930, Betty crashed her Morgan, killing her passenger and best friend, Molly Watkins.

Following her divorce Betty returned to London, sharing a flat with Joyce Lambert and touring Europe by motorcycle, later joining the Junior Car Club in 1934. Before the outbreak of War in 1939 she had entered the Paris-St. Raphael Rally four times, winning outright in 1938. After the war, in 1949 she competed on Rallye Monte-Carlo, three up in a Morris Minor, finishing a creditable 44th overall, won a ‘Coupe des Dames’ three times on the Rallye des Alpes, and in June 1951 finished 15th at Le Mans, sharing a Ferrari 166MM Berlinetta with Yvonne Simon.

By the time Betty Haig retired in 1975 she had entered over 160 events and owned some 109 cars, some of which still feature prominently in historic motor sport.

This 265-page biography of Betty Haig is well illustrated with both black-and-white and colour images and is a limited edition print run of just 350.

Betty Haig: A Life Behind the Wheel
Written by Roger Farmer
ISBN 978-1-78926-019-0