Imagine for a moment it is 1932. You are Hellé Nice, popularly known as The Bugatti Queen. You have recently won the title 'fastest lady' at the Mount Ventoux hillclimb and today you have just roared up the Klausen Pass Hill Climb in your Type 35 Bugatti in record time. But what's this? As she is waving to the crowd, she hears the other lady competitor comes skidding round the final corner and across the line in her Bugatti. The timing clock tells her the awful truth - she has been beaten.
Just who is this new champion who has the audacity to snatch glory from The Bugatti Queen? There she is holding the Bugatti's steering wheel in our picture and her name is Emma Munz from Switzerland. She does have a nice smile, but her eyes definitely have a determination in them, and this picture of her shows a smooth driving style. Hellé Nice, on the other hand, is furious and marches over to Emma Munz to have it out with her. Witnesses say: "They fought like a couple of fish wives!" A policeman is reported as pulling his gun from its holster and threatened to shoot the Bugatti's tyres unless they showed some sportsmanship and shook hands. We can assure you such behaviour is discouraged at the finish line of Prescott and Shelsley Walsh .
(Text Robin Batchelor, pictures from archive)