Ageing with attitude: Rallying Rosemary Smith is still mad for road

Margaret Jennings speaks to a trailblazer who has defied gender stereotypes, and is defying age stereotypes in a viral Formula One video for Renault.

‘I’LL be 80 next month — I don’t think my grandmother would have driven an ordinary car at that age, not to talk of a Formula One, but life has changed so much. People used to be old at 50,” says Rosemary Smith.

The Dubliner made headlines back in the mid-60s for crashing through the gender barrier in the international rally driving circuit.