Bugatti Queen: In Search of a French Racing Legend

by Miranda Seymour

“Even if you have never thrilled to the drone of powerful cars jockeying for position on a racetrack,” writes London’s Literary Review, “Miranda Seymour’s biography of the daring female driver Hellé Nice will have you riveted to your seat.” Indeed, the story of this record-shattering woman–known as “Hellish Nice” to her fans and “Hell on Ice” to her rivals–provides a fascinating and unexpected view of Europe and America in the years between the wars.

Transcending her provincial background, and taking the name “Hellé Nice,” Hélène Delangle made her way into the Parisian demimonde of the 1920s as a nude model, ballerina, and cabaret dancer. But it was on the racetrack, thrilled by the combination of machinery and speed, that Nice would realize her destiny, becoming the “fastest woman in the world.”

Catching the attention of the formidable Ettore Bugatti, designer of the world’s most desirable cars, Nice gained admission to the exclusive male club of drivers. Her readiness to pose for the camera with seductively half-closed eyes and a radiant smile, coupled with her willingness to risk her life for a record or a win, made Hellé Nice an irresistible commodity for Bugatti’s marque. Impenitently promiscuous, her many lovers ranged from engineers and mechanics to aristocrats of the racing world such as Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Count Bruno d’Harcourt.

A racer of thrilling audacity, Hellé Nice competed in numerous Grand Prix, was the only woman to drive the treacherous American dirt tracks and speedbowls in the 1930s, and set new land-speed records until a notorious accident in Brazil nearly ended her racing career. Her comeback impeded by the war, she lived out the Occupation in the South of France. In 1949, she was mysteriously denounced by a hostile fellow driver as a Gestapo agent. Eventually, Hellé Nice would die in obscurity, the shadow on her reputation causing her name to be written out of racing history.

Drawn from a remarkable cache of newly discovered papers, Miranda Seymour’s Bugatti Queen sheds new light on both the treacherous world of international racing and life in Occupied France, while revealing the story of a fearless and passionate woman who lived for challenge.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, Reference, France, Sports

352 pages, Hardcover

First published February 2, 2004

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Harriet Walter reads Miranda Seymour's story of Helene Delangle.

Broadcast on:
BBC Radio 7, 3:15pm Monday 19th July 2010
Duration:
15 minutes
Available until:
3:32pm Monday 26th July 2010
Categories:
Factual, Life Stories, Drama, Biographical

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this biography about one of the world's first women racing superstars a fascinating glimpse into the world of racing and a turbulent life of a woman who ultimately lives a lonely life. The author did a lot of research into the early days of car racing and brings the excitement and pioneering field to life for the reader. There are many blanks in our understanding of who Helle Nice is, but Seymour has a way of getting under the surface and making realistic suppositions about the motivations of a woman who came from a small French village to become one of France's foremost drivers in the pre-WWII days. The sad story of what happens to her, through accidents, betrayal and then through the traumatic war days, is well written and provides a sympathetic voice for a woman who would otherwise have become a forgotten legend. The story of how the evidence and the possibility for the biography to happen at all were tantalisingly given at the end of the book, which was a strong finish.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

From BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime:
Miranda Seymour's biography of Helene Delangle (AKA Helle Nice), a successful dancer and model who turned racing driver in 1930s France. Read by Harriet Walter.

[Jeane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never heard of her but was attracted by Bugatti. I have to say that it was a nice read.

[Lisbeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed Miranda Seymour's biography Robert Graves, Life on the Edge, so it was with much anticipation that I started her biography of Hélène Delangle, or as she called herself Hellé Nice. One of these women that seem to embrace life and go for it.

She was born in a small French village in 1900. The 1920s saw her in Paris and its swinging life. She started out as a model for nude photos, took ballet and dance lessons and entered show business. She had numerous lovers, she really could not stay with anyone for long. Many of them within her own business, and many of them within the car racing business. That is how she became one of the best and most famous women in the car racing area.

She was fearless and loved to challenge life. And, she was interesting in winning which made her a fierce competitor.
"Hélène charted out her own course of victories in the ALps. Bobsleighing and skiing in the winters, she spent each summer with Kléber Balmart, one of France's finest skiers, climbing L'Aiguille Verte, Le Greppon Bland and Mont Blanc. In 1925, she noted with satisfaction that she had climbed Mont Blanc again, and by the most dangerous route; photographed at the end of the climb, she beamed down at the camera, glowing with the pleasure of a goal achieved."
Once she entered into the car racing business there was nothing holding her back. She broke speed records that stood the time, competing against men in competitions where women were allowed in. Otherwise in women's racing. She did consider herself good enough to compete with men, so that was her favourite runs. The competitions took her around Europe, North Africa, USA and South America.

Miranda Seymour has, once again, written an exciting life story of a woman who is rather little known today. As so often happens, it was just a coincidence that she 'ran into' Hellé Nice, and it was not always easy to find facts about her life. Even so, Seymour has done a wonderful work with her research, stayed with the facts she found and given us a fascinating story of a woman who conquered the world and her times by her own efforts. Highly recommendable.

Review from my blog thecontentreader.blogspot.com

[Ann Otto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Continuing my reading of some historical auto racing figures, Seymour's book on French driver Helle Nice (born Helene Delangle) seemed like a good choice. The book is interesting as Nice isn't well known. The author thinks some of this is due to her flamboyant personality and inability to forge meaningful relationships. Highly promiscuous and with what many thought a tawdry choice of former occupations few acknowledged her. But she was fast. However, Seymour gives little credit to the many other women drivers of the time. She is intent on giving Nice her place in history. I'd never heard of Nice, so maybe that's fair.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat hagiographic bio of Hellé Nice the French female race driver of the 1930's. Not a lot of historical record available for large parts of her life so author has interpeted these areas herself. Some of the interpretations do not seem to me to be backed up by the quotes within the book eg relationship with sister.

Nice's story is inherently interesting but needs a much better chronicler than this one.

[Adam Bane · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely fascinating book. Hellé Nice was an amazing woman, a pioneer of women's rights and gender equality. It is a travesty that she died in abject poverty following false denunciation as a Nazi collaborator. She is buried in an unmarked grave. The French authorities should build a monument in her honour.

[Mark Bowden · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a curious book - part biography, part novel - and I am not sure that either part fully works. I tried to be fair but I don't really get on with these part fiction/part fact works. The novelistic bits are more readable but one is constantly aware that they just might not be right, and yet these are real people being discussed. There may just not be enough surviving documentation for a straight biography but there is clearly a lot of correspondence, which Seymour does not quote very fully. Also, Seymour falls into the biographers' trap of emphasising the brilliance of her subject, Helle Nice, by quite unnecessarily belittling others. The other women involved in the early years of motor sport were more than a 'handful' and I think they all had plenty of 'guts and stamina' (138). I think Seymour is probably unfair to members of Helle Nice's family as well and the suggestion of childhood sexual abuse (144) without any substantive evidence is bordering on the irresponsible. It is also slightly wearing to have nearly every racing circuit labelled as 'one of the most dangerous in the world'. There is little doubt that Helle Nice was a remarkable woman but I fully understand why so many people disliked her.
I don't know of a really good history of women's role in motor sport from the beginnings to the 1930s but I would like to find one.

[Saskia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book tells the story of Hélène Delangle, one of the first female motor racers and one of the most successful at that time.

I enjoyed reading this book on so many levels. Miranda Seymour found a wonderful style to write her story, that makes it super easy to read. It's nearly as reading a history and not a biography. And the history of Hélène is super fascinating in itself. What she achieved, how she bent the rules, how she just lived her passion is super inspiring!

So for everyone who is looking for stories of unapologetic women who bend the rules of society should definitely have Hélène on their list. For everyone else I would suggest to read the book just to see what women are absolutely capable of!

[MargCal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish ... The Bugatti Queen: in search of a motor-racing legend / Miranda Seymour ... 26 February 2018
ISBN: 0743478592 … 262 pp. + notes, index, etc

I enjoyed Seymour's memoir “In My Father's House” and picked this up thinking it was somehow related to that. A false assumption. I did get about 1/3 in but although the woman in question Hélène Delangle, aka Hellé Nice, led an interesting life it wasn't interesting enough to me to continue reading, particularly as there were so many suppositions, probablys, etc to fill in a whole lot of blanks in the evidence.

Borrowed from my local library.

[Philip Harford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the type of book I would normally read, especially about motor racing. However, someone gave it me to read and I am glad that they did. Helene was an amazing woman with so many artistic talents and the confidence to do just about anything. They certainly don't make 'em like that anymore. A winner in all that she did. I would recommend this to everyone. For me, the book was interesting especially in the racing bits but in other places it was slower going. One day I will read it again! I would also love to see a documentary made on this.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abandoned on page 28 of 262. Dull

[Penny Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A riveting read of an unknown heroine. What a girl!

[Mariori · Rating 5 out of 5]

The untold story of Hellen Nice. Very interesting facts about the pre-war era of Grand Prix racing. Highly recommended!

[Maggie Emmett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I confess I found this on a remainder table and after I read it I could not imagine why it was there!
I rarely read biography, something has to really interest me. I do not drive but when I was 17 years of age I had a passion for a drummer/apprentice motor mechanic to whom I became engaged and as good women of the era did I went wherever he wanted to go on our dates e.g. motor races. I drove around with him in self-construucted a fibre glass Lotus Europa, never fearing the danger of the road I could plainly see beneath my feet. The outcome was no marriage - his oily, dirty nails put me off as well as the fact he joined the Police to get out of Vietnam then dumped the Police too.
But I always loved cars, fast cars. My grandmother was one of the earliest drivers in the UK. But realistically I thought if I drove I'd be a danger to others on the road, because when I tried to learn I loved the accelerator far too much. So my car driving became the stuff of dreams and watching Grand Prix on late night TV.

So this defiant, smiling woman, leaning back casually holding a crossed knee on the front cover defined as a "motor-racing legend' was intriguing to say the least. But this was really, in one sense, a fairy tale and I loved it. The quality of the writing is outstanding as Seymour describes the magical, if slow, transformation of Helene Delangle the country yokel from a French village into Helle Nice - The Bugati Queen.
From her humble beginnings she becomes the woman who drives first at the average of 198mph over ten laps, on uneven surfaces in the high banked walls of France's first speed track in an Ettore Bugatti model 35.
She becomes the fastest women in the world, skidding round the top of Montlhery's goldfish bowl at the rate of 48seconds a lap, knowing full well that a blown tyre, a loose screw or a faulty brake will hurtle her over the concrete rim to certain death. She is a courageous, dedicated driver who has to fight against all the usual gender stereotypes and limits.

I thought the book was a gripping account of 1930's motor car racing in both Europe and America, which I have to say I wasn't expecting to particularly enjoy, but I did. But it is the woman herself who is so fascinating. She's a strong, intelligent, beautiful, glamorous, sexy woman, totally at ease with her body and sexuality. Seymour was lucky to have found such a richly colourful character, and the narrative is full-throttle in all areas. The backgrounds of the era, the lifestyle, the races, the lovers, the deaths are all explored and exposed with astonishing honesty.
Ms Helle Nice can be a feminist hero(-ine, for those still attached to girlie endings), or if you are moralistic retrograde she's a "good-time girl", possibly "emortionally stunted". She certainly enjoyed fucking and had no religious moral compass.

She is certainly the forgotten " Championne du monde automobile" who totally derserved to be be given full honour and tribute. Seymour supplies a few necessary details about races but it is generally related to the text and adds to our knowledge; but there are no petrolhead stats to turn you off.
The Bugati Queen is a tightrope walker between speed and death; the wonders and the dangers of motor racing. The photos in the middle are intriguing and we see this tiny women with her great rack (particularly evident in the early dancing and nude shots in Paris) charismatic, exciting those she meets. We see her before she drives, after she drives, a winner triumphant, so often with her broad, perfect white-teeth grin. She drives at Le Mans, Grenoble GP, Marseille GP, La Baule, Daytona, Pau GP and travels the world proving herself as a driver of thrilling audacity and talent. Until...
Well I won't spoil it.
Enjoy the spine-tingling races, the excitement os the thrills, spills and visceral recklessness of motor racing. Set so well in the wider socio-historical context we can enjoy the determination, joie de vivre and the sheer bloody minded nerve of this amazing woman, the Bugati Queen.

I cannot imagine why some woman from Hollywood has not snapped this story up and is immediately doing a bi-opic - better still a European director so we don't miss out on the sex!

[Mark Morey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lacks objectivity where Hélène Delangle was a journey man (or journey person) driver. Lacks research into motor racing for those who don't know the sport. The focus is on the excitement of speed where racing is has a sexual element, and in fact a quote by Delangle highlights the sexuality of being one with a grand prix car, and a grand prix car being an extension of the driver. Also inaccurate with other technical details.

[Kiwiflora · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE BUGATTI QUEEN by Miranda Seymour

I know nothing about motor racing, nothing about Bugatti cars, nothing about the racing car drivers of the day and the racing car world, and very little about the lives of the rich and famous in France between the wars. Helene Delange, known publicly as Helle Nice, was one of the most famous, most successful and undoubtedly the most glamorous of them all. From a young age it seems she was destined for great things, born in 1903, just south of Paris, with a determination to escape the small town life that she was born into. She moved to Paris when she was 16 to become a dancer, and quickly found success in the music halls that were so popular. She quickly found a taste too for the glamorous life, with her bright, exhibitionist and risque personality, her beauty and insatiable desire for wealth,fame and men. Her dancing earned her enough money and attention to enter motor racing, cars still being very much the preserve of the very wealthy. She had many suitors and affairs, and one can't help wondering while reading of her numerous lovers,if she really only saw them as a means to an end, ie more fame and money. Her success as a woman racing car driver, of whom there were very, very few, took her to America where her fearlessness and wins turned her into an overnight sensation. By now very famous in the motor racing world, she returned to Europe, and became a regular driver on the Grand Prix circuit. Although she never won a Grand Prix race, she continued to excel with her competitiveness in this male dominated world, at the same time exploiting her femininity for all it was worth. This hedonistic life was brought to a sudden halt with a serious crash in Brazil in 1936, that left her seriously injured and a number of people dead. Although she was cleared of any responsibility for the accident, it weighed heavily on her and she never really got over it. Of course shortly after this, war intervened and effectively her racing career was over. She was by this time very wealthy, but had gotten involved with a much younger man to whom she spent lavishly on in order to retain his affections. Naturally he left and by the time the war was over she had nothing left. She remained in France throughout the war, and found herself accused of collaborating with the German occupiers, although this was never proved. Her final years were spent in poverty, at the mercy of a Paris based charity. By the time she died in the 1980s, she had been forgotten about, estranged from her family who couldn't deal with her notoriety, and buried as a pauper.

Although not a huge book by the standards of a biography, Miranda Seymour has written a very detailed account of a legend in motor racing circles. There is no doubt she was a pioneer, glamorous and beautiful to boot, which always helps, despite what the feminists would say! There is a lot in the book about motor vehicles and racing cars and engines and comparisons between one model over another and so on - petrol head stuff. But if this is not quite your cup of tea, do persevere as the story itself is worth reading and very absorbing. Helle Nice was not in the same league perhaps as Jean Batten, but she is definitely the same type of woman.

[Gerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Helle Nice may well have been the fastest woman on four wheels at one point in her career but this biography is a somewhat uninspiring one and does not set the pulse racing, as it were.

The best part of a rather dull book, despite some of the outrageous things that the heroine did in her career, was the afterword that told how the author tracked down documentation that had been missing for some years.

Perhaps a real motoring enthusiast would see it in a better light but for me it was dull.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

www.bbc.co.uk


1/5 The story of Mariette Helene Delangle, model and dancer turned Grand Prix racing driver.
2/5 Mariette Hélène Delangle becomes Hellé Nice and enters the first Grand Prix for women.
3/5 Can Hellé Nice, risqué dancer turned Grand Prix racing driver, break the world record?
4/5 Model-turned-Grand Prix driver Hellé Nice survives racing accidents and World War II.
5/5 Personal, political and financial problems dog Hellé Nice as her racing years fade.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A surprising pleasure. Here is a remarkable woman, in the age of remarkable machines (I'd read cereal box ingredients if they mentioned Bugattis): an easy formula for a passable book. The surprise is what a sympathetic biographer Seymour is, drawing her subject deftly and lovingly to life. She seems to have been seduced by the unfolding character of Helle Nice, and it makes for a seductive read.

[Paquita Lamacraft · Rating 4 out of 5]

When truth is stranger than fiction. A beautiful French striptease artist becomes fascinated with automobiles and catches the eye of Emelio Bugatti. A brilliant driver, she lived in the fast lane of life as well as its fastest race tracks.

The story of the colourful youth and sad ending of the life of Hélène Delangle - or as she became better know Hellé Nice.

A biography that reads like an adventure story.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed this book. I was looking to read a bit of Miranda Seymour after seeing her talk at the Buxton festival a few years back and picked this one up at a work charity book sale at the end of last year.
Understandably the details of Hellé Nice's early life and later years are a bit scant, so the author has had to fill in the gaps. Generally this works pretty well, but sometimes I found it difficult to separate "truth" from fiction.

[María del Sol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finalmente terminé esta biografía, no es el tipo de libro que frecuento. Me ha gustado la redacción y las "partes inventadas" que Seymour añadió, creo que se emocionó tanto con la vida de Hellé que pintó en ella una heroína (no estoy de acuerdo del todo, pudo haber sido menos escandalosa su vida si hubiera nacido en esta época) aún así, quiero recalcar que ha sido una grata experiencia lectora para pasar los viajes.

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book banks pretty hard on the supposed sex appeal of a female race car driver. It's a pretty shallow concept and Seymour goes out of her way to gloss over any fault in her subject. That makes this boring and corny, even if the cracking of the gender barrier in car racing is a mildly inspirational backdrop. Time badly spent.

[Clare · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well researched. Supplemented with fascinating photos from the 1920's and 1930's, together with memorabilia from Helen Delangle's life, letters and quotes - overall the author provides an interesting insight into the life of a bold French woman competing in the utterly male dominated world of motor racing between the wars.

[Medusa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read - not as much from a technical point of view, but as a rediscovery of the kind of fearless, ground breaking, confident woman I would have been proud to call friend and am proud to claim as spiritual predecessor. If you're a woman in Motorsports or have an interest in European racing in the time period between the World Wars, this book is worth a read for sure.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read straight history well. This is a nice blend between narrative and history, but the history part is a little hard to get through. I'm about fifty pages from the end. I set it down to pick something else up, but I keep coming back to it!

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such a shame, an intriguing charachter presented in such a pedantically way. I've put maybe 5 books down in my life never to be finished; this is one.

[Zabetta Camilleri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite interesting to see that back in the 30s women were much more part of the Grand Prix racing circuits than they are today. What happened in the meantime? Really great book.