Divina Galica

Divina Mary Galica MBE (last name pronounced "Galitsa"; born 13 August 1944) is a British sportswoman best known for entering three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix in two separate seasons without qualifying. She also competed at four Winter Olympics as a skier, captaining the British women's national team in 1968 and 1972.

Skiing career Galica was born in Bushey Heath, near Watford, Hertfordshire, to a Polish father. Aged 19, she participated in her first Olympic games at Innsbruck in 1964, competing in downhill skiing and the slalom. She also participated in the next two winter Olympics, at Grenoble in 1968 and Sapporo in 1972. On both occasions, Galica finished in the top ten in the giant slalom. Aside from Olympic competition, she achieved two World Cup podium finishes in the downhill event, taking third place at both the Badgastein and Chamonix rounds in 1968. She also held the British women's downhill skiing speed record (at 125 mph). Following her subsequent driving career, Galica returned to skiing and once again represented Great Britain at the 1992 Winter Olympics, this time in the speed skiing event.

Driving career Accepting an invitation to a celebrity auto race, Galica surprised everyone with her driving talent. She eventually took up motorsport as a second career, initially racing karts, moving into Formula Two and Formula One before finding success in sports cars and trucks. Her racing career has included stints in Formula Renault and Formula Vauxhall Lotus.

Galica was taken under the wings of John Webb and Nick Whiting, who entered her in the British Shellsport International Group 8 series in 1976, driving a Surtees TS16 Formula One car. After promising showings in this domestic series, Whiting decided to enter Galica for that year's British Grand Prix, using their Surtees. This appearance was notable as the first time in 13 years that a car had been entered for a World Championship Grand Prix using the supposedly unlucky number 13; so it also proved for Galica, as she failed to qualify for the race. The appearance meant she also joined a select band of seven Formula One drivers who have also competed in the Olympics.

For 1977, Whiting acquired a second-hand Surtees TS19 for Galica to use in the British series. The Whiting team lacked the technical expertise required to properly set the car up for each race, and Galica was often hindered by poorly adjusted machinery. Arch rival Tony Trimmer was also equipped with a Surtees TS19, but his engineering background and well-funded team meant that he was the class of the field at most venues. Whiting managed to secure sponsorship from Olympus Cameras part way through the season, as prior to this the whole team had been run on a budget of only £10,000 for the entire season. She became a racing instructor with Skip Barber Racing Schools, rising to become senior vice president of Skip Barber Racing, managing both its driving school and racing series. In 2005, at the Mont-Tremblant weekend of the Skip Barber Race Series, Galica announced she was leaving Skip Barber to work for iRacing.com as a director in the company. Since 2018 (or earlier), she has been working for Bertil Roos Racing School as a driving instructor.

Racing record Complete Shellsport International Series results (key) (note: results shown in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pts 1976 ShellSport Whiting Surtees TS16 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 MAL SNE OUL BRH THR BRH MAL SNE BRH THR OUL BRH BRH 4th 57 1977 ShellSport Whiting Surtees TS19 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 MAL SNE OUL MAL THR BRH OUL MAL DON BRH THR SNE BRH 6th 74 March 742 Ford BDX Swindon BRH

Complete British Formula One Championship results (key) (note: results shown in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Pts 1978 Team Olympus Surtees TS19 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 OUL BRH SNE MAL ZAN DON THR OUL MAL BRH 14th 19 Melchester Racing McLaren M23 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 THR SNE 1979 Divina Galica March 792 Hart ZOL OUL BRH MAL SNE THR ZAN DON OUL NOG MAL BRH THR SNE SIL 19th 2 1980 Divina Galica March 792 Hart OUL BRH SIL MAL THR MNZ MAL SNE BRH THR OUL SIL 20th 1

Complete Formula One World Championship results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Pts. 1976 ShellSport Whiting Surtees TS16 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA JPN NC 0 1978 Olympus Cameras with Hesketh Hesketh 308E Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW MON BEL ESP SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN NC 0

Formula One non-championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position.) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap.) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 1977 ShellSport Whiting Surtees TS19 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC 1978 Olympus Cameras with Hesketh Hesketh 308E Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 INT

Complete European Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pts Ardmore Racing Chevron B39 Ford BDA SIL THR HOC NÜR VAL PAU MUG ROU NOG PER MIS EST DON NC 0 Bob Salisbury Racing March 782 BMW THR HOC NÜR PAU MUG VAL ROU DON NOG PER MIS HOC NC 0 Divina Galica March 792 Hart SIL HOC THR NÜR VAL MUG PAU HOC ZAN PER MIS DON NC 0 Wendy Wools March 792 Hart THR HOC NÜR VAL PAU NC 0 Divina Galica SIL ZOL MUG ZAN PER MIS HOC