Divina Galica laughs as she looks at the faded newspaper cutting from 1978.

The headline reads 'Do stop Divina, you’re driving us all to distraction' and the opening paragraph is a quote from 'Britain’s first lady of motor racing', as The Daily Mail styled her more than 40 years ago, as she tried to qualify in Argentina for the grand prix. “Being on track with the big boys can be terrifying,” she is supposed to have said. “I was going flat out through the huge bend at the far end of the track at around 165mph when four cars passed me as though I was standing still. I think they were Andretti, Hunt, Lauda and Reutemann.”

“That’s not what I said,” says Galica, “because I’ve never been terrified of anything.” So, sitting in the Zolder paddock, having just flown in from her home in the United States, she puts the record straight about her remarkable racing career where she was the lone woman against the men, and a media curiosity. “It was Ronnie Peterson and Mario Andretti who went past me. I went through that corner as fast as I could and they went past me nose to tail on the inside. I didn’t know they had wing cars and they worked really well. I thought, well, if they can do it, then I must do it, just needs bravery, I won’t brake.